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

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  Speaker 1: In the pages of scripture. Few stories capture the imagination
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  Speaker 1: like the tale of two extraordinary prophets who walked with
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  Speaker 1: God in miraculous ways. Elijah and Elisia lived during one
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  Speaker 1: of Israel's darkest periods, when the nation had turned away
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  Speaker 1: from the Lord to worship false gods. These men of
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  Speaker 1: God performed incredible miracles, confronted powerful kings, and demonstrated that
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  Speaker 1: the God of Israel was alive and active among his people.
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  Speaker 1: Their story is filled with drama, supernatural events, and unwavering
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  Speaker 1: faith that changed the course of history. Join us as
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  Speaker 1: we explore the remarkable journey of these two greatest prophets,
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  Speaker 1: Beginning with the sudden appearance of a bold man from
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  Speaker 1: the wilderness who would challenge an entire kingdom and call
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  Speaker 1: fire down from heaven. The Kingdom of Israel was experiencing
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  Speaker 1: one of the darkest periods in its entire history under
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  Speaker 1: the reign of King Ahab. This wasn't just a time
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  Speaker 1: of political instability or economic hardship. The very spiritual foundation
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  Speaker 1: that had made Israel unique among all the nations of
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  Speaker 1: the earth was crumbling away like sand. The kingdom that
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  Speaker 1: had once been united under David and had reached its
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  Speaker 1: golden age under Solomon, was now split in two, and
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Kingdom of Israel had fallen into a pattern
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  Speaker 1: of rebellion against God that seemed to get worse with
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  Speaker 1: each passing generation. King Ahab had taken the throne and
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  Speaker 1: immediately began leading his people further away from the God
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  Speaker 1: who had brought them out of slavery in Egypt and
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  Speaker 1: given them the promised Land. First Kings, Chapter sixteen, verse
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  Speaker 1: thirty gives us a sobering assessment of just how far
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  Speaker 1: the kingdom had fallen. Ahab's son of Omri, did more
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  Speaker 1: evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of
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  Speaker 1: those before him. When you consider that Israel had already
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  Speaker 1: had several kings who had turned away away from God,
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  Speaker 1: this statement is truly shocking. In a long line of
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  Speaker 1: rulers who had already abandoned the covenant their ancestors had
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  Speaker 1: made with the Lord, Ahab managed to be the worst
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  Speaker 1: of all. The kingdom that had once seen God's glory
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  Speaker 1: filled Solomon's temple was now filled with the sounds and
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  Speaker 1: sights of pagan worship. Cities that had once echoed with
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  Speaker 1: prayers to the Lord now rang with the chanting and
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  Speaker 1: rituals of false religions copied from the nations around them.
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  Speaker 1: The people who were supposed to be a light to
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  Speaker 1: the world, showing other nations what it meant to serve
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  Speaker 1: the True God, were instead copying the worst practices of
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  Speaker 1: their pagan neighbors. The covenant that God had made with Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: Isaac and Jacob seemed like a distant memory, buried under
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  Speaker 1: years of deliberate disobedience and spiritual rebellion. What made Ahab's
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  Speaker 1: reign particularly dangerous was that he didn't just passively all
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  Speaker 1: allow evil things to happen in his kingdom. He actively
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  Speaker 1: promoted and encouraged them. He built altars and temples to
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  Speaker 1: false gods, established priests for pagan religions, and created an
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  Speaker 1: environment where serving the true God became increasingly difficult and dangerous.
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  Speaker 1: The moral and spiritual decay that was eating away at
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  Speaker 1: Israel wasn't happening by accident or through neglect. It was
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  Speaker 1: being deliberately cultivated and nurtured by the very person who
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  Speaker 1: was supposed to protect the nation and guide it according
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  Speaker 1: to God's laws. The already terrible situation in Israel became
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  Speaker 1: dramatically worse when King Ahab made one of the most
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  Speaker 1: destructive decisions in the entire history of the kingdom. He
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  Speaker 1: decided to marry a foreign princess named Jezebel. This marriage
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  Speaker 1: wasn't just a political alliance between two neighboring kingdoms, as
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  Speaker 1: royal marriages often were in those days. It was a
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  Speaker 1: spiritual disaster that would affect not just the current generation,
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  Speaker 1: but generations to come, bringing idle worship right into the
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  Speaker 1: heart of God's chosen people in a way that had
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  Speaker 1: never happened before. Jezebel came from the coastal city of Sidon,
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  Speaker 1: a place where people worshiped a false god called Bal
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  Speaker 1: along with other pagan deities. When she became queen of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: she didn't leave her religious beliefs behind. She brought them
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  Speaker 1: with her and made it her personal mission to spread
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  Speaker 1: them throughout her new kingdom. First King sixteen thirty one
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  Speaker 1: tells us exactly what happened when this marriage took place.
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  Speaker 1: Not only did he consider it trivial to commit the
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  Speaker 1: sins of Jeroboam, son of Nibat, but he also married Jezebel,
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  Speaker 1: daughter of Ethbal, king of the Sedonians, and began to
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  Speaker 1: serve Baal and worship him. Jezebel was unlike any queen
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  Speaker 1: that Israel had ever seen before. She was fierce, intelligent,
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  Speaker 1: determin and absolutely ruthless in pursuing her goals. She had
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  Speaker 1: a strong personality and wasn't content to be just a
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  Speaker 1: decorative royal wife who stayed in the background. Instead, she
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  Speaker 1: threw herself wholeheartedly into the work of transforming Israel's religious landscape,
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  Speaker 1: and she was incredibly effective at it. Under her influence
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  Speaker 1: and active leadership, elaborate temples dedicated to Baal began appearing
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  Speaker 1: in cities and towns across the kingdom. These weren't simple
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  Speaker 1: roadside shrines or small altars tucked away in corners. They
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  Speaker 1: were magnificent, impressive buildings designed to attract attention and draw
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  Speaker 1: people away from the worship of the true God. The
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  Speaker 1: temples were staffed with hundreds of priests and priestesses who
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  Speaker 1: performed elaborate ceremonies and rituals. The worship of Bail was
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  Speaker 1: particularly appealing to farmers and ordinary working people because Bail
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  Speaker 1: was promoted as the god who controlled the web, the
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  Speaker 1: sent the rain, and made crops grow successfully. The priests
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  Speaker 1: of Baal made attractive promises to anyone who would join
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  Speaker 1: their religion. They claimed that if people would worship Baal
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  Speaker 1: and participate in the temple ceremonies, their God would bless
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  Speaker 1: them with good weather, successful harvests, healthy livestock, and prosperity
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  Speaker 1: in all their business dealings. It seemed like an easy
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  Speaker 1: and practical way to get the things that everyone needed
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  Speaker 1: for a successful life. Many people who had grown up
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  Speaker 1: hearing stories about the God of Israel found these immediate,
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  Speaker 1: tangible promises more appealing than serving a God who sometimes
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  Speaker 1: asked difficult things of his followers. But Jezebel's influence went
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  Speaker 1: far beyond just building temples and promoting the worship of
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  Speaker 1: false gods. She became violently and systematically opposed to anyone
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  Speaker 1: who still wanted to serve the Lord or speak in
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  Speaker 1: his name. This wasn't just religious competition. It was deliberate
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  Speaker 1: persecution designed to completely eliminate the worship of the True
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  Speaker 1: God from Israel. The Bible gives us a clear picture
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  Speaker 1: of just how dangerous the situation became in First Kings
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  Speaker 1: eighteen four, which tells us that while Jezebel was killing
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  Speaker 1: off the Lord's prophets. Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets
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  Speaker 1: and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and
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  Speaker 1: had supplied them with food and water. This passage reveals
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  Speaker 1: that faithful believers were literally being hunted down and murdered
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  Speaker 1: for their faith. Men and women who had been called
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  Speaker 1: by God to speak his word were forced to hide
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  Speaker 1: in caves like criminals, afraid for their lives and dependent
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  Speaker 1: on the secret help of sympathetic people like Obadiah. The
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  Speaker 1: worship of the True God hadn't just become unpopular or unfashionable.
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  Speaker 1: It had become a crime, punishable by death. Into this
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  Speaker 1: dark and increasingly dangerous spiritual landscape, God was preparing to
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  Speaker 1: send someone who would stand up to the evil that
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  Speaker 1: had taken control of his people and remind them that
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  Speaker 1: he was still the one True God. The person God
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  Speaker 1: chose for this incredibly difficult and dangerous mission was a
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  Speaker 1: man named Elijah, who came from a small, relatively unknown
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  Speaker 1: town called Tishby in the region of Gilead. The Bible
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  Speaker 1: doesn't provide us with a detailed background about Elijah's family history,
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  Speaker 1: his education, his social status, or even his age. When
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  Speaker 1: God first called him to be a prophet. We don't
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  Speaker 1: know if Elijah came from a wealthy family or if
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  Speaker 1: he was poor. We don't know if he had received
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  Speaker 1: formal religious training, or if he was just an ordinary
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  Speaker 1: working man. The scripture doesn't tell us whether he was
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  Speaker 1: young or old, married or single, or what he had
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  Speaker 1: been doing with his life before God called him. What
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  Speaker 1: we do know is that out of all the people
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  Speaker 1: living in Israel at that time, God had chosen this
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  Speaker 1: particular man from this particular place to be his voice
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  Speaker 1: during one of the most challenging and dangerous periods in
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  Speaker 1: the entire history of his people. This is exactly how
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  Speaker 1: God has always worked throughout history. He doesn't always choose
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  Speaker 1: the people we might expect for the most important jobs.
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  Speaker 1: He often selects ordinary people from ordinary places to do
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  Speaker 1: extraordinary things for his kingdom. He doesn't necessarily pick the richest,
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  Speaker 1: the most educated, the most powerful, or the most famous people. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: he looks for people who will be faithful to him,
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  Speaker 1: who will trust him even when the situation looks impossible,
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  Speaker 1: and who will speak his words even when it's dangerous
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  Speaker 1: to do so. The calling to be a prophet in
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  Speaker 1: Israel was no small responsibility or honor. Prophets were God's
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  Speaker 1: specially chosen messengers, the people he selected to speak his
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  Speaker 1: words directly to kings and common people alike. They had
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  Speaker 1: to be brave enough to tell the truth even when
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  Speaker 1: it would make powerful people angry, faithful enough to trust
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  Speaker 1: God's promises even when circumstances seemed to contradict them, and
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  Speaker 1: strong enough to stand alone when everyone else had given
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  Speaker 1: up or turned away. God was about to ask Elijah
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  Speaker 1: to confront the most powerful and dangerous people in the
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  Speaker 1: entire kingdom. He would have to challenge a religious system
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  Speaker 1: that most people had accepted and that was backed by
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  Speaker 1: the full authority of the royal court. He would have
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  Speaker 1: to speak against practices that were popular and appealing to
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  Speaker 1: many people. He would have to do all of this
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  Speaker 1: knowing that Queen Jezebel had already demonstrated her willingness to
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  Speaker 1: kill anyone who opposed her religious agenda. It would require
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  Speaker 1: incredible courage, unwavering faith, and complete dependence on God's protection
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  Speaker 1: and provision. When Elijah makes his first appearance in the
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  Speaker 1: pages of Scripture, it's one of the most dramatic and
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  Speaker 1: unexpected entrances in the entire Bible. There's no gradual introduction
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  Speaker 1: that helps us get to know this character. There's no
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  Speaker 1: background information explaining who he is, where he came from,
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  Speaker 1: or how he became a prophet. There's no description of
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  Speaker 1: how he gained access to the royal court or arranged
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  Speaker 1: for an audience with the king. Instead, first King seventeen
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  Speaker 1: to one simply drops us right into the middle of
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  Speaker 1: an incredible confrontation. Now, Elijah the Tishbite from Tishby and
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  Speaker 1: Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord, the God of
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  Speaker 1: Israel lives whom I serve, there will be neither due
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  Speaker 1: nor reign in the next few years except at my word.
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  Speaker 1: The sheer boldness of this moment is almost impossible to
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  Speaker 1: fully appreciate unless you understand the setting and the power
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  Speaker 1: dynamics involved. King Ahab was not just any political leader.
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  Speaker 1: He was an absolute monarch who held the power of
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  Speaker 1: life and death over every person in his kingdom. He
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  Speaker 1: lived in a magnificent palace surrounded by guards, advisers, court officials,
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  Speaker 1: and servants. He wore expensive clothes, ate the finest food,
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  Speaker 1: and commanded armies. He could have any one arrested, imprisoned, tortured,
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  Speaker 1: or executed with nothing more than a spoken command. Into
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  Speaker 1: this setting of royal power and luxury, comes this unknown
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  Speaker 1: man from a small town that most people had probably
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  Speaker 1: never heard of. Elijah doesn't request permission to speak or
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  Speaker 1: apologize for interrupting important royal business. He doesn't bow down
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  Speaker 1: or show the kind of elaborate respect that kings expected
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  Speaker 1: from their subjects. He doesn't try to soften his message
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  Speaker 1: or make it more palatable. Instead, he marches right up
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  Speaker 1: to the most powerful man in the kingdom and delivers
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  Speaker 1: a prophecy that will affect every single person in Israel.
