2 Kings 2 (Part 2) Bible Study (Elisha Succeeds Elijah) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

And I couldn't help but personally rejoice in the Lord in light of this news, because of what we're studying today. Because as we come to the remainder of second Kings chapter two, what we're going to discover is a minister who has been taken and how God has a plan still. A minister who is removed, though not for the same reason why many ministers are removed from ministry today, who ended faithfully, who was taken into heaven in a miraculous way. And what we're going to discover is how the one of the greatest men of God is taken from the people of God. God's message, God's word, God's plan has not been shaken.

It it goes according to his plan actually. And so I just can I tell you something about these bible studies in the past few years? And really since the time we began, though we're systematically going through books in the bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse, It has never failed where God has come through with a message, with a study that is needed for a situation, whether it's locally, regionally, nationally, internationally. I can't tell you the amount of times how in a specific Friday night, God spoke to a situation that was occurring that week or even that very day. It is incredible how this book is supernatural.

When we honor it, God really speaks through it. And so I encourage you to carry in your heart faith and a posture of reverence as we come to the word of God because he's going to speak to us. He's gonna meet with us, and he meets with those who hunger to experience that. And so I want you to pray with me now as we are ready to turn and ask God to help us in this text. Lord, we do thank you for this study this evening.

We do thank you that you have ordained this night to speak to our hearts as we've come to meet with your word, to meet with the God of the word. And so Lord, we do pray and we do beseech that you would help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to experience all that you have designed and determined for your people to know through this portion of scripture. So Lord, open our eyes, open our minds, open our hearts to receive everything that you desire for us to have. We give you glory in advance, and we pray for the help of the Holy Spirit and the delivery and the reception of this study. We pray these things in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. Meet with me in second Kings chapter two. Let's begin together in verse 13, and I want us to read the entirety of the rest of this chapter to get an understanding of the picture that we are going to delve into together. Second Kings chapter two beginning in verse 13, and let's read all the way down to verse 25. It says here, and he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.

Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water saying, where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And when he had struck the water, the water had parted, was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. And they said to him, behold, now there are with your servants 50 strong men.

Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mount or into some valley. And he said, you shall not send. But when they urged them till he was ashamed, he said, send. They sent there four fifty men, and for three days, they sought him, but did not find him.

And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, did I not say to you, do not go'? Now the men of the city said to Elisha, behold, the situation of the city is pleasant as my Lord sees, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful. He said, bring me a new bowl and put salt in it. So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said thus says the Lord I have healed this water.

From now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it. So the water has been healed to this day according to the word that Elisha spoke. He went up from there to Bethel and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him saying go up you bald head. Go up you bald head. And he turned around and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord.

And two she bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of the boys. From there, he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there, he returned to Samaria. From this moment on, you and I are gonna continue to unravel the history of Israel and Judah's kings without the prophet Elijah being in the picture. In God's perfect wisdom, he deemed it right to miraculously and permanently remove this man of God from the scene. But in God's rich mercy, he did not abandon his people in doing so, but he raised up a successor, namely Elisha, to be the new leading prophet for this generation.

And as we start to examine Elisha's, initial steps as a prophet, navigating this new role without the guidance of Elijah, we are going to notice some remarkable things. But what we have to understand is that this pivotal point in Israel's history, he will emerge as the prominent prophetic figure, and he will be the focus of numerous studies ahead. So brace yourselves. It's going to be an exciting time as we look at this man of God and what he does for the glory of God. And right away, there seems to be no no no delay in action, particularly no delay in miraculous power being manifested through this man's ministry.

In fact, if you caught on to it, we see from verse 13 to verse 25 several miracles that take place. In such quick timing, in such a brief amount of transition, we see him doing particularly three things. There are three miracles that Elisha performs by the power of God that will be the way we frame this study. I want us to look at each of these miracles. And by looking at each of these miracles, we can trust that they have much to offer us in terms of lessons and practical truths and understandings in terms of the character of God, the nature of God, the nature of man.

And so I want you, if you can with me, divide your thoughts in this passage with these miracles. And the first one that we're going to consider is in verse 13 down to verse 17. Miracle number one in our study is the crossing of the Jordan. The crossing of the Jordan. Now, if this miracle looks familiar, we read it together, it's because it is.

Where did we see this before? Any idea where we saw the this miracle performed? In the very same chapter, not not Joshua necessarily. That's what we concluded when Elijah and Elisha crossed through the Jordan originally, but in the very same chapter back in verse eight, we learned that Elijah accompanied by Elisha crossed the same water with the same instrument and were brought through to the final departure, destination before rather, Elijah's departure into heaven. And now we have Elisha who is returning back to his home and is now faced with the same barrier and he's going to confront it in the same way.

