The Man of God and Death

Introduction to Elisha's Final Days and the Chronological Context

0:06 I would encourage you to turn with me, please, to 2 Kings chapter 13, the passage which I announced this morning as forming the basis of our meditation this evening, 2 Kings chapter 13, and I shall begin the reading with verse 14 and conclude at the end of the chapter. Now if some of you read the entire chapter, I'm sure you were struck, if you read with any perception, that this seems to be rather a mixed-up chapter chronologically, and indeed it is. In the opening part of the chapter, you have an account of something that transpires that

0:49 does not bear a direct chronological relationship to the incident which we will read, and I hope you'll see the wisdom of that as the exposition unfolds later on. But now the reading begins. It begins with verse 14.

1:06 When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash, who is the same person as the one referred to later on Jehoash, one is the shorter form of the same name, Joash, the king of Israel, came down to him and wept over him and said, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen. And Elisha...

1:35 Elisha said to him, Take a bow and arrows. So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand upon the bow. And he put his hand on it.

1:47 Then Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. And he said, Open the window toward the east. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot.

1:59 And he shot. And he said, The Lord's arrow of victory. Even the arrow of...

2:05 The arrow of victory over Syria. For you shall defeat the Syrians at Aphek until you have destroyed them. Then he said, Take the arrows. And he took them.

2:16 And he said to the king of Israel, Strike the ground. And he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria until you would have destroyed it.

2:34 But now you shall strike Syria. Only three times.

2:40 And Elisha died. And they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. And as they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band.

2:54 And they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood up on his feet. Now Haziel, king of Syria, had oppressed Israel all the day. But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned to them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and would not destroy them or cast them from his presence until now.

3:27 When Haziel, king of Syria, died, Ben-Hadad, his son, became king in his place. Then Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took again from the hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Ben-Hadad, the son of Ben-Hadad, the son of Ben-Hadad, the son of Ben-Hadad, the son of Ben-Hadad, the son of Ben-Hadad, the son of Ben-Hadad, the cities which he had taken in war from the hand of Jehoahaz, his father. Three times Jehoash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

The Godliest Men Grow Old, Get Sick, and Die

3:56 Now this portion of the word of God read in your hearing contains what we could well call the last chapter in the written account of the life and ministry of Elisha, the man of God. Many years have passed since the last recorded incident in his life. In fact, the last time his name is mentioned is chapter 9 and verse 1, the passage which formed the framework of our studies together last week. And now many years have passed since that anointing of Jehu to be king in Israel.

4:35 And Israel continues to ripen for judgment while God continues to show his love for Israel. His patience, his mercy, and his covenant faithfulness in the face of Israel's unfaithfulness. You will notice how that note is woven through the fabric of these chapters. Chapter 13, verses 3 through 5, So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Hazael, Then Jehuahaz entreated the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him.

5:19 For he saw the oppression of Israel, and how the king of Syria oppressed them. And the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians. And the sons of Israel lived in their tents as formerly. And so against the backdrop of continuing sin, there is the manifestation, of the mercy of God.

5:44 Or in terms of the passage read in your hearing just a few moments ago, verse 23, God remembered his ancient covenant to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and he did not yet bring destruction upon his people. And that thread is picked up again in chapter 14, verses 23 to 27. And though the description is given of an evil man, who had an evil heart, who had an evil reign, yet God used this very man, verse 25, to restore the border of Israel to its former dimensions. Verse 26, For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter,

6:28 for there was neither bond nor free, nor was there any helper for Israel. And so in the midst of these chapters, in which those two notes are sounded again and again, Israel ripening for judgment because of her sin, and yet God, as it were, restraining that judgment out of the compassion, the patience and covenant faithfulness of his own heart, we have nestled in the midst of that, this account of the last days, and the actual death, and then that fascinating post-death incident, in the life of the man of God, Elisha. And though, though there are,

7:13 to my understanding, at least two or three major strands of emphasis in the passage which I read in your hearing, I have chosen to focus tonight only upon one of them. One has said that there is but one message in all Old Testament history, namely the message of the faithfulness of God. Now I believe that's a bit of an oversimplification, but in one sense it is true. The history of the people of God, is the history of God's faithfulness to his own purposes.

7:47 And that aspect of truth could be amply illustrated and expounded and enforced from this passage, but I choose to pass over it tonight. There is another emphasis in the passage that is obvious in this incident with regard to Joash and the striking of the arrows that underscores the necessity for holy zeal in the work of God. For an aggressive faith in doing the work of God. But I pass over that.