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  Speaker 1: The way Elijah begins his message is particularly significant. When
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  Speaker 1: he says, as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives
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  Speaker 1: whom I serve, he is making it absolutely clear that
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  Speaker 1: he is not speaking his own words or expressing his
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  Speaker 1: own opinion about current events. He is not making a
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  Speaker 1: political speech or offering advice based on his own wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and experience. Instead, he is speaking with the authority that
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  Speaker 1: comes only from being God's chosen messenger, delivering a word
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  Speaker 1: that comes directly from the throne of Heaven. The phrase
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  Speaker 1: the God of Israel was especially important in this context
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  Speaker 1: because it identified exactly which God Elijah was representing. This
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  Speaker 1: wasn't Bal, the false god that Jezebel had been promoting
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  Speaker 1: throughout the kingdom. This wasn't any of the other pagan
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  Speaker 1: deities that the surrounding nations worshiped. This was the God
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  Speaker 1: of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the god who had brought
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, who had given
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  Speaker 1: them the Promised Land, and who had established his covenant
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  Speaker 1: with them at Mount Sinai. The message that Elijah delivered
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  Speaker 1: to King Ahab was absolutely devastating in its implications for
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  Speaker 1: the entire Kingdom of Israel. When he declared that there
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  Speaker 1: would be neither dew nor reign in the next few
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  Speaker 1: years except at my word, he wasn't talking about a
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  Speaker 1: brief inconvenience or a temporary disruption to normal weather patterns.
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  Speaker 1: He was predicting a severe, prolonged drought that would last
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  Speaker 1: for multiple years and would affect every aspect of life
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  Speaker 1: for every person in the kingdom, from the wealthiest nobles
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  Speaker 1: to the poorest farmers. In an agricultural society like ancient Israel,
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  Speaker 1: where most people made their living from farming or raising
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  Speaker 1: live stock, rain wasn't just important. It was literally a
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  Speaker 1: matter of life and death. The entire economy depended on
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  Speaker 1: successful harvests, and successful harvests depended entirely on having adequate
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  Speaker 1: rainfall at the right times of the year. Without rain,
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  Speaker 1: crops would wither and die in the fields, Pastures would
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  Speaker 1: turn brown and provide no food for cattle, sheep, and goats.
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  Speaker 1: Wells and springs would dry up, leaving communities without sources
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  Speaker 1: of fresh water. The timing of rains was particularly crucial
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  Speaker 1: in the climate of the Middle East. There were specific
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  Speaker 1: seasons when farmers needed rain to plant their crops, other
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  Speaker 1: times when they needed it for the crops to grow properly,
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  Speaker 1: and still other periods when too much rain could ruin
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  Speaker 1: a harvest that was ready to be gathered. The people
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  Speaker 1: of Israel had learned over generations exactly when to expect
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  Speaker 1: rain and how to plan their agricultural activities around the
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  Speaker 1: normal weather patterns. Elijah's prophecy meant that all of this
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  Speaker 1: predictability was about to disappear completely. But this drought was
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  Speaker 1: much more than just a natural disaster or an unfortunate
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  Speaker 1: change in weather patterns. It was a direct spiritual confrontation
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  Speaker 1: between the God of Israel and the false god Bal
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  Speaker 1: that so many people had begun worshiping under Queen Jezebel's influence.
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  Speaker 1: The followers of Baal made elaborate claims about their god's
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  Speaker 1: power and abilities. They insisted that Bal was the one
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  Speaker 1: who controlled the storms, who decided when and where rain
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  Speaker 1: would fall, and who determined whether crops would be successful
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  Speaker 1: or would fail. The priests of Bale had developed complex
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  Speaker 1: rituals and ceremonies that were supposedly desire to please their
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  Speaker 1: god and convince him to send the weather that people
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  Speaker 1: needed for their crops and livestock. They taught that if
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  Speaker 1: people would participate in these ceremonies, make the right offerings,
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  Speaker 1: and follow the proper procedures, Bahle would reward them with
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  Speaker 1: good weather and prosperous harvests. Many people found these promises
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  Speaker 1: appealing because they seemed to offer a way to have
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  Speaker 1: some control over the forces of nature that affected their
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  Speaker 1: daily lives. So dramatically, now, Elijah was saying that the
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  Speaker 1: true God of Israel was going to demonstrate once and
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  Speaker 1: for all who really controlled the rain and the weather.
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  Speaker 1: The drought would prove that Bail was completely powerless, and
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  Speaker 1: that all the ceremonies and offerings made to him were
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  Speaker 1: utterly worthless. No matter how elaborate the rituals became, no
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  Speaker 1: matter how many sacrifices were offered, no matter how desperately
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  Speaker 1: the priests called on their God, the skies would remain
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  Speaker 1: clear and the ground would remain dry. The phrase except
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  Speaker 1: at my word was particularly significant because it made clear
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  Speaker 1: that when the drought finally did end, it would not
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  Speaker 1: be because Bahal had finally decided to answer his followers prayers. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: it would be because the God of Israel had chosen
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  Speaker 1: to end it, and he would do so through his
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  Speaker 1: chosen prophet, Elijah. This meant that the drought would not
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  Speaker 1: only demonstrate God's power to withhold rain, but also his
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  Speaker 1: power to send it when he decided the time was right.
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  Speaker 1: Immediately after delivering this earth shaking prophecy to King Ahab,
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  Speaker 1: Elijah didn't remain in the royal court to see the
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  Speaker 1: king's reaction or to answer questions about what he had
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  Speaker 1: just announced. He didn't stick around to debate his message
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  Speaker 1: with court advisers or to defend his prophecy against those
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  Speaker 1: who might doubt it. Instead, he followed the specific instructions
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  Speaker 1: that God had already given him about exactly what to
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  Speaker 1: do once his confrontation with the king was complete. According
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  Speaker 1: to First King seventeen two to three, then the word
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord came to Elijah, leave here, turn eastward
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  Speaker 1: and hide in the Carith Ravine east of the Jordan.
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  Speaker 1: The timing of this divine command reveals God's perfect wisdom
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  Speaker 1: and his careful planning for every detail of what was
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  Speaker 1: about to unfold. God knew that once Elijah delivered the
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  Speaker 1: prophecy of drought, he would immediately become the most wanted
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  Speaker 1: man in the entire Kingdom of Israel. As soon as
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  Speaker 1: the drought began to affect people's daily lives, as crops
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  Speaker 1: started failing as wells began running dry. As the economic
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  Speaker 1: and social consequences of the lack of rain became apparent,
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  Speaker 1: King Ahab would certainly launch a massive search for the
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  Speaker 1: prophet who had predicted it all. The king would undoubtedly
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  Speaker 1: assume that if he could capture Elijah, he could somehow
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  Speaker 1: force him to call off the disaster and bring back
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  Speaker 1: the rain that the kingdom desperately needed. The location that
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  Speaker 1: God chose for Elijah's hiding place was absolutely perfect for
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  Speaker 1: someone who needed to disappear completely from public view. The
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  Speaker 1: Kerith Ravine was situated east of the Jordan River, which
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  Speaker 1: meant it was outside the main territory of the Kingdom
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  Speaker 1: of Israel and beyond the area where Ahab's soldiers would
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  Speaker 1: be likely to conduct their initial searches. It was in
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  Speaker 1: a remote, rugged, mountainous region where few people ever traveled,
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  Speaker 1: and where a person could remain hidden for months or
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  Speaker 1: even years without being discovered. The ravine itself provided natural
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  Speaker 1: shelter from the weather and from any one who might
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  Speaker 1: be looking for him. The rocky walls would offer protection
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  Speaker 1: from sun, wind and rain, while also making it nearly
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  Speaker 1: impossible for searchers to spot him from a distance. There
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  Speaker 1: was also a brook running through the ravine that would
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  Speaker 1: provide a constant supply of fresh, clean water, something that
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  Speaker 1: would become increasingly precious as the drought continued and water
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  Speaker 1: sources throughout Israel began to dry up. God's instruction for
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  Speaker 1: Elijah to go to this specific place demonstrates how carefully
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  Speaker 1: the Lord had planned every aspect of what was about
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  Speaker 1: to happen. This wasn't a desperate escape plan hastily thrown
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  Speaker 1: together at the last minute. When things became dangerous. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: it was part of God's perfect long term strategy for
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  Speaker 1: protecting his profit during the difficult years that were coming,
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  Speaker 1: while also positioning him exactly where he needed to be
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  Speaker 1: for the next phase of God's plan to unfold. The
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  Speaker 1: command to hide in the ravine also shows us that
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  Speaker 1: God's involved more than just keeping Elijah safe from King
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  Speaker 1: Ahab's soldiers. During this time of hiding, Elijah would be
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  Speaker 1: completely removed from the public eye, unable to be influenced
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  Speaker 1: by the opinions of other people or the pressure of
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  Speaker 1: current events. He would be in a place where he
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: could focus entirely on his relationship with God, listening for
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: his voice, and preparing for whatever the Lord would ask
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: him to do next. What happened next at the brook
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Cherith was one of the most extraordinary and unexpected miracles
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: recorded anywhere in the pages of scripture. God had promised
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: to take care of Elijah during his time of hiding
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: in this remote location, but the method he chose to
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: provide for his profit was so unusual and so completely
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: contrary to the normal order of nature that it would
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: have been impossible for anyone to predict or imagine. According
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: to first King seventeen to four. God gave Elijah this
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: remark remarkable promise, you will drink from the brook, and
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: I have directed the ravens to supply you with food. There.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: To fully appreciate how amazing this promise was, you need
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: to understand what ravens are like as birds. Ravens are
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: not domesticated animals that have been trained to be helpful
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: to humans. They are wild, aggressive scavengers and carrion eaters
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: that are known for being completely selfish and looking out
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: only for their own survival. In the ancient world, ravens
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: were often viewed as symbols of death, bad fortune, and desolation.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: They were the kind of birds that gathered around battlefields
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: to feed on the bodies of fallen soldiers. They were
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: associated with decay and destruction rather than with provision and care.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: The idea that these particular birds would regularly and faithfully
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: bring food to a human being was absolutely unthinkable under
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: normal circumstances. But God had given these ravens a specific
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: divine command, and they obeyed it with perfect consistency and reliability.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Verse King seventeen six tells us exactly what happened. The
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the brook every single day, twice a day, without fail.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: These wild birds arrived at the ravine carrying exactly what
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Elijah needed to stay alive and healthy. The food they
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: brought wasn't scraps of rotten meat or moldy crumbs that
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: they had scavenged from garbage heaps. It was good, fresh,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: nourishing food, bread and meat that would have been suitable
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: for any person's meal. The bread was probably the kind
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: of flatbread that was commonly eaten throughout the Middle East,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: while the meat would have provided the protein that Elijah
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: needed to maintain his strength during this challenging time. This
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: miraculous provision continued day after day, week after week, month
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: after month, for what would eventually add up to years.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: The ravens never missed a scheduled delivery, They never brought
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: spoiled or inadequate food, They never failed to show up
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: at the appointed times. It was a supernatural demonstration of
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: God's absolute power over his creation and his faithful, dependable
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: care for those who trust him and serve him. The
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: miracle also served as a powerful daily reminder to Elijah
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: of several important spiritual truths. First, it demonstrated that the
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: same God who had commanded him to prophesy a drought
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: had complete power to provide for him even in impossible circumstances.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: If God could make wild ravens act completely contrary to
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: their nature in order to feed his profit, then he
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: certainly had the power to control the weather according to
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: his will and his perfect timing. Second, the daily arrival
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: of the ravens reminded Elijah that God's provision was both
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: supernatural and completely dependable, even when everything else in the
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: kingdom was falling apart because of the drought. Even when
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: other people were struggling to find food and water, God's
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: care for his servant never wavered or failed. This would
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: give Elijah the confidence he would need to continue trusting
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: God through all the challenges that lay ahead. While Elijah
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: was safely hidden away in the Kerith Ravine, being miraculously
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: fed by ravens twice a day and drinking fresh water
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: from the brook, the rest of the Kingdom of Israel
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: was beginning to experience the increasingly severe and devastating effects
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: of the drought that he had prophesied. At first when
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: the rains failed to come at their usual time, most
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: people probably didn't think too much about it. After all,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: weather patterns sometimes varied from year to year, and short
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: dry periods were not completely uncommon in that part of
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: the world. But as weeks turned into months and the
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: months began to stretch toward a full year, it became
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: increasingly clear that something unprecedented and catastrophic was happening. The
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: normal seasonal rains simply weren't coming at all. The skies
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: remained cloudless day after day, week after week. The sun
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: beat down relentlessly on fields that should have been green
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: with growing crops, but instead were turning brown and barren.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Wells that had provided water for generations began to run dry.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Springs that had never failed in living memory started producing
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: only a trickle of water and then stopped flowing altogether.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Livestock began dying as pastures withered and water sources disappeared.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: The price of food started climbing as it became clear
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: that the harvest was going to be a complete failure.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: What had begun as an inconvenience was rapidly becoming a
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: disaster of epic proportions. King Ahab soon realized that this
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: drought was directly and specifically connected to the prophecy that
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: the strange man from Tishbay had delivered in his throne room.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: This wasn't just an unfortunate change in weather patterns or
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: a natural disaster that could be explained by normal causes.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: This was the supernatural fulfillment of Elijah's words, and that
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: meant that finding Elijah might be the key to ending
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: the crisis that was destroying his kingdom. The king began
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: organizing what would become one of the most extensive and
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: intensive man hunts in the entire history of Israel. This
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: wasn't just a casual effort to locate a missing person
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: or a routine search for a criminal. It was a desperate,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: all out campaign involving soldiers, officials, spies, and international co operation.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: King Ahab was willing to spend whatever resources were necessary