He's going to take the cloak that Elijah left behind. Remember when he ascended into heaven, he left behind his mantle. And now Elisha is gonna take that very same article of clothing, and he's going to hope that God is gonna come through in the same way he did for his predecessor. And what we learn is that it does happen. But the fact that Elijah does this should not confuse us because it would be a grave mistake to think that it's the cloak that contained power.

It was not Elijah's mantle that provided any kind of supernatural assistance. Notice again here back in verse 14. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water saying, where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? So Elisha's confidence was not in his mentor, was not even in what his mentor left behind for him. Elisha's confidence was in the God of Elijah.

And I believe what Elisha do is doing here is he's praying. It's a brief prayer. It's a sigh of a prayer but it's a prayer nonetheless and it reveals the ultimate source of his trust. It's not in the cloak. It's not in Elijah again, but it is in the God of Elijah.

And one of the key lessons from this miracle is that you and I have to learn, if we're gonna see any spiritual success, to rely on the Lord. And that reliance is ultimately expressed through prayer. And the fact that Elisha does this at the beginning of his ministry, really with this first miracle that he's gonna perform, reveals that this was foundational for him. And it is foundational for us. It has to be foundational for us to build everything that we do, any effort, any plan, any endeavor with the realization that we cannot know true effectiveness unless God intervenes on our behalf.

You have to learn how to depend on God and to seek his help in prayer. That's what we see right away. And it's not that methods are wrong. It's not that resources are not helpful. It's not that people in our lives don't play a role, but we have to understand that apart from God extending his hand, dispensing his grace, no matter what we have at our disposal, it is futile.

So, Elisha uses an instrument. Right? He's gonna use a cloak to to create a dry path for him to cross that border, but that cloak is powerless. It has no value if God is not behind behind it, animating it and energizing it by his spirit. And you have to believe the same about your efforts.

You have to believe that no matter what you do with your hands, no matter what position you have been granted, if the Lord is not with you in his empowering mercies, then you will not know true fruit. You will not know true fruit. And you access that grace when you pause and pray before you pursue or participate. That's what this man does. Right at the outside of everything, right at the moment where Elijah is taken and Elisha takes his place, we find him at the brink, at the start, and he he prays.

Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And we can move on, but I can't help but look at what he prays or how he prays. How does he pray? You know what he could have said? Where is the Lord, the God of Israel?

He doesn't pray that. And it's not that he doesn't believe that God is not the God of Israel. So why does he say where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Well, the obvious answer is that he needed the same God who helped Elijah perform his duty to help him perform his duty. But I believe there's something even deeper than this because Elisha could have addressed the Lord in many ways.

He could have referred to the Lord in other amazing ways, but he chooses to speak about the Lord in connection to Elijah. Here's what I believe. It's because Elijah's personal relationship with the Lord made a monumental impact on Elisha. All that he had seen, all that he had heard in Elijah, his mentor, his teacher's walk with the Lord made such an impact on him that he desired the same walk that his master had. And I think this is something so important to understand.

If you doubt that Elisha was impacted by Elijah, look back at how he refers to Elijah in verse 12. This is when Elijah was raptured into heaven, and as Elisha's beholding this sight, notice how he calls out to him in second Kings two twelve. And Elisha saw it and he cried, my father, my father. Pause. That's how you and I, understood that Elisha had this personal relation, this intimate relationship with his master.

It wasn't it wasn't professional merely. It wasn't formal. It wasn't educational merely. There was a real heart to heart connection. He calls him my father, my father.

But he doesn't stop there. Notice what else he says. The chariots of Israel and its horsemen, and he saw him no more. Now that's that's him still addressing Elijah. He's not addressing the chariots that came.

The the miraculous chariots that separated the two. He is he is addressing Elijah as the chariots of Israel and its horsemen. What does that mean? Well, let me ask you something. What do chariots and horsemen represent for a nation?

At this time, what did that signify? Your army, your strength, your protection, your confidence in some way. So do you know what Elisha is saying about Elijah? That Israel's true strength, Israel's true protection was actually found in this man of God. In this man's presence, his message, his intercession.

In essence, what's happening here is that when Elijah is being taken up, Elisha understands as a great loss for the people of Israel. You think that this is an exaggeration. Do you remember how Elisha is addressed when he is about to die? Turn to second Kings 13. Look at look at it with me in verse 14.