8:19 And instead I concentrate on the third area to which this passage addresses itself with some degree of prominence. And it's the whole matter of the man of God in relationship to death. And because our thoughts were drawn out in this direction in our Sunday morning exposition, I have chosen to concentrate upon this third category of biblical truth set before us in this passage. The man of God and death.

8:52 And I have three lines of truth to set before you tonight. And the first one is this. This passage teaches us that the godliest men grow old, get sick, and die.

9:09 And one feels the force of that truth when he brings back to us the first part of verses 14 and verse 20. When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, and Elisha died, and they buried him.

9:37 Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, and he died, and they buried him. Now those words, so-and-so became sick, so-and-so died, in a very real sense could have been written of many of the Baal worshippers in Elisha's day. It could have been written of some of the kings, the wicked kings of Elisha's day. On the surface of things, it appears that there is no fundamental difference between the closing days

10:21 and the exodus of this blameless man of God in the most wicked, unprincipled Israelite who also became sick with a terminal illness and died. As far as men could see in terms of the external, observable phenomena, Elisha goes the way of all flesh in the manner, in which most of the sons of Adam go. Here is a man with an extraordinary life. There is not one recorded moral blemish

11:04 in the entire record of the life and ministry of Elisha. Now that is not to say he was not a sinner, nor is that to say he did not need daily forgiveness and cleansing for his sins. But there is no recorded blemish in the life, of the man of God whose ministry extends over a period of approximately fifty years. And yet in spite of that, that great and extraordinary life, he has a very ordinary death.

11:38 Now this was not so with his predecessor. That great whirlwind of a man, Elijah, had an extraordinary life and an extraordinary death. For you will remember that he was called, caught up and was taken straight into the presence of God without passing through the experience of death. But not so with this man of God, Elisha.

12:10 And in a real sense, it is far more suitable to the character of Elisha. For we have seen him as we've studied his life again and again in what we might call intimate, homely, as old pastors, as Pastor Blaise used to refer to it. We would say homey and he used to use the term homely and could never quite get the distinction between the two. Well this man of God in his homeliness, that is not ugliness of countenance, but in his domestic heart and in the many domestic situations in which we see him, it is indeed I say far more fitting that he should die an ordinary death by ordinary means,

12:54 because we then find ourselves much more able to identify with him. In terms of this morning's exposition, it is clear that Elisha will be glorified in two stages. He experiences the first stage in this very passage and Elisha died. Now it's important that we face this hard and unglamorous fact, that the best of the men of God grow old, become sick and die.

13:33 An illness bad enough to cut off life is usually painful. It is usually debilitating in the entirety of a man or woman's humanity. Generally speaking, it causes people to be unusually dependent upon others and Elisha was no stranger to all, to all of those realities he became sick with the illness of which he was to die until finally that illness either by attacking vital organs or some other means brought him to the place where he

14:14 breathed his last and probably in the presence of some of those devout remnant according to the election of grace they saw him breathe his last and wept as the man of God died but the manner of his death I say was from the external observable elements of it no different from the death of the most ungodly Baal worshiper in Israel well the scripture tells us that though we are now the sons of God it has not yet been manifested what we shall be and in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen and he said to them God may we atone and as the king of Israel God can atone

14:54 And though Elisha died as a child of God, it was not manifested visibly, demonstrably to sight that this was his true condition. So each of us needs to face the realism of this passage, that the godliest, the most blameless lives of the men and women of God whom we may know and who by the grace of God we may become, we will not be exempt, most of us, from the ordeal of advancing years, sickness, and death itself.

15:34 The godliest men grow old, get sick, and die. And as the Bible does with all of these realities, it doesn't skirt them, it doesn't scoop them under the rug, it doesn't avoid them, it doesn't throw euphemisms over them, passed on, gone from us, it says, and he died.

The Godly Can Maintain Spiritual Vigor and Usefulness Until Death

16:01 Plain, blunt, clear language. But thank God for the second line of truth that our passage sets before us. And it is this, that the godly can maintain their spiritual vigor and usefulness all their days until they die. The godly can maintain their spiritual vigor and usefulness all their days until they die.

16:34 Try to relive with me the scene that is set before us. Elisha is in his house, probably down at the foot of the hill on which the king's palace was constructed, for the text says that Joash, king of Israel, came down to him. News has reached his court that Elisha, is sick with what appears to be a terminal illness. And the man of God comes, the man of God is lying sick with this illness.

