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The Story of Elijah and Elisha – The Two Greatest Prophets in the Bible · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: What if I told you that two men walked this
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  Speaker 1: earth with such divine power that one never tasted death,
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  Speaker 1: swept into heaven by a chariot of fire, while the
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  Speaker 1: other performed miracles so profound that even his bones brought
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  Speaker 1: the dead back to life? Long before these prophets emerged,
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  Speaker 1: God spoke through ancient seers about a time of great
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  Speaker 1: darkness when his voice would seem silent and his people
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  Speaker 1: would bow to demons disguised as gods. That time came
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  Speaker 1: when a foreign queen seized control of Israel, slaughtering God's
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  Speaker 1: prophets and erecting temples to Baal across the land. The
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  Speaker 1: nation stood on the edge of complete apostasy until heaven
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  Speaker 1: tore open and sent a man clothed in camel hair
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  Speaker 1: who would seal the sky for three years with a
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  Speaker 1: single word. His name meant, My God is Yahweh, and
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  Speaker 1: he came not with political power or armies, but with
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  Speaker 1: such raw prophetic authority that kings trembled and nature itself
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  Speaker 1: obeyed his commands. But here's what most people don't know.
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  Speaker 1: His greatest miracle wasn't calling fire from heaven or raising
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  Speaker 1: the dead. It was finding the one man worthy to
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  Speaker 1: carry a double portion of his mantle. These two prophets
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  Speaker 1: didn't just perform miracles. They fulfilled ancient prophecies and foreshadowed
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  Speaker 1: the coming Messiah in ways that will leave you stunned.
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  Speaker 1: Their story isn't just history. It's a blueprint for supernatural
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  Speaker 1: faith in impossible times. The kingdom of Israel had seen
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  Speaker 1: many kings, but none as wicked as Ahab. The writer
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  Speaker 1: of 1 Kings chapter 16 makes this painfully clear when
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  Speaker 1: describing his reign. Ahab didn't just continue the sins of
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  Speaker 1: the kings before him, he took evil to an entirely
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  Speaker 1: new level. His biggest mistake was his marriage to a
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  Speaker 1: woman named Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon.
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  Speaker 1: She wasn't from Israel, and she brought with her the
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  Speaker 1: worship of Baal, a false god that her people believed
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  Speaker 1: controlled storms and made crops grow. Jezebel wasn't content to
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  Speaker 1: worship Baal privately. She used her position as queen to
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  Speaker 1: push this false religion onto all of Israel. 1 Kings
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  Speaker 1: 16 verse 32 tells us that Ahab set up an
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  Speaker 1: altar for Baal in a temple he built in Samaria,
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  Speaker 1: the capital city. but he didn't stop there. He also
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  Speaker 1: made an Asherah pole, which was another idol connected to
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  Speaker 1: fertility worship. The text says that Ahab did more to
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  Speaker 1: provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than
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  Speaker 1: all the kings of Israel who came before him. The
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  Speaker 1: situation grew darker. Jezebel brought hundreds of prophets of Baal
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  Speaker 1: and prophets of Asherah into the land, giving them positions
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  Speaker 1: of power and influence. She fed them at her own
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  Speaker 1: table and protected them with royal authority. Meanwhile, she hunted
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  Speaker 1: down the prophets of the true God. These men who
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  Speaker 1: spoke for the Lord were being killed one by one.
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  Speaker 1: The worship of the God who had brought Israel out
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  Speaker 1: of Egypt, who had given them the promised land, was
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  Speaker 1: being systematically destroyed. The people of Israel watched all this happen,
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  Speaker 1: and most of them simply went along with it. They
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  Speaker 1: bowed their knees to Baal. They kissed the idols. They
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  Speaker 1: abandoned the covenant their ancestors had made with God at
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  Speaker 1: Mount Sinai. It seemed like the light of true worship
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  Speaker 1: was about to be snuffed out completely. The nation was
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  Speaker 1: forgetting who they were and whose they were. Into this
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  Speaker 1: darkness a man appeared. His name was Elijah, which means,
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  Speaker 1: My God is Yahweh. We don't know much about where
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  Speaker 1: he came from. The Bible simply calls him Elijah the
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  Speaker 1: Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead. He wasn't from a priestly family.
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  Speaker 1: He had no royal connections. He just showed up one
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  Speaker 1: day in King Ahab's palace with a message that would
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  Speaker 1: change everything. 1 Kings chapter 17 verse 1 records his words.
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  Speaker 1: As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives whom I serve,
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  Speaker 1: there will be neither dew nor rain in the next
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  Speaker 1: few years except at my word That was it. No
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  Speaker 1: long speech, no explanation. Just a bold declaration that the
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  Speaker 1: rain was going to stop and it would only start
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  Speaker 1: again when Elijah said so. This wasn't just a weather forecast.
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  Speaker 1: It was a direct challenge to Baal himself. The whole
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  Speaker 1: reason people worshipped Baal was because they believed he controlled
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  Speaker 1: the rain and made their crops grow. Now this prophet
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord was declaring that Baal had no power
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  Speaker 1: at all. The true God was shutting off the rain,
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  Speaker 1: and the false God couldn't do anything about it. Ahab
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  Speaker 1: must have been stunned. Who was this man to walk
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  Speaker 1: into the palace and make such a claim? But before
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  Speaker 1: the king could respond or ask questions, Elijah was gone.
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  Speaker 1: He disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared, leaving the
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  Speaker 1: king angry and confused. The prophet's clothing marked him as
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  Speaker 1: different from the start. He wore a garment made of
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  Speaker 1: hair and had a leather belt around his waist. This simple,
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  Speaker 1: rough clothing showed that he wasn't interested in comfort or
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  Speaker 1: fitting in with society. He was set apart for God's purposes.
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  Speaker 1: and everything about him declared whose side he was on.
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  Speaker 1: After delivering his message to Ahab, Elijah needed to hide.
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  Speaker 1: The king would certainly be looking for him, especially as
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  Speaker 1: the drought began and people started to suffer. But God
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  Speaker 1: had a plan for his prophet's safety. The word of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord came to Elijah with clear instructions, as we
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  Speaker 1: read in 1 Kings 17 verse 3, Leave here, turn eastward,
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  Speaker 1: and hide in the Kerith ravine, east of the Jordans.
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  Speaker 1: This wasn't just any hiding place. The Kerith ravine was
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  Speaker 1: outside of Ahab's territory, across the Jordan River. Elijah would
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  Speaker 1: be safe there from the king's reach. But there was
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  Speaker 1: another problem. If there was no rain, how would Elijah survive?
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  Speaker 1: Where would he find food and water in a time
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  Speaker 1: of drought? God had already thought of that. Verse 4
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  Speaker 1: contains an extraordinary promise. You will drink from the brook.
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  Speaker 1: and I have directed the ravens to supply you with
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  Speaker 1: food there. Ravens, birds that most people considered unclean and worthless,
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  Speaker 1: would become God's delivery service. Elijah obeyed. He went to
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  Speaker 1: the Kerith ravine and did exactly what the Lord told
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  Speaker 1: him to do, and the provision started immediately. Every morning
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  Speaker 1: ravens brought him bread and meat. Every evening they came
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  Speaker 1: again with more bread and meat. Day after day, these
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  Speaker 1: birds flew to the ravine carrying food in their beaks,
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  Speaker 1: dropping it off for the prophet and flying away. Elijah
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  Speaker 1: drank fresh water from the brook that flowed through the ravine.
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  Speaker 1: Think about what this meant. While the rest of the
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  Speaker 1: land was beginning to suffer from lack of rain, while
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  Speaker 1: crops were starting to fail and people were getting worried,
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  Speaker 1: Elijah had everything he needed. God was taking care of
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  Speaker 1: him in a way that was both miraculous and practical.
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  Speaker 1: The brook provided water, the ravens provided food. Nothing was lacking.
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  Speaker 1: This went on for quite some time. Elijah lived alone
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  Speaker 1: in that ravine, sustained by daily miracles, hidden from those
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  Speaker 1: who wanted to harm him. But eventually, because there was
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  Speaker 1: no rain anywhere in the land, even the brook began
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  Speaker 1: to dry up. 1 Kings 17 verse 7 tells us simply,
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  Speaker 1: Some time later the brook dried up because there had
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  Speaker 1: been no rain in the land. When that happened, God
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  Speaker 1: had new instructions ready for his prophet. The word of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord came to Elijah again with surprising directions. Verse
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  Speaker 1: 8 of 1 Kings 17 records God telling him, Go
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  Speaker 1: at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and
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  Speaker 1: stay there. I have directed a widow there, to supply
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  Speaker 1: you with food. This command must have seemed strange. Sidon
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  Speaker 1: was Jezebel's homeland, the very place where Baal worship was strongest.
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  Speaker 1: God was sending his prophet into enemy territory. When Elijah
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  Speaker 1: arrived at the town gate of Zarephath, he saw a
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  Speaker 1: widow gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, Would
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  Speaker 1: you bring me a little water in a jar so
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  Speaker 1: I may have a drink? As she was going to
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  Speaker 1: get it, he called out again, And bring me, please,
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  Speaker 1: a piece of bread. Her response revealed just how desperate
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  Speaker 1: the situation had become. She answered, As surely as the
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  Speaker 1: Lord your God lives, I don't have any bread. only
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  Speaker 1: a handful of flour in a jar and a little
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  Speaker 1: olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few
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  Speaker 1: sticks to take home and make a meal for myself
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  Speaker 1: and my son, that we may eat it and die.
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  Speaker 1: This was her last meal. She was preparing to cook
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  Speaker 1: whatever she had left, feed her son one final time,
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  Speaker 1: and then wait for starvation to take them both. But
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  Speaker 1: Elijah had a message from God for her. 1 Kings
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  Speaker 1: 17 verses 13 and 14 record his words, Don't be afraid.
