2 KINGS 4-11 THE MINISTRY OF ELISHA2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Kings 4-11 The Ministry Of Elisha

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012.

2 Kings chapters 4 through 11, looking at the chapters that we read this week as we go through the Bible in three years. As we continue on in the book of 2 Kings, we don't know exactly who the author is. It's really a compilation of the history of what took place during the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah.

It covers a time period of about 300 years, from about 863 to about 560 BC, which looks like this on the timeline. So up to this point, we saw the beginning of the nation after Joshua led the people of Israel into the land.

Then there was the time of the judges, and then Saul, the first king, was established. Then David came after him, and Solomon, and the kingdom of Israel reached the pinnacle, the peak of its glory. It was, you know, the height of its blessings and riches as they were walking with God and built the temple.

And so it was now the northern kingdom called Israel and the southern kingdom called Judah.

And so in 1 Kings, we saw that take place, that division happen, and we've been following the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah simultaneously back and forth throughout 1 Kings and now into 2 Kings. And so we're continuing that this week, and we're working our way towards the destruction of both nations, Israel and Judah, as they continue their downward spiral in rebellion against God.

Well, the geography of 2 Kings looks something like this. On the left here, you have the divided kingdom. So initially it was one united kingdom, but divided after Solomon's death, the northern kingdom called Israel, the southern kingdom called Judah. And that the borders will continue to shrink as we'll see this evening as they continue to be rebellious against God.

Well, also what we haven't yet seen here in 2 Kings, but we will see as we continue to read through, on the right-hand side, the top map is the map of the Assyrian Empire.

And so while Israel is falling away from God and turning away from God and declining and losing land, the nation of Assyria is becoming a world power. And they're going to be coming on the scene with great force and they're going to be conquering many peoples, many nations, including the nation of Israel.

They will not be able to conquer Judah, even though they will try, but they're going to conquer Israel and they're going to carry the people out of the land as captives. And so we're going to see Assyria rise to power and conquer the nation of Israel. Well, then after the nation or the empire of Assyria falls, it falls to the Babylonian empire.

And Babylon then is going to come and conquer many nations. And at this point, Babylon is going to conquer the nation of Judah as well. And so God is going to be using both Assyria and Babylon to bring judgments upon his people, both Israel and Judah, for their rebellion against God. And so we'll continue to see that develop over the next couple of weeks as we continue on in 2 Kings.

Well, this evening, though, we're not that far ahead yet. We're still working kind of in the beginning ages of 2 Kings. The kingdom is divided, and God is seeking to call his people back. And one of the main ways that he's doing that is through the prophets. Specifically, as we begin now in chapter 4, we're looking at the prophet Elisha and his ministry. So here we are in 2 Kings 4, verse 35 is the key verse.

It says, he returned and walked back and forth in the house and again went up and stretched himself out on him. Then the child sneezed seven times and the child opened his eyes. Here in chapter 4, we have several things happening with the ministry of Elisha. It starts out in verses 1 through 7 with God providing oil for the widow.

There's a widow who comes to Elisha and she's in need because her husband has died and has left behind a great amount of debt. And widows were not really well off in those days because there wasn't much work opportunity for them. They were at the mercy of the society and the people around them.

So she comes to Elisha and says, I don't know what to do. My sons are going to be taken into servitude because I can't afford to pay the debtors. And so Elisha gives her instruction. He says, go and borrow vessels from everywhere. Borrow jars and pitchers and whatever you can get your hands on, any type of containers that you can get. Because she had said, well, I just have a little bit of oil.

And so he says, well, get these jars from everywhere you can, go inside your house and pour the oil into the jars. And God did this amazing work of...

making the oil that she had last. Now, this is pretty amazing because the wording that's used here to describe the little bit of oil that she had is really describing something like this. Not like a pitcher, maybe like a bottle of oil that you have in the kitchen, but she had like a little vial of anointing oil.

And she went, her and her sons, they went to all their neighbors and friends and family and gathered all the vessels that they could. And they're just pouring the oil into these vessels, all that they borrowed. And then they, okay, here's the next one. Boom. Okay, here's the next one. And God is supernaturally just providing more oil for them to pour into these vessels. And so the end result is she comes to, you know, she's like, hey, hand me another jar. And the sons are like, that's it. We filled them all.

that God miraculously provided for her

to be able to sell the oil and pay off her debts, and then also to be able to live off the rest of the profits. All of that from a little tiny vial of oil by the working of God through Elisha. And so it's a great miracle of provision for her. And that's what we see there in verses 1 through 7. Then in verses 8 through 10, you have another woman who's introduced into the text, and she prepares a room for Elisha.

She sets up basically a little, like a small hotel room for him, probably on the roof of her house so that he would be able to come and go as he needs without disturbing the rest of the house. And she sets up a bed, a little table with a chair and a lamp and, you know, just like a little desk area, a place for him to come and enjoy some time there and as he's going back and forth.

And so she prepares this room for Elisha, and Elisha really wants to bless her. He's really blessed by her, and so he says, how can we bless her? He's talking to his servant, he's talking to her, and he realizes, well, it would be a great blessing for her if God were to provide her a son. And so in verses 11 through 17, Elisha promises her a son, and that promise is fulfilled, and she gives birth, and so she's blessed.