17:06 And there's a rap upon the door. And either the king himself or one of his emissaries or one of the officials from his court announces that he is present. And he is ushered into the presence of the man of God. And there is the man of God in all likelihood upon a bed or in some reclining position.

17:26 And due to his waning strength, the moment the king comes into his presence, he bursts into tears at the sight of the man of God. And he cries out, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof. What is he doing? He is acknowledging in the very language which Elisha used when his predecessor Elijah was taken into the presence of God.

17:58 That the true, the real defense of Israel was not in its armies, but in the man of God who by his prayerful life and by his godly influence was the great instrument for Israel's preservation at that point in redemptive history. And it's particularly significant because in the previous context it tells us that under the scourge of Hazael and his son, the armies of Israel, had been reduced to but 50 horsemen and 10 chariots and only 10,000 footmen against the mighty host of Syria. That wasn't a drop in the bucket.

18:41 The king acknowledges that the true answer to why it is that there is still a nation of Israel is to be found at the human level in the life and ministry of this man of God, Elisha. So he addresses him as his father, who is in, in his office and person, the very chariots of Israel and its true horsemen. It is not that paltry little army that keeps Syria at bay. It is the man of God who is Jehovah's representative, who by his prayers and who by his intercession and who by delivering the word of God and who by his counsel is the true preserver of Israel.

19:27 Now I say this is an amazing thing because if you check the chronology, you will find that after the last official record of any public activity of Elisha in 2 Kings 9 and verse 1, the incident in which he sends one of the young sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu, there is no mention of Elisha until chapter 13 and verse 14. And if you look at the chronology, you can add the years. Jehu reigned for 28 years. 28 years.

20:02 According to the closing verses of chapter 10. And then his son Jehoahaz reigned for 17 years, chapter 13 and verse 1. So you add 28 and 17 and you get an idea of the figure. And now Joash or Jehoash has come to the throne and even if we allow that this was in the first part of his reign, adding 28 and 17, it doesn't take much, it takes mathematical knowledge to come up with 45, if my arithmetic is correct.

20:37 What was Elisha doing all of this time?

20:42 Now there is no record of any unusual public ministry. Now that does not mean he didn't have any. The Bible does not record everything that happened. But we must think and preach and reason and receive the word of God from what is written, not what is not written.

21:00 And it could well be that during this period, there was a great waning of public menace. Well, was Elisha home crying in his beer, woe is me, I who once stood in the company of kings and armies and hurled out the word of God, I who was the instrument for the healing of Naaman, the great general in Syria, here I am cast off and shoved to the side, no longer in the place of prominence, becoming a sour, coarse, wizened up, bitter old prophet, no, his spiritual vigor was recognized to that very hour by a man

21:43 who was no paragon of spirituality. This king who was a strange mixture, who was like Jehu, an instrument in the hands of God to deliver his people, while at the same time seemed to have little of vital godliness, still recognizes this is the man who in the vigor of his walk with God standing in the presence of God, ministering the word of God, he is indeed the horseman and the chariots of Israel. And so we see him in this situation in all the vigor of spiritual life, recognized by the king to be such, he suddenly becomes the king

22:28 and he starts giving orders and I hope you felt something in the reading of the passage of a bit of the humor, or the irony. Here the king comes down and suddenly the king becomes the servant and Elisha barks out the orders and after every order it says he did it and Elisha gives another order and he did it and he gives another order and he did it. But notice what he told him to do. And Elisha said to him, take a bow and arrows.

22:56 So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, put your hand on the bow and he put his hand on it. And then Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands, an indication, by object lesson, that he was transferring to the king's hands that authority and power which he had as Jehovah's representative in Israel, as the prophet of God. And having done so, he then says to the king, verse 17, open the window toward the east.

23:25 That was the direction of Syria. And he opened it. And Elisha said, shoot. And he drew back his bow and he shot.

23:33 And then he said, here is the symbolism, the Lord's arrow of victory is the arrow of victory. And he said, even the arrow of victory over Syria. And you shall defeat the Syrians at Aphek until you have destroyed them. And he said, take the arrows.

23:48 And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, strike the ground. And at this point, there's a linguistic problem and a translation problem. Kyle the Hebraist says very emphatically, the idea is not to take a fistful of arrows and just thump on the ground with them, but rather to strike to the earth with the arrows, having shot the first arrow out the window.