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  Speaker 1: Go home and do as you have said. But first
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  Speaker 1: make a small loaf of bread for me from what
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  Speaker 1: you have and bring it to me, and then make
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  Speaker 1: something for yourself and your son. For this is what
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, the God of Israel, says, The jar of
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  Speaker 1: flour will not be used up, and the jug of
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  Speaker 1: oil will not run dry until the day the Lord
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  Speaker 1: sends rain on the land. What Elijah was asking seemed
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  Speaker 1: impossible and even cruel. How could he ask a starving
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  Speaker 1: widow to feed him first, using up the last food
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  Speaker 1: she had? But this was actually a test of faith.
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  Speaker 1: Would she trust the promise of this prophet's God, even
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  Speaker 1: when everything in her situation said there was no hope?
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  Speaker 1: The woman made her choice. She went and did exactly
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  Speaker 1: what Elijah told her to do. She used her last
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  Speaker 1: bit of flour and oil. to make bread for the
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  Speaker 1: prophet first, and then the miracle began. Verse 16 tells
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  Speaker 1: us the result, for the jar of flour was not
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  Speaker 1: used up, and the jug of oil did not run
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  Speaker 1: dry in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken
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  Speaker 1: by Elijah. Day after day the widow would reach into
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  Speaker 1: that jar, and there would be flour. She would tip
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  Speaker 1: the jug, and oil would pour out. It never ran out,
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  Speaker 1: There was always enough for another meal, not an abundance
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  Speaker 1: overflowing everywhere, but always exactly what they needed. Elijah, the
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  Speaker 1: widow and her son, ate from that miraculous supply throughout
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  Speaker 1: the drought. Every single day, God proved his faithfulness through
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  Speaker 1: that flour and that oil. After living in the widow's
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  Speaker 1: house for some time, something terrible happened. Her son became ill.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Kings 17 verse 17 says that the sickness grew
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  Speaker 1: worse and worse until finally he stopped breathing. The boy
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  Speaker 1: was dead. The woman who had shown such faith, who
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  Speaker 1: had trusted God's promise through Elijah, now held her dead
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  Speaker 1: son in her arms. Her grief turned to anger and confusion.
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  Speaker 1: She said to Elijah in verse 18, In her pain,
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  Speaker 1: she thought God was punishing her for something in her past.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe she had done things she wasn't proud of. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: she thought this tragedy was payment for old mistakes. Elijah's
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  Speaker 1: response was immediate and compassionate. He said to her, He
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  Speaker 1: took the boy from her arms. and carried him up
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  Speaker 1: to the upper room where he was staying. Then he
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  Speaker 1: laid the child on his own bed. What happened next
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  Speaker 1: shows us the heart of a prophet who truly cared.
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  Speaker 1: Elijah cried out to the Lord. Verse 20 records his prayer.
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  Speaker 1: Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this
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  Speaker 1: widow I am staying with by causing her son to die?
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  Speaker 1: He was wrestling with God, asking hard questions. Then he
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  Speaker 1: made a desperate plea. He stretched himself out on the
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  Speaker 1: boy three times and cried out, Lord my God, let
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  Speaker 1: this boy's life return to him. It was a physical prayer.
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  Speaker 1: Elijah wasn't standing at a distance speaking formal words. He
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  Speaker 1: was lying on top of the child, as if trying
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  Speaker 1: to give his own life to bring the boy back.
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  Speaker 1: He did this three times, each time calling out to
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  Speaker 1: God with everything in him. And God heard. Verse 22
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  Speaker 1: tells us simply, The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the
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  Speaker 1: boy's life returned to him, and he lived. The child
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  Speaker 1: began to breathe again. His heart started beating. Life came
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  Speaker 1: back into his body. This was the first time in
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  Speaker 1: the Bible that anyone had been raised from death, and
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  Speaker 1: it happened through the prayer of this prophet in a
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  Speaker 1: foreign land. Elijah picked up the child and carried him downstairs.
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  Speaker 1: He gave him back to his mother with these words
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  Speaker 1: from verse 23. Look, your son is alive. The woman's
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  Speaker 1: response showed that her faith had gone to an entirely
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  Speaker 1: new level. She said to Elijah, Now I know that
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  Speaker 1: you are a man of God and that the word
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord from your mouth is the truth. What
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  Speaker 1: had been growing faith was now absolute certainty. She had
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  Speaker 1: seen the power of God over death itself. The drought continued.
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  Speaker 1: Three years passed with no rain falling on the land.
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  Speaker 1: The famine became severe. Animals were dying. People were desperate.
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  Speaker 1: And in the third year, the word of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: came to Elijah with new instructions. 1 Kings 18 verse
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  Speaker 1: 1 records God saying, Go and present yourself to Ahab,
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  Speaker 1: and I will send rain on the land. This meant
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  Speaker 1: going back into danger. Ahab had been searching for Elijah
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  Speaker 1: everywhere during these three years. The king blamed the prophet
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  Speaker 1: for all the suffering the drought had caused. But Elijah obeyed.
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  Speaker 1: He started his journey back to face the king. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: Ahab was so desperate for water that that he personally
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  Speaker 1: went out searching for it. He called his palace administrator,
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  Speaker 1: a man named Obadiah, and together they planned to search
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  Speaker 1: every spring and valley in the land. If they could
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  Speaker 1: find enough grass, maybe they could keep at least some
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  Speaker 1: of their horses and mules alive. They split up to
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  Speaker 1: cover more ground, each going in a different direction. What
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  Speaker 1: Ahab didn't know was that Obadiah was secretly a believer
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  Speaker 1: in the Lord. When Jezebel had been killing the Lord's prophets,
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  Speaker 1: Obadiah had hidden a hundred of them in two caves,
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  Speaker 1: fifty in each cave. He had been bringing them bread
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  Speaker 1: and water, risking his own life to keep them alive.
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  Speaker 1: Now as he was walking along looking for water, he
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  Speaker 1: suddenly came face to face with Elijah. Obadiah recognized him immediately.
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  Speaker 1: He bowed down and asked, Is it really you, my
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  Speaker 1: Lord Elijah? When Elijah confirmed who he was and told
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  Speaker 1: Obadiah to go tell Ahab that he was here, Obadiah
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  Speaker 1: became afraid. He knew that Ahab had been searching for
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  Speaker 1: Elijah everywhere. The king had even made other nations swear
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  Speaker 1: they didn't know where the prophet was hiding. Obadiah was
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  Speaker 1: worried that as soon as he left, the spirit of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord would carry Elijah away somewhere else, and then
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  Speaker 1: Ahab would kill Obadiah for lying to him. but Elijah
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  Speaker 1: swore an oath recorded in verse 15. As the Lord
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  Speaker 1: Almighty lives whom I serve, I will surely present myself
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  Speaker 1: to Ahab today. That promise was enough. Obadiah went to
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  Speaker 1: tell the king, and Ahab immediately went to meet Elijah.
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  Speaker 1: When Ahab saw him, his first words were an accusation.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 17 records him saying, Is that you, you troubler
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  Speaker 1: of Israel? From the king's perspective, Elijah was the cause
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  Speaker 1: of all their problems. This prophet had announced the drought,
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  Speaker 1: and now the land was dying because of it. Elijah
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  Speaker 1: didn't back down. He turned the accusation right back on
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  Speaker 1: the king. Verse 18 gives us his bold response. I
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  Speaker 1: have not made trouble for Israel, but you and your
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  Speaker 1: father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and
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  Speaker 1: have followed the Baals. The real troublemakers were Ahab and
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  Speaker 1: his house. They were the ones who had turned the
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  Speaker 1: nation away from God. Then Elijah issued a challenge that
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  Speaker 1: would change everything. He told Ahab to summon all of
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  Speaker 1: Israel to meet him on Mount Carmel, and he didn't
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  Speaker 1: just want the people there. He wanted all 450 prophets
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  Speaker 1: of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who ate
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  Speaker 1: at Jezebel's table to come as well. It was time
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  Speaker 1: for a showdown. It was time to prove once and
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  Speaker 1: for all who the real God was. Ahab did what
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  Speaker 1: Elijah said. He sent word throughout Israel and assembled the
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  Speaker 1: prophets on Mount Carmel. When everyone had gathered, Elijah stood
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  Speaker 1: before them all and spoke directly to the people. 1
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  Speaker 1: Kings 18 verse 21 records his challenge. How long will
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  Speaker 1: you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God,
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  Speaker 1: follow him. But if Baal is God, follow him. The
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  Speaker 1: people said nothing. They stood there in silence, unable or
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  Speaker 1: unwilling to make a choice. They had been trying to
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  Speaker 1: worship both God and Baal, hedging their bets, keeping their
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  Speaker 1: options open. But Elijah was forcing them to decide. Then
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  Speaker 1: Elijah pointed out the obvious. He said in verse 22,
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  Speaker 1: I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left,
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  Speaker 1: but Baal has 450 prophets. It was one man against hundreds.
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  Speaker 1: The odds couldn't have been more lopsided. But Elijah wasn't
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  Speaker 1: worried about the numbers. He proposed a test. They would
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  Speaker 1: bring two bulls for sacrifice. The prophets of Baal could
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  Speaker 1: choose whichever one they wanted and prepare it on an altar,
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  Speaker 1: but they wouldn't light the fire. Elijah would prepare the
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  Speaker 1: other bull the same way on a separate altar, also
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  Speaker 1: without lighting a fire. Then the prophets of Baal would
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  Speaker 1: call on their God, and Elijah would call on the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 24 explains the terms. The God who answers by fire,
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  Speaker 1: he is God. Everyone agreed this was a fair test.
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  Speaker 1: The prophets of Baal went first. They took their bull,
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  Speaker 1: prepared it, and placed it on their altar. Then they
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  Speaker 1: began to call on Baal. From morning until noon, they shouted, Baal,
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  Speaker 1: answer us. They danced around the altar they had made.
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  Speaker 1: But verse 26 tells us clearly there was no response.
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  Speaker 1: No one answered. At noon, Elijah started mocking them. He
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  Speaker 1: suggested that maybe Baal was deep in thought or busy
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  Speaker 1: with something or traveling. Maybe he was sleeping and needed
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  Speaker 1: to be woken up. His sarcasm cut deep, but it
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  Speaker 1: also made a point. A real god shouldn't need to
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  Speaker 1: be awakened or found. The prophets of Baal became frantic.