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: and to call in favors from neighboring kingdoms in his
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: frantic effort to find the prophet who held the key
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: to his nation's survival. The full extent and intensity of
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: this search is revealed later in the biblical narrative in
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Firse Kings eighteen ten, where Obadiah tells Elijah, as surely
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: as the Lord your God lives, there is not a
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: nation or kingdom where my Master has not sent someone
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: claimed you were not there, he made them swear they
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: could not find you. This passage shows us that Ahab's
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: search for Elijah had become an international effort, involving diplomatic
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: contacts and formal agreements with foreign governments. The king's frantic
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: and increasingly desperate search for Elijah reveals several important things
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: about his stapleate of mind and his understanding of what
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: was happening to his kingdom. First, it proves beyond any
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: doubt that even this wicked and rebellious ruler understood that
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: the drought was supernatural rather than natural in origin. If
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Ahab had believed that the lack of rain was just
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: a normal variation in weather patterns, he wouldn't have devoted
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: so much time, energy, and resources to hunting for one man. Second,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Ahab's relentless search demonstrates his desperate hope that he could
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: somehow force Elijah to end the drought through threats, bargaining,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: or coercion. The king apparently believed that if he could
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: capture the prophet, he could compel him to call upon
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: his God to send rain and restore normal weather patterns
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: to the kingdom. This shows that Ahab recognized and feared
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Elijah's power, even though he continued to refuse to acknowledge
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: or submit to the God who had given Elijah that power.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: As the drought continued month after month and year after
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: year with no sign of relief, the search for Elijah
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: became more and more intense, and desperate crops failed completely
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: throughout the kingdom. Livestock died in massive numbers. People began
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: facing real starvation as food supplies dwindled and prices soared
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: beyond what ordinary families could afford. The priests of Baal
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: tried every ritual, ceremony and sacrifice they could think of
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: to convince their God to send rain, but their efforts
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: were completely useless. Val remained silent and powerless, unable to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: help his followers in their time of greatest need. Meanwhile,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: the man who had prophesied it all remained safely hidden
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: under God's supernatural protection, sustained day after day by a
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: miracle that demonstrated the Lord's complete faithfulness to those who
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: trust in him. The contrast couldn't have been more dramatic.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: While an entire kingdom suffered and its king searched desperately
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: for answers, God's prophet lived in peace and security, cared
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: for by the same divine power that controlled the weather
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: and would, in his perfect timing, bring the drought to
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: an end. After Elijah had been hiding at the brook
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Cheryth for a considerable time, being fed by ravens and
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: drinking from the stream, something began to change in his circumstances.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: The drought that he had prophesied was so severe and
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: had lasted so long that even the brook where he
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: was staying began to dry up. First King seventeen seven
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: tells us that some time later the brook dried up
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: because there had been no rain in the land. This
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: wasn't just an inconvenience for Elijah. It was a clear
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: sign that God was ready to move him to the
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: next phase of his plan. The Lord gave Elijah new
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: instructions that must have seemed quite surprising and even risky.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: According to First King seventeen eight to nine, Then the
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: word of the Lord came to him go at once
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: to Zaraphath in the region of Sidon, and stay there.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Zarafhath was located in Sidon, which was Queen Jezebel's homeland
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: and the very center of Baal worship. For a Hebrew
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: prophet who was being hunted by Jezebel's husband, this seemed
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: like one of the most dangerous places he could possibly go.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: But God's ways are often completely different from what we
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: might expect, and sometimes he places his people in situations
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: that seem impossible in order to demonstrate his power and faithfulness.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: When Elijah arrived at the town gate of Zaraphath, he
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: saw a woman gathering sticks, and he knew immediately that
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: this was the widow God had told him about. The
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: conversation that followed reveals just how desperate the situation had
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: become because of the prolonged drought. When Elijah asked the
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: woman for some water and a piece of bread, her
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: response showed how close she was to complete starvation. First
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: King seventeen twelve records her heart breaking words, as surely
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: as the Lord your God lives, I don't have any bread,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: only a handful of flour in a jar and a
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: few sticks to take home and make a meal for
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: This woman had literally reached the end of her resources
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: and was preparing what she believed would be the last
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: meal she and her child would ever eat. The request
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: that Elijah made next must have seemed almost cruel under
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: the circumstances. He asked her to make him a small
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: loaf of bread first, before making anything for herself and
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: her son. But then he gave her a promise that
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: came directly from God. For this is what the Lord,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: the God of Israel, says. The jar of flour will
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: not be you used up, and the jug of oil
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: will not run dry until the day the Lord sends
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: rain on the land. First King seventeen fourteen. This was
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: asking the woman to demonstrate incredible faith. She was being
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: asked to give away part of her last handful of
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: flower to a stranger, trusting that somehow God would provide
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: for her and her son. But something about Elijah's words
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: and the authority with which he spoke convinced her to
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: take this leap of faith. First Kings seventeen fifteen sixteen
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: tells us the amazing result. She went away and did
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: as Elijah had told her. So there was food every
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: day for Elijah and for the woman and her family,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: for the jar of flower was not used up, and
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: the jug of oil did not run dry. In keeping
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah, this
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: miracle continued day after day for many months. Every time
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: the woman reached into the jar, there was enough flour
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: for that day's bread. Every time she poured from the jug,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: there was enough oil for cooking. The supplies never ran
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: out completely, but they also never accumulated beyond what was
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: needed for each day. It was a perfect demonstration of
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: God's ability to provide exactly what his people need when
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: they need it, even in the most impossible circumstances. The
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: miraculous provision of flour and oil continued for a long time,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: creating a peaceful and secure environment where Elijah could continue
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: to serve God while remaining hidden from King Ahab's searching soldiers.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: The widow and her son had been saved from starvation,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: and they had learned to trust in the God of
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Israel through witnessing his daily provision in their home. But
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: then something happened that tested every one's faith in a
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: way that the food miracle had not. The widow her
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: son became seriously ill. This wasn't just a minor sickness
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: or a temporary condition. It was a severe illness that
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: grew progressively worse despite all the care his mother could
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: give him. In a time and place where medical knowledge
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: was limited and effective treatments were rare, serious illnesses often
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: led to death, especially when people were already weakened by
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: the effects of famine and drought. The boy's condition continued
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: to deteriorate until the unthinkable happened. First Kings seventeen seventeen
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: tells us that he grew worse and worse and finally
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: stopped breathing. The child, who had been miraculously sustained through
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: the famine, who had been part of the household where
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: God provided daily bread through supernatural means, had died despite
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: all the divine care and protection that seemed to surround
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: their home. The grief and confusion that the widow felt
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: in this moment moment is captured in her anguished words
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: to Elijah in First Kings seventeen eighteen, What do you
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: have against me, Man of God? Did you come to
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: remind me of my sin and kill my son? In
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: her pain and shock, she was wondering if somehow the
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: presence of this holy Man in her house had brought
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: divine judgment upon her family. Perhaps she thought that God
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: was punishing her for some forgotten sin, or that having
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: a prophet in her home had somehow made her more
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: accountable to divine standards. Elijah's response to this crisis shows
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: us something beautiful about his character and his relationship with God.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: He didn't try to explain what had happened or offer
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: philosophical answers about why bad things sometimes occur even when
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: God is taking care of people. Instead, he took immediate action,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: carrying the boy to his own room and laying him
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: on his Then he did something that had never been
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: recorded before in the history of God's people. He prayed
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: for the dead child to be brought back to life.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: First King seventeen twenty twenty one records Elijah's desperate prayer, Lord,
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: I'm staying with by causing her son to die? Then
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: he stretched himself out on the boy three times. And
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: cried out to the Lord, Lord, my God, let this
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: boy's life return to him. This wasn't a calm, confident
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: prayer offered from a position of certainty about what God
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: would do. This was the anguished cry of a man
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: who was struggling to understand God's ways, but who still
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: believed that the Lord had power over life and death.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: The result was absolutely miraculous. First King seventeen twenty two
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: tells us that the Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: boy's life returned to him, and he lived. This was
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: the first recorded resurrection from the dead in the entire Bible,
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: a miracle that demonstrated God's power over the ultimate enemy
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: that all human beings face death itself had to yield
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: to the prayer of God's faithful prophet. When Elijah brought
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: the living boy back to his mother, her response shows
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: how this miracle had deepened her faith and understanding. She
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: said in First King seventeen twenty four, now I know
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: that you are a man of God, and that the
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: The resurrection had confirmed for her that Elijah was truly
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: God's representative and that the God of Israel was indeed
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: the one true God who had power over every aspect
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: of life and death. After three and a half years
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: of drought, God finally told Elijah that it was time
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: to end his period of hiding and confront King Ahab directly.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: The famine had become so severe that even the royal
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: household was struggling to find food and water for their animals.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: According to First Kings eighteen five, Ahab and his palace
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: administrator Obadiah had to personally search the land for grass
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: to keep the horses and mules alive. It was during
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: this search that Obadiah encountered Elijah, and the prophet sent
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: a message to the king, go tell your master Elijah
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: is here. First King's eighteen eight When Ahab finally came
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: face to face with the man he had been hunting
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: for years, his first words revealed both his anger and
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: his recognition of Elijah's power. He said, is that you
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: troubler of Israel? First Kings eighteen seventeen. Elijah's response was
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: bold and direct. He told the king, I have not
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: made trouble for Israel, but you and your father's family
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: have You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: the bales First Kings eighteen eighteen. Then Elijah proposed a
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: public test that would settle once and for all the
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: question of which God was real and powerful. He told
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Aihab to gather all the people of Israel on Mount Carmel,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: along with the four hundred fifty prophets of Bail and
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: the four hundred prophets of Ashera, who ate at Jezebel's table.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Mount Carmel was the perfect location for this confrontation. It
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: was a prominent mountain that could accommodate large crowds, and
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: it was also traditionally associated with the worship of Baal,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: since Baal was supposed to be the god of storms
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: and fertility. If Baal had any power at all, this
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: should have been the place where he would demonstrate it
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: most clearly. When the massive crowd had assembled, Elijah addressed
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: the people with words that cut straight to the heart
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: of Israel's spiritual problem. First Kings eighteen twenty one records challenge,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: how long will you waver between two opinions? If the
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: Lord is God, follow him, but if Bail is God,
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: follow him. The people's silence in response to this question
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: showed that they knew they had been trying to serve
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: both God and Bail, and they realized this was impossible.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: Elijah then proposed a simple but decisive test. Two bulls
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: would be prepared for sacrifice, one for the prophets of
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: Baal and one for Elijah. Each side would call on
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: their God to send fire from heaven to consume their sacrifice.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: The God who answers by fire, he is God, Elijah declared,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: First Kings eighteen twenty four. The people agreed that this
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: was a fair test. The prophets of Bail went first,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: and what followed was one of the most dramatic demonstrations
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: of the powerlessness of false gods ever recorded. From morning
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: until noon, they called on Bale's name, danced around their altar,
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: and performed their rituals, but nothing happened. When Elijah began
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: to mock them, saying perhaps their God was sleeping or
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: had gone on a journey, they became even more frantic.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: First Kings eighteen twenty eight tells us that they shouted
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: their custom, until their blood flowed. Despite all their efforts
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: their passion, their self inflicted wounds and their desperate cries,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: Baal remained completely silent. No fire came down, no voice
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: answered them, and their sacrifice remained unchanged on the altar.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: After hours of fruitless effort, it was clear to everyone
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: watching that Baal either didn't exist or was completely powerless
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: to help his followers. When it was Elijah's turn, he
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: began by repairing the Altar of the Lord that had
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: been broken down, probably during the years when Jezebel was
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: systematically destroying places of worship dedicated to the True God.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: He used twelve stones to rebuild the altar, representing the
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: twelve tribes of Israel, and he dug a trench around it.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Then he arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: placed it on the altar, just as the prophets of
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: Baal had done with their sacrifice. But then Elijah did
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: something that seemed to make his task much more difficult.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: He ordered that four large jars of water be poured
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: over the sacrifice and the wood. This was repeated three
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: times until the altar was completely soaked and water was
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: running down into the trench around it. First Kings eighteen
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: thirty five tells us that the water ran down around
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: the altar and even filled the trench. This use of
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: water was particularly significant because water was extremely precious during