But then in verses 18 through 37, sometime later on, the child is older now, not an infant, but probably maybe like a teenager around that age. And the child dies, actually. He's out in the field, his head hurts, and he says, oh man, my head. And so he goes, she carries him up to Elisha's room and lays him on the bed, but he's dead. And she goes to visit Elisha. And Elisha

comes back and he, you know, verse 35 is the key verse. He stretches himself out on the boy. He prays to God and God brings the child back to life. And so he is revived or raised from the dead. What's really interesting about this portion to me is in verse 27, where Elisha there, she goes to Elisha and he sends Gehazi, go find out what she wants, but she won't tell him. So she comes to Elisha and she says,

But she hasn't said anything yet. She grabs hold of his feet and Gehazi's like, hey, what are you doing? And it's interesting, Elisha says, let her alone for her soul is in deep distress and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.

Elisha, it seems, is somewhat surprised. He's like, God hid this from me. I don't understand. It's not normal. Usually I know these things in advance, but he's surprised that, you know, God has not revealed this to him. Now,

I think this is really interesting and a good challenge for us. I'm the other way around. I'm still really surprised whenever God speaks. And when God speaks and he shows something and it's like, oh, it's so exciting, it's surprising, even though we know God does it and he wants to reveal himself and speak to us, it's still surprising and amazing every time.

I don't get surprised and amazed when God doesn't show me something. And I think that's something, you know, it shows an area of growth that we need to continue to press on, to strive, to draw near to God, to hear his voice and walk with him. And it gives us a little bit of encouragement to continue that way because Elisha here has a great relationship with God and he's able to walk with him.

Well, after that, we see in verses 38 through 41 that Elisha heals a pot of stew. The prophets were gathering things. They picked up some gourds. They're like, I don't know what this looks like, but it'd probably make a good stew. So they chop it up. They put it in the stew, and it turns out it's poisonous. And so Elisha adds flour, and through the supernatural working of God, the stew was healed.

Then we see another miracle of Elisha in verses 42 through 44, where he stretches out the food. Well, really God does it, but he's, you know, the instrument that God is using. And so he feeds a hundred men with not very much food. And we see a similar thing, but to a greater degree happen in Jesus's ministry later on.

This is a good reminder of the reality that God is not looking for some great resource that you might provide, but he's looking for our availability. You might just have a couple loaves of bread, but God could feed a hundred or thousands of people with it. You might just have a little bit of what you would consider, you know, ability or talent or a little bit of something to share, but God can use and magnify that and multiply that to accomplish something far greater.

The thing that really stands out here in chapter 4 for me, though, and we'll come back to this at the end of the service, is the oil that God supernaturally provides for the widow. I shared this on Sunday evening, but it's worth repeating and remembering and considering once again.

That this picture of this widow pouring oil, this little vial of anointing oil into all of these pitchers and jars that they had gathered together is a really great illustration of you and I needing and desiring and being able to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's an illustration of what Paul talks about in Galatians chapter 5.

There in Galatians 5.16, Paul says, I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Paul is instructing us to say, you are to be filled in the Spirit in such a way that you are walking in the Spirit. That step by step, moment by moment, that you are allowing the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you. That it's to be continual, that you are receiving the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit is being poured out upon you.

And I liken it to each step is a jar or a vessel like the widow collected. So that she went and as many as she gathered, that's how many the Lord filled. If she would have gathered less jars and bottles and pitchers...

then there would have been less filling in them. There would have, you know, been oil to fill those, but no more. If she would have gathered more pitchers and bottles and jars, then God would have provided more oil to fill all of those vessels. In the same way, you and I were commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to walk in the Spirit,

And it's a responsibility that we have to collect the jars and pitchers and bottles to give God an opportunity to fill them. That is, as we take each step, we have the opportunity to say, Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit. Lord, work in this situation. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us to continue to rely upon, to request and ask for God to pour out his Holy Spirit upon us.

Give God many opportunities to fill you with His Spirit. If you only give Him a few, you'll find that He will fill you with His Spirit for those few opportunities you give Him. But if you give Him many, if you collect many jars and bottles, you give Him many opportunities throughout the week, throughout the day, moment by moment, God will continuously, as much as you desire, pour out His Holy Spirit upon you.

We talked about this a few Sundays ago in Luke chapter 11 verse 13 where Jesus is declaring that we are to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. And it goes on to say, Jesus explains, I'm talking about the Holy Spirit. Keep on asking for God to give you the Holy Spirit.

He goes on to describe it and compare it to a father with their child. Hey, if a father knows how to give good gifts to his child, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

And so the point of the scriptures, the lesson that God wants to instruct us here with this illustration of these bottles and jars that this widow gathers, is that we are to be asking continually and repeatedly and giving God opportunity to fill us with this Holy Spirit that we might be effective in working in his kingdom. That we would present ourselves repeatedly as empty vessels.

That's the thing. The bottles and jars that the widow had to collect, in order for them to be filled with oil, they had to be empty vessels. They couldn't come, you know, with they already, you know, have a bunch of stuff in them and she's just pouring a little bit of oil on top. No, that's not what they were talking about. It's empty vessels that have to be gathered. A lot of times we come to God and we, you know, maybe request for him to help, but we're also coming not as empty vessels, but full vessels, right?

All right, God, I've got the solution for this situation. I've got it figured out, the direction we need to go. I have the answers. So Lord, bless what I'm about to do. We have already our own ideas and plans and purposes, and we're just asking God to bless that.