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  Speaker 1: They shouted louder. They began slashing themselves with swords and
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  Speaker 1: spears a common practice in their religion until blood flowed
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  Speaker 1: all over them this continued through the afternoon right up
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  Speaker 1: until the time for the evening sacrifice verse 29 describes
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  Speaker 1: the result there was no response no one answered no
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  Speaker 1: one paid attention Their God was silent because their God
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  Speaker 1: didn't exist. When it was Elijah's turn, he called the
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  Speaker 1: people to come closer. He wanted everyone to see clearly
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  Speaker 1: what he was about to do. He took 12 stones.
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  Speaker 1: one for each of the tribes of Israel, and repaired
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  Speaker 1: the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.
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  Speaker 1: This was significant. He was using twelve stones to represent
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  Speaker 1: a united Israel, even though the kingdom had been divided
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: for many years. He arranged the wood on the altar,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: cut the bull into pieces, and laid it on the wood.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: But then he did something that seemed to make no sense.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: He ordered that four large jars be filled with water,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: and poured over the offering and the wood. Then he
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: told them to do it again. Then a third time.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: 1 Kings 18 verse 35 tells us that the water
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: ran down around the altar and even filled the trench
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: he had dug around it. Why would he drench everything
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: with water before asking God to send fire? Because Elijah
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: wanted there to be absolutely no doubt about what was
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: going to happen. No one could claim he had hidden
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: coals in the wood or used any trick to light
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the fire. Everything was soaking wet. Then, at the time
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: of the evening sacrifice, Elijah stepped forward and prayed. His prayer,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: recorded in verses 36 and 37, was simple and direct. Lord,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: known today that you are God in Israel and that
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: I am your servant and have done all these things
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: people will know that you, Lord, are God and that
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: you are turning their hearts back again. The response was
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: immediate and overwhelming. Verse 38 describes what happened. Then the
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the wood, the stones, and the soil, and also licked
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: up the water in the trench. This wasn't just a
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: little flame that lit the offering. This was a consuming
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: fire from heaven that incinerated everything, the meat, the wood,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: even the stones of the altar itself. It evaporated all
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the water in an instant. When the people saw this
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: display of raw power, they fell flat on their faces.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: They cried out together, The Lord, He is God! The Lord,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: He is God! They said it twice, as if once
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: wasn't enough to express what they were feeling. There was
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: no more wavering, no more trying to follow both the
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Lord and Baal. They had seen the truth with their
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: own eyes. Elijah immediately gave an order. He commanded in
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: verse 40, Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: get away. The people grabbed all 450 prophets and took
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: them down to the Kishon Valley. There, Elijah had them
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: all executed. This might seem harsh, but under God's law,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: those who led Israel into idolatry were to be put
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: to death. These false prophets had been deceiving the nation
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: and leading them away from God for years. Justice was
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: finally being carried out, and the voices that had been
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: shouting Baal's name all day were silenced forever. After the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: prophets of Baal had been killed in the Kishon Valley,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Elijah turned his attention to King Ahab. He told him
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings 18 verse 41, Go, eat and drink,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: for there is the sound of a heavy rain. The
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: prophet could already hear what was coming, even though the
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: sky was still clear. The three-year drought was finally about
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: to end. While Ahab went off to eat and drink,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Elijah climbed back up to the top of Mount Carmel.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: There he bent down to the ground and put his
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: face between his knees. This was a position of intense,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: focused prayer. He wasn't standing with his hands raised or
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: walking around. He was crouched low, pressing into God with
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: everything he had. Then Elijah told his servant, Go and
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: look toward the sea. The servant went up and looked
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: out across the Mediterranean, then came back and reported, There
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: is nothing there. But Elijah wasn't discouraged. He simply said,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: go back, and sent him to look again. This happened
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: seven times. The servant would climb up, look out at
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the sea, see nothing but clear sky, and return with
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the same report. Each time, Elijah remained in that same
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: position of prayer, waiting for God's answer. On the seventh time,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: something changed. The servant came back with different news. Verse
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: 44 records his words. A cloud as small as a
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: man's hand is rising from the sea. It was tiny,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: barely noticeable against the vast expanse of sky, but it
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: was there. That small cloud was the answer Elijah had
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: been waiting for. It was the first sign that God
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: was about to fulfill his promise. Immediately, Elijah told his servant,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Go and tell Ahab, hitch up your chariot and go
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: down before the rain stops you. The warning was urgent.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: because Elijah knew what was coming. He had learned to
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: recognize the ways God worked, and that tiny cloud meant
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: a storm was about to break over the land. Verse
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: 45 describes how quickly things changed. Meanwhile, the sky grew
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. Within minutes, the clear
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: sky turned dark. The wind began to blow. Then the
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: rain came pouring down, ending three and a half years
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: of drought in a sudden deluge. But something remarkable happened
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to Elijah. The power of the Lord came on him
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: in a supernatural way. He tucked his cloak into his
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: belt and ran ahead of Ahab's chariot all the way
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: to Jezreel. This was a distance of about 17 miles,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: and Elijah ran the entire way on foot, actually beating
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the king's horses to the city. His body was filled
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: with strength that wasn't his own. The same God who
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: had sent fire from heaven now gave his prophet the
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: endurance to outrun a chariot through a rainstorm. When King
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Ahab arrived in Jezreel, he told his wife Jezebel everything
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: that had happened on Mount Carmel. He described the contest
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. He told her
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: about the fire falling from heaven and consuming the sacrifice,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: the wood, the stones, and even the water. He explained
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: how all the people had fallen on their faces and
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: declared that the Lord was God. And then he told
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: her the part that would enrage her most. Elijah had
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: executed all 450 prophets of Baal with the sword. Jezebel's
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: response was immediate and fierce. 1 Kings 19 verse 2
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: records her sending a messenger to Elijah with these words,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: May the gods deal with me. be it ever so severely,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: if by this time tomorrow I do not make your
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: life like that of one of them. She was swearing
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: an oath by her gods that within twenty-four hours Elijah
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: would be as dead as her prophets. This wasn't an
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: empty threat. Jezebel had the power and the ruthlessness to
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: carry it out. This threat did something unexpected to Elijah.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Here was a man who had just stood alone against
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: 450 prophets. He had boldly confronted King Ahab. He had
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: called down fire from heaven in front of the entire nation.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: He had executed false prophets without hesitation. He had prayed
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: and ended a three-year drought. He had supernaturally outrun a chariot.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: But when he heard Jezebel's threat, verse 3 tells us simply,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. Fear gripped
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: him in a way that all the previous opposition hadn't.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Maybe it was the exhaustion from everything he had been
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: through in such a short time. Maybe it was the
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: realization that even after such a great victory, the battle
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: wasn't over. The Queen was still in power, still promoting
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Baal worship, still hunting God's servants. Maybe it was just
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the human reality that courage has its limits, and Elijah
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: had reached his. He headed south immediately, traveling through Israel
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: into the kingdom of Judah. He kept going until he
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: reached Beersheba, the southernmost city in Judah. This was as
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: far from Jezebel's reach as he could get, while still
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: being in Israelite territory. But even that distance wasn't enough
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: for him. When he arrived in Beersheba, he left his
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: servant there and continued on alone into the wilderness beyond
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: the city. He wanted to be completely alone, away from
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: everyone and everything. Elijah walked a full day's journey into
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: the desert. The landscape was harsh and barren, with no
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: shade and no water. Finally, he came to a broom
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: bush and sat down under its thin branches. The broom
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: bush was a scraggly desert plant, that didn't provide much
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: shelter from the sun, but it was all that was
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: available in that desolate place. And there, in complete isolation
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: and exhaustion, Elijah hit rock bottom. 1 Kings 19 verse
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: 4 records his prayer. I have had enough, Lord. Take
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: my life. I am no better than my ancestors. This
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: was the prayer of a man who had completely given up.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: He wasn't asking God for help or strength or protection
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: from Jezebel. He wasn't asking for another miracle or for
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: guidance about what to do next. He was asking to die.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: The prophet who had raised a dead boy to life
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: now wanted his own life to end. Think about what
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: he was saying. I have had enough. He was declaring
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: himself finished, done, unable to continue. Take my life. He
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: wanted God to end it all right there in the desert.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: I am no better than my ancestors. He felt like
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: a complete failure. His ancestors had died without accomplishing what
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: they hoped for, and now Elijah believed he was in
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: the same position. He had tried to turn Israel back
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: to God. He had risked everything, faced down the king,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: challenged hundreds of false prophets, and called down fire from heaven.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: And yet... Even after the incredible display on Mount Carmel
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: where everyone had proclaimed that the Lord was God, Jezebel
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: was still in power, still making threats, still promoting false worship.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: From Elijah's perspective, nothing had really changed in any lasting way.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: He believed he was the only one left who was
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: faithful to God, and now even he was running away,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: hiding in the desert. What was the point of continuing?
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: What was the point of fighting when the enemy seemed
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: impossible to defeat? What difference had any of it made?