24:12 He now says, take arrows and shoot them into the ground. The first arrow has declared that there is an arrow of victory, a prophecy of the victory of the Lord over the Syrians by the hand of this king. Now he says, take those arrows, having made the pronouncement, and as it were, symbolically manifest how you will go forth in the name of God, in the strength of the promise of the word of God, to accomplish the work of God in the destruction of the Syrians. At which a king whose heart beat with holy zeal for the honor of God would have emptied his quiver and shot one arrow after another into the ground, saying, in the name of Jehovah,

24:55 they shall be utterly pinned to the earth.

24:58 But instead, the text says, he takes but three arrows, places them in the bow, and shoots them into the ground. At which we read, verse 9, the man of God was angry.

25:13 There creeps across the brow of Elisha a scowl, and anger flashes into the redness of his cheeks, and he says, you should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Syria until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Syria only three times.

25:38 Now what does this indicate? Well, I say it indicates what I've tried to say. I've tried to embody in this second heading that the godly can maintain their spiritual vigor and usefulness all their days until they die. What is indicated in this passage, not only the recognition of Elisha's spiritual vigor by an unspiritual man, but in this incident there is manifest what we might call the major lines of those graces which are indicative of spiritual vigor.

26:13 Surely there is vigorous faith. When he shoots the arrow, he says, that's the arrow of the Lord's victory over Syria. Don't you think Elisha knows that they've only got ten chariots, fifty horsemen?

26:30 Isn't he aware of the depleted ranks militarily? That doesn't bother him. His eye of faith is bright, though his body is sinking fast into the grave. Faith is vigorous in the midst of that decaying, decaying outward man.

26:48 Furthermore, we see the passion of holy anger, and that's a manifestation of grace, especially in an old man. Usually old servants of Christ go weary of fighting, and they become soft and saccharine, and they may be, by constitution and by the sheer pressure of the weariness of the battle, paragons of patience, in spiritual matters, but to see an old servant of God who not only has a clear eye of faith, but the capacity still to be agitated with holy agitation, it's a beautiful thing.

27:33 And I've been privileged to witness that as an elder in this assembly, to see those advanced in years, stirred with agitation and holy anger in the face of unbelief and in the face of an unwillingness to believe. To be obedient to the word of God. The eye of faith is bright. The capacity to experience holy emotions is strong and vigorous.

28:02 The indication of undiminished confidence in the word of God, certainty as to his office. I say all of the things that throb through this passage are indicative of spiritual life, which is vigorous and of God's genuine usefulness, right up until the point where we read in verse 20, and Elisha died.

28:29 Now the great question comes to us. Was this a peculiar privilege because of his peculiar position? Or was this spiritual life and vigor and usefulness that which he enjoyed simply as an ordinary son of the covenant? Well, I suggest that if we allow scripture to interpret scripture, we will come to the latter conclusion.

28:57 Whatever may have been peculiar to Elisha's office as a prophet, that which predominates is available to every one of us who is in vital saving relationship with Elisha's God. But do we not have the promise of Psalm 92? And this is a promise that I have found myself pleading before God. You say, Pastor, pleading before God?

29:25 Men in their forties don't need to worry about those things. You better worry about it when you're in your forties. When you're in your sixties and seventies, it's too late.

29:35 Psalm 92, verses 12 through 14.

29:42 The righteous man. Now notice it does not say the righteous man who is a prophet. The righteous man who has a unique office. But the righteous man, simply as a righteous man, shall flourish like the palm tree.

29:59 He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord. They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age. They shall be full of seed and very green.

30:20 To what end? To declare. To declare that the Lord is upright. In other words, to be monuments of the saving grace of God.

30:32 It is the privilege of those who live to old age to be full of sap and to be green. Some of you know, you children, why it is that the leaves turn yellow and orange and brown and then fall off in the fall. You've been taught, I hope, why that happens. The sap no longer serves.

30:54 It just emerges through the tree during that period of the year. And it's the resurgence of the sap in the spring that gives nourishment. And then you see the buds in the tree and then the leaves open up. Well, this is a beautiful picture.

31:09 It says fall in terms of chronological years need not be fall in terms of spiritual experience. And though we come to those years which may be our fall years in terms of life being considered, in terms of the spans of the year, our birth being our springtime and early spring and summer and midsummer being the prime of life and toward our waning days fall. There need be no orange and brownness of leaf.