But we need to come to God as empty vessels, where we say, God, what do you want to do? How do you want to work? What do you want me to say? That we would present to God ourselves as empty vessels for him to do the work in us and through us. And so this idea of presenting these empty vessels to God, it applies in a lot of ways. You can look at it in regard to serving God,

Yeah, step out. Give God opportunities to fill you with His Holy Spirit that you might serve Him, that you might minister to people, that you might serve in different capacities.

Or it might be life situations, emergencies that are before you or things that are just every day that you're having to make decisions, you're having to make choices, you're working through things, you know, you're at the workplace or in the grocery store that you would give God an opportunity. Lord, let this not just be about grocery shopping, but fill me with your Holy Spirit and use this for your glory. You can also use it for time in the Word.

As you spend time in the Scriptures, give God an opportunity to fill you with this Holy Spirit that you might understand His Word.

Don't approach it as a full vessel saying, I know what this means. I understand it. I know the language background behind it, or I know the context, or I've read this story a hundred times. No, we need to approach the word of God with the emptiness saying, God, you show me what you want me to see. Show me what this is talking about. Show me what you want to do in my heart through your word.

And we can apply it to the time of prayer. We can apply it to a time of church, you know, sitting in service, and on and on and on. But the point is, over and over, present ourselves as empty vessels. And as much as we present ourselves to God to be filled with the Spirit, He will fill us with His Holy Spirit.

Well, here in chapter four, we had this encounter with the Shunammite and Elisha. He's going back and forth. Mount Carmel is one of the locations, but the Shunammite is there in Shunam. And so that's where she sets up the room for him. And so he goes through there as he's going about his circuit and his journey there in the northern part of Israel where Elisha was ministering. So that's where that is on the map. And that brings us now to chapter five here of 2 Kings. Verse 14 is the key verse.

So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean. Here in verses 1 through 7, we have a guy named Naaman introduced. He is from Syria and he goes to Israel to be healed of leprosy.

Now he's from Syria. They're not believing in God. They have their own gods that they worship, false gods. But they don't worship the true and living God. But there's a servant girl from Israel there that is Naaman's servant. And she says...

oh man, if only you could go because Naaman was an honorable guy. She liked him. She wanted him to be healed. And she said, if only you could go to Israel, there's prophets of God there and you could be healed.

And so the king hears about that, the king of Syria, and he sends Naaman. He says, yeah, go here, take a letter. And so Naaman goes, he gives the letter to the king. And you can imagine the king of Israel is like, you know, now he's responsible to heal this guy of leprosy.

Now, Syria and Israel were not getting along. There was always this friction between them. And we'll see Syria actually be attacking Israel in the next couple of chapters. So the relationship isn't very good already. And now, you know, hey, if we don't heal him, then does that mean it's an act of war? Syria is going to come and attack us. And so the king's all stressed out and freaked out.

But Elisha hears about it. He sends word. And so Naaman goes to Elisha. Then in verses 8 through 14, Naaman is healed of leprosy.

He's a little bit upset at first because he goes to Elisha, but Elisha doesn't greet him or connect with him. He sends a servant to Naaman and gives him the instruction, go dip in the Jordan seven times. Very simple instruction. Just get wet, go underneath the water seven times, and then you will be healed. And Naaman was upset. He didn't want to do it. He thought, hey,

Elisha didn't come talk to me. This is a silly thing to do. It's not, you know, really substantial. You know, there's rivers at home that I could have dipped in. So this is a worthless trip, a pointless trip. And so he storms off. He goes away. He's not going to do it. But then his servants intervene and say, hey,

if he had requested something big, if he said, you know, give a thousand talents of silver and sacrifice hundreds of sacrifices or something like that, wouldn't you have done it? And he says, yeah, I would have done it. So it's something simple. Why not just do it and see what God will do? And so Naaman heeds his servants and he is healed as he dips in the Jordan seven times. You know, so many times God works...

In us, through simple obedience, through simple instruction. And I would ask you to consider this evening, have you been resisting a simple, maybe a humbling command? Something you know God's been...

instructing you on and working you towards, but you're like, ah, it's kind of simple. It's not that big of a deal, you know. I'm thinking if God wants to heal me, if he wants to work in my life in this way, you know, there's going to be something bigger, more complicated, something that's a greater sacrifice. And yet so many times God works through simple instruction and simple obedience. And so I would encourage you to consider that, like Naaman.

Don't be waiting for some, you know, big fanfare or some big event. Just simply obey that simple thing. Perhaps it's humbling, but obey what God has instructed you so that he would be free to do the work in you that he desires to do. Well, then verses 15 through 19, Naaman goes back to Elisha and he commits to worship the Lord. He knows now there is only one God.

And so he takes back a bunch of dirt back to his home in Syria to show that he believes in the God of Israel and he's going to be worshiping God there even though he's in Syria.

Well, then in verses 20 through 24, we have Elisha's servant Gehazi, and he goes and he takes money and clothes from Naaman. Naaman tried to reward Elisha. Let me give you something. Let me pay you for this great miracle. He's healed. He's so thankful and grateful. But Elisha says, no, I'm not going to receive anything from you. So Naaman goes his way and Gehazi says, I'm

Man, that was a great opportunity. We could have got rich right now. I mean, he came with great wealth and God could have blessed us greatly. Gehazi goes, well, I guess I could go do it. And so he runs and catches up with Naaman. He makes up a story. He tells the lie. And so Naaman, of course, is willing. He's still grateful. He says, sure, take whatever you want.