This is when Elisha would be removed from the earth, but in a far different way. It's amazing how with Elijah, he was taken up in such splendor and miraculous fashion, and Elisha is gonna be taken well, look at it with me in verse 14 of second Kings 13. Now when Elisha had fallen sick oh, look at that. So a guy who performed many miracles including healing the sick fell sick, and that's how he would die. That's a very important insight for those who believe that Christians should never be sick, and there are thousands, in fact, millions of people who believe that.

Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him crying, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen. So in the same way that Elisha addressed Elijah, now we see here the king of Israel addresses Elisha by saying what? You are the chariots of Israel and its horsemen in a metaphorical way. You are the strength of this people. You you are the true deliverer as you represent God as this nation's prophet.

So I I say all that to say that Elisha really was influenced and impressed by Elijah and his walk with the Lord. And so when he says where is the Lord God of Elijah, he's really saying, I I want I want God to walk with me like he did with Elijah. I need him. And if he's truly called me, then he he has to come he has to come through for me. There are many people in this life, in this generation who wanna influence others towards something.

In fact, there's a whole genre. There's a whole breed of people, even in Gen Z, who are called influencers. I have most of them are not influencing anybody for anything significant. But if you're gonna desire to influence anyone towards anything, may it be this. So let me speak let me speak briefly to fathers and mothers and siblings, especially older siblings, aunts and uncles, teachers, pastors.

Be encouraged by this that it is indeed possible to live for the Lord Jesus Christ in such a manner that it would encourage others to yearn for their own devotion with the Lord. In fact, that is what God designed leadership in the church to be. So when I was meditating on this last night, my mind went to Hebrews thirteen seven, and you know this passage very well, where the Lord says, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. So listen, leaders are not just called to speak the word of God, but showcase through their practical day to day living of the blessing of serving God. So in other words, leaders have been have been positioned to cause others to say, I want that Christ focused passion.

I want that Christ energized purity. I want that Christ inspired joy. So this is this is a high call for those who are summoned to serve the Lord in the local church. Their lives are to radiate that kind of inspiration. It's more than just speaking the word.

It's allowing people to see what the word lived out produces and for it to be contagious. At the same time, as much as there is a responsibility for leaders to motivate, that's not the intention of this verse. That's not the primary command of this verse. There is a mandate for those who are under such leaders to imitate. So leaders motivate and people who are under such leadership have to imitate, not replicate, but imitate.

In other words, when the Lord visibly works in overseers in your life, it is meant for you to realize that I have something to aspire to in my own faith. Do you understand that? God presents models to you namely through the leadership in your local church. And if they're a godly leadership, all the better. Not for you to admire them from a distance, but for you to look at their lives and say, that's possible for me then.

I can know that blessing in my marriage. I can know that blessing with my children. I can know that joy in prayer and in holiness. And how we see that translating between Elijah and Elisha is is clear right here in verse 14. What was Elijah known for according to James?

Yes. He was a man with a nature like ours, but why did James draw from Elijah to present as an example to the Christians that he was writing to? What was it for? Prayer. He was a man of prayer.

What's Elisha doing in verse 14? He's praying. And I think to myself, don't underestimate your faithfulness and what it can do to others. That's not your primary goal. It's a byproduct as you love the Lord with everything that's in you.

And my my meditation went further. I thought to myself, what if Elijah had succumb to the temptation of discouragement because he lived amid national apostasy? What if he allowed his zeal to cool down because he felt as though there was no true response to his ministry? And that is another lesson in itself. If you want one sure way of your faith blessing others, live jealously for the glory of God even if nobody else does.

Just live for the Lord. Who cares who doesn't live for the Lord? Who cares who's content in their lukewarmness? Who cares who treats the local church lightly? Who cares who doesn't study and relish in the word of God?

Who cares of those who don't pray? Who cares? Who cares? You live devoted to the Lord. And watch how God will use that to make an impact on someone.

And in this case, it was Elisha. And so he asked for the Lord, the God of Elijah, and God comes through. He had struck the water. The water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. Now look at what happens in verse 15.

We're still under our lessons from the first miracle. Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, the spirit of Elijah rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. What do we have here? We have here a very important illustration, that is applicable to anybody who aspires to serve God in any capacity.

God not only had Elisha part the the sea there, the waters of the Jordan, so that he would know that the Lord was with him. He did the same so that others would know that the Lord was with him. If God has truly called you to some kind of a ministry, he will work on your behalf to identify that to others. You do not have to advertise yourself. You do not have to pressure others.