31:46 The word of God says they shall be full of sap and very green, continuing to yield fruit even unto old age. And add to that the first psalm. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

32:20 And such a person it is said of him, whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Not just in the prime years of his life. He will be full of sap and green, even unto old age. I want you to hear me carefully, because we have very few aged people in our congregation.

32:44 We have very few people you could even call old, and fewer yet who will admit they fit that category. But as a general rule, a man or a woman's old age is a commentary, on what he or she really was in the prime of life.

33:04 Follow me now.

33:06 As a general rule, thank God there are exceptions, and pitifully there are exceptions. As a general rule, a man or a woman's old age is but a commentary, on what they really were in the prime of life. You will be at seventy what you have been becoming, through your thirties. In the thirties, and forties, and fifties.

33:36 And when we see Elisha full of sap, with green leaf, lying on a bed with a terminal illness, we are simply seeing the man in terms of what he had been becoming through all of those other years. And the maintenance of communion with God, keeping the eye of faith clear, keeping the conscience sensitive, keeping the sense of commission, and identity, clear and unmoved by pressures on the left hand and on the right, he comes to a beautiful death bed. He comes to a beautiful old age.

34:17 This is one of the truths that this congregation, being primarily a young congregation, needs to come to grips with honestly and squarely. Some of you have been cheating on facing squarely issues that are defects in your character, you know them. But you say, Oh, well, I'm young, and there's no sense in really taking those things that seriously. There's always some rough spots in young people, so I'll just put them by the side.

34:49 And so you don't come to grips with those things that your conscience, even now, is speaking to you about. And you say, Oh, I wonder if he's going to get specific and name that thing. And if I were to name it, that thing that right now is there in your own conscience, you'd find a hard time trying to do that. You'd find a hard time trying to do that.

35:06 You wanna check the redness that would come up the back of your neck and into your ears. Well, why should I have to name it then? If conscience is already doing his work, why should I have to name it? That's a thing that you will not deal with.

35:21 That attitude, that disposition, that reaction to things and to people. You know what they are. These are delicious upon your character. Things that are charged.

35:36 You say, Oh, well, I'm young and I have a long time. My friend, it will become an ugly and grotesque thing in your old age if you don't deal with it now. Because your old age will be a commentary on what you really were in your prime years.

35:55 And there is no need to peter out. There is no need simply to fade off the scene with a promise such as Psalm 92 and with the example of a man like Elisha who exemplifies it. There is no excuse for one of us not coming to old age if God brings us to old age. Even as Elisha did, maintaining spiritual vision and vigor and usefulness even until we die.

36:31 And thank God for this example. We can't identify with that glorious home going of Elijah. We can just stand back with our mouths open and try to picture what it must have been for the man of God to be taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.

36:49 But when we look upon the man of God, Elisha, and see his vital powers waning day by day under the influence of that illness with which he was to die, and yet in that we see him in the presence of a king, giving orders to the king, speaking as a man of faith, agitated with holy anger, we say, Lord, I can identify with that. Give me that kind of vigor until it is said of me. And he died. She died.

The Godly Can Exert a Life-Giving Influence Even After Death

37:27 And then there is a third line of truth that is here in the passage. Not only does it teach us that the godliest grow old, get sick and die, not only does it teach us that the godly can maintain vigor and usefulness until they die, it also teaches us that the godly can exert a great life-giving influence even after they die. The godly can exert a great life-giving influence even after they die.

38:09 And now, of course, I'm directing your attention to this strange incident recorded in verses 20 and 21. And Elisha died and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. And as they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha.

38:35 And when the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet. Well, in summary, this is what happened. At a certain time of the year, bands of the Moabites were invading the land of Israel. And in one of the skirmishes, one of their soldiers was killed and they were giving him a proper burial.

38:57 But then, one of the troops of Israel, in all likelihood, comes in their direction, and so they can't finish the process of a proper burial. And so, they see the sepulcher of Elisha, and they hastily throw in the body of this man and take off in self-defense and self-preservation. But no sooner does the body of that dead soldier touch the bones of Elisha, indicating that some period of time had passed, indicating that some period of time had passed, so that there was the decay of the body, that the moment he touches the bones of Elisha, he revives and he stands upon his feet.

39:41 Now here, the imagination of a preacher can run wild, and it should not, so there I stop. But that must have been some scene.