And so Gehazi takes two talents of silver. That's roughly about 150 pounds of silver, as well as some change of garments that he takes. So, I mean, this is quite a bit of wealth that Gehazi takes. And it takes a couple of servants to carry it back to Gehazi's home. He kind of hides it because, of course, he knows it's wrong and he's lying about it.

But he sees this opportunity and he takes advantage to take the money and the clothes. But then in verses 25 through 27, Elisha confronts him and Gehazi then becomes leprous. He receives the leprosy that Naaman was cleansed of because of his greed and his lies. Verse 25 is interesting to me. It says, now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, where did you go Gehazi? And he said, your servant did not go anywhere.

So he lied to Naaman. Now he's lying to Elisha, but he couldn't fool God. And Elisha said, my heart went with you. I think it's amazing how silly we are, thinking many times how we can hide things from God. God sees right through it. He knows exactly what's going on in our hearts. He knows exactly what we think. He knows exactly where we're at.

He sees it all and yet so many times we think that we can hide from him.

Well, here on the map, you can see, get an idea of the journey that Naaman took. Damascus is there in the top right corner. And so he would have went down south through Israel, probably about 150 miles or so, in order for him to go from Damascus to Syria. I'm sorry, Damascus to Samaria. And he went there. Of course, he was healed. And so the journey back was probably much more joyful than the journey there. Chapter 6.

Verse 17 is the key verse, and it says,

The prophets are kind of running out of space. It was a booming prophet ministry. They outgrew their building and so they decide they're going to make a new one. They're chopping down trees and one of the guys, his axe head falls off and falls in the Jordan. He can't find it and so he asks Elisha for help.

and Elisha causes the axe head to float. Iron doesn't usually float on water unless it's the shape of a boat and it perfectly displaces the water. But it was at the bottom, God caused it to rise up to the top and he was able to grab it and continue back to work.

I think it's a good illustration that God works in practical things as well as spiritual things. You know, it was kind of a practical, simple thing that Acts said that fell in the water. And so we can come to God with those things as well. You know, you lost your keys, things like that. He can't tell you how many times, you know, people have lost their keys around here. Cisco's gotten a lot better, but it was like every week, you know, we'd have to have a prayer meeting to help Cisco find his keys. And so many times right after we prayed,

There's Kiswah right in front of us. It was amazing. And so we can present those practical things to God as well as the spiritual things.

Well, then in verses 8 through 12, you have Elisha revealing Syria's plans so that Israel is protected. I love this story. It's such a great picture. I think it'd maybe make a great movie or something where the king of Syria, he's attacking Israel. He's setting up traps. He's setting up, you know, these areas where, hey, you know, they're going to come by. We're going to be able to raid them and grab their stuff. And then

Elisha, though, knows what's going on. The Lord's revealing it to him, and so he's giving the king instruction. All right, the enemy's going to be here. Don't go around that area. Okay, this time he's on that road, so, you know, watch out for that. Stay away from that road. And so he's protecting Israel, and the king of Syria is upset. He's like, man, there's a traitor among us because they're dodging us every time. They always know where we're at.

And then it's revealed to the king that it's Elisha because God is revealing to Elisha what the king is saying even behind closed doors.

So the king says, well, I know what I'll do then. I got to get Elisha. So he sends his army after Elisha and surrounds the village where he's at. But then in verses 13 through 23, you see that there Elisha blinds Syria's soldiers so they're not able to find him. And he leads them to Samaria where they are kind of like waking up. And they're like, whoa, how did we get here? What's going on? And so they fed them and sent them home.

In verse 16, Elisha says to his servant, do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. The servant goes outside, he sees this army all around, he's like, oh no, what are we going to do? And Elisha says, those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And then he prays, God open his eyes, show him. Such a great vivid picture for us when we are looking at a situation and it just seems impossible to

Remember that God is with you. When we look at the physical things, we don't have the whole picture. But there's a spiritual war that's going on as well. And there was, spiritually speaking, much more with Elisha than were with their enemies. And so Elisha, in the power of God, is able to strike them with blindness and lead them away. But the servant could not see the spiritual reality.

And so Elisha prayed, Lord, open his eyes. And I would say the same for us. Lord, open our eyes. Help us to see what's really going on. Help us to see that you're with us, that you're for us, that we can trust and rest in you. Well, then in verses 24 through 33, we have Syria now besieging Samaria.

So Syria has been attacking. They've been raiding like little skirmishes here and there, but now it's an all-out war. So Syria comes down. They camp around Samaria. Now this was a common practice. It was a battle practice of the day where they would lay siege to a city. They would camp all around the city and

Let nobody come in or out, and basically they would just wait them out. They would starve them out. And this account here in chapter 6 really illustrates the terrible conditions of a siege as we see these two women who are calling out to the king for justice.