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: These dark thoughts consumed him as he sat under that
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: broom bush in the middle of nowhere, completely overwhelmed by despair.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: After praying this desperate prayer, Elijah simply lay down under
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: the bush and fell asleep. He was done. He had
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: nothing left to give. No more strength, no more courage,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: no more faith. Sleep was an escape from the crushing
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: despair that was suffocating him, and he gave himself over
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: to it completely, perhaps even hoping he wouldn't wake up.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: While Elijah slept in his exhaustion and despair, something happened
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: that he didn't expect. Verse 5 of 1 Kings 19
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: tells us, All at once an angel touched him and said,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Get up and eat. The gentle touch woke him from
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: his sleep, and when he opened his eyes and looked around,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: he saw something remarkable. Right there by his head, close
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: enough to reach, were a cake of bread baked over
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: hot coals and a jar of water. This provision appeared
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the desert, where absolutely nothing grew.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Elijah hadn't brought food with him when he fled from Beersheba.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: There was no one else around for miles, but God
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: had sent an angel to provide exactly what his prophet
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: needed at that moment. Not a sermon about having more faith.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Not a rebuke for running away from his calling. Not
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: a lecture about trusting God more. Just simple, practical, compassionate care.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Fresh bread and clean water. Elijah ate the bread and
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: drank the water. The food gave him some physical strength,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: but he was still so depleted, so tired in every way, physically, emotionally, spiritually,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: that even after eating, all he could do was lie
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: back down and go to sleep again. And God let him.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: There was no rush, no pressure, no demand that he
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: immediately get up and get back to work. The Lord
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: understood that his prophet needed rest more than anything else
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: right now. The angel came a second time. He touched
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Elijah again, waking him gently, and said in verse 7,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Get up and eat. for the journey is too much
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: for you. This time there was a hint of what
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: lay ahead, a journey that would require strength and endurance.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: But even so, the focus was still on meeting Elijah's
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: immediate physical needs. The angel wasn't pushing him to do
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: anything except take care of himself by eating and drinking.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: So Elijah got up again and ate and drank from
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: the provision God had given him. The Bible doesn't tell
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: us exactly how long he rested there in the desert
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: between these two meals, but it was enough time for
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: the food to begin restoring his strength. Verse 8 says,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. And
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: then that simple provision from the angel, two meals of
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: bread and water, sustained him for over a month of
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: difficult travel through harsh terrain. This shows us something important
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: about how God cares for his people. Sometimes the spiritual
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: and emotional problems we face actually have physical roots. Elijah
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: wasn't just spiritually depleted, he was physically exhausted and probably
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: hungry and dehydrated from his flight into the desert. God
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: knew that before his prophet could hear anything else or
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: receive any other kind of help, he needed food, water,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: and rest. The Lord didn't shame him for his weakness.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: He didn't question his faith or his commitment. He simply
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: took care of him like a father caring for his
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: worn-out child. Strengthened by the food the angel had provided,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Elijah began a long journey southward through the wilderness. His
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: destination was Horeb, which was another name for Mount Sinai.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: This was the mountain where Moses had encountered God in
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: the burning bush hundreds of years earlier. It was where
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: God had appeared in fire and smoke, and given the
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: Ten Commandments to Israel. It was where the covenant between
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: God and His people had been formally established. It was,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: in many ways, the birthplace of Israel as God's nation.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: The journey took 40 days and 40 nights of walking.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: This number appears over and over in the Bible and
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: always carries significance. Moses had spent 40 days on this
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: same mountain when he received the law from God. The
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Israelites had wandered for 40 years in the wilderness, not
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: far from where Elijah was now walking. Jesus would later
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: fast for 40 days in the wilderness. Now Elijah was
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: traveling 40 days to reach this holy place. It was
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: a journey not just through physical space, but through time.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: connecting him to the foundational moments of Israel's relationship with God.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: We don't know exactly what route Elijah took through the
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: desert or what he thought about during those long weeks
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: of solitary travel. The Bible doesn't give us those details
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: or any description of the journey itself. but we can
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: imagine a man walking alone through wilderness and wasteland, day
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: after day, week after week, with nothing but his own
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: thoughts and his unanswered questions. Why had things turned out
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: this way? Why had God allowed Jezebel to remain in
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: power even after Mount Carmel? Why did it feel like
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: he was the only person in the entire nation who
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: still cared about serving the true God? What was the
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: point of everything he had done? When Elijah finally arrived
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: at Horeb after his long journey, he found a cave
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: somewhere on the mountain and went inside. 1 Kings 19
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: verse 9 tells us he spent the night there. After
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: 40 days of traveling, he had reached the mountain of God,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: the place where Moses had met with the Lord face
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: to face. But Elijah wasn't on top of the mountain
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: meeting with God in glory and fire. He was hiding
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: in a cave, sheltering himself from the world just as
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: he had hidden in the Kerith ravine years before and
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: in the widow's house in Zarephath. The cave offered shelter
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: and safety from the elements and from anyone who might
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: be looking for him. But it was also a place
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: of isolation and withdrawal. Elijah was separating himself from the
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: world from his mission, from everything he had been called
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: to do. He had come to the mountain where God
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: had dramatically revealed himself to Moses and to the people
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: of Israel, perhaps hoping for similar clarity and direction, or
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: perhaps just wanting to be as far from Jezebel and
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: Israel and all his problems as it was possible to get.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: While Elijah was in the cave, hiding from the world
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: and nursing his despair, the word of the Lord came
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: to him. God spoke to his prophet and asked him
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: a simple direct question recorded in verse 9. What are
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: you doing here, Elijah? It was a short question, just
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: six words, but it carried tremendous weight. This wasn't God
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: asking for information. He knew exactly why Elijah was there,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: what had happened, and what the prophet was feeling. It
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: was a question designed to make Elijah think and reflect.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Why had he abandoned his post in Israel? Why had
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: he run away? Why was he hiding in a cave
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: on a mountain far from where God had called him
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: to serve? Elijah's response came pouring out like water from
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: a broken dam. All the frustration, disappointment, and despair he
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: had been carrying erupted in a flood of words. Verse
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: 10 records what he said, I am the only God
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Almighty the Israelites have rejected your covenant torn down your
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: altars and put your prophets to death with the sword
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: I am the only one left and now they are
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: trying to kill me too listen carefully to what he
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: was saying first he defended himself I have been very
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: zealous for the Lord God Almighty he was telling God
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: that he had worked hard and that he had done
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: everything he was supposed to do, that he had given
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: his absolute best effort to the mission. He had been
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: passionate and committed and faithful. Second, he listed all the
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: problems and failures he saw around him. The Israelites had
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: rejected God's covenant. They had turned their backs on their
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: relationship with the Lord. They had torn down God's altars.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: The places where people were supposed to worship him were
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: being destroyed. They had killed God's prophets. The people who
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: spoke for the Lord were being hunted down and murdered.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Everything was falling apart. Third and most significantly, he expressed
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: his sense of complete isolation. I am the only one left.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Elijah believed he was the last faithful person in the
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: entire nation. Everyone else had either turned to Baal or
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: been killed. He stood alone, the final defender of a
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: lost cause. And finally he revealed his fear. Now they
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: are trying to kill me too. After everything he had done,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: after all his zeal and effort, the enemy was still
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: winning and now they were coming for him. It was hopeless.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: This complaint revealed where Elijah's focus had shifted. He had
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: stopped seeing God's power and started seeing only the opposition
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: and problems. He had forgotten about the fire falling from
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: heaven on Mount Carmel. and was fixated on Jezebel's death threat.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: He had lost sight of the thousands of people who
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: had fallen on their faces and cried out, the Lord,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: he is God, and had convinced himself that he was
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: completely alone. God's response to Elijah's complaint was unexpected. He
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: didn't argue with the prophet or correct his perspective right away.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: He didn't defend himself or explain why things had happened
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: the way they had. Instead, he gave Elijah an experience
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: that would teach him something crucial about how God works.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: Verse 11 of 1 Kings 19 records the Lord telling him,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: So Elijah left the cave and went out to stand
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: on the mountainside. Then something dramatic began to happen. A
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: wind came through, not a normal wind, but a powerful,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: violent wind so strong that it literally tore the mountains
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: apart and shattered rocks into pieces. This was a supernatural
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: display of raw, overwhelming power, the kind of force that
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: makes humans feel small and helpless. But the text tells
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: us something important. The Lord was not in the wind.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: After the wind died down, an earthquake struck. The ground
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: shook violently beneath Elijah's feet. The mountain trembled and heaved.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: This too was a display of awesome, terrifying power that
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: would make anyone fall to their knees. But again, the
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: Bible states clearly, the Lord was not in the earthquake.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: After the earthquake subsided, fire appeared. Flames erupted on the mountain,
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: perhaps recalling the fire that had consumed the sacrifice on
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: Mount Carmel. or the fire that had appeared when God
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: gave Moses the law on this same mountain centuries before.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: Fire often represented God's presence in Scripture, but once more
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: we're told directly, the Lord was not in the fire.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: These three dramatic demonstrations, wind, earthquake, and fire, were exactly
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: the kind of powerful displays that people expected from God.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: They were similar to how God had appeared at Mount Sinai,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: when he gave the law to Moses. They were the
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: kind of spectacular shows of force that make people stand
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: in awe. But God was showing Elijah that his presence
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: wasn't limited to those kinds of manifestations. Then came something
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: completely different. After all the noise and violence and power,
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: verse 12 describes a gentle whisper. Other Bible translations call
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: it a still small voice or a soft murmuring sound
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: or a low whisper. After all the dramatic displays, God
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: spoke in a voice so quiet that Elijah had to
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: be completely still and attentive to hear it at all.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: When Elijah heard this gentle whisper, something in him responded.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: He pulled his cloak over his face, a sign of
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: reverence and recognition that he was in the presence of God.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: and he went out and stood at the entrance to
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: the cave. The mighty displays of wind, earthquake, and fire
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: hadn't drawn him fully out of his hiding place, but
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: the gentle whisper did. God was teaching his prophet something profound. Yes,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: he could work through spectacular displays of power, like the
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: fire on Mount Carmel or the parting of the Jordan River.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: But that wasn't his only way of working, and it
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: wasn't even his primary way most of the time. More
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: often he works quietly, subtly, in ways that require us
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: to be still and listen carefully. The still, small voice
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: was just as much God's presence as the consuming fire
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: had been, maybe even more so because it required faith
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: and attention to perceive it. Standing at the entrance of
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: the cave with his face covered in reverence, Elijah heard
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: a voice asking him the same question he had heard before.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: Verse 13 records it, God was giving him another opportunity
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: to process why he had run, why he was hiding,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: what he was really struggling with deep down, and Elijah
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: gave exactly the same answer as before. Word for word,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: he repeated what he had said earlier in verse 14.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: and put your prophets to death with the sword. I
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: am the only one left, and now they are trying
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: to kill me too. Nothing had changed in his perspective.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: He was still stuck in the same place mentally and emotionally.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: still seeing only the problems and opposition, still feeling utterly
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: alone and defeated. But God didn't argue with him. He
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: didn't tell him he was wrong or correct his thinking directly. Instead,
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: he gave him something concrete to do, a path forward.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: Verses 15 through 17 contain specific, clear instructions. Go back
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus.
