Miracle of the Healing of the Water

Elisha's Establishment as Prophet and the Context of the First Public Miracles

0:03 We continue this evening our studies in the life and ministry of the prophet Elisha, the God-appointed successor to the great man of God, Elijah. And I would ask you to follow in your own Bibles as I read from 2 Kings 2, verses 15-25. Elijah, the man of God, has been taken up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha, who has received not only his mantle, but a double portion of his spirit, strikes the waters of the river Jordan, and they part hither and thither, and fifty sons of the prophet see him and acknowledge that he is indeed the God-appointed successor of Elijah and representative of Jehovah in Israel, and their master in the world. In the prophetic office, and the narrative continues in verse 15 of 2 Kings 2, and when the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho over against him saw him, they said that the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

1:28 And they said unto him, Behold now, there are with thy servants fifty strong men. Let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master. Lest the spirit of the Lord hath taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or unto some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.

1:47 And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men, and they sought three days, but found him not. They came back to him while he tarried at Jericho, and he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not? And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, we pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my Lord seeth, but the water is bad, and the land miscarrieth.

2:21 And he said, Bring me a new cruise, and put salt therein. And they brought it unto him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast salt therein, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed, I have healed these waters, there shall not be from thence any more death or miscarrying. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the word of Elisha, which he spake.

2:51 And he went up from thence unto Bethel. And as he was going up by the way, there came forth young lads out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head, go up, thou bald head. And he looked behind him, and saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tear forty and two lads of them.

3:20 And he went from thence to Mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria. Now will you make an honest effort with me to bring your imagination to the service of your own spiritual prophet.

3:38 Here the man of God has been established, as a prophet, in the eyes of the sons of the prophets. But in a very real sense, the miracle of the parted waters of the Jordan was a private miracle. It was not a miracle that was open to the gaze of the common people in Israel. It was a miracle calculated to do two things.

4:03 To confirm to Elisha that indeed the spirit of his former master Elijah, did indeed rest upon him. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And God's answer is the parted waters confirming to his servant that indeed Jehovah was with him. But then it had a second purpose, namely to confirm in the judgment, as well as the esteem of these sons of the prophets, that Elisha was their God-appointed leader, now that Elijah had been taken from them.

4:41 And so they were privileged, at least some of them, to witness as they stood upon the banks of the river, the parting of that river, when Elisha takes the mantle of Elijah, strikes it, and the waters part hither and thither. But now in the next two miracles, the miracle of the purifying or healing of the waters at Jericho, and the miracle of the destruction of the she-bears of these mocking, evil and evil lads, God is further establishing his servant Elisha as a prophet in Israel. These first two miracles are miracles in a very real sense, in which the burning issue of the day is refocused, and the power of Jehovah is reasserted in that circumstance. You will remember, I trust, that when we dealt with Elisha's strategic place In the history of redemption, we underscored the fact that God raised him up at this time to vindicate his own claims in the midst of Baal worship that was still rife. Well, Baal was supposedly the god of nature, the god of fertility, the god of productivity.

6:03 And in these first two miracles, God manifests his power through the prophet Elisha in terms of those realms that were supposedly under the control of Baal. He performs miracles in what we would call the realm of nature, the purifying of the bitter spring of water and this supernatural control over these two she-bears. And so immediately when God would establish his servant as a prophet in Israel, he chooses...

6:40 He chooses to work through him miracles that are not arbitrarily chosen, but are calculated to address themselves to the burning issue of that hour. Who is God? Jehovah or Baal? And God does this, very obviously, in two miracles which, on the one hand, manifest the goodness of God, the healing of the waters, and on the other hand, the severity of God, the tearing of the foreshadowing, the healing of the waters, and the healing of the waters.

7:11 And so in these two miracles, there are forty-two lads by the she-bears. One is obviously a miracle of blessing, and the other is a miracle of cursing. And the whole concept of blessing and cursing was woven into the very fabric of God's covenantal relationship with Israel. You'll remember when we read in certain portions of the Old Testament, and we will be reading when we come to the latter chapters of Deuteronomy, that when the covenant is formally enacted, the people of God, are commanded to pronounce the blessings of the covenant from one mountain, and the curses of the covenant from another mountain.