What's the situation? Well, these ladies are starving. Usually sieges would last for several years. And so, you know, you run out of resources in the city and then

what are you going to do? And they're selling, you know, bird poop, you know, for people to eat. They're selling, and it's at great cost. Only the rich and luxurious, you know, they're the ones who are able to eat the bird poop. I mean, it's just, it's that bad. But then it gets worse because these two ladies, they don't have any food. They're starving. And so they make this agreement. All right, today you and I will share, we'll eat my child. And then tomorrow,

When we're hungry again, then we'll eat your child. And so they make this pact. They make this agreement. And it really gives us this understanding of how terrible the conditions are. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine what is going on here? Now, I would also say keep in mind that

that this was a society against God's command, but they did it anyways, where they were practicing the sacrificing of their kids to their false gods in the worship of these gods like Baal and Molech and Chemosh and those guys. And so they would often do that

So it was something that, you know, was somewhat normal in their society, but still gruesome. They're starving. And so they are resorting to eating their own children. But what happened is the first woman, they put her child to death.

and then they ate her child, and then the next day, well, the other child was hidden. Mom's like, no, no, you're not eating my kid, and so she protects him, and so it's unfair. You know, they made an agreement. She's not holding up her end of the bargain, and so she's presenting her case to the king, and it shows us just how bad the terrible conditions of a siege really are, and so the king is upset. He tears his clothes, and he

is blaming Elisha this time. He says, I'm going to kill Elisha by tomorrow because this is terrible. But verse 33 gives us a little bit of insight here in chapter 6 to help us understand the king begins now to realize that this is the work of God, that the nation is experiencing the judgment of God. At the end of chapter 6, verse 33, it says, surely this calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?

We get to learn an important point here, and that is that God will be glorified. One way or another, God will be glorified, either by your obedience or...

By his judgment of your disobedience. We can glorify God with our obedience. Israel chose not to do that. They had turned away from God. They were not seeking God. They were not following God. They were worshiping false gods. They were in rebellion against God. So they were not glorifying him with their obedience.

So God brings judgment for their disobedience, and now he's getting glory. Now people are recognizing, oh, he really is God. He really is on the throne. They're recognizing that he is the one who has the power over these things. And so God is glorified either by your obedience or by his judgment of your disobedience. Now,

Now, what this also means though, is that as the king is realizing this, this is an opportunity to repent. God is bringing this, he's allowing this so that they have an opportunity to turn and get right with him. And we'll see that time and time again, as we head further into the different prophets that are being sent to the nation of Israel. The judgments that come are invitations for them to respond and repent and get right with God.

And so as the king has this realization, it's also an opportunity for him to turn and repent and get right with God.

One of the interesting things that I find in this chapter, though, is going back to verses 8 through 12, is Elisha's understanding the plans of Syria. And he's tipping the king off. Hey, this is where they're going to be. This is what they're doing. This is a good illustration for us of spiritual warfare and the things that are going on in our lives.

In 2 Corinthians 2, verse 11, Paul is talking about forgiving the one who is offended and

But he says, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Paul is saying there in 2 Corinthians 2.11, we know what Satan's up to. And so we need to be on guard, just like Israel knew what Syria was up to, and so they were working around it and dodging it. In the same way, we know what the enemy wants to do. We know how he wants to destroy us. We're not ignorant of his devices. And so we need to...

follow that. We need to, you know, listen as God has given us that insight into what the enemy wants to do.

This past week, I listened to a really great message from Pastor Brian Broderson that he shared at the Bible College in Murrieta just a few days ago. And he was talking about spiritual warfare. Man, just really fantastic as he gave these kinds of insights about spiritual warfare that we would not be ignorant of what Satan is doing, what his plans are.

And I would really encourage you to check that out. I posted it to my Facebook page yesterday, so you can check it out there, or you can talk to me afterwards, and I'll try to get you a CD. But really good insights about spiritual warfare. We know what the enemy's plans are. God's given us instruction regarding the enemy, regarding what he desires. So recognize his attacks.

And deal with the enemy's attacks on the spiritual plane and not on the physical thing. So many times we're wrestling against flesh and blood when the Bible says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We get distracted. We get confused where the real battle is at.

Well, here in chapter 6, we have now Syria comes down and besieges Samaria. And so they come down again. Syria is there in the top right. In the north, they come down. They camp around Samaria. And that's where all of this is taking place. That Dothan there, that's where Elisha was when Syria came down and surrounded him to try to take Elisha captive. But God prevented that with the blindness upon the soldiers.

Chapter 7 now, verse 1 is the key verse. It says, Then Elisha said, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, Tomorrow about this time a sea of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two seas of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. Here in chapter 7 now, we have the deliverance of the siege, the deliverance from Syria. In verses 1 and 2, Elisha promises this deliverance.

Elisha comes on the scene right as the king has just dealt with these two ladies he's recognizing this is a calamity from the Lord and now Elisha enters in and says here's what God says tomorrow things are going to be different and tomorrow food is going to be abundant tomorrow food will be provided and traded and purchased at the gate of Samaria and

It's not a coincidence. The king recognizes this calamity is from the Lord, and then God enters in and says, tomorrow the siege will end and the food will be provided.

as he recognized who it was that was in charge, that he recognized who God was and the work that God was doing, then God provided. And again, we see God will be glorified through our obedience or through his judgment of our disobedience. And as soon as he recognized that it was God, again, it was an opportunity for him to repent. As God says, all right, you got the point. You know this is me.