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also,
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-Meholah to succeed you as prophet.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: escape the sword of Jehu. These were clear, specific assignments,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: three men to anoint, three major changes to set in motion.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: God was showing Elijah that his work wasn't finished, that
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: there was still a plan moving forward, that history was
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: going to continue unfolding, and Elijah had an important role
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: to play in it. The judgment on Israel's idolatry would
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: indeed come, but it would come through these three men
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: working together over time, not through one dramatic confrontation. Notice
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: that one of the men Elijah was to anoint was
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: his own successor. God was telling him that he wouldn't
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: bear this burden alone forever, that someone else would carry
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: on the prophetic ministry when Elijah's time was done. This
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: wasn't a rebuke, but a relief. The weight didn't rest
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: entirely on his shoulders. Then God addressed the core of
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: Elijah's complaint, the belief that had been crushing him more
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: than anything else, his conviction that he was completely alone.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: Verse 18 contains words that must have stunned the prophet.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: Yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: kissed him. 7,000 people, 7,000 faithful believers scattered throughout Israel.
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: Elijah wasn't the only one left at all. God had
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: preserved a faithful remnant throughout the nation. thousands of people
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: who had refused to worship Baal, who had kept their
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: covenant with the Lord, who had remained true even when
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: it seemed like everyone around them had fallen away. Elijah
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: had been so focused on Jezebel and Ahab, so consumed
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: by the visible opposition of the prophets of Baal, so
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: overwhelmed by the public apostasy, that he had completely missed
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: what God was quietly doing throughout the land. Those 7,000
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: weren't prominent public figures. They weren't making dramatic stands or
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: calling down fire from heaven. They were simply remaining faithful
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: in their homes and towns and villages, quietly serving God
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: even when it wasn't popular or safe to do so.
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: God saw every single one of them, even though Elijah hadn't,
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: and he was preserving them for his purpose. Leaving Mount
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: Horeb with his new assignments from God, Elijah set out
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: to find the man who would one day take his place.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: God had told him to anoint Elisha son of Shaphat
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: from Abel-Meholah as the prophet to succeed him. So Elijah
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: traveled north, back toward Israel, searching for this man he
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: had never met. When he found Elisha, the scene was
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: ordinary and agricultural. 1 Kings 19 verse 19 tells us,
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: himself was driving the twelfth pair. This detail about the
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: twelve yoke of oxen is significant. Most farmers owned one
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: or maybe two oxen. Having twelve yoke meant Elisha came
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: from a wealthy family with substantial land and resources. This
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: wasn't a poor man struggling to survive. He had security, status,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: and a comfortable future ahead of him. Elisha was working
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: alongside his servants, driving the last pair of oxen himself.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: He was in the middle of his daily work. probably
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: thinking about the field he was plowing and the crops
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: that would be planted there. He had no idea his
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: entire life was about to change in the next few seconds.
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: Elijah approached him and did something simple but profound. The
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: verse continues, Elijah went up to him and threw his
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: cloak around him. That was it. No words of explanation,
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: no introduction, no discussion about what this meant or what
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: Elisha would be required to do. just the physical act
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: of throwing his cloak, his mantle, over Elisha's shoulders as
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: he passed by. But this simple gesture communicated everything that
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: needed to be said. In that culture, a prophet's cloak
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: represented his authority and calling. By throwing it over Elisha,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: Elijah was symbolically transferring his prophetic office to this younger man.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: It was a call to leave everything behind and enter
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: into a completely different life. a life of serving God
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: as his spokesman, of facing danger and opposition, of depending
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: on supernatural provision. Without any words being spoken, Elisha understood
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: exactly what was happening. Elisha's response to this unexpected calling
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: was immediate. He didn't need time to think about it
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: or discuss it with his family first. He left his
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: oxen standing right there in the field and ran after Elisha.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: But he did have one request. Verse 20 records him saying,
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: I will come with you. It was a reasonable request.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: He wasn't asking to delay for days or weeks. He
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: just wanted to say a proper farewell to his parents.
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: But Elijah's response tested his commitment. Elijah said to him,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: Go back. What have I done to you? These words
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: sound strange, almost like Elijah was withdrawing the call. But
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: he wasn't. He was testing whether Elisha was truly committed
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: or having second thoughts. Was this really what Elisha wanted,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: or was he looking for an excuse to stay in
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: his comfortable life? Elisha's response proved his total commitment. Verse
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: 21 tells us, So Elisha left him and went back.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: it to the people, and they ate. Think about what
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: he was doing. He killed the oxen that represented his livelihood.
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: He broke up his plowing equipment, the tools of his trade,
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: and used them as firewood to cook the meat. Then
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: he gave all that meat away to the people. This
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: was a dramatic, irreversible action. Those oxen were valuable. That
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: equipment was essential for farming. By destroying them, Elisha was
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: burning his bridges. He was making it impossible to go
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: back to his old life. There would be no returning
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: to farming after this. No changing his mind in a
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: few weeks and picking up where he left off. He
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: was all in. The feast he provided for the people
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: was both a celebration and a farewell. He was saying
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: goodbye to his old life in a public way. sharing
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: his wealth with his community one last time before walking
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: away from it all. Then the verse concludes simply, Then
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: Elisha left his family, his property, his security, and his
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: future plans. He walked away from everything to follow a
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: prophet he had just met, entering into years of training
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: for a calling he didn't fully understand yet. After Elisha
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: made his commitment to follow Elijah, he entered into a
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: period of service and learning that would last for several years.
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: The Bible doesn't give us many details about this time,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: but we get glimpses of their relationship in various passages.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: In 2 Kings 3 verse 11, someone describes Elisha as
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: the one who used to pour water on the hands
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: of Elijah. This was the work of a servant, helping
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: his master wash. attending to his daily needs, doing humble tasks.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: But Elisha wasn't just a servant. He was an apprentice,
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: a disciple learning from a master. He was being trained
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: in the ways of God, learning how to hear the
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: Lord's voice, understanding what it meant to be a prophet
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: in Israel. He watched Elijah interact with kings and common people.
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: He saw how Elijah prayed. He witnessed miracles. He learned
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: from both Elijah's great moments of faith and and his
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: times of struggle. During these years, Elijah continued his prophetic
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: ministry throughout Israel. He confronted King Ahab about taking Naboth's vineyard.
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: He pronounced judgment on Ahab's house. He dealt with Ahab's
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: son Ahaziah after Ahab died. And through all of this,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: Elisha was there watching, learning, serving, and growing in his
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: understanding of what it meant to speak for God. The
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: relationship between them grew deep over time. Elijah became like
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: a father to Elisha, and Elisha became like a son
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: to Elijah. This wasn't just professional training. It was a
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: spiritual father passing his mantle to a spiritual son, preparing
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: him for the enormous responsibility he would one day carry.
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: Elisha learned not just the techniques of prophecy, but the
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: heart of a prophet, the burden of speaking God's words
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: to a nation that often didn't want to hear them.
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: the loneliness of standing for truth when everyone else compromised,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: the absolute dependence on God that was required. These years
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: of faithful service and learning were essential preparation for everything
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: that would come later. Elisha wasn't being trained in a
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: school or through formal education. He was learning by living
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: alongside Elijah day after day, year after year, absorbing not
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: just knowledge but character, not just information, but a way
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: of life devoted entirely to God and His purposes. The
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: time eventually came when God was going to take Elijah
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: to heaven. 2 Kings 2 verse 1 tells us, When
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: from Gilgal. Both prophets knew what was about to happen.
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: This was their final journey together, and it would end
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: with them being separated forever. As they walked from Gilgal,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: Elijah said to Elisha, Stay here. The Lord has sent
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: me to Bethel. He was trying to get Elisha to
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: remain behind, but Elisha refused. He responded with an oath
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: recorded in verse 2, As surely as the Lord lives
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: and as you live, I will not leave you. So
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: they went down to Bethel together. At Bethel, the company
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: of prophets, a group of prophets who lived and trained
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: together there, came out to meet Elisha. They asked him
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: in verse 3, Do you know that the Lord is
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: going to take your master from you today? Elisha answered, Yes,
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: I know, but do not speak of it. He knew
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: what was coming, but he didn't want to discuss it.
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he didn't want Elijah distracted by their comments. or
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: perhaps his own grief was too raw to talk about.
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: From Bethel, Elijah again tried to leave Elisha behind. Verse
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: 4 records him saying, Stay here, Elisha, the Lord has
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: sent me to Jericho. But Elisha gave the same response,
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: As surely as the Lord lives and as you live,
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: I will not leave you. So they traveled to Jericho together.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: The same thing happened in Jericho. The company of prophets
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: there came to Elisha and asked him the same question
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: about Elijah being taken away that day. Elisha gave them
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: the same answer. He knew, but they should be quiet
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: about it. Then Elijah tried one more time to get
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: Elisha to stay behind. Verse 6 tells us Elijah said,'
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: Stay here. The Lord has sent me to the Jordan.'
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: And for the third time, Elisha refused to leave. As
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: will not leave you. This threefold testing revealed Elisha's absolute
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: determination and loyalty. Each time Elijah tried to go on alone,
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: Elisha insisted on staying with him. He wasn't going to
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: abandon his master at this crucial moment. He wasn't going
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: to miss Elisha. whatever was about to happen. His commitment
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't based on convenience or comfort. It was total and unshakable.
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: So the two of them walked on together toward the
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: Jordan River. Fifty men from the company of prophets followed them,
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: but stopped at a distance to watch what would happen.
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: They knew something extraordinary was coming, and they wanted to
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: witness it, even if only from far away. When Elijah
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: and Elisha reached the Jordan River, they stood on its
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: bank looking at the water flowing before them. Then Elijah
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: did something that recalled the great miracles of Israel's past.
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: 2 Kings 2 verse 8 describes what happened. Elijah took
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the water with it.