7:48 And all the way through the history of Israel, God reveals himself as the God who is committed to the terms of the covenant which he himself made, and he himself established. He's the God of blessing, the God of cursing. Well, is he indeed God? In the midst of all the Baal worship, is Jehovah still God?

8:10 Well, the first, the two miracles, the first two public manifestations of miraculous power through the man of God, Elisha, declare in the most vivid object lesson form that he is indeed God, God of the covenant, God of blessing, and God of cursing. So much for that general framework of these two miracles. Tonight we address ourselves to the first of these two miracles, the miracle of blessing. The miracle of the healing of this poisonous fountain of water in Jericho.

The Problem Described: Jericho's Pleasant City with Poisonous Water

8:48 And the first thing we want to do is to establish the facts that are there in the narrative. And as we do, we see in verse 19 the problem described. And the men of the city, that is, of the city of Jericho, said unto Elisha, Behold, we pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord said. As my lord said.

9:11 Behold, we pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord said. But the water is bad, and the land miscarrieth. Now what precisely was the problem? Well it was a problem of contrasts.

9:23 On the one hand, Jericho was a most pleasant place. Those who have visited and described Bible lands right of this particular area of real estate, everyone might see how pleasant was this place. The very paradise of Palestine, its rich soil basking under a tropical sun, yet shaded by palm, mulberry, and fig trees, while the air was refreshed by perennial springs of bright water and perfumed by the precious balsam plants, the scent of which the wind would sometimes carry as far as out to the very Mediterranean Sea. So when they said, You can see. To the prophet, that the place is a very pleasant place, it was a place of no ordinary pleasantness in terms of the general situation for living, for agriculture, and for the things that were necessary to carry on a meaningful, rich, and full life. But now there was a problem. The problem had to do with a fountain of water which caused, in the language of the text, the land to miscarry.

10:40 Now, there is a diversity of opinion amongst men equally astute in their knowledge of the Hebrew language, and some say, since the Hebrew word for land is the word often used for earth, that what they are saying is this, there is this spring of water which, wherever it goes and whatever it influences by its natural irrigating faculty, it causes the fruit trees to cast their fruit trees. It brings the fruit in an untimely way. It brings death to the plants and the foliage. And so the land miscarrying, they understand to mean the earth in the sense of the soil.

11:24 Others say no. The word is used in Scripture as we often use it. We talk about the land mourning. We mean the people in the land are engaged in mourning.

11:35 And they say that what the problem was, was this, that this was a fountain of water upon which people were greatly dependent for their general water supply. And when the animals would drink of that water, they would actually cast their young and miscarry. And even women, in drinking of this water who were with child, would have unnatural abortions as a result of this. Well, you read the commentators on both sides and you have to say, I don't know which it was.

12:05 But one thing is certain. This was no little problem. It was a problem. It was a problem of sufficient magnitude to make life in an otherwise ideal situation almost unbearable.

12:18 This is a pleasant land, they say to the prophet. But the problem is what is perhaps our main water supply either causes the devastation of our crops and our foliage, or even worse, our cattle and our lives. And remember, this was in a day when your wealth was measured primarily in terms of your livestock, and when according to the tenor of the covenant that God made, the ability to bear children was a blessing from Jehovah. You see, had there been such a fountain that caused miscarriages in our day, you'd have women lining up paying $50 a bottle to have this stuff.

13:00 We've come so far from the biblical mentality with regard to the sanctity and sacredness of life. You'd have somebody huckstering this stuff, saying, get yourself a cheap abortion, $50 a bottle. But not so there. So if it was indeed a case in which it caused miscarrying wounds, then you can imagine the agony that people would feel.

13:23 What consolation could a young couple who were excited at the prospect of their first born have, looking about at the beautiful foliage and looking about at all the other pleasantness when they grieved at their inability to bear a little one? Or if indeed it was a matter of the crops, what consolation could there be? If year after year a man who lived near to this spring of water found himself unable to provide for his own. Well, you've got to feel this when you read the biblical narrative.