39:51 Especially, especially in the light of the fact that the indication is that as soon as they threw him in and he touched those bones, he became alive. So he was only about...

40:00 He was only about twenty feet behind the soldiers that put him in there. Now you let your imagination take you where you want. You can imagine what the scene must have been like. Running from the Israelites, and all of a sudden, there's a ghost behind you, who's got flesh and bones, saying, Fellas, wait for me!

40:21 And there he comes. Well, that's what happened. He revived, stood upon his feet, and I imagine then he went out of the cave and ran, maybe hid for a while. I don't know, the text is silent, but all I know is, I don't know, the text is silent, but all I know is, I don't know, the text is silent, but all I know is, I don't know, the text is silent, but all I know is, that this is a strange incident, and yet it's here. For what purpose?

40:41 Well, let me say at the outset that I believe the primary intention of this miracle, and its message to Israel, is clear. It was an affirmation of the livingness of Jehovah. God had made a promise through Elisha while he yet lived, that Joash would be instrumental to build the temple of Jerusalem. It was an affirmation of the livingness of Jehovah. God had made a promise through Elisha while he yet lived,

41:05 that Joash would be instrumental to build the temple of Jerusalem. It was an affirmation of the livingness of Jehovah. God had made a promise through Elisha while he yet lived, that Joash would be instrumental to build the temple of Jerusalem. We read of those victories in verses 22 and following.

41:18 Now the man of God is dead, and Joash being the unspiritual man that the history shows him to be, this is not the Joash down in Judah. This is the Joash up in the northern tribes, up in Samaria, up in what is called Israel, in distinction from Judah. This man would no doubt begin to wonder, the man of God who uttered the promise is dead. It was well enough when he who was the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof, when he was alive to say, that's the arrow of victory over Syria, but he's dead.

41:56 When news of this incident reaches him, there is in a very vivid way an affirmation of the livingness of Jehovah. God is saying, in essence, I live, an affirmation of the livingness of Jehovah. God is saying, in essence, I live, an affirmation of the livingness of Jehovah. God is saying, in essence, I live, an affirmation of the livingness of Jehovah. God is saying, in essence, I live,

42:10 and because I live, my word is true and shall be fulfilled, for it's only the living God who can perform the word of prophecy. As A. W. Tozer once said in a sermon I'll never forget, I didn't hear it, I read it, nothing of God dies when a man of God dies.

42:36 He was expounding the text in Joshua 1, as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee, and how in the mind of Joshua he would think of all of the ways in which Jehovah manifested his livingness and his power to Moses. And the first word God says to Joshua is, Moses, my servant is dead. Yes. But you get up and go over and possess the land, for though my servant has died, nothing of me has died as I was with Moses.

43:09 so will I be with thee. And in a real sense, that's the message of this passage. That was the message to Israel in that immediate context. But surely it sets before us a graphic illustration, analogy, of the great principle that God can cause a life-giving influence to go forth from his children long after their death.

43:37 No doubt when Elisha died, everyone thought the mighty miracles wrought through him by Jehovah, none of them will ever be wrought again. That's the end of Elisha and the end of his miracles. And God says, no, I can perform miracles in connection with my servant even when he is dead. And it's interesting that it was a life-giving miracle.

44:04 The same prophet who had stretched himself out upon the light with this form of that little child and prayed until God gave him life, now in his death, becomes an instrument in the hands of the same life-giving, living Jehovah to impart life to a dead soldier. And I say it forms a beautiful analogy and illustration. I do not believe it is the intention of the text. I've given you what I feel is the message of the text.

44:35 But it is a beautiful illustration, an analogy, an analogy of this great principle. The principle articulated in Hebrews 11, for speaking of Cain, I'm sorry, speaking of Abel, who was slain by Cain, it says, he being dead yet speaks. And what a wonderful thing it is so to live as to become an instrument in the hands of Jehovah to impart life after we are dead. And surely the history of the church sets before us many vivid illustrations of this.

45:18 I could not help but think in my preparation of David Brainerd, that young, saintly man who poured out his soul under the open heavens on behalf of the Indians in that area of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, poured out his soul in fervent prayers to God, and yet died so prematurely, as we would say. And yet, only God can count the thousands who have been brought to life in Christ, and the countless thousands more of believers who have been raised to a new level of devotion to Christ and His kingdom by reading what?

46:01 It's interesting that the title of that record is called The Life and the Remains.