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: The water divided to the right and to the left,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: This miracle was a direct echo of what had happened
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: centuries before. When Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: God had stopped the Jordan River's flow so the people
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: could cross on dry ground. Even further back, Moses had
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: raised his staff, and God had parted the Red Sea
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: so Israel could escape from Egypt. Now Elijah, at the
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: end of his ministry, was performing the same kind of
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: miracle that the great leaders of Israel's past had witnessed.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: He took his cloak, that same mantle he had thrown
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: over Elisha years before, rolled it up, and struck the water.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: The river immediately divided, creating a dry path through its midst.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: The water stood up on both sides like walls, held
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: back by God's power. Then Elijah, Elijah and Elisha walked
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: across together on the riverbed, their feet on dry ground
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: where moments before the Jordan had been flowing. The fifty
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: prophets watching from a distance saw this happen. They witnessed
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: the power of God working through Elijah one more time,
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: confirming that he was indeed the Lord's prophet, that God's
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: hand was on him in an unmistakable way. It was
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: a fitting final public miracle. Elijah crossing through divided waters
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: just as Israel had crossed through divided waters when entering
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: the land Joshua would give them. For Elisha, this miracle
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: meant something additional. He had heard the stories of Moses
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: and Joshua. He had learned about Israel's history and the
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: mighty works God had done through his servants. Now he
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: was experiencing that same power firsthand. walking on dry ground
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: through the Jordan River, and he was about to inherit
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: the mantle that had struck those waters, the prophetic authority
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: that had commanded them to divide. On the other side
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: of the Jordan, walking together through the wilderness beyond the river,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: Elijah turned to his disciple and asked him a question.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: 2 Kings 2 verse 9 records his words, Tell me,
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: what can I do for you before I am taken
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: from you? It was a generous offer, a final gift
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: from master to student. Elijah was giving Elisha the opportunity
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: to ask for whatever he wanted before they were separated.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: Elisha's request was bold and specific. He said, let me
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: inherit a double portion of your spirit. This wasn't a
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: request for twice as much power as Elijah had. In
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: Israelite culture, the firstborn son received a double portion of
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: his father's inheritance compared to the other sons. If a
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: man had three sons, for example, his property would be
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: divided into four parts. The firstborn got two parts, and
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: the other sons got one part each. Elisha was essentially
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: asking to be recognized as Elijah's firstborn son, his primary heir,
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: the one who would carry on his spiritual legacy. Elijah's
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: response showed that this was indeed a difficult thing to
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: ask for. Verse 10 records him saying, You have asked
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: a difficult thing, Yet if you see me when I
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: am taken from you, it will be yours. If not,
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: it will not. Elijah couldn't just grant this request on
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: his own authority. Only God could give someone a double
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: portion of prophetic spirit. But Elijah set a condition. If
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: Elisha actually saw him when he was taken away, that
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: would be the sign that God was granting his request.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: This condition wasn't arbitrary. It meant Elisha would need to
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: maintain intense spiritual focus during the coming moment. His spiritual
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: eyes would need to be open and alert. Only if
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: he could perceive what was happening in the spiritual realm
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: would he receive what he had asked for. It was
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: a test of spiritual awareness and readiness. The two prophets
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: continued walking together and talking, not knowing exactly when or
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: how the moment would come. They were simply moving forward
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: master and disciple together for these final moments, with Elisha's
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: bold request hanging in the air between them and both
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: of them watching for what God would do next. As
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: Elijah and Elisha were walking along and talking together, something
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: extraordinary happened without warning. 2 Kings 2 verse 11 describes
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: the moment. Suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: went up to heaven in a whirlwind. A chariot made
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: of fire, pulled by horses made of fire, came down
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: from heaven. This wasn't normal fire that burns and destroys.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: This was heavenly fire, glorious and supernatural. The fiery chariot
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: came between Elijah and Elisha, physically separating them from each other.
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: Then a whirlwind, a powerful tornado of wind, caught Elijah
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: up and began carrying him upward toward heaven. Elisha saw
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: it all happening. He watched as his master was taken
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: from him, lifted up by the whirlwind, ascending higher and higher.
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: His spiritual eyes were open enough to perceive this miraculous event.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: He cried out as it happened. and verse 12 records
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: his words, My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: of Israel. This cry revealed several things. First, by calling
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: Elijah my father, Elisha was acknowledging their relationship. Elijah had
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: been like a father to him, and now he was
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: losing him. Second, by calling him the chariots and horsemen
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: of Israel, Elisha was recognizing Elijah's true importance. The prophet
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: had been Israel's real defense and strength, worth more than
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: all their military might. One man connected to God's power
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: was more valuable than entire armies. As Elijah disappeared from sight,
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: ascending into heaven, Elisha tore his garment, his own clothes,
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: in two. This was a traditional expression of grief and mourning.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: a physical demonstration of the deep sorrow he felt, the
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: mentor who had trained him, the spiritual father who had
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: prepared him, the man he had served for years, was gone.
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: Elisha stood there alone, looking up at the empty sky
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: where Elijah had disappeared. This was only the second time
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: in all of Scripture that someone had been taken directly
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: to heaven without dying. Enoch had walked with God and
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: then was no more because God took him. Now, centuries later,
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: Elijah experienced the same kind of departure. He didn't get sick.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: He didn't grow old and die. He simply went from
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: earth to heaven in a moment, transported by God's power
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: in fire and wind. His dramatic exit matched the dramatic
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: nature of his entire ministry. A man who had appeared suddenly,
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: performed mighty miracles, and now departed in glory. After Elijah
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: was taken up, and Elisha had torn his own clothes
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: in grief. He looked down and saw something on the ground.
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: Elijah's cloak, his mantle, had fallen from him during his
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: ascent into heaven. 2 Kings 2 verse 13 tells us,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: Elisha then picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: him and went back and stood on the bank of
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: the Jordan. This cloak was the same one Elijah had
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: thrown over Elisha years before when calling him to prophetic ministry.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: It was the same one Elijah had rolled up and
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: struck the Jordan River with just a short time ago,
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: causing the waters to divide. Now it belonged to Elisha.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: It was his inheritance, the symbol of the prophetic authority
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: that had been passed to him. Standing on the bank
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: of the Jordan with Elijah's cloak in his hands, Elisha
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: faced his first test. He took the cloak and struck
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: the water just as Elijah had done. But as he
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: struck it, he cried out a question recorded in verse 14,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Some
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: translations phrase it as a statement, Where is the Lord,
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: the God of Elijah? Either way, Elisha wasn't expressing doubt.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: He was calling on the same God who had worked
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: through Elijah to now work through him. When he struck
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: the water, it divided to the right and to the left,
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: just as it had for Elijah. The Jordan parted again,
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: creating a dry path through its midst. Elisha crossed over
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: on dry ground. ground, walking back across the river he
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: had crossed earlier with his master. The miracle proved that
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: God's power hadn't left with Elijah. It was now working
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: through Elisha. The 50 prophets who had been watching from
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: a distance saw this happen. Verse 15 tells us their reaction.
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: the company of the prophets from Jericho who were watching said,
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha. And they
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: They recognized immediately what had happened. The same prophetic spirit
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: and authority that had rested on Elijah was now on Elisha.
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: They showed him respect and honor, bowing before him in
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: recognition of his new role. These same prophets wanted to
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: send search parties to look for Elijah's body, thinking perhaps
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: the Spirit of the Lord had dropped him on some
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: mountain or in some valley. But Elisha told them no,
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: knowing that Elijah was in heaven, not lying somewhere on earth.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: They kept insisting until Elisha finally gave in and let
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: them search. For three days, Fifty men searched the area
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: but found nothing, exactly as Elisha had known would happen.
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: The transition was complete. Elijah was gone, taken to heaven
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: in a whirlwind of fire. Elisha now carried the prophetic mantle,
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: confirmed by the miracle at the Jordan and recognized by
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: the other prophets. The ministry that had begun with Elijah
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: announcing a drought to King Ahab would now continue through Elisha.
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: But with its own character and focus, the teacher had departed,
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: and the student was ready to begin his own journey
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: as God's prophet to Israel. After the prophets of Jericho
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: had recognized Elisha as Elijah's successor, the men of the
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: city came to him with a problem. 2 Kings 2
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: verse 19 records them saying,' Look, our Lord, this town
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: is well situated as you can see, but the water
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: is bad and the land is unproductive.' Jericho was in
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: a good location, but something was wrong with their water source.
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: It was making people sick and causing the land to
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: be barren. This problem likely traced back to Joshua's curse
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: on Jericho hundreds of years earlier. When Joshua conquered the city,
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: he had declared that whoever rebuilt it would lose his sons.
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: The city had been rebuilt, and now the water that
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: should have given life was bringing sickness and death instead.
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: Elisha's response was simple and direct. Verse 20 tells us
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: he said, Bring me a new bowl and put salt
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: in it. They brought him what he asked for, a
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: bowl that had never been used before, filled with salt.
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: Salt was known for its preserving and purifying qualities, but
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: what Elisha was about to do wasn't based on salt's
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: natural properties. This was going to be a miracle. Elisha
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: went out to the spring where the water came from
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: This was the source of the problem, so this was
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: where the solution needed to happen. He threw the salt
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: into the spring and spoke words recorded in verse 21.
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: This is what the Lord says. I have healed this water.
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: It was a declaration of healing, a prophetic word that
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: announced what God was doing at that moment. The result?
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: was immediate and permanent. Verse 22 tells us, And the
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: water has remained pure to this day, according to the
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: word Elisha had spoken. The bad water became good. The
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: spring that had been causing death and barrenness became a
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: source of life and health. This was Elisha's first miracle
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: as the recognized prophet of God, and it set the
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: tone for his entire ministry. While Elijah's ministry had often
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: emphasized judgment, shutting up the sky, calling down fire, pronouncing
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: death on kings, Elisha's ministry would focus more on restoration, healing,
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: and provision. The new prophet was bringing life where there
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: had been death. Sometime later, a woman came to Elisha
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: with a desperate problem. 2 Kings 4 verse 1 tells us,
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: The wife of a man from the company of the
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: prophets cried out to Elisha, Your servant my husband is dead,
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: and you know that he revered the Lord, but now
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: his creditor is coming to take my two boys as
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: his slaves. Her husband had been one of the prophets,
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: a man who served God faithfully, but he had died
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: owing money, and now the person he owed was about
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: to take her sons as slaves to settle the debt.