13:53 You're reading of people who feel the same things we feel, who have their hopes raised and then have them dashed and are discouraged and despondent. And the situation was such that the moment the man of God comes, and no doubt the report, you see, had come from the sons of the prophets, that this was no more. no mere man with a lot of stories about years spent with Elijah and who merely had Elijah's hairy shirt. By now the report has come back. This is the man who, when he wraps up the mantle of his spiritual father and strikes the waters, Jehovah God is with him. And they no sooner hear of that than they come to him with their plight. Well, there's the problem described in verse 19. Now let's look at the second place, at the action of the prophet in verses 20 and 21. And he said, bring me a new cruise and put salt therein. And they

The Prophet's Action and God's Word: Healing the Waters

14:52 brought it to him. He says, bring me a new vessel, whether a plate or a little bit of a bowl, as we would say. But he says, make sure it's a new one. I want one in which nothing else has been or which has not been used regularly for any other purpose. And I want you to put salt in it. And I want you to put salt in it. And I want you to put salt in it. And He doesn't say fill it, just put some salt in it.

15:16 Now, of course, salt to an Israelite was the symbol of purification.

15:22 And on the other hand, salt was also used in some instances for the literal purification of things, the checking of putrefaction. But in this particular instance, I am personally convinced the salt was not only to symbolize purification, but also it was calculated to be a stumbling block to human wisdom. You don't make brackish water sweet by putting salt in it. God was taking a means that was calculated to be a stumbling block to human wisdom.

15:59 Well then, there is added to the action of the man of God the word of God. And he went forth to the spring of the waters and cast salt therein and said, Thus saith Jehovah. And here is his first. His first official pronouncement in public.

16:16 I have healed these waters. There shall not be from thence any more death or miscarrying. Now, that's not a blanket promise that there will be no more death or miscarrying in Israel or in Jericho. But no more death or miscarrying as a result of drinking those waters.

16:36 If death and miscarriage come, it will come from another source. So there is then the action of the prophet. Now, try. Again, to live the situation.

16:44 Here you've poured your complaint before the man of God. And he brings it all in with his eyes. And he sees that they're making a very accurate report. And then he says very calmly, with no big to-do, Bring me a new cruise.

16:57 Put salt therein. No doubt as they run off to get the cruise and get the salt, along the way they say the man of God is going to take our case in hand. And I have very little question in my own mind. Human nature being what it is, it wasn't long before a crowd, collected and grew a crowd.

17:15 And a stream of people come and they watch the man of God without any fanfare, without any rigmarole. He simply takes that cruise and he casts the salt into the heart of that impure fountain of water. And then he stands and faces all his listeners and says in the name of Jehovah, the God of heaven, I have healed these waters. And from henceforth, no more death or miscarrying as a result of these waters.

17:43 There's the action and the word of the prophet. And then we have in verse 22 the result of that word and action. So the waters were healed unto this day, that is the day when 2 Kings was written, according to the word of Elisha which he spake. And apparently the fruit of that miracle lasted at least down into the early 20th century for in several commentators, I have read some of the people who make it their lifetime work to go into Bible lands and try to unlock, as it were, some of the obscure places of Scripture by studying the geography and topography and the archaeological things in Israel say that in a place that is probably ancient Jericho there is amidst rather numerous springs, many of which are brackish to this day, an unusually sweet spring, which brings refreshing to all who pause to drink from it. And some of the men actually record how they have drunk from that spring and been amazed at its sweetness. But be that as it may, our faith in the miracle does not rest upon the findings of some traveler over in Palestine. But it is an interesting thing to note that there is a very real possibility that that miracle became, as it were,

Significance 1: Validation of Jehovah's Servant

19:10 a perpetual monument to the mighty power of God. Well, so much then for the facts of the narrative. Now then, in the second place, what is the significance of this miracle? Is God just giving us a lovely little story so that we can all feel sort of warm and comfortable and say, now lovely, God did such a lovely thing, and then go home feeling warm and comfortable in a cold, rainy night?

19:35 No, God's miracles, I remind you, as you've often been told in this place, are not capricious things. God is, doing something in the work of redemption. And His miracles have significance in terms of that mighty work which He is performing in rescuing men from their sins. And let me suggest that this miracle constituted at least three things in the purposes of God.