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: the severe drought. The fact that Elijah was willing to
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: pour out so much water showed his complete confidence that
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: God would answer his prayer. It also made the test
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: more impressive, because wetwood is much harder to burn than
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: dry wood, and a completely soaked sacrifice would seem impossible
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: to ignite under normal circumstances. When everything was prepared, Elijah
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: stepped forward and offered a simple, powerful prayer that stands
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: in stark contrast to the hours of frantic shouting and
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: self mutilation that the prophets of Bale had performed. First
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: Kings eighteen thirty six thirty seven records his words, Lord,
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: known to day that you are God in Israel, and
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: that I am your servant and have done all these
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: things at your word. Answer me, Lord, Answer me, so
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: that you are turning their hearts back again. The response
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: was immediate and overwhelming. First Kings eighteen thirty eight tells
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: us what happened then The fire of the Lord fell
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: This wasn't just a small flame that gradually consumed the offering.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: This was a supernatural fire that came down from Heaven
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: with such power that it completely consumed not only the
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: sacrifice and the wood, but even the stones of the
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: altar and the soil around it, and it evaporated all
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: the water that had been poured out. The reaction of
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: the people was immediate and dramatic. When they saw this
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: incredible display of divine power. They fell prostrate and cried out,
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: the Lord he is God, The Lord he is God.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: First Kings, eighteen thirty nine. There could be no doubt
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: about what they had witnessed. The God of Israel had
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: demonstrated his reality and his power in a way that
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: was undeniable and overwhelming. The demonstration of God's power on
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: Mount Carmel had settled the question of which God was
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: real once and for all. But Elijah knew that the
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: spiritual battle was not yet complete. The prophets of Bail,
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: who had just been shown to be false teachers, were
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: still alive and still capable of leading people astray in
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: the future. According to the law that God had given
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: to Moses, false prophets who led people away from the
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: true God were to be put to death. Elijah commanded
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: the people seized the prophets of bal don't let anyone
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: get away first Kings eighteen forty. The crowd, still overwhelmed
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: by what they had witnessed and now fully convinced that
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: these men had been deceiving them, seized all four hundred
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: and fifty prophets of Bail. Elijah then led them down
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: to the brook Kishon, where they were executed according to
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: the dias divine law. This action might seem harsh by
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: modern standards, but it was necessary to complete the spiritual
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: cleansing that had begun on Mount Carmel. These men had
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: not only been teaching false religion, but they had been
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: part of a system that had led to the persecution
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: and murder of true prophets of God. They had supported
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: and participated in practices that had brought divine judgment on
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: the entire nation in the form of the three and
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: a half year drought. The execution of the false prophets
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: also demonstrated that there are serious consequences for leading people
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: away from God. It wasn't enough to simply prove that
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: Baal was powerless. Those who had been actively promoting false
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: worship and deceiving the people needed to be removed so
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: that the spiritual renewal of Israel could begin. This decisive
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: action sent a clear message throughout the kingdom that the
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: time of compromise and divided loyalty was over. The people
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: had seen conclusive proof of who the real God was,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: and now they needed to commit themselves completely to serving
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: him alone. The removal of the false prophets eliminated a
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: major source of spiritual confusion and deception that had been
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: poisoning the nation for years. With the false prophets removed
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: and the people's allegiance to the true God publicly re established,
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: it was time for the final demonstration of divine power,
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: the ending of the drought that had lasted for three
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: and a half years. Elijah told King Ahab, go eat
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: rain First Kings eighteen forty one. Even though there were
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: no visible signs of rain at that moment, Elijah was
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: confident that God was about to fulfill his promise to
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: end the drought. While Ahab went to eat and drink,
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel to pray.
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: This wasn't a quick, casual prayer, but an intense, sustained
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: time of intercession. First Kings eighteen forty two tells us
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: that Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: to the ground, and put his face between his knees.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: This was a posture of humility and desperate dependence on God,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: showing that even though Elijah had just witnessed an incredible miracle,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: he still recognized his complete reliance on the Lord's power
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: and timing. Elijah sent his servant to look toward the
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: sea seven times, watching for any sign of approaching rain clouds.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: Six times the servant returned with the report that there
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: was nothing to be seen. But the seventh time he
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: came back with exciting news. A cloud as small as
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: a man's hand is rising from the sea. First Kings
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: eighteen forty four. This tiny cloud was the beginning of
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: God's answer to Elijah's prayer. The prophet immediately sent word
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: to Ahab, hitch up your chariot and go down before
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: the rain stops you. What happened next was a dramatic
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: demonstration of how quickly God can change circumstances when he
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: decides to act. First Kings eighteen forty five describes the transformation. Meanwhile,
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: heavy rain started falling, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: The drought that had lasted for more than three years
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: ended suddenly and completely. The rain that came wasn't a
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: light drizzle or a brief shower. It was a heavy,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: sustained downpour that made up for years of dry weather.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: The same God who had withheld rain to demonstrate his
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: power was now sending abundant rain to show his mercy
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: and faithfulness to his promises. What happened next was another
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: supernatural demonstration of God's power working through his prophet. As
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: King Ahab prepared to travel back to his winter palace
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: in Jezreel, racing to get there before the heavy rain
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: made the roads impassable. Something amazing occurred. Birst Kings eighteen
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: forty six tells us that the power of the Lord
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: came on Elijah, and, tucking his cloak into his belt,
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: This wasn't just a case of a man in good
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: physical condition out running a horse drawn chariot. The distance
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: from Mount Carmel to Jezreel was approximately seventeen miles, and
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: Elijah not only kept up with the royal chariot, but
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: actually ran ahead of it for the entire journey. This
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: was a supernatural enabling that demonstrated God's power working through
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: his servant. In yet another way, the significance of this
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: supernatural run went beyond just the physical miracle. By running
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: ahead of the king's chariot, Elijah was symbolically leading the
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: way in Israel's return to proper relationship with God. The
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: spiritual victory that had been one on Mount Carmel was
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: now being followed by this dramatic physical demonstration of divine power.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: This act also showed honor and respect for the king's position,
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: even though Ahab had been leading the nation in the
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: wrong direction spiritually. Elijah could have used this moment to
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: humiliate the king or to assert his own spiritual authority
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: in a prideful way. Instead, he served as a herald,
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: running ahead to announce the king's arrival in a way
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: that showed proper respect for the office, even while maintaining
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: his prophetic authority. The supernatural run also served as a
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: final confirmation to King Ahab and to anyone who witnessed it,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: that the events of the day had indeed been the
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: work of the True God. If there had been any
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: lingering doubts about whether the fire from Heaven had been
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: real or whether Elijah was truly gone God's prophet, this
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: additional miracle would have removed them completely. When King Ahab
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: returned to Jezreel and told Queen Jezebel everything that had
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: happened on Mount Carmel, the confrontation with the prophets of Bail,
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: the fire from heaven, the execution of her false prophets,
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: and the ending of the drought, her reaction was swift
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: and violent. Instead of being impressed by the obvious demonstration
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: of God's power or humbled by the defeat of her
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: religious system, she became furiously angry and determined to get revenge.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: First Kings nineteen two records the threatening message she sent
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: to Elijah. May the Gods deal with me, be it
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: not make your life like that of one of them,
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: referring to the prophets of Bail who had been executed.
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: This was a direct death threat from the most powerful
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: and dangerous woman in the kingdom, a woman who had
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: already demonstrated her way willingness to kill prophets, and who
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: had the resources and authority to carry out her threats.
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: The effect of this threat on Elijah was dramatic and unexpected.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: This was the same man who had boldly confronted King Ahab,
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: who had challenged four hundred and fifty false prophets in
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: front of the entire nation, who had called down fire
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: from heaven, and had just witnessed the most spectacular display
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: of divine power in generations. Yet when he received Jezebel's threat,
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: First Kings nineteen three tells us that Elijah was afraid
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: and ran for his life. This reaction shows us that
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: even the greatest servants of God are still human beings
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: with normal human emotions and limitations. The spiritual and emotional
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: intensity of the confrontation on Mount Carmel, combined with the
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: physical exhaustion from the supernatural run to Jezreel, had left
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: Elike Measure in a vulnerable state. The threat from Jezebel.
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: Coming so soon after what should have been a moment
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: of complete triumph triggered a crisis of faith and confidence.
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: Elijah fled south toward Beersheba, which was in the Kingdom
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: of Judah and outside of Jezebel's immediate jurisdiction. But even
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: when he reached this place of relative safety, he didn't stop. Instead,
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: he left his servant there and continued alone into the
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: desert wilderness, carrying with him the overwhelming sense of discouragement
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: and despair that had driven him to flee in the
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: first place. The man who had just experienced one of
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: the greatest spiritual victories in Israel's history was about to
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: face one of the darkest periods of his own spiritual journey.
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: Elijah's journey into the wilderness after fleeing from Jezebel's threats
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: led him to a state of complete physical and emotional exhaustion.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: He traveled for a full day into the desert beyond
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: Beersheba until he could go no further. Finding himself under
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: a solitary broom tree, he collapsed and prayed a prayer
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: that revealed the depths of his despair. First Kings nineteen
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: four records his anguished words, I have had enough, Lord
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: This wasn't just physical tiredness speaking. This was the cry
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: of a man whose faith had been shaken to its core.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: Despite having just witnessed one of the most spectacular displays
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: of God's power in human history, Elijah felt like a
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: complete failure. The spiritual victory on Mount Carmel seemed meaningless
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: now that Jezebel was still in power and still determined
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: to destroy him. He felt alone, defeated, and convinced that
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: his ministry had accomplished nothing lasting. But God's response to
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: his discouraged servant was marked by incredible tenderness and care.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: Instead of rebuking Elijah for his lack of faith or
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: reminding him of the great miracle he had just witnessed,
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: the Lord sent an angel to provide for his physical needs.
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: The angel touched him gently and said, get up and
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: eat First Kings nineteen five. When Elijah looked around, he
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: found fresh baked bread and a jar of water that
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: had been miraculously provided for him. After eating and drinking,
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: Elijah lay down again, but the angel returned a second
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: time with the same gentle command, get up and eat,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: for the journey is too much for you. First Kings,
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: nineteen seven. This second provision wasn't just about immediate hunger.
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: It was preparation for a long journey that lay ahead.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: God knew that Elijah needed both physical and spiritual restoration
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: before he could receive the new directions that were coming.
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: Strengthened by this supernatural food, Elijah traveled for forty days
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: and forty knights until he reached Mount Horeb, also known
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: as Mount Sinai, the same mountain where God had given
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: the Ten Commandments to Moses centuries earlier. This wasn't a
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: random destination. Horib was the mountain of God, the place
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: where the covenant between God and Israel had been established
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: and where many of the greatest encounters between God and
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: his people had taken place. When Elijah arrived at Mount Horeb,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: he found a cave where he could shelter, and there
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: he spent the night. It was in this cave that
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: God came to him with a question that went straight
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: to the heart of his spiritual crisis. The Lord asked him,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: what are you doing here, Elijah? First Kings, nineteen nine.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: This wasn't because God didn't know where Elijah was or
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: why he had come. It was an invitation for the
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: prophet to express his feelings and concerns. Honestly, Elijah's response
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: revealed the full extent of his discouragement and his sense
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: of isolation. In Verse Kings nineteen ten, he poured out
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: his heart. I have been very zealous for the Lord
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: your altars, and put your profits to death with the sword.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: I am the only one left, and now they are
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: trying to kill me too. Despite the victory on Mount Carmel,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: Elijah felt like nothing had really changed and that he
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: was completely alone in his faithfulness to God. The cave
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: at Mount Horeb became a place of divine encounter where
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: God would teach his prophet some of the most important
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: lessons about his character and his ways of working in
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: the world. This wasn't just a hiding place from Jezebel's threats.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: It was a class room where Elijah would learn truths
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: that would reshape his understanding of ministry, leadership, and God's
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: purposes for his people. God's response to Elijah's complaint was
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: to give him a dramatic object lesson about his character
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: and his ways of working in the world. The Lord
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: told Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: because he was about to pass by. What followed was
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: one of the most significant revelations of God's nature in
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: the entire Old Testament. First came a powerful wind that
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: was so strong it tore the mountains apart and shattered rocks.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: But First Kings nineteen eleven tells us that the Lord
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: was not in the wind. This wasn't the way God
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: was choosing to reveal himself to his discouraged prophet. After
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: the wind came an earthquake that shook the very foundations
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: of the mountain, but again the Lord was not in
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: the earthquake. Then came a fire, perhaps reminiscent of the
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: dramatic fire that had consumed the sacrifice on Mount Carmel.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: But once more the Lord was not in the fire.