You don't have to try to convince them of your gifting or of your calling. When God truly has his hand in your life, others will recognize it, at least those who need to recognize it. And there are so many illustrations of that throughout the word of God that is not where I want to focus because there's something about these sons of the prophets that I want to look at. It's not just how they came and approached Elisha with an initial respect, but they also came with an itching skepticism. So they bowed down before him, but notice what happens in verse 16.

And they said to him, behold now, there are with your servants 50 strong men. Please let them go and seek your master and maybe that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or to some valley. So what are they saying essentially? Well, we recognize that you are are the new director of our seminary, but we wanna we wanna make sure that Elijah actually was taken up into heaven. This is not innocent.

This is not a group of people who knew a leader for some time and are trying to adjust with transition. All transitions in life can be difficult, especially when there's a change in spiritual leadership, but that's not what's happening here. This should disturb us to a degree because these sons of the prophets understood that Elijah was to be taken up into heaven. Do you remember when Elijah and Elijah were going from one place to the next? And in two of those places, the sons of the prophets approached and they went to Elisha and they said, do you know do you know that today the Lord is gonna take away your master from over you?

You guys remember that study? They knew it. It was made known to them that Elijah was to be removed and replaced. So what is it that they're doing here by begging Elisha to create a search committee to try to find Elijah. I believe that the most fitting explanation is that while they acknowledge Elisha as their new leader, they wanted to confirm Elijah's departure before fully accepting it.

This is unbelief. This is unbelief. And what's even more discouraging is that when they ask this, look at how Elisha responds at the end of verse 16, And he said, you shall not send. In other words, you're wasting your time. The Lord did take him.

No matter where you look, how many people you send, it's not gonna amount to anything. But his instructions made no difference. They persisted. They asked, we want to know to the point where it says here he was ashamed and it's not that he gave in to the pressure. He says, you know what?

I'm gonna teach him a lesson the hard way. Let him learn by going. Okay. Fine. Go.

And so they go. And as we conclude the thoughts from Elisha's first miracle, there are two things to learn. One from the sons of the prophets and one from their new leader. K? The first thing is that the sons of the prophets were disobedient.

They were unbelieving and they were disobedient. And whenever you are unbelieving and whenever you're disobedient, it always costs you something. Always. And in this case, it cost them their energy and it cost them their time. Notice what happens here.

Verse 17. And when they urged them till he was ashamed, he said, send. They sent therefore 50 men, and for three days, they sought him but did not find him. You could have used those three days for better things. So imagine looking up the hills, looking to every cave, valleys for three long days with no results.

Unbelief leaves you stranded. Listen, it leaves you unsatisfied always. God says one thing and you listen to your flesh instead. You're convinced and persuaded by your own wisdom or the wisdom of others. And for these guys, it took them three days to realize that God was right all along.

You know what happens with some people? I've seen I've seen them take much more time than three days. Three years before they get get it. Before they understand, you know, what I grew up hearing about in the word of God, what my parents taught me, what the pastor was saying when I was barely awake, they're actually right. For some people, it's three years.

You know, for other people, it's actually three decades before it finally clicks. Jesus Christ is the truth. He is truly Lord. I've wandered and I've searched for all these years only to realize that I was a fool. I hope it takes you three seconds to get it, not even three days.

I hope that if you're in this place and you've not fully surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, you would not have to learn the hard way. You would learn by just trusting what God has to say. Unfortunately, that was not the case. These men were disappointed. I promise you, you'll be disappointed too if you choose to be the Lord of your own life or if you choose to not trust God in a certain area.

No matter how passionate or convinced you are, no matter how difficult it is to embrace what God has to say about it, if you don't obey it, you will come out losing. I assure you. But speaking of timing, there's a lesson to learn from Elisha's perspective. Consider it from his angle. Here's this man who has been left behind, who is now going to operate as a prophet without any really human help.

He comes to the waters of Jordan, the Jordan, he strikes it and the Lord proves himself, I'm with you. I'm walking with you. What would what would flood your soul in that moment? Courage, joy, peace, exhilaration. And when was it that these sons of the prophets came with their doubts?

Right after. Right after Elisha tasted something of the faithfulness of God, it was confronted with some level of discouragement. I've lived the Christian life long enough, especially in the context of ministry, to know that this is a very predictable pattern. That discouragement tends to be right around the corner when God does something wonderful in your life. And if you think that, again, as an exaggeration, I think we see it repeated in the very same text.

So look back at verse 19, Elisha is going to do a miracle for the city of Jericho, and it's gonna bring healing to the land. And then look at verse 23. He went up there from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and Jeradab saying, go up you bald head, go up you bald head. It's frequent. It's common.