20:03 Number one, it constituted a validation of Jehovah's servant. It constituted a validation of Jehovah's servant. As I've already intimated, the sons of the prophets saw Elijah's God at work through him in the parting of the river Jordan. But if the people of God in Israel at large are to receive Him as the representative of Jehovah in Israel, there must be a validation from Jehovah that He is no ordinary man.

20:42 That He is not simply concocted the notion that He would like to be God's spokesman. Furthermore, there must be something more than the word of the sons of the prophets that they saw the parting of the river Jordan. God is going to give visible public credentials to His servant. And so when they come and lay before Him their plight, this miracle is performed openly before the sight and scrutiny of all who are there so that God is involved where may stamp upon His servant in the eyes of all men that He is indeed His prophet in Israel.

Significance 2: Manifestation of Jehovah's Power Against Baal

21:24 This then becomes in the first place a validation of Jehovah's servant. But then in the second place, the significance of this miracle is to be seen in that it provided a manifestation of Jehovah's power. You see, the salt could not make that fire. The fountain of water perpetually sweet.

21:49 If it had any power to neutralize its death qualities even for a few moments as soon as the salt was in solution and the water that was flowing from that fountain was carried off, the significance of the salt from a chemical standpoint would be completely done.

22:14 So God is making it very evident that the water that was flowing over the river is a source of life. That this is an activity not of the prophet nor of the salt, but indeed it is an activity of the living God Jehovah. And I come back to that to which I alluded in the introduction. This was a day when men's hearts were still being drawn after Baal worship, when the prophets of Baal were still in the land, when altars to Baal were to be found everywhere, when Israel was still in the land, Israelites who should know better were no longer acknowledging Jehovah who created the heaven and the earth as the disposer of their relationship to heaven and earth.

22:57 Whether the earth would yield its fruit, whether the earth would be fruitful, whether the skies would drop down rain, whether the wombs of their wives would be fruitful, they had turned to worship nothings. And God graciously comes again and again as He did upon Mount Carmel and demonstrates to the nation that Baal is no God, that Jehovah and He and He alone is God. And so in this miracle, God is saying in an action that is eloquent and powerful, we may even say in an activity that thunders in the ears of the nation of Israel, I am Jehovah. Jehovah, God of creative power, regulator and controller of all that I have made. And so when the prophet says in the first person, speaking as the very mouthpiece of God, thus saith Jehovah, I have healed these waters. You could take all of the incantations of all of the priests of Baal, over fifty years and never once could any of them say, In the name of God. Baal, I heal these waters.

24:13 Oh no, they could carry out their very clever magician-like manipulations in slight of hand, and they may be able to put in some kind of a chemical that would temporarily cause the water to stay sweet, but no one would ever say, and the waters were healed according to the word of Baal, even to this day. You see, God's miracles are not reversible. Unlike them. Miracles of the so-called healers in our day.

24:43 They say, by faith you're healed. Continue to believe and you'll stay healed. Stop believing, you get unhealed. Do you find any such miracle as that in the New Testament or the Old Testament?

24:54 God's miracles are works of creative power. They're not reversed. You no longer hang on in faith. How much faith did this polluted stream of water have?

25:05 God acted upon it in sovereign power. And this miracle then became not only a validation, of Jehovah's servant, but it became or provided a manifestation of Jehovah's power. But then thirdly, it occasioned an intimation of Jehovah's heart. It occasioned an intimation, a revelation, an unfolding of Jehovah's heart.

Significance 3: Intimation of Jehovah's Compassionate Heart

25:32 Often in the history of Israel, natural calamities were the manifestation of the judgment of God. And God would say, In essence, until the sin is dealt with, the judgment will remain. And if you have any acquaintance with your Bible, you can think of instance after instance where this is so. When Israel is unable to conquer Ai, God says, There's sin in the camp.

25:56 You can't stand before your enemies till you deal with your sin. God shuts up the heavens. There's no rain. Until the issue of who is God is at least nationally acknowledged outwardly.