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: After all these dramatic displays of natural power, something completely
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: different happened. First Kings nineteen twelve describes it as a
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: gentle whisper or in some translations, a still small voice.
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: This wasn't a shout or a dramatic announcement. It was
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: a soft, quiet communication that required careful listening to hear.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: When Elijah heard this gentle whisper, he immediately recognized it
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: as the voice of God. He pulled his cloak over
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: his face and went out to stand at the mouth
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: of the cave, showing proper reverence for the divine presence.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: This experience taught Elijah that God doesn't always work through spectacular,
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: overwhelming displays of power. Sometimes his most important work is
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: done quietly, gently, and in ways that might be easily
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: overlooked by those who aren't paying careful attention. The fire
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: from Heaven on Mount Carmel had been necessary to demonstrate
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: God's power to the nation, but the gentle whisper at
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: Mount Horeb was God's preferred way of communicating with his
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: servant in this moment of crisis and confusion. The voice
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: asked Elijah the same question again, what are you doing here? Elijah,
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: First Kings nineteen thirteen. The prophet gave essentially the same
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: answer as before, expressing his sense of failure and isolation.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: But now God was ready to give him new instructions
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: that would redirect his ministry and help him understand that
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: he was not as alone as he thought. God's new
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: instructions for Elijah were specific and far reaching. Verse Kings
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen to sixteen records the divine command, go back
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Araum. Also
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, king over Israel, and annoint Elisha,
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: son of Shaffat from Abel Mehola to succeed you as prophet.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: These instructions involved major political and spiritual changes that would
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: affect not just Israel, but the surrounding nations as well.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: The fact that God was giving Elijah three specific anointing
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: tasks shows that his ministry was far from over. Despite
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: his feelings of failure and discouragement, He was being called
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: to participate in God's long term plan for bringing justice
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: and judgment to the corrupt systems that had taken root
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: in Israel and the surrounding region. These anointings would set
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: in motion a series of events that would ultimately accomplish
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: everything that the confrontation on Mount Carmel had begun. God
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: also gave Elijah an important correction to his sense of
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: complete isolation. The Lord told him in First Kings nineteen eighteen.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel, all who knees
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: have not bowed down to bow, and whose mouths have
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: not kissed him. Elijah had thought he was the only
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: faithful person left in the entire nation, but God revealed
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: that there were actually seven thousand people who had remained
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: true to him despite all the pressure to worship false gods.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: This revelation must have been incredibly encouraging to Elijah. He
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: wasn't alone in his faithfulness, and his ministry hadn't been
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: a complete failure. There were thousands of people throughout Israel
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: who had been strengthened and encouraged by his bold stand
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: for truth, even if he couldn't see them or wasn't
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: aware of their existence. God's work in the hearts of
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: his people was much more extensive than the prophet had realized.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: The first two anointing tasks that God gave to Elijah
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: involved political leaders who would play crucial roles in bringing
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: divine judgment upon the corrupt systems that had taken root
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: in Israel and the surrounding nations. These anointings were part
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: of God's long term strategy for cleaning up the spiritual
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: and political mess that had developed during the reigns of
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: Ahab and Jezebel. Haziel was to be anointed as king
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: over Aram, which was also known as Syria. This was
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: a powerful nation to the north and east of Israel
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: that had been both an ally and an enemy at
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: different times. The anointing of Haziel was significant because it
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: meant that God was raising up a foreign leader who
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: would serve his purposes in bringing judgment upon Israel's unfaithfulness.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: Sometimes God uses other nations as instruments of discipline for
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: his own people when they persist in rebellion against him.
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: The biblical record shows that this anointing task was eventually
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: carried out, though not necessarily by Elijah himself, in a
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: direct ceremonial way. Second Kings eight sevent fifteen describes how
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: the prophet Elisha later encountered Haziel and prophesied that he
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: would become King of Aram. Hazael did indeed become a
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: powerful ruler who caused significant military pressure on Israel during
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: the reigns of several kings, serving as an instrument of
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: divine discipline for the nation's continued unfaithfulness. The second political
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: anointing involved Jehu, the son of Nimshi, who was to
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: be anointed as king over Israel. This was perhaps even
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: more significant than the anointing of Hazael because it involved
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: a complete change of dynasty within Israel itself. Jugu would
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: be called to bring an end to the House of
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: Ahab and to destroy the worship of Bal that Jezebel
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: had established throughout the kingdom. This anointing was also eventually
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: accomplished through Elisha rather than directly by Elijah. Second Kings
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: nine one to thirteen describes how Elisha sent one of
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: the young prophets to anoint Jihu secretly while he was
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: with his fellow military commanders. When the anointing was revealed,
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: Jihu's companions immediately proclaimed him king and supported his rebellion
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: against the existing royal house, Ji, whose reign turned out
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: to be exactly what God had intended, a time of
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: violent but necessary cleansing that removed the influence of Baal
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: worship from Israel. Second Kings ten eighteen to twenty eight
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: describes how Jihu systematically destroyed the prophets, priests, and worshippers
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: of Baal, along with their temples and sacred objects. He
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: also killed Jezebel and eliminated the entire royal family that
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: had been responsible for leading Israel into idolatry. These political
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: anointings show us that God is sovereign over the affairs
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: of nations, and that he raises up leaders to accomplish
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: his purposes, even when those leaders may not fully understand
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: or acknowledge his authority. Both Hazael and Jehu served as
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: instruments of divine judgment, bringing consequences upon those who had
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: persistently rebelled against God's commands and led others into spiritual darkness.
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: The fact that God gave these anointing tasks to Elijah
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: also shows that the prophet's ministry had a much broader
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: scope than just dramatic confrontations and miraculous demonstrations. He was
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: being called to participate in God's long term political strategy
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: for the region, helping to set in motion changes that
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: would take years or even decades to fully unfold. The
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: third anointing task that God gave to Elijah was perhaps
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: the most important of all, the anointing of his successor
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: as prophet, This wasn't just about finding someone to continue
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: his work after he was gone. It was about preparing
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: for a transition that would bring the prophetic ministry in
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: Israel to a new level of influence and effectiveness. God
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: had specifically named the man who was to be Elijah's successor, Elisha,
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: the son of Shaffat from Abel Mihullah. This wasn't a
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: random choice or a decision that Elijah was left to
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: make on his own. God had already identified the exact
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: person he wanted for this crucial role, and he had
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: given Elijah clear instructions about where to find him and
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: what to do. When Elijah went to Abel Mehola to
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: find Elisha, he discovered him engaged in the very ordinary
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: work of plowing a field with oxen. First Kings nineteen
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: nineteen tells us that Elijah went up to him and
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: through his cloak around him. This simple action was loaded
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: with symbolic meaning. The prophet's cloak represented his calling, his authority,
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: and his connection to God's power. By throwing it around Elisha,
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: Elijah was symbolically transferring these things to the younger man.
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: The fact that Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: Oxen when Elijah found him tells us several important things
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: about his background and character. First, it shows that he
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: came from a prosperous farming family. Twelve yoke of Oxen
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: represented considerable wealth and a substantial agricultural operation. This wasn't
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: a poor man desperately looking for a way to escape
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: his circumstances. This was someone who was giving up a
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: comfortable and successful life to follow God's call. Second, the
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: fact that elisha was actively working in the field, apparently
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: driving the twelfth yoke himself, shows that he wasn't afraid
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: of hard work and that he was willing to do
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: whatever was necessary to get the job done. These character
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: qualities would serve him well in the demanding life of
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: a prophet, where he would often face difficult and dangerous
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: situations that would require both physical and spiritual endurance. Elishah's
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: immediate response to Elijah's symbolic action was significant. He understood
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: right away what was being offered to him, and he
• 1:13:29
  Speaker 1: was willing to accept the call. However, he asked for
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: permission to say good bye to his parents. First. Let
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: me kiss my father and mother good bye, and then
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: I will come with you. First Kings nineteen to twenty.
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: This was a reasonable request that showed his respect for
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: his family and his understanding of the magnitude of the
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: decision he was making. Elijah's response was somewhat puzzling at
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: first glance. Go back, what have I done to you?
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: First Kings, nineteen twenty Some interpreters see this as a
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: test of Elisha's commitment, while others see it as Elijah
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: giving him complete freedom to make his own choice without
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: any pressure or coercion. In either case, it was clear
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: that Elisha would have to make his own decision about
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: whether to follow the prophetic calling. What Elisha did next
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: showed the depth of his commitment and the finality of
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: his decision. He went back to his oxen, killed a them,
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: and used the wooden plowing equipment as fuel to cook
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: the meat. Then he gave the meat to his fellow
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: workers as a farewell feast. This wasn't just saying good bye.
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: This was burning his bridges behind him. By destroying his
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: farming equipment and slaughtering his oxen, Elisha was making it
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: impossible to return to his former way of life. First
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: Kings nineteen twenty one one concludes this important encounter by
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: telling us that then he set out to follow Elijah
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: and became his servant. The word servant here doesn't mean
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: that Elisha became a slave or a menial worker. Rather,
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: it indicates that he entered into an apprenticeship relationship where
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: he would learn from Elijah and gradually take on more
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: and more responsibility. In the prophetic ministry, the sacrifice of
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: Elisha's oxen and the destruction of his plowing equipment was
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: one of the most significant moments in the entire process
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: of prophetic transition from Elijah to his successor. This wasn't
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: just a ceremonial gesture or a symbolic act. It was
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: a complete and irreversible commitment to the new life that
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: God was calling him to live. By killing the oxen
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: that had been his means of livelihood and burning the
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: wooden yokes and plow that were his farming tools, Elisha
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: was demonstrating several important spiritual principles. First, he was showing
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: that his commitment to follow God's call was absolute and unconditional.
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: There would be no looking back, no second thoughts, and
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: no possibility of returning to his former way of life.
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: If the prophetic ministry turned out to be more difficult
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 1: than he expected. Second, the sacrifice showed that Elisha understood
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: the cost of following God's call. He wasn't naive about
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: what he was giving up or unrealistic about what lay ahead.
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: He knew that the life of a prophet was dangerous, demanding,
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: and often lonely. By voluntarily destroying his means of returning
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: to a comfortable life, he was acknowledging that he was
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: choosing the harder path because he believed it was what
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: God wanted him to do. Third, the public nature of
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: the sacrifice and the feast that followed served as a
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: testimony to his family, friends, and community about the decision
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: he was making. Everyone who ate the meat from the
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: sacrificed oxen would remember this moment and understand that Elisha
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: had made a permanent commitment to serve God as a prophet.
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: This public declaration would also serve as a source of accountability,
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: making it harder for him to change his mind later
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: when difficulties arose. The feast itself was significant because it
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: showed that Elisha's decision to follow God's call was not
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: just about personal spiritual fulfillment. It was about serving others.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: And providing for their needs. Even in the act of
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: leaving his old life behind, he was already demonstrating the
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: heart of a servant that would characterize his entire prophetic ministry.
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: The sacrifice also demonstrated Elisha's faith in God's ability to
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: provide for him in his new calling. By destroying his
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: course of income and his means of producing food, he
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: was placing himself in a position of complete dependence on
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: God's provision. This act of faith would be remembered and
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: strengthened throughout his years of ministry as he witnessed God's
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: faithful care for those who trust him completely. The timing
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: of this sacrifice was also important. Elisha didn't wait until
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: he had gradually phased out of farming or until he
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: had built up alternative sources of income. He made a clean,
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: immediate break with his past, showing that when God calls,
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: the appropriate response his immediate obedience, rather than gradual transition
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: or careful preparation for all possible contingencies. This moment also
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: established the pattern that would characterize Elisha's entire relationship with
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: Elijah and his approach to learning the prophetic ministry. He
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: didn't try to maintain his independence or keep his offer open. Instead,
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: he committed himself completely to learning from his mentor and
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: serving the purposes of God, regardless of personal cost or inconvenience.
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: After Elisha's dramatic farewell to his former life, he began
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: a period of intensive training and preparation under Elijah's direct supervision.
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: This wasn't a brief orientation or a short term internship.
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: It was an extended apprenticeship that would last for several
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: years and would prepare Elisha thoroughly for the demanding ministry
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: that lay ahead of him. The relationship between Elijah and
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: Elisia during this period was characterized by close companionship and
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: mutual respect. Elisha didn't just observe Elijah's ministry from a
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: distance or receive occasional instruction when convenient. Instead, he became
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: Elijah's constant companion, traveling with him, assisting him in his
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: daily activities, and learning through direct participation in the work
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: of a prophet. Second Kings three eleven gives us a
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: glimpse into the nature of this relationship when it mentions
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: that Elisha used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: This was a reference to the common practice of servants
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: helping their masters with personal hygiene and daily needs. However,
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: in the context of prophetic training, this kind of personal
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: service had much deeper significance. It showed that Elisha was
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: learning to be a servant before he would be called
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: to be a leader. During this apprenticeship period, Elisha would
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: have witnessed many aspects of Elijah's ministry that are not
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: recorded in the biblical narrative. He would have seen how
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: Elijah prayed, how he heard from God, how he dealt
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: with difficult people and challenging situations, and how he maintained
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: his faith during times of discouragement and opposition. This kind
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: of close observation and hands on learning was much more
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: valuable than any theoretical instruction could have been. The apprenticeship
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: also provided Elisha with opportunities to gradually take on more
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: responsibility and to develop his own spiritual gifts and abilities.