46:09 I'm sorry, that's of Robert Murray McShane. You have the diary of David Brainerd. I anticipated the next illustration I was going to use. Which is McShane, who also was cut off at the tender age of 30 or 29.

46:22 And yet, the life and remains of McShane, as given to us by Bonar, has been instrumental in imparting life to thousands and augmenting the life of believers in countless numbers. I say it is a wonderful thing so to live and walk with God in life that when we are yet dead, we are not dead. We are not dead. We are not dead.

46:44 We are not dead. We are not dead. We are not dead. We are not dead.

46:44 We are not dead. We are not dead. We are not dead. We are not dead.

46:44 We are not dead. He continues to impart life to those who come in contact with our memory. Our remains will be what we have left in the minds and hearts of men of how we live.

47:00 Are you so living as to be an instrument of life in the hands of God when you're dead?

47:11 Are you?

47:15 Will the record of what you were as a man or a woman be such as to become a powerful instrument in the hands of God to be a powerful instrument to beget life in others? I don't mean will your name ever go down in church history. Will you ever be famous? No, no.

47:32 If it is only in the circle of those precious children to whom God has given to you, will the memory of your life be such that every time they call to remembrance what you were and how you walked, if they are yet in their sins, the very remembrance of your life will be an arrow of conviction driving them to seek life in the Son of God?

48:01 Or if they are Christians, will it be a constant prod to love Christ more, to serve Him more devotedly, to serve Him more single-mindedly? I ask you, parents, what memory are you storing up in your children? Is it merely that you were a good provider? You were a stable workman or workwoman?

48:24 You were a good cook? Thank God for those things. I do not despise them, but parents can leave that legacy to their children. What legacy are you leaving?

48:39 Are you building up a legacy born out of the realism of a vital, intimate, throbbing walk with Almighty God?

48:53 It is a wonderful thing to believe that we in the hands of God can exert a great life-giving influence even after they die. And as I was preparing, I thought, what would I, as one who's given his life to this congregation, what would I like to have said of our people? And my mind went back to something I read somewhere in church history, and I couldn't remember the incident, so I'll just have to give it to you in all of its unconnectedness, that they said of certain people who were being persecuted, they die well. And I got thinking about that, and I said, well, you know what?

49:34 I'd love to have said of our people three things. They live well, they die well, and their memory works well.

The Bedrock Principle: Standing Before God

49:47 And if that's true, then I believe I can say, Lord, I have not spent my strength in vain. They live well, they die well, and the memory of them works well unto life and salvation. Now, child of God, what is the ultimate bedrock, bottom-line principle? That caused Elisha to be such a man?

50:16 Well, he himself tells us in 2 Kings 3 and verse 14, learning from his spiritual mentor, Elijah, he used even the language of his mentor, but he had something more than a shibboleth. He had the reality in his heart, and he says in 2 Kings 3, these very significant words, and Elisha said, as the Lord of the world, as the Lord of the world, as the Lord of the world, as the Lord of host lives before whom I stand. That's it. You want an explanation for my life?

50:53 I live. I think. I act. I pray.

50:58 I speak. I eat. I converse. I fulfill the most menial task as well as the most lofty task laid upon me as a man of God, as one who stands in the presence of my God.

51:13 Nothing means nothing. Nothing means more to me than his approbation and smile. Nothing is of greater dread to me than his frown. Nothing is a greater comfort than the knowledge of his presence.

51:29 Nothing is a greater joy than the reality of his communion. Whom have I in heaven but thee? There is none that I desire upon the earth besides thee, child of godlessness. Until that becomes the burning reality of your life, you'll neither live well nor die well.

51:46 And your memory will not work well.

51:52 Until all other extraneous issues I dealt with, the praise of men, the promotion of your own image,

52:04 popping up of your own sordid desire to be somebody, the perverted, twisted passions of covetousness and ambition, until they are nailed to a cross, you can say to me, to live is Christ. Only then, only then, will you be able to say, as the Lord God liveth before whom I stand,

52:34 and oh, that that may be your portion,

52:37 beholding Christ in the glory of his dying love, in the power of his resurrection, and all that he is doing for you with the right hand of the Father. How can you continue to cling to your little trinkets and toys and stand before them and bow before them and, and fawn over them and be crippled in being the man and the woman God intends you to be? And I say to you who are outside of Christ,

A Warning to the Unconverted

53:11 all you are doing is moving with each passing day to the inevitability of old age, to sickness, and to death. And the tragedy is,

53:27 as you move in that direction, you move more and more away from a tender conscience,

53:36 from a concern for your soul. When you ought to be growing more and more apprehensive about the shortness of life, the certainty of death and of judgment, just the opposite is true, and I've lived long enough to see it.