26:06 And when they say, Jehovah, he is God. Then it isn't long before Elijah prays and rain comes. And there's no rain upon them. Well, here's a situation when these people could well think Jehovah is angry with us.

26:21 His heart is against us. Here we have this constant reminder of the frown of Jehovah, God of the covenant. But it's very interesting, is it not, that when they come and unfold their plight to the prophet, there's not a word calling them to repentance. There is not a suggestion that he says, This is a judgment of God upon you for your sins.

26:45 The text indicates that when they laid their plight before him, he immediately, under the impulse of the Spirit and the direction of God, performs this miracle of restoration and healing of the fountain of waters. Now, what is God saying in all of this? Well, you see, God speaks in actions just as we do. And how grateful we should be for that.

27:09 If I'm sitting up in my study, engrossed in whatever I'm doing, and I know my wife is somewhere else in the world, engrossed in the house, engrossed in her task, and she comes through the door and doesn't say a word, and comes and stands behind my desk and puts her hands on my shoulders and just leans down and kisses me and goes out, she doesn't need to say a word. But she's told me words. She's told me enough that I could write on a whole page. Out of sight is not out of mind.

27:38 I may be down in the basement ironing, but you're in my thoughts. And my thoughts towards you are warm thoughts. They're loving thoughts. They're affectionate thoughts.

27:46 She can come in the room, be out in 30 seconds, never say a word. But she's spoken eloquently to me as her husband. And God does that. He speaks in His deeds as well as in His words.

27:57 And what is God saying in this miracle? He's saying to a people who no doubt had at least their degree of Baal worship and some who were halting between two opinions, God is saying, in essence, in spite of your sin, in spite of your waywardness, I have not cast you off. I have not cast you off as my people. My heart towards you is still a heart of compassion, a heart of pity, a heart of mercy.

28:26 And so God comes without any conditions being met on their part. God sovereignly comes and performs a miracle of mercy through His servant, the prophet Elisha. And in so doing, He gives to His people an intimation of the state of His heart. Well, I suggest then, as I've meditated upon this miracle and have asked myself what was its significance at that particular point in the history of God's dealings with His people, surely this is not stretching the imagination to assert that this miracle constitutes a validation of Jehovah's servant so that from henceforth there will be no question in the minds of the inhabitants of Israel that He is God's mouthpiece. It also provides a manifestation of Jehovah's power. When some of these were tempted to go back to Baal worship, or perhaps even at that time were involved in Baal worship, and perhaps for weeks and months had even been praying to Baal that he would heal those brackish waters when they see this putting forth of divine power, who of us knows how many Israelites may have been turned back again to the worship of Jehovah. And then, as I've suggested at occasion, there is an intimation of Jehovah's heart.

29:50 And who among us can tell whether or not that intimation of Jehovah's heart resulted in the goodness of God which led others to repentance? Where perhaps a thundering, fiery denunciation from the prophet would have left them even more hardened in their sins. Who among us can tell? I cannot, for the text is silent.

30:14 But in the light of the teaching of the New Testament, can knowest thou not that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Could it be that some who had, as it were, exhausted themselves in beseeching Baal, that he would somehow come and give his wife a fertile womb, give to his animals the ability to procreate, and nothing happens when they now come and drink from those waters, and the wife bears children, and the cattle bear calves? Who knows whether the goodness of God led some to repentance, seeing the folly of Baal worship, because God gave them an intimation of his heart? Well then, so much for the facts of the miracle, the basic significance of the miracle to the Israelites of that day. Now, finally, what does all of this say to us? Is there some application of this miracle to us? Well, even if I didn't know what it might be, I should have to assert that there must be, because the Scripture says of itself, all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Application 1: Foreshadowing of Christ, the Greater Elisha

31:31 But let me suggest several lines of thought in terms of the application, the message of this miracle to us sitting here, hundreds of years removed from this incident. What does it all say to us? Well, I don't know. I suggest, first of all, that it beautifully shadows the greater than Elisha, even our Lord Jesus Christ.

31:56 Jesus is called in the Scriptures that great prophet, greater than Moses, whom God would raise up from among the people. And there's an interesting parallel between this miracle and the miracle of John 2. Did some of you think of it in the exposition? Here was a situation where people were made sad.