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: This was legal under Israelite law, but it was tragic.
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: She was about to lose her children. Elisha asked her
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: a question that seemed simple but was actually crucial. Verse
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: 2 records him saying, He wanted to know what resources
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: she had available. The widow's answer revealed just how desperate
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: her situation was. She replied, Your servant has nothing there
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: at all, except a small jar of olive oil. That
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: was it. Everything else of value had probably already been
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: sold to try to pay the debt. All she had
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: left was one small jar of oil. It seemed like nothing,
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: certainly not enough to solve her problem. But Elisha saw
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: possibility where she saw only lack. His instructions to her
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: were specific and unusual. Verses 3 and 4 record what
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: he told her. Go around and ask all your neighbors
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons.
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled,
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: put it to one side. She was to gather as
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: many empty containers as possible from everyone around her, then
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: go home, shut the door for privacy, and start pouring
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: oil from her one small jar into all those empty vessels.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: The woman didn't question these strange instructions. She obeyed completely.
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: She went around to all her neighbors and borrowed every
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: jar and container they would lend her. Then she went
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: home with her sons, shut the door. and began to pour.
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: Her sons brought the empty jars to her one by one,
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: and she poured oil from her small jar into each one.
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: Something miraculous happened. The oil kept flowing and flowing. Verse
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: 5 tells us, She kept pouring. One jar filled, then another,
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: then another. The oil never ran out from that small jar.
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: It just kept coming, filling jar after jar after jar. Finally,
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: she said to her son in verse 6, Bring me
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: another one. But he replied, There is not a jar left.
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: They had filled every single container they had gathered. Only
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: when there were no more empty jars did the oil
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: stop flowing. The woman went back to Elisha and told
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: him what had happened. His response gave her the solution
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: to her crisis. Verse 7 records his words, Go. Sell
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: can live on what is left. She had enough oil
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: to not only pay off everything she owed, but also
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: to support herself and her sons afterward. The miracle saved
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: her children from slavery and gave her family a future.
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: God's provision matched her faith and her preparation. The oil
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: continued as long as there were vessels to fill. One
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: day Elisha was passing through the town of Shunem. When
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: a wealthy woman who lived there urged him to stay
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: for a meal, 2 Kings 4 verse 8 tells us
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: that whenever he came by after that, he would stop
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: there to eat. This woman recognized something special about Elisha.
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: She knew he was a man of God, and she
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: wanted to show him hospitality and support. She went beyond
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: just feeding him when he passed through. She talked to
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: her husband about making a more permanent arrangement. Verse 9
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: records her saying to him, I know that this man
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: who often comes our way is a holy man of God.
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: Let's make a small room on the roof and put
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: in it a bed and a table, a chair and
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: a lamp for him. Then he can stay there whenever
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: he comes to us. They built this room specifically for Elisha.
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: It wasn't fancy, but it had everything he needed. A
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: place to sleep, a table to eat at, a chair
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: to sit on, and a lamp for light. This was
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: their way of supporting God's prophet, giving him a place
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: to rest and refresh himself as he traveled around Israel
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: doing the Lord's work. One day, when Elisha came and
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: went up to his room to rest, he wanted to
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: do something for this generous woman in return. He called
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: his servant Gehazi and told him to call her. When
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: she came and stood before them, Elisha asked through Gehazi
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: what could be done for her. Verse 13 records him asking,
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: what can be done for you? Can we speak on
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: It was a significant offer. Elisha had connections with people
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: in power and could advocate for her if she needed something.
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: but her response showed she was content with her life.
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: She said, I have a home among my own people.
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: She wasn't looking for special favors or advancement. She was
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: happy where she was. After she left, Elisha asked Gehazi
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: what could be done for her. Gehazi pointed out something
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: Elisha hadn't noticed. Verse 14 records his observation. She has
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: no son and her husband is old. In that culture,
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: not having a son was a source of deep sadness
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: and also meant there would be no one to care
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: for the parents in their old age or carry on
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: the family name. The woman had everything except the one
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: thing that mattered most to her. Elisha called her back.
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: When she came and stood in the doorway, he spoke
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: a promise to her recorded in verse 16. About this
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: time next year, You will hold a son in your arms.
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: It was an incredible promise, exactly what her heart longed for,
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: but her response showed she was almost afraid to believe it.
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: She said, No, my man of God, please do not
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: mislead your servant. She had probably given up hope of
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: ever having a child. and the thought of having that
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: hope raised only to be disappointed was too painful, but
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: Elisha's word came true. Verse 17 tells us simply, But
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: same time she gave birth to a son, just as
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: Elisha had told her. The woman who had asked for
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: nothing received everything. Her generosity and hospitality to God's prophet
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: brought an unexpected reward. the child she had longed for
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: but never dared to ask for. The boy grew, and
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: one day he went out to his father, who was
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: with the reapers in the fields. It was harvest time,
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: and the child wanted to be with his father watching
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: the work, but suddenly something went terribly wrong. 2 Kings
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: 4 verse 19 records the boy crying out, My head,
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: my head! He was in severe pain, possibly from heat
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: stroke or some sudden illness. His father told a servant
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: to carry the boy to his mother. The servant picked
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: him up and brought him to the Shunammite woman. She
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: held her son on her lap, probably trying to comfort
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: him and cool him down, hoping he would recover. But
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: verse 20 tells us that at noon the boy died.
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: Her miracle child, the son she had received through Elisha's promise,
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: was suddenly dead in her arms. The woman did something
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: remarkable in her grief. She carried her dead son up
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: to Elisha's room and laid him on the prophet's bed.
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: Then she shut the door and went out. She didn't
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: tell her husband what had happened. She just asked him
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: to send her a servant and a donkey because she
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: needed to go to the man of God quickly. Her
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: husband was confused, asking why she would go to Elisha
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: on a day that wasn't a new moon or Sabbath,
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: but she just said, that's all right, and left. She
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: traveled as fast as possible to Mount Carmel, where Elisha was.
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: When Elisha saw her coming from a distance, he sent
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: Gehazi to run and meet her and ask if everything
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: was all right with her, her husband, and her child.
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: Her response to Gehazi was simply, Everything is all right, Nodiri.
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: But she was holding her grief inside until she could
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: reach the prophet himself. When she reached Elisha, she fell
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: at his feet and grabbed hold of them. Gehazi moved
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: to push her away, but Elisha stopped him. Verse 27
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: records Elisha saying, Leave her alone. She's in bitter distress,
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 1: but the Lord has hidden it from me and has
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: not told me why. He could see she was in
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: deep anguish, but didn't know what had happened. Then the
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: woman spoke words recorded in verse 28. Did I ask
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: you for a son, my Lord? Didn't I tell you,
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 1: don't raise my hopes? Now Elisha understood. The child was dead.
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: This was the very thing she had feared. when he
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: first promised her a son, that having him and losing
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: him would be worse than never having him at all.
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: Elisha immediately sent Gehazi ahead with his staff, instructing him
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: to lay it on the boy's face. But the woman
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: made it clear she wouldn't leave Elisha behind. Verse 30
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: records her saying, As surely as the Lord lives and
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: as you live, I will not leave you. So Elisha
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: got up and followed her back to Shunem. Gehazi reached
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: the house first and laid the staff on the boy's
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: face as instructed, but verse 31 tells us there was
• 1:23:25
  Speaker 1: no sound or response. The staff didn't bring the child back.
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: Gehazi went back to meet Elisha and reported, The boy
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: has not awakened. When Elisha arrived at the house, he
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: went into the room where the dead boy was laying
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: on his bed. 2 Kings 4 verse 33 tells us,
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: He went in, shut the door on the two of them,
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: and prayed to the Lord. Alone with the dead child,
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: Elisha prayed, seeking God's intervention in this desperate situation. Then
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: Elisha did something that seemed strange. Verse 34 describes it.
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy,
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: he stretched himself out on him, the boy's body grew warm.
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: Elisha was physically pressing himself onto the child, as if
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: trying to transfer life from his own body to the
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: boy's lifeless form. He got up and walked back and
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: forth in the room, then went back and stretched himself
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: out on the boy again. This time, something happened. Verse
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: 35 says, The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: Life returned to him. The child who had been dead
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: was alive again. breathing and conscious. Elisha called Gehazi and
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: told him to call the Shunammite woman. When she came in,
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: Elisha simply said in verse 36, Take your son. She
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: came in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground.
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: Then she took her son and went out. Her miracle
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: child had been given to her twice now, once at
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: birth and once in resurrection. The prophet's promise had been
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: tested by tragedy, but ultimately confirmed by an even greater miracle.
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: Elisha returned to Gilgal during a time when there was
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: a famine in the land. Food was scarce and people
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: were hungry. A company of the prophets was meeting with him,
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: and Elisha told his servant in 2 Kings 4 verse 38,
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: Put on the large pot and cook some stew for
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: these men. He wanted to feed the prophets who had
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: gathered with him, One of the men went out into
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: the fields to gather herbs and vegetables for the stew.
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: He found a wild vine and picked wild gourds from it,
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: filling the fold of his cloak with them. When he
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: came back, verse 39 tells us, he cut them up
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: into the pot of stew, though no one knew what
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: they were. He was just trying to help by adding
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: more ingredients to the pot, but he had no idea
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: what he had actually gathered. The stew was served to
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: the men and they began to eat it, but immediately
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: they realized something was terribly wrong. Verse 40 records them
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: crying out, Man of God, there is death in the pot.
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: The gourds were poisonous. The stew that was supposed to
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: nourish them was actually deadly. They couldn't eat it. Elisha's
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: response was calm and simple. He said, Get some flour.
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: Someone brought him flour and he put it into the pot.
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: Then he said, Serve it to the people to eat.
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: Verse 41 tells us the result, and there was nothing
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: harmful in the pot. The poison was neutralized. What had
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: been deadly became safe to eat. The prophets could finish
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: their meal without any danger. Shortly after this, a man
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: came from Baal Shalisha, bringing Elisha twenty loaves of barley bread,
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: baked from the first ripe grain and some heads of
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 1: new grain. This was a firstfruits offering. the first portion
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: of the harvest that was supposed to be given to God.