So now he has this accountability to his knowledge that it's God who is on the throne and in control. This king will continue to walk away and disobey God, but he has the opportunity at this time to repent. And so he recognizes that this is God, and Elisha steps in and promises deliverance. Deliverance happens in a unique way in verses 3 through 8. The Syrians that are camped around Samaria, they flee away from four lepers.

These guys, they're on the outside of the city because they're lepers. They're put outside so that they don't infect anybody else. They're out there. They're starving. They usually survive off the scraps that are cast over the wall of the city. But...

In the siege, people are starving to such a great degree, there's nobody casting, you know, extra scraps over the side. So they're hungry and they figure, well, we're going to die either way, but maybe the Syrians will show us mercy. So let's go talk to them. And so they make their way to go to talk to the Syrians. And God makes these four lepers sound like a great army. And

And the Syrians are in panic mode. They think they're under attack. And so they just take off. They just leave everything behind and they start running because they think it's a great army pursuing them. And so the lepers are able to partake of the food. Then in verses 9 through 16, they go and tell the king. They let the people know, hey, the Syrians are gone. There's all this food out here. Come out and eat.

And so they're able to be provided for. And then verse 17 through 20, the unbelieving officer is trampled at the gate. When Elisha made the promise in verse 1 and 2, the officer that's alongside the king says, no way, even if God opens up the windows of heaven, that could not be fulfilled.

And so Elisha said, well, you're going to see it, but because you don't believe, you're not going to get to partake. And so this officer is the guy who opens the gate and it's, you know, it's the first Black Friday. You know, he gets trampled as all the people rush through the gate to go get the food and the great deals. So the prophecy is fulfilled. He sees it, but he does not get to partake because he did not believe. There's an important lesson here as we look at the example of these four lepers.

They realized as they're partaking of, man, look at this great stuff here. We've got some fruit, some bread, all this stuff. They're all excited, but then they realized, hey, it would be wrong for us to not share this good news of the victory that God has accomplished with the people inside the city. Here we are just enjoying a great meal while there's this whole city of people that are starving.

And it's such a great picture for us of the gospel and the urgency and the importance of sharing the gospel. Because there's people around us who are starving. They're trapped. The enemy's been defeated, but they're still confined within the walls. They don't realize, they don't understand that the enemy has been defeated. Satan has been conquered.

And so God has enabled us and called us to be his messengers like these four lepers to announce it, to say, hey, the enemy's been beaten. Christ was victorious at the cross. And all people have to do is believe the message and respond. That's all they had to do in that time. They just had to believe these four lepers and

Check it out. Oh yeah, it's right. They're gone and just respond. Just go out and partake of the food that's there. In the same way, there's people who are lost, who are hurting. It's our responsibility. How terrible is it for us to just enjoy the blessings and the benefits of what God has done for us

While we just let other people out there be trapped and starving, caught up in the city and so miserable, we need to announce the news. Now, they have the opportunity to receive it or reject it. That's up to them. But we can't just hoard it all for ourselves and say, well, I'm not sharing the gospel with them. I don't want them in the kingdom of God. I don't want them to be forgiven. No, that's a terrible attitude.

And so we need to be like the lepers and share the good news of the deliverance that has been accomplished. Well, that brings us to chapter 8, verse 18 is the key verse. It says, "...and he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord."

Here as we go on in chapter 8, we're looking at a couple events, but continuing on now the different reigns of the kings of Judah.

In verses 1 through 6, it talks about the Shunammite again and her land is restored. She was in the land of the Philistines for a while back, but she comes back into Israel and it just happens that Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, is talking to the king about the Shunammite woman and then she walks in right at that time. That's called a divine appointment where God just works out and orchestrates things. They just happen at the exact time. And so the king gives her her land back as she was in the land of the Philistines for the famine.

Then in verses 7 through 15, Hazel becomes king in Syria. God sends Elisha to him. Actually, he goes and inquires of the Lord, and Elisha gives, you know, the message to the king. But he also talks to Hazel, his servant. And this is really important for us to understand because it shows that God was working with other nations. The Bible focuses primarily on the work of God with his people Israel.

But we should not be confused and think that God was only working amongst his people, the nation of Israel.

The purpose of the scriptures is to record his work amongst Israel. That's what it's all about, to bring forth the Messiah. But God's work wasn't limited to that. The prophet Elisha and other prophets were ministering to all of the nations around Israel as well, including Syria, who is the enemy of Israel and who, you know, wasn't walking with God, but God was still sending messengers and dealing with them.

And so it's good to give us insight here that we understand God was anointing kings, you know, in the surrounding nations. He was sending messengers to them. He was calling them to repentance. Sometimes as we look at the judgment that takes place or the battles that go on where God says, go to war and, you know, conquer this people. It seems so cruel for God to command war and battles.

But it's because we don't see the history where God is reaching out to them and they're rejecting him and they're continuing to push him away. And so they're in rebellion against God. It's not that they're just ignorant and that they don't know anything.

Well, then in verses 16 through 24, you have Jehoram who reigns in Judah. He reigns for about eight years. He's also known as Joram. And it gets a little bit confusing because right around the same time as his reign, there was a Jehoram in Israel. So in Israel, the northern kingdom, and in Judah, there was a Jehoram. And so sometimes we get a little bit confused because of that.