32:15 They were made sad because the wine at the wedding feast had run out. And our Lord, without going around, no intimations of Him doing personal work and making sure everyone was saved, making sure they were worthy of a miracle, no such thing. Our Lord simply gives orders, fill the water pots, and when they draw out to the ruler of the feast, it is filled with the finest of wine. And verse 11 of John 2 says this, This beginning of His signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed on Him. Surely then, if this miracle performed by Elisha or by Jehovah through Elisha was the validation of His servant, then the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ in the language of Acts 22 constituted Him a man approved of God by mighty signs and wonders which He did in the midst of men, signs and wonders which validated Him as the servant of Jehovah, that manifested the power of God, declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.

33:42 And in Jesus Christ God has revealed His heart as fully as He will ever reveal it. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. And if you would read the heart of God, my dear friends, read it in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

34:05 Read His heart when He stoops to minister to the outcasts of Israel, when He stoops to minister to Gentiles with whom no decent Israelite would have any trafficking whatsoever. Read His heart when He pauses to open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf at a cry with no promise of anything in return. Read His heart when He goes into Gethsemane and there travails with the sweat drops of blood that ooze from His forehead. Read His heart when you see your Savior going to the cross as this temporal salvation for the city of Jericho was wrought by the ministry of the man of God. So Christ the greater than Elisha also delivers from death not the death of the body that comes from brackish water but the death of the soul that comes from sin. Behold then in this miracle and in particular in the activity of Elisha a foreshadowing of the greater than Elisha

Application 2: A Vital Principle of God's Government (Providence)

35:26 in whom alone we sinners may find salvation. But then in the second place this miracle contains a vital principle of God's government. It's a helpful thing as the people of God to understand some of the principles of God's government. How does God operate in His world with His people?

35:52 The world of man and things. Well you see in this passage there is a very vital lesson in response to that question. Up until the prophet Elisha came and asked for the cruz and the salt and cast it into that fountain of waters and it was healed. Suppose I had asked you you were a dweller in Israel what is the purpose of God in this brackish water?

36:25 What is the divine purpose in this spring? What causes miscarrying wounds or miscarrying fruit trees and vegetable bushes? Well you couldn't give me an answer. I couldn't give you an answer.

36:42 We might say well I think it may be the judgment of God for the sin of so and so. It could perhaps be the judgment of God for this for that and the other. But you see the purpose of God for that dimension of His government in so ordering whatever minerals were seeping in to the beginnings of that spring whatever was the means God used the purpose of God in that was not revealed until the miracle was performed. That brackish spring existed to be the occasion for God to manifest His power and to intimate His heart.

37:23 Now that's a very vital lesson of God's dealings with us. There are few exercises more futile than the exercise of trying to be an interpreter of every wrinkle of divine providence. What is God saying to me in this? What is God saying to me in this?

37:46 What is God saying to me in this? Particularly what appear to be negative providences. And every time some of you drink from a brackish spring you're ready to start heaping condemnation upon yourself. God must be chastising me.

38:01 God must be chastising me. God must be laying it on me. Well, He may be, but He may not be. Maybe He's ordering a brackish spring because He wants to manifest His power and to demonstrate His love.

38:16 You see what I'm driving at, or am I talking in double talk to you? If as a child of God you do not learn this lesson that it is not for you to sit down and try to give an extensive commentary and an infallible analysis of every wrinkle of providence, if you don't learn that lesson you'll be just constantly on a treadmill of confusion, of discouragement, of self-condemnation, and you will make very little progress as a child of God. You remember the classic example in the New Testament? The disciples come along and say, We shall make ourselves interpreters of providence.

39:00 Providence is ordered a certain man to be blind from his birth. So they come to the Lord and say, Now, Lord, we've reduced it all to one of two obvious reasons. Now, we both can't be right. That one of us is right, we're sure.

39:13 Will you just settle which one? Who did sin that this man should be born blind? His parents? Or is it in the man himself?

39:27 What's the purpose? We know it has to be one of these two things. Lord, sort it out for us. The Lord says, You're all wrong.