I've seen it in my own life. I've seen it in the lives of other servants of God. Right after Elisha sends his confirmation into ministry, you had a group of men who doubted it. You have to understand here that in their desire to look for Elijah, they're saying something about Elisha. You understand that.

Right? We want to make sure that Elisha is really gone before we crown you as the father of us, the sons of the prophets. More than that, when they kept insisting and Elisha as their new leader was saying, don't send them, don't send them. Did they obey? No.

They didn't listen. So much for a good start as the new dean of the school. They're not even taking your words seriously. So I want you to understand here that, discouragement is strategic. That shouldn't make you cynical.

It should make you cautious though. Cautious and aware that unexpected behavior and bad news tends to make an appearance around the time when the Lord is doing a work, creating a testimony. So that's some lessons we can learn from miracle number one, but we still have two more miracles. So let's go to miracle number two. The miracle we studied was the crossing of the Jordan, and the miracle we're about to now explore is the healing of the waters.

Let's look at verse 18. And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, did I not say to you, do not go? Now the men of the city said to Elisha, behold, the situation of the city is pleasant as my Lord sees, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful. He said, bring me a new bowl and put salt in it. So they brought it to him.

Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said thus says the Lord I have healed this water from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it. Read your bible slowly. Look at verse 19 again. Where is this setting? Where is this taking place?

Now the men of the city, which city? Anybody have an idea? Jericho. We just read it. Verse 18.

Right? They were in Jericho. They were probably the elders, the leaders of the city. This is where Elisha was waiting for the return of those guys who were sent out to try to find Elijah. So he's waiting there in Jericho.

And while he is there in Jericho, the leaders wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and presented to them a cause, a need. And they said, look, everything is pretty well here except for our water source. It's it's it's not allowing us here to to see life, to see vegetation, to see our livestock thrive. And it should not surprise us that this situation is taking place in Jericho. Why?

Because we studied something in the book of Joshua concerning Jericho. What was it? Jericho was cursed. Joshua pronounced a curse over Jericho and I'm persuaded that this is one of the fruit of the curse. This is one of the results of the curse.

And I believe here what we also have is that it's a it's a stark illustration of the world that we live in as well. Look back here at verse 19. Now the men of the city said to Elisha, behold, the situation of the city is pleasant as my Lord sees, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful. So on on the surface, the activity of the city of Jericho seemed promising. It seemed profitable.

But upon investigation, what you realize is that it lacked substance. That it was a lifeless. So it seemed pleasant on the surface level but in reality, it was dreadful. It was dry. It had nothing really to offer.

And that is the same illusion that you and I are surrounded by in this world. You understand that. Right? That on the surface, it seems and I know it seems to be harder to believe now with the growing carnage and chaos around us today, but generally, that is the case. We perceive with our senses as we look around that there's a general happiness, that there's security, that there seems to be a purpose that satisfies people as they ignore God, as they serve their own passions.

But listen, when you really dig deep, and you don't have to dig too deep actually, it will reveal that there is unfruitfulness in it all. But this is really a miracle of hope and grace because this place that is cursed is now going to be reversed. One of the symptoms of God's judgment against this place is now going to be reversed in some way. So how does Elisha go about it? He asked for a new bowl, so a bowl that's free from contamination, to put salt in it, which is an obvious illustration of of a purifying agent, and then he throws it into the water.

Now here's what's significant, that the the unfruitfulness of the land is a symptom. It's a symptom of a deeper issue. Why was the land unfruitful? Because something else was bad. What was it?

You can answer. I'm not gonna bite. It's okay. The water. The water was bad.

That's why the land was unfruitful. Now what I find so significant is that the way Elisha approaches this problem is the way the Lord God approaches the barrenness of man. In what way? Elisha wasn't running around to every tree, every shrub, every farm and trying to fix it. He went to the source, and the source was a contaminated polluted spring.

And in dealing with the spring, everything that those waters touched would also be affected. When the Lord saves a sinner, he doesn't deal with the external elements. He goes to the source. He goes to the heart, And he purifies that heart knowing that the life of the spirit will pump into every aspect of that individual's life and they will receive that grace, that power that begins in the spring of the man's soul. It's a beautiful picture here of how the Lord works in us and and I'm reminded of one verse among many that illustrates that point.

You remember what we are told in in Titus two fourteen about the Lord and what he does through his son, the Lord Jesus? It says here in Titus two fourteen, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all unlawlessness or lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. What comes before the zeal for good works? A purification. You know what that word purify is in the Greek?