53:54 People who once trembled and felt a smart and a twinge under preaching at age twenty, who at age forty and forty-five can slumber through a sermon, and now, almost at will.

54:10 And I've had cause to wonder at times concerning certain individuals, Lord, are they already as good as in hell? And is it simply a matter now that they're marking time until they drop in?

54:25 My friends, what a horrible existence. And if that's a description of your existence, I pray that God will take His own word and shake you this night from that lethargy, from that spiritual dullness and blindness and hardness of heart. It will be said of you if you live out your three score in ten or even your bonus ten, that you became sick of wherewith you are to die, and you shall die. But is it appointed as it is appointed unto men once to die?

The Basis of Elisha's Salvation and the Believer's Hope

55:04 And after this cometh the judgment. May God grant that from the life of this great man of God, Elisha, he being dead, may yet speak to you. For though he died, as to the outward man, the moment he died, he entered into that joyous company of the spirits of just men, made perfect. And he did so only on the basis of the Lamb who was slain in the mind and purpose of God from before the foundation.

55:44 He entered heaven not because he was a good prophet and had a blameless life. He entered heaven because the perfect righteousness of Christ was imputed to him. He entered heaven because he was a sanctified man by the grace that God imparted based upon the mediation of Christ even before Christ came.

56:08 And if you are to join him, you've got to come the same way, be clothed with the same righteousness, experience, the same renovation of your nature by the power of God. And if you are a Christian, I trust that the ministry of this day will be so owned of God that you will begin to think about these great realities of death, of old age, because for most of us, if the Lord does not come in exempting those who may be taken away as we would term it prematurely, the vast majority, will live out their days. Oh, that we may come to our old age

56:51 full of sap and green. Why? So people will write a biography about us? No, to show that the Lord is righteous.

57:00 So that people will think great thoughts about our God. That they'll look on us and say, what a wonderful Savior that man, that woman must have. Look, there they are, old, and they've got joints frozen up with arthritis, and they've got a hard of hearing and got to cut their ears, and they've got a hearing aid hung over one ear and glasses thick as Coke bottles on their eyes, but look at them. There's joy, and when they talk of Christ and the world to come, it's obvious that though the physical eyes are dimmed and without the glasses are probably 20, 100 for all we know, yet it's obvious there is an eye of faith

57:40 that sees a Savior at the right hand of the Almighty, that sees the comfort, that sees the company of just men made perfect, that longs to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Oh, what noble thoughts I've thought of my Savior in the presence of some of His old saints.

58:05 They've been a monument to the grace of my Savior. Isn't that what you want your life to be? You're building for that now, or you're robbing yourself of that solemn responsibility of being a Savior. You're building for that solemn responsibility and blessed privilege now.

Prayer and Benediction

58:24 May God grant that Elisha will preach to us this night and that we may hear His voice by the Spirit. Let us pray.

58:44 Our Father, we are so thankful that we have the Scriptures as a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway.

58:53 We thank You for these historical sections which become, as it were, the theater in which we see the great doctrines of Your Word coming to life, standing before us, speaking to us. And we pray that You will write upon our hearts the message of this passage as we have sought to understand it in Your presence. Our Father, have mercy upon the unconverted in our midst. Track them down, we pray, with pressure of heart and mind and conscience that will not allow them to rest until they rest in Christ.

59:36 We pray for us, who are Your people. Our Father, help us to deal with those things that leaked into our consciences when we were contemplating the issues that we know dishonor You. Help us to be done with everything that would dim the eye of faith, that would blunt the ability to feel holy anger and wrath against our sins, and the sins of others. O Lord, may we not grieve or quench Your Spirit knowingly in any area of our lives.

60:15 We plead with You to seal the Word to our hearts and to help us to walk in its light even in the days of the week that lie before us. We thank You for Your presence in our midst this day. May that same presence be our portion in our brief consideration of the Lord. May it be our portion in the further fellowship of practical matters as a congregation.

60:40 May it be our portion in the further fellowship of the later hours of this day. May it be our portion as we pillow our heads on our beds tonight. O may Your presence and communion with You be our portion all our days until faith is changed to sight and we look upon the face of our Savior. O God, hear our cry.

61:07 We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.