39:35 He says in that classic passage, Acts chapter 9, Neither did this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. You see, we're so ready to conclude when God allows death and miscarrying to come to ourselves. Well, that's a negative testament. God's spanking me for something naughty that I did.

40:08 Not necessarily. He may be simply setting the stage for a wonderful manifestation of His grace and power. And it's especially risky business when you start interpreting it of others. That was the problem of Job's so-called comforters.

40:26 They were the interpreters of providence. They said, We know that when providence frowns and strips a man of all of his earthly goods, he's been a bad boy and God's given it to him. Now, Job, stop protesting your innocence. We know God's government says negative providence equals chastisement for sin.

40:47 Now, own up, Job. Job says, Fellas, I'm sorry. Whatever this thing means, whatever the purpose is, I hold fast to my integrity. Get out of here.

40:58 Leave me alone. Off my back. And God finally vindicated him. You see, we're tempted to think that, are we not, of one another?

41:12 Here's a young man in our assembly doing well in business. A couple of lovely little children and everything begins to go apart at the seams. Throws a rod in his car. His kids get pneumonia.

41:23 Gets fired from work. And then he goes into a crucible of affliction and trial and it goes on week after week, month after month. And some of you, though you may have grace enough not to say it in your heart, you think, Uh-huh. And you start trying to interpret providence.

41:41 Don't do it, my friend. That's playing God. Don't you play God. You let God be God.

41:49 God may just be forming a brackish spring which will be the occasion of manifesting His heart of love and His mighty power. So I say there is a very profound lesson to be learned in this miracle. It is the vital principle of God's government. And then thirdly, it sets forth what I've called a pattern of God's working.

Application 3: A Pattern of God's Working (Using the Weak)

42:17 What is the basic pattern of God's working? Paul gives it to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Let's look at it for a moment and we'll see the relationship. Between this miracle and the basic pattern of God's working.

42:35 In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul says this, by the inspiration of the Spirit, verse 26, For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God chose the foolish things of the world that He might put to shame them that are wise, and God chose the weak things of the world that He might put to shame the things that are strong, and the base things of the world and the things which are despised did God choose, and the things that are not that He might bring to naught the things that are that no flesh should glory in His presence. I was talking to someone on the phone yesterday and had occasion to refer to this passage. And one man of God of several generations ago, described God's people according to this passage as God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness. There's the five ranks.

43:44 And what are the names? What are the banners which each rank bears and holds aloft? Well, he says, first of all you've got the foolish, and then next to the foolish, behind them in rank, you've got the what? You've got the base things, then the despised things, and then the nothings.

44:02 Man, what an army. God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness. And it's God's design so to work as to humble all human pride. Not many noble are called.

44:19 Well then, go back then to that day in Israel. And here as the people of the town, perhaps their mayor, some official spokesperson, I know the proper language to use, some spokesperson, whatever that is, approaches the prophet Elisha and tells him the story. And when people see that he's taking it in and showing a sympathetic interest, that he's not saying, oh, I've got more important things in the kingdom to care about than your bad water over there. He shows an interest, and you imagine as their hopes raise, and he says, now I'm going to give you some orders.

44:53 What are they expecting him to do? He says, go get me a clay pot and stick some salt in it. Clay pot and salt? Isn't that guy crazy?

45:06 And then he walks over to that fountain, throws the salt in. Will he say, anybody knows you don't heal a brackish fountain with salt? You make the situation, that's stupid. God says, yes, that's the way I work.

45:21 I take the foolish things to confound the mighty. And the things that are not, to put them off the things that are. So that when that fountain is sweet, you give no credit to the man, you don't build a fetish or a shrine or an altar of the means that he used. You'll go away saying, isn't Jehovah a man?

45:49 And God says, then you got the message, no flesh, glory in my presence. And my friends, that's exactly the way God works today. And if God is pleased to use any one of us, if God is pleased to take this assembly, come on fellas, come on, you know better than to be talking while the word's being preached. Now if I see it again, I'll call you by name and embarrass you.