Literally to clean. Literally like a dirty dish. A clothing that has stains on it. That's the same word. So the Lord purifies for himself a people and what follows that is what?

A zeal for good works. A zeal for good works. Can I say something though? It's possible for you to to lose your zeal for good works. Right?

Many Christians are lacking that passion. That's a symptom. That's a symptom of a deeper issue. If you find yourself pulling away from the Word of God, the presence of God, the people of God, there's something deeper going on. Your heart needs to be worked on.

It's not it's not you, mustering up the strength for you to wake up and go to church that Sunday because last Sunday, one of the elders came up to me and said, we haven't seen you in a few months. You're just treating the symptoms. There needs to be a deeper cleansing, and you need to come before the Lord honestly and ask him to surgically make out exactly what it is that needs to be altered so that where your heart is and what it touches would truly make a lasting impact. And that's exactly what happens here. Look at the lasting impact in verse 22.

So the water has been healed to this day according to the word that Elisha spoke. I want the same for you if you are dry and callous in this place. It's not about setting an alarm clock earlier or trying to whip up some kind of emotion for you to be more zealous for the Lord. You need the Lord to do a healing work again, and he is capable of doing it if you humble yourself. You know what I love about these men?

They were at a point where they realized that Elisha was most likely passing through, but when he was in their neighborhood, they seized the opportunity. They said, please hear us out and do something about this. I know a lot of people who are who are spiritually dead, unfruitful, and they're content in that place. And if you're gonna be content in that place, then you'll stay in that place. I love what Elisha does here.

He doesn't just wave his hand like a wand and deal with the issue. He actually calls the people to participate in the process. He says what? Verse 20. He said, bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.

So they brought it to him. So what are you willing to do in order for God to bring healing? Because what this miracle teaches us is that God is willing to heal unfruitfulness. Physical unfruitfulness, spiritual unfruitfulness. So if you lost the fragrance, if you if you lost that sense of passion, that pursuit, God can heal that.

He can. That's a brief segment for this study. We're gonna spend more time in the last and final miracle. There's a clear contrast between the second and third miracle. Look at verse 23.

He went up from there to Bethel and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him saying, go up you bald head, go up you bald head. And we know the rest. Right? He turns around, pronounces a curse, two she bears come out and maul 42 of them, and then he just goes on to Mount Carmel. I assure you, you did not hear this in Sunday school.

Even those who are beyond Sunday school still can't seem to reconcile this with the character of God, with the New Testament, with how we are supposed to respond to those who mock us and scorn us. But let me just present this clear contrast here. In Jericho, the people humbly beseeched Elisha, but in Bethel, they viciously rejected him. In Jericho, the power of God through Elijah overcame death and brought life. But in Bethel, what do you have?

Death claimed the lives of many young men. In Jericho, Elisha was used to reverse a symptom of the curse, but in Bethel, he pronounces a curse. That might be a clever contrast, but we still gotta make sense of this. How how is this in our bibles? And what do we do with it?

What do we take from it? I think the relief will come when you consider three things. K? So if you're a note taker, put these sub points down. The first thing is the place.

The second thing is the people. The third thing is the prophecy. So under the third miracle, which is the miracle of the death of 42 boys, you have to consider the place. You have to consider the people. You have to consider the prophecy.

So look at the place. Where did this all take place? He went up from there to where? Bethel. Bethel.

Rich spiritual heritage or no? Very rich spiritual heritage. This is where Jacob encountered encountered God in a very significant way and he named it Bethel, which means what? House of God. So in its DNA, in its origination, it carried weighty meaning.

But that didn't last very long. Right? Because in the days of Kings, first Kings chapter 11, going into chapter 12, specifically, there was a division in the kingdom. Who was the king of the Northern Kingdom at first? What was his name?

This is review. Jeroboam. Yes. And who was the king of the Southern Kingdom, at least the first king? Rehoboam.

Easy to remember. They rhyme. Jeroboam was the king of the northern tribes of Israel, very nervous that at some point his people were gonna unite again with the Southern Kingdom because they were instructed to go to Jerusalem to worship the pilgrim feast. And so he comes up with this evil scheme and that is to create two new locations of worship. One was located where?

Good. Dan, the other place, Bethel. So the house of God now became a den of idolatry and it carried and strengthened in that reputation throughout the years. And so what we have here is Bethel. It hasn't healed from its idolatry and apostasy yet.

In fact, some of the most notorious evil people resided in Bethel. Can I prove that to you? Do you remember that once Ahab became king, what happened with Jericho? It was rebuilt. Right?