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: While Elijah remained the senior prophet and the primary leader,
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: Elisha would have been given increasingly important tasks and would
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: have begun to exercise his own prophetic calling under Elijah's
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: careful supervision and guidance. This extended training period was important
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: for several reasons. First, it ensured that when Elisha eventually
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: took over the prophetic ministry, he would be thoroughly prepared
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: for all aspects of the work. He wouldn't have to
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: learn through trial and error or figure things out on
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: his own during times of christ. Instead, he would have
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: the benefit of extensive training and experience under one of
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: the greatest profits in Israel's history. Second, the apprenticeship allowed
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: for a gradual transition of leadership that wouldn't leave a
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: gap in the prophetic ministry. When Elijah was taken away,
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: the people would already know Elisha and would have seen
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: evidence of his calling and abilities. This continuity would be
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: crucial for maintaining the effectiveness of the prophetic witness during
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: a time of ongoing spiritual and political challenges. Third, the
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: close relationship between Elijah and Elisha during this period created
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: a bond of trust and affection that would be important
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: in the final stages of the transition. When the time
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: came for Elijah to be taken up to Heaven, Elishah
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: would be emotionally and spiritually prepared for the loss, even
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: though it would still be difficult and painful. The apprenticeship
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: period also provided opportunities for Elisha to observe how God
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: worked through his profit in a variety of different situations.
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: He would have seen miracles, witness divine guidance, observed the
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: fulfillment of prophecies, and learned how to distinguish between God's
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: voice and other influences. This comprehensive training would give him
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: confidence and wisdom for his own future ministry. As the
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: time for Elijah's departure from Earth approached, he and Elisha
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: began making a series of visits to schools of Prophets
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: that had been established in various cities throughout Israel. These
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: schools were communities of men who were being trained for
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: prophetic ministry and who served as centers of spiritual learning
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: and religious instruction during a time when formal religious education
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: was often neglected. The first stop on this farewell journey
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: was Gilgahull, a city that held special significance in Israel's history.
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: This was where the Israelites had first camped after crossing
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and where Joshua
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: had set up twelve stones as a memorial of God's
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: faithfulness in bringing them safely across the river. The School
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: of Prophets at Gilgal represented a return to the spiritual
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: foundations that had made Israel strong in earlier generations. From Gilgal,
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: Elijah and Elisha traveled to Bethel, another city with deep
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: spiritual significance. This was where Abraham had built an altar
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: and called on the name of the Lord, and where
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: Jacob had his famous dream of the ladder reaching to heaven. However,
• 1:24:48
  Speaker 1: Bethel had also become associated with idle worship when Jeroboam
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: had set up one of his golden calves there. The
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: presence of a school of prophets in Bethel represented God
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: God's determination to reclaim this important city for true worship.
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: The third and final stop was Jericho, the first city
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: that the Israelites had conquered when they entered the Promised
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: Land under Joshua's leadership. Jericho was located near the Jordan
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: River and served as an important gateway between the wilderness
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: and the settled areas of Israel. The school of prophets
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: there would have been strategically positioned to influence both the
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: established communities and the travelers who passed through the area.
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: At each of these schools, the prophets in training seemed
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: to be aware that something significant was about to happen.
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: They approached Elisha and asked, do you know that the
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: Lord is going to take your master from you to day?
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 1: Second Kings two three five. This suggests that God had
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: revealed to the prophetic community that Elijah's time on earth
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: was coming to an end and that a major transition
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: was about to take place. Alicia's response to these questions
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: was always the same, yes, I know, so be quiet
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: second Kings two three five. This wasn't rudeness or unwillingness
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: to discuss the situation. Rather, it showed that Elisha was
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: aware of what was coming, but was choosing to focus
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: on making the most of his remaining time with his mentor,
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: rather than dwelling on the sadness of the approaching separation.
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: These visits to the schools of prophets served several important purposes. First,
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: they provided Elijah with an opportunity to give final instructions
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: and encouragement to the younger men who would carry on
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: the prophetic ministry after he was gone. His presence and
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: blessing would strengthen their resolve and give them confidence for
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: the challenging work that lay ahead. Second, the visits allowed
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: Elisia to be formally introduced to the prophetic community as
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: ill Elijah's designated successor. The men at these schools would
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: be his colleagues and supporters in the years ahead, and
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: it was important for them to understand the transition that
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: was taking place and to give their recognition and support
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: to the new leadership. Third, the journey to these three
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: cities created opportunities for final conversations and instructions between Elijah
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: and Elisha. As they traveled together and participated in the
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: activities at each school, they would have had time to
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: discuss important matters and to complete any unfinished business in
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: Elisha's training. The fact that profits at all three schools
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: were aware of Elijah's impending departure shows that this wasn't
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: a sudden or unexpected event. God had been preparing the
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: prophetic community for this transition, and the visits to the
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: schools were part of the careful, orderly process by which
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: the change of leadership was being accomplished. As Elijah and
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: Elisha completed their visits too the schools of prophets and
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: prepared for the final stage of their journey together, supernatural
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: signs began to appear that confirmed the approaching end of
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: Elijah's earthly ministry. These signs served as divine confirmation of
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: what was about to happen and helped prepare both Elisha
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: and the watching prophetic community for the extraordinary event that
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: was coming. Throughout their journey from city to city, there
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: had been an unusual sense of anticipation and solemnity. The
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: profits at each school had displayed supernatural knowledge of what
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: was about to happen, asking Elisha if he knew that
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: his master was going to be taken from him that
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: very day. This widespread awareness among the prophetic community wasn't
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: based on natural observation or logical diday reduction. It was
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: the result of divine revelation that God was giving to
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: his servants. The supernatural atmosphere became even more pronounced as
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: Elijah and Elisha made their way toward the Jordan River
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 1: for the final phase of their journey together. At each
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: stop along the way, Elijah had tested Elisha's commitment by
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: suggesting that he stay behind while Elijah continued alone. Each time,
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: Elisha had refused to be separated from his mentor, declaring
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: with increasing intensity, as surely as the Lord lives, and
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: as you live, I will not leave you Second Kings
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: two two four six. This repeated testing wasn't because Elijah
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: doubted Elisha's commitment or wanted to discourage him from continuing
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: the journey. Rather, it was a final confirmation that Elisha's
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: dedication was complete and unconditional. The supernatural events that were
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: about to unfold were require absolute faith and unwavering determination.
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 1: Any hesitation or uncertainty at this crucial moment could have
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: disqualified Elisha from receiving the full inheritance that God intended
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: for him. As they approached the Jordan River, they were
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: followed by a group of fifty prophets from the School
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: a Jericho who wanted to witness whatever was about to happen.
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: These men positioned themselves at a distance where they could
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: observe the events without interfering, showing their respect for the
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: sacred nature of what was taking place while also demonstrating
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: their recognition that they were about to witness something unprecedented.
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: The supernatural signs that had been building throughout the day
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: were about to reach their climax at the Jordan River,
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: where God would demonstrate his power in a way that
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: would remove all doubt about the divine nature of the transition.
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: That was taking place. The very air seemed charged with
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: expectation as they approached the water that had played such
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: an important role in Israel's history and would now serve
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: as the setting for one of the most remarkable events
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: in the entire Biblical record. The presence of the watching prophets,
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: the supernatural knowledge that had been revealed to the prophetic community,
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: and the solemn atmosphere that surrounded the entire journey all
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 1: served as confirmation that this wasn't just the end of
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: one man's ministry, but the beginning of a new chapter
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: in God's relationship with his people. The signs and portents
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: that had been building throughout the day were preparing everyone
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: involved for a demonstration of divine power that would establish
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: Elisha's authority and confirm God's continued presence with his prophetic servants.
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: The supernatural elements surrounding Elijah's final day on earth also
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: served to distinguish this event from ordinary human death and departure.
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: This wasn't going to be a normal passing from one
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: generation to the next, but rather a unique translation from
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: earthly to heavenly existence that would demonstrate God's special relationship
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: with his faithful servant and would provide a powerful sign
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: to all who witnessed it or heard about it in
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: the years to come. When Elijah and Elisha reached the
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: banks of the Jordan River, they stood before the same
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: waters that had played such a crucial role in Israel's history.
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: This was the river that the Israelites had crossed when
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: they first entered the Promised Land under Joshua's leadership, where
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: the waters had been miraculously held back to allow the
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: entire nation to pass through on dry ground. It was
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: also the river where Nam and the Syrian would later
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: be healed of leprosy, and where Jesus would be baptized
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: by John the Baptist centuries later. Standing at the water's
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: edge with fifty prophets watching from a distance, Elijah took
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: off his cloak, the same mantle that he had thrown
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: around Elijah years earlier when he first called him to follow.
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: This wasn't just any piece of clothing. It was the
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: symbol of his prophetic office, the visible sign of his
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: authority as God's spokesman, and the tangible representation of the
• 1:33:27
  Speaker 1: divine power that had worked through him for so many years.
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: With deliberate ceremony, Elijah rolled up the cloak and struck
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: the waters of the Jordan with it. The result was
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: immediate and spectacular. Second, Kings two eight tells us that
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: the water divided to the right and to the left,
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 1: and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: This miracle was clearly reminiscent of the great works that
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: God had performed through Moses at the Red Sea and
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: through Joshua at this very same river generation earlier. The
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: dividing of the waters served multiple purposes beyond simply providing
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: a way for the two prophets to cross the river. First,
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: it was a powerful demonstration to the watching prophets that
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: the same divine power that had worked through the great
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: leaders of Israel's past was still present and active in
• 1:34:21
  Speaker 1: Elijah's ministry. This miracle would give them confidence that God's
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: power would continue to be available through Elisha as well. Second,
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: the miracle established a clear parallel between Elijah and the
• 1:34:35
  Speaker 1: great leaders who had gone before him. Just as Moses
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: had divided the Red Sea and Joshua had caused the
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: Jordan to stop flowing, Elijah now demonstrated that he possessed
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: the same kind of divine authority and power. This parallel
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: would be important for establishing Elisha's legitimacy when he performed
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: a similar miracle on his return journey. Third, the crossing
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: of the Jordan on dry ground symbolically represented a transition
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: from one phase of ministry to another. Just as the
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: Israelites had crossed from the wilderness into the promised land,
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: Elijah and Elisha were crossing from the old era of
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: Elijah's ministry into the new era that would be characterized
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: by Elisha's work. The dry ground beneath their feet was
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: a sign of God's supernatural provision for this crucial transition.
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: The miracle also served as a final test of faith
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: for both prophets. Elijah had to believe that God would
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: honor his act of striking the water with his cloak,
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: while Elisha had to trust that it was safe to
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: follow his mentor across the divided waters. This shared act
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: of faith strengthened the bond between them and prepared them
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: both for the even greater miracle that was about to follow.
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: As they walked across the river bed together, surrounded by
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: walls of water held back by divine power, both men
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: must have been acutely aware that they were participating in
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: something that very few human beings had ever experienced. They
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: were walking in the footsteps of Moses and Joshua, demonstrating
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: that the God of their fathers was still the same
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: yesterday to day and forever. The crossing also provided them
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: with privacy for their final conversation together. Away from the
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: watching eyes of the fifty prophets and in the supernatural
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: silence of the divided river, they could speak freely about
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 1: the momentous events that were about to unfold and about
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 1: the responsibilities that Elisha would soon inherit. Once they had
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: safely crossed to the other side of the Jordan, Elijah
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: turned to his faithful companion and made an offer that
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: revealed both his love for Elisha and his confidence in
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: God's plans for the future. According to Second Kings two nine,
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: he said, tell me what can I do for you
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: before I'm taken from you. This wasn't just a casual
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: question or a polite gesture. It was a genuine invitation
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: for Elisha to express his deepest desire for his future ministry.
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: Elisha's response was both humble and bold. He said, let
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: me inherit a double portion of your spirit. Second Kings
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: two p. Nine. To understand the full significance of this request,
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: it's important to know that in ancient Israel, the firstborn
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 1: son typically received a double portion of his father's inheritance.
