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