Jehoram was not a good king. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. And it points out here, uh,

It was during his reign that Edom revolted against Judah. You might remember under Solomon, there was a lot of nations around Israel that were under tribute. They were servants to Israel, but one by one they've been leaving and departing and becoming independent. And so here Edom revolts against Judah at this time. And then verse 25 through 29, you have Ahaziah who reigns in Judah and

And he reigned a short reign for just one year, and his life is cut short by Jehu, which we'll see in just a moment. He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, and so he was not a good king. So there in chapter 8, there's a few different places mentioned. Damascus, Shunem, the Shunemite, her land is restored there. Edom, it was down south of the Dead Sea, and they revolted against Judah and became independent once again. And so that's what's going on in that chapter.

All right, chapter 9 now. Key verse is verse 6. It says, In verses 1 through 13, Jehu is anointed as king of Israel.

Now this was prophesied about back in 1 Kings chapter 19 as the Lord was ministering to Elijah. Remember when Elijah was afraid of Jezebel and he ran away? He ran down to Horeb, the mountain of God, and there God spoke to him. Well, God's prophesied in chapter 19 of 1 Kings about this man Jehu who would come and would accomplish the justice of God for Ahab's crimes and rebellion against God.

And so God's instruction to Jehu is strike down the house of Ahab there in verse seven. You can see that. And so that's the mission that we see accomplished over this chapter and the next chapter. I like what Wiersbe has to say about these chapters. He says, it is not pleasant to read the events recorded in these chapters, but we need to hear their message. What's the message? Sin is judged and God's word is fulfilled.

Ahab and his family, they didn't see immediate judgment for their rebellion against God, but eventually it comes. And we need to understand that sin is judged and God's promises are fulfilled, even if we don't see it happen immediately right in front of us.

And so these are important lessons for us to learn. So verses 14 through 29, Jehu puts to death Joram and Ahaziah. So the king of Israel and the king of Judah are both put to death now by Jehu, who is the new king of Israel.

Then in verses 30 through 37, Jehu calls for Jezebel's death. He calls out, you know, hey, who's with me? And a couple of eunuchs stick their head out. He says, cast out Jezebel. And so they cast her down and she dies there on the ground. Now, Jezebel is the one who threatened Elijah. She was Ahab's wife. She was the one who was instrumental in turning Israel to the worship of Baal, this false god with these, you know, immoral practices of worship.

And so this is all in fulfillment of what God had declared through Elijah back in 1 Kings chapter 21, verse 23, when he prophesied of Jezebel's death. Whether it's the near future or the far future, God knows it all and his word will be fulfilled.

Well, Jehu's campaign against Ahab's family, it starts out in Ramoth Gilead where he is. He gets anointed and he goes down to Jezreel. He goes to Beth Hagan. He kills the two kings there. And then he's going to go on to Samaria and conquer or kill the family of Ahab there, as we'll see in chapter 10. Verse 16 is the key verse. It says, Then he said, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. So they had him ride in his chariot.

In verses 1 through 11, Jehu goes and he kills all who remain of Ahab's house in Jezreel. So he goes to Jezreel. He puts to death all of Ahab's sons, his grandsons. He had a big family. Seventy sons altogether are killed there in Jezreel. And then in verses 12 through 14, Jehu kills Ahaziah's brothers. The brothers of the king of Judah are traveling and they come across Jehu and Jehu puts them to death.

Then in verses 15 through 17, Jehu kills all who remains of Ahab's house in Samaria. So he goes from Jezreel down to Samaria, a little bit to the south, and puts to death the rest of Ahab's family that are there in Samaria.

And then in verse 18 through 31, Jehu kills Baal's worshipers. He calls together a big celebration to Baal. They all gather together in the temple and he puts them to death for the worship of this false god. And then verse 32 through 36, you have Jehu's death.

So Jehu accomplishes the justice of God, and he's instrumental in removing the worship of Baal in the nation, which was introduced by Ahab and Jezebel. And so this is all God's response to this severe rebellion against him by Ahab and his wife. Now there's a great tragedy here in this chapter as well, because Jehu fulfilled God's prophecies and

He was zealous for the Lord and he accomplished what God had said before him. But then once that was done, he did not continue to walk with God. In verse 31, it says, but Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart, for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam who had made Israel sin.

So he continued on. He didn't practice the worship of Baal, but he continued on in the idolatry that Jeroboam had introduced. He did not walk with God. And so he showed great zeal. He accomplished God's work. Then afterwards, he did not continue to walk with God. You know, it's a picture of what happens in many people's lives.

Those who are really zealous for God for a short time. There's a short period of time or for a big event and they're zealous for God and they go and they do it with great zeal. But then when it comes to just daily walking with the God, they fall away, they fizzle out. We saw this year after year back quite a while ago now when we were going to American Samoa every year.

And every year we'd have a trip in the summer. We'd go to American Samoa and there'd be this great crowd, this, you know, people who were zealous. They'd be involved in the vacation Bible school and the outreach and all the things that we were doing. But when we would talk to Pastor Oscar, he would say, you know, many of these people, they get fired up and excited while you're here. But then when you're gone and things go back to normal, they fall away and they're not around. They're not zealous for the things of the Lord.

And so it's a good picture and a warning for us because we can be like Jehu, excited whenever there's a big event, excited whenever there's something going on right at the beginning, but then we're not consistent. We're not continuing to be zealous for the Lord in the daily life. And so we need to continue to walk with the Lord and not just be excited when there's big events or things going on.