46:15 You know better than that. You better read the next passage and see what God does when people take his servants who preach his word lightly. Some of you are old enough to stop your fooling around with the serious holy things of God. You're not insulting me, you're dealing with my God.

46:51 God is to use any one of us. God is to use this assembly. It will not be because we have this, that or the other. That in the eyes of the world makes us qualified to be used.

47:09 Or that which in the eyes of even our fellow men qualifies us. But it will be because God is the God who delights to work by this pattern. Take the foolish things to confound the mighty. And as we think of the challenge of these coming days, people often say, well pastor, where's the money to build that building going to come from?

47:32 We don't have wealthy people. I say hallelujah. Because if we did and the money all came in, you'd all be sitting around saying, aha, so-and-so gave us that much and so-and-so gave us that much and I bet so-and-so gave us that much. But you see, when God does it with this crowd, ain't nobody going to be pointing a finger saying, that no flesh should glory before him.

48:01 That God may be all in all. That we shall fall down in the language of the Old Testament saying, grace, grace, grace unto him. Well thank God that this is the method of his working. Now, we're not going to turn anybody out who's truly saved, loves God, and loves what we're committed to if he happens to have a lot of money.

48:23 We're not telling the Lord he can't give us any wealthy people if he chooses to. But I think it's a kind providence that up till now he's not. Maybe he can entrust us with some down the line after the building gets built. So neither they nor us think, well we did it, it was our own stuff.

48:41 And God be robbed of his glory. I find great encouragement from this passage. I say, Lord, that's the way you work. If you still conquer your enemies with that five-ranked army of descending human weakness, Lord, we're ready.

48:58 We're ready. Qualifications. Well I'm weak. I'm nothing.

49:04 I'm base. The Lord says sign up. That's the kind of soldiers I want. God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness.

49:15 There in this miracle we have a wonderful display of that pattern of God's working. Well you see, some of you who sit here tonight, you say finally he's done? Good. I can go home now and get my mind on the things that really matter.

Exhortation to Seek God's Grace in Christ

49:32 Oh my friend, if you only knew what we've tasted and felt and enjoyed when we're here, you'd envy us. And we're feeding on bread that is never going to go moldy. We're feeding on bread that's going to last unto eternal life. And when all your so-called bread turns to nothing but dust and mold and stones in your mouth, you'll have nothing but your misery to feed upon for all eternity unless you seek the God who is Elijah's, Elisha's God.

50:08 The God who is gracious to the unworthy. The God who will be gracious to you. You will call upon him. Turn from your sin.

Pastoral Prayer

50:18 Turn from your Baal worship. And seek his grace and mercy in the greater than Elisha, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank you for your word.

50:46 We thank you for its perennial freshness, that it speaks to us again and again where we live. It speaks to us in the struggles of our own circumstances. Forgive us, we pray, when we have sought, albeit at times innocently, to interpret providence when it was none of our business to interpret it. But simply to bow to all the dispositions of your providence in the confidence that you were both wise and loving in that which you have done to us.

51:23 And oh how we pray that you would by your Holy Spirit give us a sight of the glory of him who is greater than Elisha, who can do more than heal a brackish fountain of water, who can come to us in giving us the water of life. Oh Lord, write upon our hearts the lessons we have considered from this passage tonight. Have mercy upon the careless, the indifferent, the smug, the arrogant. Oh Lord, do not deal with them in terms of their just deserts, but in pity give them to see the folly of their impenitence. Oh God, don't let them destroy themselves. Do not cut them off in your wrath which they justly deserve. But as you bore so long with so many of us, continue to bear patiently with them we plead and bring them to repentance.

52:29 Hear our prayer. Be pleased to receive our thanks for your presence with us this day. Be pleased to take us safely to our homes. Grant us in the coming days of this week so to live as to be used of you in the midst of the Baal worship on every hand, that our lives may be a constant reminder to those with whom we work and play and those in our neighborhoods and in our schools.

53:01 Oh God, grant that we may be a constant reminder that you and you alone are God and that we may be a rebuke by our very lifestyle of the wickedness of the Baal worship that is rife on every hand. Seal to our hearts then this your word and receive our thanks for your presence with us this day. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.