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: Elisha wasn't asking to be twice as powerful as Elijah
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: or claiming that he deserved more than his mentor. Instead,
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: he was requesting the inheritance rites of a spiritual first
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: born son. This request revealed several important things about Elisha's
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: character and his understanding of the ministry that lay ahead
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: of him. First, it showed that he understood the magnitude
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: of the challenges he would face as Elijah's successor. He
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 1: knew that the spiritual opposition in Israel was fierce, that
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: the political situation was complex and dangerous, and that the
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: people's need for divine intervention was greater than ever. He
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 1: realized that he would need extraordinary spiritual power to be
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: effective in such circumstances. Second, the request demonstrated Elisha's complete
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: dependence on God's supernatural provision rather than his own natural abilities.
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: He wasn't asking for better training, more education, or improved circumstances.
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: He was asking for a greater measure of the same
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: divine spirit that had empowered Elijah's ministry. This showed mature
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: spiritual insight and proper priorities for a man who was
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: about to assume enormous responsibilities. Third, Elisha's request revealed his
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 1: deep love and respect for his mentor. By asking for
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 1: a double portion of Elijah's spirit, he was essentially saying
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: that he wanted to continue and expand the work that
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: Elijah had begun. He didn't want to start his own
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: independent ministry or establish his own reputation. Instead, he wanted
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: to build upon the foundation that Elijah had laid and
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: carry forward the same spiritual legacy. Elijah's response to this
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: request was both encouraging and sobering. He said, you have
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: asked a difficult thing. Yet, if you see me when
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 1: I am taken from you, it will be yours. Otherwise
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: it will not Second Kings two ten. This answer that
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: the granting of Elisha's request was not entirely within Elijah's
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: power to give the double portion would come from God himself,
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: and there were conditions that had to be met. The
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: condition that Elijah specified that Elisha must see him when
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: he was taken away wasn't arbitrary or capricious. It was
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: a test of spiritual perception and faith. To see Elijah's
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 1: departure would require spiritual eyes that could perceive divine activity
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 1: even in extraordinary circumstances. It would also require the kind
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: of unwavering attention and commitment that refuses to be distracted
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: even when amazing things are happening. This condition also ensured
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 1: that if Elisha did receive the double Portion, it would
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 1: be because he had demonstrated the spiritual maturity and faithfulness
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: necessary to handle such power responsibly. The ability to see
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: Elijah's translation would be evidence that Elisha possessed the kind
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: of spiritual sensitivity that would be essential for his future ministry.
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: The conversation about the double Portion also served to heighten
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: the anticipation and solemnity of the moment. Both men now
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: knew that the next few minutes would determine not just
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: the manner of Elijah's departure, but also the spiritual resources
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: that would be available for Elisha's ministry. The stakes couldn't
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: have been higher, and both profits were acutely aware of
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: the eternal significance of what was about to unfold. As
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: Elijah and Elisha continued walking and talking together on the
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: far side of the Jordan. The moment that had been
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: building throughout the entire day finally arrived. What happened next
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: was one of the most spectacular and unprecedented events recorded
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: anywhere in scripture, an event so extraordinary that it has
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: captured the imagination of believers for thousands of years. Second
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 1: Kings two eleven describes the miraculous scene. As they were
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: walking along and talking together, Suddenly a chariot of fire
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 1: and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them,
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: and Elijah went up to Heaven in a whirlwind. This
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: wasn't a gradual disappearance or a quiet departure. It was
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 1: a dramatic, supernatural translation that left no doubt about its
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: divine origin. The appearance of the chariot and horses of
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 1: fire was a manifestation of heavenly power and glory that
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 1: few human beings have ever been privileged to witness. Fire
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: in scripture often represents the presence and power of God,
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: and the fiery chariot served as a divine vehicle that
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 1: would transport Elijah from Earth to Heaven without experiencing death.
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: This was only the second such translation in Biblical history,
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: the first being Enoch, who walked faithfully with God. Then
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: he no more because God took him away Genesis five
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: twenty four. The horses of fire that pulled the chariot
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 1: represented divine strength and power beyond anything that earthly horses
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 1: could provide. These weren't ordinary animals enhanced with supernatural abilities.
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: They were manifestations of heavenly beings created specifically for this
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: momentous occasion. Their fiery appearance emphasized the other worldly nature
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: of what was taking place and the fact that Elijah
• 1:43:31
  Speaker 1: was being transported into the very presence of God. The
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: whirlwind that caught up Elijah was another manifestation of divine power.
• 1:43:42
  Speaker 1: Throughout scripture, whirlwinds and storms are often associated with God's
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: presence and activity. When God spoke to Job, it was
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: out of a whirlwind. When Ezekiel saw his vision of
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: God's glory, it came with a great wind storm. The
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: whirlwind that took Elijah was not a natural weather phenomenon,
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: but a supernatural force directed by God himself. The timing
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: of this translation was perfect in every way. It occurred
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: at the moment when Elijah's earthly ministry was complete and
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: his successor was ready to take over. It happened in
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: the presence of the one person who needed to witness
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: it in order to receive the spiritual inheritance that had
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 1: been promised, and it took place in a location that
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: provided both privacy for this sacred moment and visibility for
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: the one who needed to see it. The manner of
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 1: Elijah's departure also served as a powerful testimony to the
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: reality of life after death and God's power over mortality.
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: Unlike every other human being who had lived before him,
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: except for Enoch, Elijah did not have to experience death
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: and burial. Instead, he was transformed directly from earthly existence
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 1: to heavenly life, demonstrating the God has power over the
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: grave and that there is indeed life beyond this present world.
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: For Elisha, witnessing this incredible event was both a tremendous
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 1: a privilege and a sobering responsibility. He was seeing something
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: that no other person on earth would see that day,
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 1: and his ability to perceive and understand what was happening
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: would determine whether he received the double portion he had requested.
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 1: The spiritual eyes that allowed him to see the fiery
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 1: chariot and horses also qualified him to receive the spiritual
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 1: power he would need for his ministry. The translation of
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: Elijah also served as a fitting conclusion to a ministry
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 1: that had been marked by supernatural power from beginning to end.
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: The same God who had sent fire from heaven to
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: consume the sacrifice on Mount Carmel was now sending fire
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: from heaven to transport his faithful servant to his eternal reward.
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: The consistency of divine power throughout Elijah's life and at
• 1:46:04
  Speaker 1: his departure demonstrated God's unchanging nature and his faithful care
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: for those who serve him. As the fiery chariot disappeared
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: into the heavens, carrying Elijah away, Elisha was left standing
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: alone on the far side of the Jordan River. The
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: sight he had just witnessed was so overwhelming and extraordinary
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: that his immediate response was one of grief and loss,
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: despite the supernatural wonder he had experienced. Second Kings two
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: twelve tells us that Elisha saw this and cried out,
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 1: my father, my father. The chariots and horsemen of Israel,
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: and Elisha saw him no more. The cry my father,
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 1: my father revealed the deep emotional bond that had developed
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: between the two prophets during their years together. Elisha wasn't
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 1: just losing a mentor or a teacher. He was losing
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: the spiritiritual father who had guided him, protected him, and
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 1: prepared him for the ministry that now lay before him.
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: The term father in this context also acknowledged Elijah's role
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: as the senior prophet in Israel and the source of
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: spiritual authority that Elishah had looked to for guidance. The
• 1:47:20
  Speaker 1: phrase the chariots and horseman of Israel was a recognition
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 1: of Elijah's role as the true defender of the nation.
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: While Israel had literal chariots and horsemen for military protection,
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: Elijah had been the spiritual warrior who had fought against
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: the forces of evil and had called down divine power
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: to protect and preserve God's people. In calling him the
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: chariots and horsemen of Israel, Elisha was acknowledging that the
• 1:47:50
  Speaker 1: nation was losing its most powerful defender. In his grief
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: and shock, Elishah tore his clothes in two, which was
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: a traditional express of mourning and distress in ancient Middle
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: Eastern culture. This wasn't just an emotional outburst, It was
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: a formal acknowledgment of the magnitude of the loss that
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: had just occurred, and a proper response to the end
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: of an era in Israel's prophetic history. But even in
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: the midst of his grief, Elisha noticed something that would
• 1:48:22
  Speaker 1: prove to be of crucial importance for his future ministry.
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: Elijah's cloak, the same mantle that had been thrown around
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: Elisha years earlier when he was first called to follow,
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: The same cloak that had been used to divide the
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 1: waters of the Jordan just minutes before, had fallen to
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: the ground when Elijah was taken up in the whirlwind.
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: The fact that the mantle had been left behind was
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: not an accident or an oversight. It was a deliberate
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: provision by God for the continuation of the prophetic ministry.
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: The cloak represented the authority, the calling, and the spiritual
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 1: power that had charactered Elijah's work, and now it was
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: being passed on to his successor in the most literal
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: and tangible way possible. When Elisha picked up the fallen mantle,
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: he was doing more than just retrieving a piece of clothing.
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 1: He was accepting the full responsibility and authority of the
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: prophetic office that Elijah had held the mantle would serve
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: as a visible symbol to himself and to others that
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 1: he was now the senior prophet in Israel, and that
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: the same divine power that had worked through Elijah was
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: now available to work through him. The transfer of the
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: mantle also fulfilled the symbolic action that had begun years
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: earlier when Elijah first threw his cloak around Elijah in
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 1: the field. What had started as a call to follow
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 1: had now been completed as a transfer of full authority
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 1: and responsibility. The circle had been closed, and the transition
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 1: was complete. This moment also marked the fulfillment of the
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: condition that Elijah had established for Alicia's reception of the
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 1: double portion. Because Elisha had seen Elijah when he was
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 1: taken away, because he had witnessed the supernatural translation with
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: his own eyes, he was now qualified to receive the
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: spiritual inheritance that had been promised. The mantle was both
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: a symbol and an instrument of this inheritance. The weight
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: of what had just happened must have been almost overwhelming
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: for Elisha. In the space of a few minutes, he
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 1: had witnessed one of the most spectacular miracles in human history,
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: had lost his beloved mentor and spiritual father, and had
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: inherited the responsibility for the prophetic ministry in Israel. The
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: mantle in his hands represented both enormous privilege and enormous responsibility.
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: With Elijah's mantle now in his possession, Elisha faced his
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 1: first test as the new senior prophet of Israel. He
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: was standing on the wrong side of the Jordan River,
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 1: separated from the fifty prophets who had been watching from
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 1: a distance and who would need to see evidence that
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: the transition of power had indeed taken place. The river
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: that had been divided for their crossing now stood between
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 1: Elisha and the beginning of his independent ministry. This was
• 1:51:28
  Speaker 1: a crucial moment that would determine how Elisha's ministry would
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 1: be received by the prophetic community and by the nation
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: as a whole. If he could demonstrate that the same
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 1: divine power that had worked through Elijah was now available
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 1: to him, it would establish his authority and give people
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 1: confidence in his leadership. If he could not access that power,
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: his claims to be Elijah's successor would be questioned and
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: his effectiveness would be severely limited. Standing at the water's edge,
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: Elisha took the mantle and struck the water, just as
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: Elijah had done during their crossing together. But the first
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: attempt was unsuccessful. Nothing happened, and the waters remained undivided.
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: This moment of apparent failure could have been devastating for
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: a new prophet trying to establish his credentials, but Elisha's
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: response showed both wisdom and faith. Instead of giving up
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: or becoming discouraged, Elisha cried out, where now is the Lord,
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 1: the God of Elijah Second Kings two fourteen. This wasn't
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 1: a question born of doubt or frustration. It was a
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: declaration of faith and an appeal to the same divine
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 1: power that had just transported his mentor to heaven. Elisha
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: was essentially saying that he knew God was still present
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: and still powerful, and he was calling upon that power
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: to work through him When he struck the water again.
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: The result was immediate and spectacular. Second Kings two fourteen
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 1: tells us that the water divided to the right and
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: to the left, and he crossed over. The Same miracle
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 1: that had been performed through Elijah was now being performed
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: through Elisha, demonstrating conclusively that the divine power had indeed
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: been transferred to the new prophet. This successful demonstration of
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 1: divine power served several important purposes. First, it confirmed to
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 1: Elisha himself that he had indeed received the spiritual inheritance
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: that had been promised. The ability to perform the same
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: kind of miracle that Elijah had performed was evidence that
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: the double portion of spirit had been granted and that
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: God's power was available to him. Second, the miracle provided
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: visible proof to the watching prophets that Elisha was truly
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 1: Elijah's legitimate successor. They had seen Elijah divide the waters,
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 1: they had witnessed his supernatural translation, and now they were
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: seeing the same power manifested through Elisha. This would give
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 1: them confidence to accept his leadership and to support his
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: ministry in the years ahead. Third, the miracle established a
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: pattern that would characterize Elisha's entire ministry, a pattern of
• 1:54:24
  Speaker 1: divine power being made available to meet practical needs and
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: to demonstrate God's continuing presence with his people. This wouldn't
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: be the last time that Elisha would use supernatural power
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: to overcome natural obstacles or to provide for human needs.