Well, here also in chapter 10, we see that part of the land is now conquered. If you remember back to Israel crossing the Jordan where Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh did not want to cross over. They said, we like this land here. And so here on the picture here inside that white box there, that was the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. And they said, hey, we want to settle here. We don't want to settle in the land that God has given to us on the other side of the Jordan.

So they went over to help them conquer the land, but then they settled on the east side of the Jordan. Well, now here in chapter 10, it points out at the end of the chapter that they are the first to be cut off from Israel.

They're cut off from the land about a hundred years before the rest of the nation is conquered. So they're the first to go, conquered by the king of Assyria. And there's great illustrations there about compromise and not entering into the fullness of what God has for you because you'll be the first to be defeated by the enemy.

Chapter 11, our final chapter, verse 1 is the key verse. When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs.

So verses 1 through 3, Athaliah reigns in Judah. She's a queen now. God had established King David. It was to be his sons that are on the throne. But she usurps the authority when she sees that her son is killed. She destroys all of the heirs except for Joash. Joash is hidden. He's a little baby, probably an infant. And then in verses 4 through 12,

Jehoiada crowns Joash as king. He's about seven or eight years old at this time and he's crowned as king and he reigns now for 40 years in Judah. Verses 13 through 16, Jehoiada kills Athaliah,

And so she's put to death finally. And then in verses 17 through 21, Jehoiada brings Judah into a covenant with God. And so he renews the southern kingdom, the nation of Judah, back into a right relationship with God. There's a revival, there's repentance, and he's calling the people to return to the Lord there at Jerusalem where the house of God is. And so the southern kingdom at this point has a

a good king. Every once in a while, they get a good king. They turn back to God. They make a new covenant with God and they begin to worship and serve God again.

Well, here's a kind of a zoomed in timeline to see what we've been talking about this evening. We got to see Jehoram. We got to see Jehu. And Jehoahaz is coming next. We'll see him as we go in the chapters this week. The ministries of Elijah and Elisha are there as well with the kings Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah the queen, and then Joash who reigns for 40 years.

We're going to be entering in now. We're at about 800 BC as we finish up our chapters this evening. And so you'll see there the prophet Joel, which we'll get to later on in this book. You know, he's ministering about the time of Joash. And then we'll also see Jonah and those guys. And so we're going to be seeing a lot more prophets as we go forward as the nation continues to decline and turn away from God.

Lots of good stuff this evening, guys. And as we finish up, as we close...

The Lord really put it upon my heart to give an opportunity for us to respond to him and some of the things that are going on in the chapter. And so the worship team's going to come up. It is 8.30, so if you've got to go, you know, you're dismissed, you're free to go, but I want to spend some time in worship and prayer with you. And we're going to have some people up here in the front who are available for prayer, who are also available to anoint you with oil.

And going back to the beginning with chapter 4 of 2 Kings, where, you know, the oil was provided and the lesson for us to present ourselves as empty vessels, and God will fill us. He will pour out His Holy Spirit upon us. We want to give you that opportunity this evening to come before the Lord and say, Lord, I need to be filled with Your Holy Spirit.

We also saw this evening with Naaman the healing that God did. And maybe that's you this evening, that you need a touch from the Lord, that you need healing. We want to give you the opportunity to come up and be prayed for, to be anointed with oil. And you might think, well, you know, I've been prayed for before, whatever. You know, sometimes it's simple obedience like Naaman. Hey, just dip in the water.

Well, I could do that anytime. You know, God could heal me another way. But sometimes it's just simple obedience. And so if you are being instructed by the Lord to come up and receive prayer for healing, then simply obey and come up and be prayed for, be anointed. We also talked about the subject of spiritual warfare. And hey, maybe you're going through some real severe battles spiritually.

And you need help recognizing his attacks. You need help standing up on the promises of God. It's a great opportunity for you to come, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be prayed over in those battles because the weapons of our warfare are mighty for the casting down of strongholds.

Or maybe like the four lepers, you need to be reminded the importance of witnessing and you need to be encouraged and strengthened in that. And Jesus said that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is specifically for that, that we could be witnesses to him in the surrounding areas. And so if God's speaking to your heart in that area, come forward, receive prayer, receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit that you would be a witness to Jesus.

Or maybe you are like Jehu, where you get real excited and you get real zealous, but then you don't stay consistent and you don't continue to walk with the Lord. And you want God to help you to stay consistent, to walk with Him and to not fall away. And so it's a great opportunity for you to receive prayer. And then finally, in this last chapter, we saw Jehoiada making that new covenant with the nation.

And maybe God's been speaking to you. Maybe God wants you to make a new covenant this evening where you return back to him, where there's revival, there's repentance, and a returning to a walk with the Lord. So lots of opportunities, whatever's going on in your life, God wants to minister to you.

And so they're going to lead us in a couple songs. And there's going to be people up here in the front. And they would love to pray with you. There's going to be guys and girls. You guys can come up right now if you want. There's going to be guys and girls. And so you can come on up and get prayed for and be ministered to. Let God do the work in you that he wants to do so that you can walk with him and receive the victory, the promises, the blessings.

that he has for you. So let's worship the Lord together and be bold and come on up and receive prayer and anointing of oil and for the prayer of the Holy Spirit that you might be able to glorify God, to walk with God, to be set free or whatever God's doing in your life. Let's worship the Lord together and spend time in prayer.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.