The city of Jericho was rebuilt at a cost. If any man were to rebuild the cities of Jericho, the lives of that man's children was was to be taken. But do you know who that man was? Do you remember at least? There'll be a good bible quiz question.

Go to first king 16. I can't just tell it to you. I want you to see it with your own eyes. Look at first king 16 verse 34. In his days, being king Ahab, in his days, Hael of where?

Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of Abiram, his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son, Segov, according to the word of the Lord which they which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun. So the guy that rebuilt the city was from Bethel. Gives you an idea what kind of crowd we're dealing with. So this is the kind of people that Bethel produces and these are where these children came from to harass the prophet of God.

Very hostile, very anti Yahweh. One of the capitals of apostasy. That's the place, but let's look more specifically at the people. It says here, and he went up from there to Bethel in verse 23, while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him saying, go up, you bull hide, go up, you bull hide. This is probably the most disturbing aspect of this brief story.

Some small children. So the image that most people have is, you have kids who are outside on the outskirts of Bethel who are probably playing soccer, and then the prophet Elisha walks by and they notice that he doesn't have hair. And they said, hey, look, Baldi's over there. Get out of here Baldi. Get out of here Baldi.

Then, Elisha was in a he was tired, he was in a bad mood, turned around, looked at the kids, says, curse curse are you in the name of the Lord and then two bears come and just maul them and have a buffet with these kids. Is that is that what's going on here? The Hebrew word for the the the word small children here is much broader. It's used to identify a wide range of demographics. Let me give an example.

So in Genesis thirty seven two, we're told there that Joshua was how old? Anybody remember how old, excuse me, Joseph was? He was 17 years old. And in that same verse we're told that he was a boy and it's the same word used here when it comes to some small boys. And there are other instances where that Hebrew word is used to even describe much older young men.

And so it's very possible that we're not dealing with kids from the nursery here. We're dealing with maybe teenagers. And how we can even confirm that is their behavior. They were aware of who Elisha was. They were aware about events surrounding him and his ministry and who he was in relation to them as the people who come from Bethel.

So we're not given the exact age of these boys, but they were old enough to confront this man and I want you to show I want you to show you exactly how they confronted him. They were not just outside hanging out of the city gates. Look here again in verse 23, the second part. Some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him saying, go up you Bald Head, go up you Bald Head. So they saw him walking.

They were inside, saw him and chose to go out and pursue him. And we can even believe that they were following him, because look at verse 24. And he turned around and when he saw them So it's very likely that they were they were starting to annoy him. Yes. Mock him.

Sure. But who knows what else they had in mind? This is not a group of five kids. We're told that 42 of the boys were mauled. Meaning that there were more of them.

We're talking about a gang. A big crowd. They're they're here looking for trouble. The prophet is in danger here. So they recognize who Elisha was from a distance and more than that, look at the nature of their insult.

Go up you bald head. One, I'm encouraged to know that God doesn't Elijah was known as what? He was a man was he was he hairless? No. He's actually very hairy.

So Elijah was hairy and Elisha barely had any hair, at least on his head. I'm so glad that the Lord doesn't choose us based on our appearance. He uses hairy people and people who don't have hair. But they say, go up you bald head. Was that just merely an insult on his appearance?

Is there anything in the near context that would suggest what they're getting at by saying go up? What happened? Who went up recently? Elijah. He was taken up.

We have every right to believe that that news of Elijah being taken in such a miraculous way into heaven spread And it even reached Bethel. And so when these kids from Bethel are saying go up you Baluthat, what are they essentially saying? Get out of here. In the same way that Elijah was removed, why don't you join and go up to heaven and leave us alone? This is what they're saying.

Not just making fun of their his appearance, they are vocalizing their disdain and their rejection of God. Because this man represented God. And it's a very dangerous thing for messengers of God, especially in the old covenant, to be mocked in this way persistently. Here's a verse to confirm that. In second Chronicles 36 verse 16, this is when Judah was about to be judged by their exile.

It says here, but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. Notice the close connection between the messengers of God being mocked and people despising his words. So when a man of God is rebuked, when a man of God is persecuted, rejected, denied, ultimately they're doing that to the God that they represent. So when they said go up you bald head, yes, mocking the messenger, but ultimately despising the word of the Lord. That brings us to our final sub point.