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: The man brought it to Elisha as God's prophet. Elisha
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: told his servant in verse 42, Give it to the
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: people to eat. But his servant objected with a practical question,
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: recorded in verse 43, How can I set this before
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: a hundred men? Twenty loaves and some grain weren't nearly
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: enough to feed that many people. It was impossible. But
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: Elisha insisted giving his servant a word from the Lord,
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: Give it to the people to eat, for this is
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: what the Lord says. They will eat and have some
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: left over. It was a promise of supernatural multiplication, similar
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: to what would happen centuries later when Jesus fed thousands
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: with just a few loaves and fish. The servant obeyed.
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: He set the food before the men, and verse 44
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: tells us the result. Then they ate and had some
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 1: left over according to the word of the Lord. The
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: twenty loaves fed a hundred men with food remaining afterward.
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: It was physically impossible, but God's word through his prophet
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: made it reality. The men were satisfied, and the miracle
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: demonstrated once again that God provides for those who serve him,
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: even in times of famine. In the nation of Aram,
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: which was often at war with Israel, there was a
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: man named Naaman who held a high position. 2 Kings
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: 5 verse 1 describes him. Now Naaman was commanded of
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: the army of the king of Aram. He was a
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: great man in the sight of his master and highly
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: regarded because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram.
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Despite
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: his military success and high rank, Naaman suffered from a
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 1: disease that was slowly destroying him. During one of Aram's
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: raids into Israel, they had captured a young girl who
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: now served Naaman's wife. This girl knew about Elisha and
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: his miraculous power. Verse 3 records her saying to her mistress,
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: If only my master would see the prophet who is
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy. Even
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: though she was a captive far from home, she cared
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: enough about Naaman to tell him about the prophet who
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: could help him. When Naaman heard about this prophet in Israel,
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: he went to his king and told him what the
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: girl had said. The king of Aram sent Naaman to
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: Israel with a letter to the king of Israel, along
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: with gifts, ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold,
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: and ten sets of clothing. The letter said in verse 6,
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: When the king of Israel read the letter, he was horrified.
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: Verse 7 tells us, He tore his robes and said,
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life?
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: Why does this man send someone to me to be
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: cured of his leprosy? See how he's trying to pick
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: a quarrel with me. The king thought this was a setup.
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: an impossible demand designed to create an excuse for war.
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: He had no power to heal leprosy. When Elisha heard
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: that the king had torn his robes, he sent a
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: message recorded in verse 8, Why have you torn your robes?
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: Have the man come to me, and he will know
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: that there is a prophet in Israel. Elisha was ready
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: to help, and he saw this as an opportunity to
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: demonstrate God's power to a foreign commander. So Naaman went
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: to Elisha's house with his horses and chariots and stopped
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: at the door. But Elisha didn't even come out to
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: meet him. Instead, he sent a messenger with simple instructions
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: recorded in verse 10. Go, wash yourself seven times in
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: will be cleansed. That was it. No ceremony, no special prayer.
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: Just go dip in the river seven times. Naaman was furious.
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: Verse 11 tells us, He went away angry and said,
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: I thought that he would surely come out to me
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: and stand and call on the name of the Lord
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: his God, wave his hand over the spot, and cure
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: me of my leprosy. He had expected something dramatic, something
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: worthy of his rank and status. Instead, he got instructions
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: to bathe in a river. He complained further in verse 12,
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: Are not Abana and Farpaar The rivers of Damascus, better
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: than all the waters of Israel. Couldn't I wash in
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: them and be cleansed? From his perspective, if washing in
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: a river was the solution, the rivers back home were
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: better than the Jordan. He was about to leave without obeying.
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: But his servants approached him with wise words recorded in
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: verse 13. My father, if the prophet had told you
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: to do some great thing, would you not have done it?
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: How much more than when he tells you, Wash and
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: be cleansed? They were pointing out that if Elisha had
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: demanded something difficult or expensive, Naaman would have done it.
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: Why refuse to do something simple? Their words convinced him.
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: in it seven times, exactly as Elisha had instructed. Verse
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: 14 describes what happened. His flesh was restored and became
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: clean like that of a young boy. The leprosy was
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: completely gone. His skin was healthy and new, as if
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: he had never been sick. The commander of Aram's army
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: had been healed by the God of Israel. Naaman went
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: back to Elisha with his whole company. This time when
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 1: he stood before the prophet, his attitude was completely different.
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 1: Verse 15 records his words. Now I know that there
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: is no God in all the world except in Israel.
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: He had discovered the true God through his healing. He
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: offered Elisha a gift, but the prophet refused to accept anything.
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: The healing was from God and wasn't for sale. The
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: company of the prophets came to Elisha one day with
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: a practical problem. 2 Kings 6 verse 1 records them saying,
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: The place where we meet with you is too small
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: for us. They were growing in number and needed more space.
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: They asked permission to go to the Jordan River, each
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: cut down a log, and build a new meeting place there.
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: Elisha agreed and even went with them when they asked.
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: While they were cutting down trees by the Jordan, disaster
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: struck one of the men. Verse 5 tells us, As
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: axe head fell into the water. This might not seem
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: like a major problem, but the man cried out to Elisha,
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: Oh no, my lord, it was borrowed. The axe head
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: was made of iron, which was expensive and valuable. This
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: man had borrowed the tool and now had lost the
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: most valuable part of it in the river. He would
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: have to pay for it, which he probably couldn't afford.
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: Elisha asked, Where did it fall? When the man showed
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: him the place, verse 6 records what Elisha did. He
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: cut a stick and threw it there and made the
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: iron float. Iron doesn't float. It's impossible. But when Elisha
• 1:34:35
  Speaker 1: threw the stick into the water, the iron axe head
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: rose to the surface as if it weighed nothing. Then
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: Elisha simply said, Lift it out. The man reached out
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: his hand and took the axe head from the water,
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: and the problem was solved. This small miracle shows the
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: scope of Elisha's ministry. He didn't just perform dramatic miracles
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: for important people. He cared about a poor prophet's borrowed tool.
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: He used God's power to solve everyday problems for ordinary people.
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: Nothing was too small for God to care about. and
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: Elisha demonstrated that throughout his ministry. Beyond this miracle, Elisha
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: performed many others that demonstrated God's power in different situations.
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: He helped the king of Israel avoid ambushes by revealing
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: enemy battle plans that God showed him. When the Syrian
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: army surrounded the city of Dothan to capture Elisha, he prayed,
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: and God struck them with blindness. Elisha then led them
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 1: into Samaria, right into the hands of the king of Israel.
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 1: During a desperate siege of Samaria when people were starving,
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: Elisha prophesied that by the next day food would be
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: plentiful and cheap. And it happened exactly as he said
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: when the Syrian army fled in panic, leaving all their
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: supplies behind. Throughout his ministry, Elisha demonstrated that God sees everything,
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: cares about everything, and has power over everything. No situation
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: was too big or too small for God to handle
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: through his prophet. Elisha eventually grew old and became ill.
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: 2 Kings 13 verse 14 tells us, Now Elisha had
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: been suffering from the illness from which he died. Even
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: prophets who perform miracles weren't immune to sickness and death.
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: But before he died, he had one more important encounter. Jehoash,
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: the king of Israel, came down to see him. When
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: the king saw how sick Elisha was, he wept over
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: him and cried out the same words Elisha had spoken
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: when Elijah was taken to heaven. Verse 14 records him saying,
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel.
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: The king recognized that Elisha had been Israel's true strength
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: and defense, just as Elijah had been before him. Even
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: on his deathbed, Elisha had a prophetic message for the king.
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: He told him to get a bow and some arrows.
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: When Jehosh brought them, Elisha told him to open the
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: east window and shoot an arrow. As the king shot,
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: Elisha declared in verse 17, It was a promise of
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: military victory. Then Elisha told the king to take the
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: arrows and strike the ground with them. The king struck
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: the ground three times and stopped. This made Elisha angry.
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 1: Verse 19 records the prophet saying, You should have struck
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: the ground five or six times. then you would have
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 1: defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: defeat it only three times. The king's lack of enthusiasm
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: and persistence would limit his victories. He would defeat Aram
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: three times, as the number of strikes indicated, but he
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: wouldn't finish them off completely. After this encounter, verse 20
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: tells us simply, Elisha died and was buried. The great
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: prophet who had performed so many miracles said, who had
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: raised the dead and fed the hungry and healed the sick,
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: died like any other man and was laid in a tomb.
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: It seemed like the end of his story, but it wasn't.
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 1: Sometime later, while Israelites were burying a man, they spotted
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: a raiding band of Moabites. coming. In their panic to
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: get away, verse 21 tells us, they threw the man's
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones,
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: the man came to life and stood up on his feet.
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: Even Elisha's dead bones carried the power of God. This
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: final miracle is was a testimony that the power working
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 1: through Elisha had been God's power all along, and even
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: death couldn't stop it. From his calling at the plow
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: to his death and beyond, Elisha had served as God's
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: prophet to Israel for decades. Where Elijah's ministry had been
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: marked by judgment and dramatic confrontations, Elisha's ministry was marked
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: by provision, healing, and life. He performed twice as many
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: recorded miracles as his master, receiving the double portion he
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: had asked for. And through it all, he demonstrated that
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: God cares for his people, provides for their needs, and
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: has power over every situation they face. If this story
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: has inspired you, challenged you, or strengthened your faith, please
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: take a moment to subscribe to our channel so you
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: won't miss future biblical stories that bring Scripture to life.
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: Share this video with your family, friends, and church community.
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: Someone in your life needs to hear about the faithfulness
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: of God and the power available to those who trust Him.
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: Leave a comment below telling us which miracle impacted you
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: the most or what lesson you're taking away from the
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: lives of these two great prophets. Remember, the God of
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 1: Elijah and Elisha is your God too. He hasn't changed.
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: His power hasn't diminished. And He's still looking for people
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: who will say, Here I am, send me. Thank you
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: for watching, and may the faith of these prophets inspire
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: you to trust God more deeply in your own life.