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: The fact that Elisha's first attempt was unsuccessful, but his
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: second attempt succeeded also taught an important lesson about persistence
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 1: in faith and prayer. Even divinely appointed leaders don't always
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 1: succeed on their first try, and the key to spiritual
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: effectiveness is not perfection, but perseverance in trusting God's power
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 1: and calling upon his help. When Elisha crossed back over
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 1: the Jordan River after successfully dividing the waters, he was
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 1: met by the fifty prophets who had been watching the
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: extraordinary events of the day from their vantage point near Jericho.
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 1: These men had witnessed Elijah's translation and had seen Elisha's
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: demonstration of divine power, and their response was immediate and unanimous.
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 1: Second Kings two point fifteen records their reaction. The company
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 1: of the prophets from Jericho who were watching said, the
• 1:55:42
  Speaker 1: spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha, and they went
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: This formal acknowledgment was crucial for establishing Elisha's authority throughout
• 1:55:53
  Speaker 1: the prophetic community and ensuring a smooth transition of leadership.
• 1:55:59
  Speaker 1: The phrase the spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 1: was more than just an observation about what they had witnessed.
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 1: It was a theological statement about the nature of prophetic
• 1:56:11
  Speaker 1: authority and the way God's power is transferred from one
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 1: generation to the next. They understood that the same divine
• 1:56:20
  Speaker 1: spirit that had empowered Elijah's ministry was now empowering Elisha's ministry,
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: making him the legitimate heir to his mentor's authority and responsibilities.
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 1: The act of bowing to the ground was a formal
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 1: gesture of respect and submission that acknowledged Elisia's new status
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 1: as the senior prophet in Israel. This wasn't just politeness
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 1: or social courtesy. It was a recognition of divine appointment
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: and an acceptance of his leadership authority over the prophetic community.
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 1: From this moment forward, Elisha would be looked to as
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: the primary spiritual leader among God's prophets in Israel. The
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 1: unanimity of this recognition was significant because it meant that
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 1: there would be no division or competition within the prophetic
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: community about who should succeed Elijah. All fifty of these
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: trained prophets agreed that Elishah was the rightful heir, and
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: their united support would be crucial for the effectiveness of
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: his future ministry. However, the response of these prophets also
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: revealed that they didn't fully understand everything that had just
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 1: taken place. They offered to send fifty strong men to
• 1:57:35
  Speaker 1: search for Elijah, suggesting that perhaps the spirit of the
• 1:57:39
  Speaker 1: Lord had picked him up and set him down on
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 1: some mountain or in some valley second Kings two sixteen.
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 1: This showed that while they had witnessed the supernatural events,
• 1:57:50
  Speaker 1: they hadn't fully grasped the permanent nature of Elijah's departure.
• 1:57:54
  Speaker 1: Elijah initially refused their offer to search for Elijah, knowing
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 1: that it would be futile because Elijah had been permanently
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: translated to Heaven, But when they kept urging him, he
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 1: finally gave permission for the search, perhaps understanding that they
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: needed to convince themselves that Elijah was truly gone before
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: they could fully accept the new reality. The three day
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: search that followed was unsuccessful, as Elisha had known it
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: would be. When the searchers returned empty handed, it served
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: to confirm what Elisha had told them and to help
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: them understand that the transition from Elijah to Elisha was
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: complete and permanent. There would be no going back to
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: the old way of doing things and no possibility of
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 1: Elijah returning to resume his former role. This recognition by
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 1: the prophetic community was the first step in Elisha's public ministry,
• 1:58:54
  Speaker 1: but it was also representative of the broader acceptance he
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 1: would need to gain through throughout Israel. If the trained
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: prophets who had worked closely with Elijah could recognize and
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: accept Elisha's authority, it would be easier for ordinary people
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 1: to do the same when they encountered his ministry. Shortly
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 1: after his recognition by the prophetic community, Elisha faced his
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 1: first opportunity to minister to the practical needs of ordinary people.
• 1:59:25
  Speaker 1: The men of Jericho came to him with a problem
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: that was affecting their daily lives and their economic prosperity.
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: According to Second Kings two nineteen, they said, look, our Lord,
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 1: this town is well situated, as you can see, but
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 1: the water is bad and the land is unproductive. This
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: was a serious problem for a community that depended on
• 1:59:49
  Speaker 1: agriculture and livestock for its livelihood. Bad water meant that
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 1: crops would fail, animals would become sick, and people's health
• 1:59:58
  Speaker 1: would be endangered. The location of Jericho was excellent for
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 1: trade and agriculture because of its position near the Jordan
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: River and its favorable climate, but the contaminated water supply
• 2:00:12
  Speaker 1: was undermining all of these natural advantages. The fact that
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 1: the people of Jericho brought this problem to Elisha, rather
• 2:00:22
  Speaker 1: than trying to solve it through their own efforts or
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 1: by appealing to local authorities, shows that word of his
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 1: supernatural abilities had already begun to spread. They recognized him
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: as a man of God who might be able to
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 1: help them in ways that normal human solutions could not.
• 2:00:39
  Speaker 1: Elisha's response to their request was both practical and symbolic.
• 2:00:44
  Speaker 1: He asked them to bring him a new bowl and
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: to put salt in it second Kings two twenty. The
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: choice of these specific items was significant. A new bowl
• 2:00:55
  Speaker 1: represented purity and cleanliness, while salt was known for its
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 1: preservative and purifying qualities. In the ancient world, salt was
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: often associated with permanence, covenant relationships, and the prevention of corruption.
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 1: When they brought him the bowl of salt, Elisha went
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: out to the spring that was the source of the
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: city's water supply. This wasn't just any spring, It was
• 2:01:21
  Speaker 1: the main source of water for the entire community, and
• 2:01:25
  Speaker 1: healing it would affect everyone who lived in Jericho standing
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 1: at the spring, Elisha threw the salt into the water
• 2:01:33
  Speaker 1: and declared, this is what the Lord says. I have
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: healed this water. Never again will it cause death or
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 1: make the land unproductive second Kings two twenty one. The
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: healing was immediate and permanent. Second Kings two twenty two
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: tells us that the water has remained pure to this
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 1: day according to the word Elisha had spoken. This wasn't
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: a temporary improvement or a gradual change. It was an
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 1: instant and lasting transformation that would benefit the people of
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: Jericho for generations to come. This miracle served multiple purposes
• 2:02:11
  Speaker 1: in establishing Elisha's ministry. First, it demonstrated that the divine
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 1: power he had inherited from Elijah could be used to
• 2:02:19
  Speaker 1: meet practical, everyday needs. This wasn't just spectacular power for
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 1: dramatic confrontations. It was compassionate power that could improve people's
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 1: daily lives and solve real problems. Second, the miracle showed
• 2:02:35
  Speaker 1: that Elisha's ministry would be characterized by healing and restoration
• 2:02:39
  Speaker 1: rather than judgment and destruction. While Elijah's ministry had often
• 2:02:43
  Speaker 1: involved calling down divine judgment on Israel's enemies and on
• 2:02:47
  Speaker 1: those who opposed God, Elisha's ministry would focus more on healing, helping,
• 2:02:53
  Speaker 1: and providing for people's needs. Third, the permanent nature of
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: the health. Fieling demonstrated that Elisha's supernatural work would have
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 1: lasting effects. This wasn't just temporary relief or short term help.
• 2:03:08
  Speaker 1: It was fundamental transformation that would continue to benefit people
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 1: long after the prophet had moved on to other work.
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 1: The choice to use salt in the healing was also
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 1: significant because it created a tangible connection between the miracle
• 2:03:25
  Speaker 1: and everyday life. Every time the people of Jericho used
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 1: salt in their cooking or their food preservation, they would
• 2:03:32
  Speaker 1: be reminded of God's power to heal and transform. The
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 1: ordinary substance became a permanent memorial to extraordinary divine intervention.
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: The healing of the waters at Jericho marked the beginning
• 2:03:48
  Speaker 1: of Elisha's public ministry and served as a foundation for
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 1: his growing reputation throughout the Kingdom of Israel. Word of
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 1: the miracle spread quickly, and people began to understand that
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 1: a new prophet was among them, one who possessed the
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 1: same kind of divine power that had made Elijah famous,
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 1: but who seemed to exercise that power in different ways
• 2:04:11
  Speaker 1: and for different purposes. The successful transition from Elijah to
• 2:04:16
  Speaker 1: Elisha represented more than just a change in leadership. It
• 2:04:20
  Speaker 1: represented continuity in God's care for his people. During a
• 2:04:24
  Speaker 1: time of ongoing spiritual and political crisis, the Northern Kingdom
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 1: of Israel was still dealing with the consequences of years
• 2:04:33
  Speaker 1: of idle worship and moral corruption under Ahab and Jezebel's influence.
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 1: The people needed to know that God had not abandoned
• 2:04:42
  Speaker 1: them and that his power was still available to help
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 1: them in their struggles. Ilusha's ministry began during the reign
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 1: of Jehoram, the son of Ahab, who had inherited a
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 1: kingdom that was facing multiple challenges. There were external threats
• 2:04:58
  Speaker 1: from neighboring nations, internal divisions caused by religious confusion, and
• 2:05:04
  Speaker 1: practical problems like the contaminated water supply at Jericho that
• 2:05:08
  Speaker 1: affected people's daily lives. The new prophet would need to
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 1: address all of these issues and demonstrate that God's power
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: was relevant to every aspect of human existence. The manner
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 1: in which Elisha had received his calling and had been
• 2:05:24
  Speaker 1: prepared for ministry also set important precedents for future prophetic work.
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 1: His long apprenticeship under Elijah showed the value of careful
• 2:05:34
  Speaker 1: training and preparation. His dramatic reception of the Double Portion
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: demonstrated that spiritual power comes from God rather than from
• 2:05:43
  Speaker 1: human effort or natural ability, and his immediate success in
• 2:05:47
  Speaker 1: performing miracles showed that divine calling is accompanied by divine enabling.
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: The recognition that Elisha received from the prophetic community also
• 2:05:58
  Speaker 1: helped to establish the instantitutional framework that would support his
• 2:06:02
  Speaker 1: ministry throughout the years ahead. The schools of prophets that
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 1: he and Elijah had visited would continue to serve as
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 1: centers of spiritual training and religious instruction. The network of
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 1: relationships that had been built during Elijah's ministry would now
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 1: support and strengthen Elisha's work. The contrast between Elijah's dramatic
• 2:06:24
  Speaker 1: departure and Elisha's quiet beginning also illustrated different aspects of
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 1: God's character and his ways of working in the world.
• 2:06:34
  Speaker 1: Elijah's translation in the Fiery Chariot demonstrated God's power and
• 2:06:39
  Speaker 1: glory in spectacular fashion. Elisha's healing of the Bitter Waters
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 1: showed God's compassion and concern for practical human needs. Both
• 2:06:50
  Speaker 1: aspects were important for helping people understand the full nature
• 2:06:55
  Speaker 1: of divine love and power. The establishment of Elisha as
• 2:06:59
  Speaker 1: the new prophet of Israel also fulfilled the promise that
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 1: God had made to Elijah years earlier at Mount Horeb,
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 1: when Elijah had felt discouraged and alone, God had told
• 2:07:11
  Speaker 1: him that he would anoint a successor who would continue
• 2:07:15
  Speaker 1: the prophetic ministry. Now that promise had been fulfilled, and
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 1: the work of calling Israel back to faithfulness would continue
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 1: under new leadership, The double portion of spirit that Elishah
• 2:07:27
  Speaker 1: had requested and received would prove to be exactly what
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 1: was needed for the challenges that lay ahead. The biblical
• 2:07:34
  Speaker 1: record shows that Elisha performed twice as many recorded miracles
• 2:07:38
  Speaker 1: as Elijah, demonstrating that God had indeed granted his request
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 1: for greater spiritual power. This enhanced anointing would enable him
• 2:07:48
  Speaker 1: to minister effectively during a time when Israel's needs were
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: particularly great and when the opposition to true religion remained strong.
• 2:07:58
  Speaker 1: The successful transition from Elijah to Elisha also provided a
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: model for leadership succession that would be important for future generations.
• 2:08:09
  Speaker 1: It showed that God's work continues from one generation to
• 2:08:12
  Speaker 1: the next, that proper preparation and training are essential for
• 2:08:16
  Speaker 1: effective ministry, and that divine power is available to each
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: generation of faithful servants who are willing to seek it
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 1: and use it according to God's purposes. If this story
• 2:08:28
  Speaker 1: has touched your heart and strengthened your faith, I encourage
• 2:08:32
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• 2:08:35
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• 2:08:39
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• 2:08:41
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• 2:08:49
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• 2:08:53
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• 2:08:57
  Speaker 1: hearts and strength to weary souls. Your share might be
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 1: exactly what someone needs to hear to day. Thank you
• 2:09:05
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• 2:09:08
  Speaker 1: next time, may you walk in the same faith and
• 2:09:11
  Speaker 1: boldness that characterize these two great men of God.