Not just the place, not just the people, but the prophecy. Again, Elisha didn't turn around and come up with a creative way to judge these kids and so thought to himself, let me summon two she bearers to to give them a day that they'll never forget. Elisha knew the word of God. And Elisha understood that God warned that if his people were to remain in a state of apostasy, then one of the acts of judgment that would come does Does anybody remember? We've touched on this more than once in our previous bible studies where this particular act of judgment is defined.

Oh, yes. We are creatures of repetition. We need to remind ourselves. There's a clear warning that gives explanation to why it was two she bears came out and mauled these children. Leviticus 26.

Look here with me in verse 21. This is God giving a series of warnings to his people if they remain and continue in their rebellion. And here's one of them. In Leviticus 26 verse 21, then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you sevenfold for your sins, and I will let loose the wild beast against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number so that your roads shall be deserted. Wow.

So this is not random. This is not Elisha's idea. This is Elisha as a conduit fulfilling and executing God's judgment that was warned and given to his people hundreds of years before this took place. And one of the things that would take place is that if this people were to remain in unbelief, he would let loose the wild beast. And who's gonna pay for it?

The children. This is where I I wanna say, when a nation rejects the true God, over time, the children will pay a price. It was true for Israel and it's true for The United States Of America today. But I also believe that the Lord permitted this specific act of judgment at this point in time because of a very important transition. Elijah was taken.

Elisha replaces him. And right right at the beginning of Elisha's ministry, he's facing hostility and this happens. The fulfillment of Leviticus twenty six twenty one to 22. Do you know why? Because God wants to communicate something early on with this shift.

That although a change in leadership occurred, God's word did not change. This is a sober warning that he is granting not just to those in Bethel, but to the whole nation. Yes, Elisha now is my new man, but my word remains the same. I haven't changed my protocol. I haven't altered my warnings.

I haven't deleted any of my promises. They are still the same. And I love to think about that as men of God come and go. Preachers who have made a wonderful impact, preachers who have disgraced the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't alter God's word.

And as time goes on, men of God will come, men of God will go, the word of the Lord remains forever. It remains forever. Here's what we'll conclude. What happens next? Verse 25.

From there, he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there, he returned to Samaria. Three miracles in succession, rapid fire succession. And the way that this segment of Elisha's ministry concludes is that he goes to Mount Carmel. It would make sense for him to go to Samaria. That's the hub of his ministry.

That that's the capital of Israel. That's where he's going to minister. But before he goes to Samaria, he stops in Mount Carmel. What's in Mount Carmel? We're not told.

But we know Mount Carmel's recent history. This is where Elijah experienced one of his greatest accomplishments. This is where Elijah saw God come through in an incredible way. We're not told if Elisha was there that faithful day, but he definitely heard about it. And I like to think that when Elisha experienced these three miracles, especially the disheartening final one, He made his way to Mount Carmel, perhaps sat before the very arena where God came through and just reflected, Maybe even rested.

And he drew strength and courage from what just had taken place and now what will lie ahead. It's a reminder to us that as we serve God, it's important to get alone and rest. Rest in him. Remind ourselves of what he has done, what he's capable of doing so that we can be energized for what else lies ahead. And I'd like to think that Elisha here has perhaps learned from his master's mistakes.

Remember, Elisha got in a lot of trouble when he kept going and going and going and going. He paid a dear price for that. But here's his successor who after a brief spurt of events secludes himself. And he meets alone. We're not told for what purpose, but he was before an act of God's faithfulness and that replenished him, strengthened him, and equipped him for what we're gonna study in the weeks ahead.

Let's pray. In fact, the praise team can come up. I encourage you just even tonight before we close this bible study that you would just reflect on some of these things. Many truths have been explained. I pray that something touched your heart.

Maybe you resonated more with miracle number one, miracle number three, miracle number two. Just speak to the Lord, would you? Well, we do ask that, it's very easy for us to become dry and to stop bearing fruit. So heal us if we're there. And Lord, if we're bearing fruit like Elisha did, it's very very possible that some might be facing discouragement in one way or another.

May we be comforted to know that the greatest men, the greatest woman of God face the same temptation. And may we be like Elisha in this story who did not allow the doubt and the unbelief of those he was called to serve to derail him. He stood firm. Help us stay firm. And, Lord, help us remember that even in recent news, as ministers come and go, your word can be relied on.

Your word does not change. It endures forever. Help us be faithful until we end with it. Help us be faithful with the goal of ultimately pleasing you. And Lord, if it makes an impact on others, then we give you glory for that.

So Lord, we rejoice. Your word has indeed filled us. And we pray, Lord, that as we sing to you, you'd be blessed by our voices tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Let's stand. Let's worship the Lord.