Kings and Prophets 06

[0:00] sung at the Christmas service. He wanted to focus on the amazing news that the angels brought to the shepherds of the first Christmas night, that the baby born in Bethlehem was so much more than just another child. And the poem goes, Christ my highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord, late in time behold him come, offspring of a virgin moon, veiled in flesh in Godhead seed, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark the herald, angel sings, glory to the newborn king. Of course we know that came on to be a hymn that's sung all over the world.

[0:52] When the wise men reached Bethlehem, they acknowledged Jesus as being worthy of great respect, not only with the gifts they brought, but by kneeling down before him. The expression they used in seeking Jesus, where is he that is born king of the Jews? In Matthew 2. The child of a king, as we have been studying here, and the prophets and the kings and the prophets, is just a prince at birth. However, not yet a king in his own right. However, from the moment of birth, Jesus was rightly recognized as the great king. He did not claim the rights of privileges of kingship, chose instead to be born into a poor and humble family. But the lack of an outward prestige did not change his true nature, being king of the world.

[1:55] One of God's greatest prophets proclaimed, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be child and bear a son, and his name shall become Emmanuel.

[2:08] And that's one of the greatest prophets from Isaiah 7, 4, 14. So, this is a great time of the season, a time that we can reflect on Jesus Christ, his incarnation coming into this world to live as us.

[2:28] And we thank God for that. All right, let's get started from last week. We finished last week with the death of Ahab. Ahab, that very destructive king, very bad, had a bad wife too.

[2:48] And Jehoshaphat, who was king, becoming king for Judah. So Ahab was a king of the northern tribes, and we talked about him all the last couple weeks. And Jehoshaphat there, the last part of last week, we saw Jehoshaphat combine forces with Ahab into battle.

[3:09] Ahab decides himself, disguised himself to keep from getting killed. What a great leader, right? He leads people into battle, but he disguises himself so that he's not going to get caught and killed.

[3:23] But, he also convinced Jehoshaphat to wear his robes. So, what a great guy he was.

[3:37] So they went into battle, and during the battle, of course, as they came after Jehoshaphat, he told them, hey, look, I am the king of Judah, and not the northern tribes.

[3:50] And they left him alone, and they went out seeking Ahab. And, they didn't grab him, and take him, and slaughter him, or anything like that. Just one of the soldiers fired an arrow, and it just connected with Ahab.

[4:05] And he died there on the spot. So, that would have been the end of Ahab. And we'll be getting to other kings here later on this morning. I had a question last week after, after the session.

[4:17] And a question, well, let's turn to 1 Kings 19, verse 11. And this is when Elijah was working with Ahab, going through all this stuff that he was going through with Jezebel, and he was hiding out.

[4:42] And in verse 11, it says, and he said, go forth, stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and break in pieces the rocks before Jehovah.

[4:56] But Jehovah was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. But Jehovah was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, a fire, but Jehovah was not in the fire.

[5:10] And after the fire, a still, small voice. So the question was, why was God not in the wind, the earthquake, and the fire?

[5:23] Why was that put in the scripture there? Elijah heard a gentle blowing. Looked at several commentaries and did some research, and the only thing I could come with is, why was Elijah hiding in the mountain to begin with?

[5:42] He was hiding because of Jezebel's threats to his life. He was fearful, confused, and complained that he was the only faithful servant, a true worshiper of God, left in the world.

[5:56] What's it sound like to you? You may have been having a pity party, huh? Elijah had just challenged the priests of Baal and gained victory. We saw that, where he brought the, they brought the 400 prophets and said, try to set this on fire, and they couldn't do it because of all the water and all the stuff, and of course Elijah was able to do that.

[6:21] So he performed all these miracles. But Elijah wanted his fiery ministry to continue. He wanted the Lord to rain down judgment upon the wicked.

[6:32] You know, he had a great ministry going, and because of the spread of his death, you know, he was just, well, he was just having, basically, he was just having a pity party. And Elijah stood before the prophet and saw the raging tempest, the great earthquake, and the fiery inferno.

[6:49] But Jehovah was not in them. Finally, Jehovah spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice that brought him to his knees. Elijah came to a deeper understanding that men's hearts will never be compelled to believe in God.

[7:07] But the long-suffering, graceless nature of God will draw men to himself. Elijah, you are not by yourself. There are 7,000 others out there to help you.

[7:20] We saw that as we finished up with what Elijah was doing there. Hey, I'm the only one that's out there. But we're not the only ones out there, are we?

[7:31] There's plenty of people out there that God has given the ability to go out and to reach others that still believe and have the faith. God was revealing to Elijah that the display of power and preaching God's anger does not necessarily change hearts.

[7:50] Instead, the still, small voice of God speaking to the human heart is actually more powerful than outward display of power. And that's what I came with.

[8:02] Anybody have any other comments about those verses? Okay. Does that satisfy? Okay. And sometimes we in ministry also kind of suffer that kind of feelings too sometimes.

[8:23] We're out there and we're preaching the word or doing things for people and sometimes we wonder, gosh, am I out here all by myself and nothing's getting done?

[8:35] Am I the only one? And God needs to whisper in our ear, you're not the only one. I'm in control. And it's not always the power of your preaching and the power of what you're doing that's going to change the hearts.

[8:54] So how many times in ministry have you heard somebody say, you got to go into this ministry and you know what? You're going to fail because not everybody you talk to is going to say, wow, this is amazing.

[9:13] I need to change my mind. There's a lot more people that you talk to that's not going to change your mind, that's going to change their mind. And that's one of the things we have to have knowledge of when we go out and try to reach other people.

[9:30] They're coming from a whole different perspective. And if God does not touch their heart, it's just not going to happen. And no matter what we say or what we do, it won't happen.

[9:44] So let's turn to 1 Kings 22 40. Okay, Ahab has just now died from battle.

[9:55] Ahaziah becomes the eighth king of Israel now. So Ahab slept with his fathers and Ahaziah, his son, became king in his place.

[10:12] Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel and Samaria in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he reigned 22 years over Israel.

[10:23] Now when you see that, that he reigned the 17th year of Jehoshaphat, we kind of get that, how all these things are going on at the same time.

[10:34] Because Jehoshaphat became king way back, we didn't hear anything about him until this last part where he joined forces with Ahab. But he was still king and things were going on in his kingdom and his reign, and now it's coming out to be more information about Jehoshaphat.

[10:53] So, as you see these things, all this stuff is working in together. You have kings in, some of the kings in Israel didn't last long because they were so, so bad.

[11:05] So they only lasted well, but some of them just three months, seven years, whereas the kings of Judah, a lot of them lasted 15, 25 years. So, you see that in the chronology, and it's kind of hard to keep that in mind when you're going through though and reading.

[11:23] 1 Kings 22, 51, Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel, okay, the 17th year of Jehoshaphat. He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his fathers, in the way of his mother, in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who caused Israel to sin.

[11:44] So he served Baal and worshipped at him and provided the Lord of God of Israel to anger. according to all that his father had done. Although Ahaziah reigned for only two years, he was just as evil as his parents.

[11:59] He aroused the anger of the Lord. Do his own worship at Baal, which continued to lead the people into idolatry. And that is the end of 1 Kings.

[12:13] To get the rest of this story, we need to go on into 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 1. Now, Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.

[12:26] And Ahazal fell through the lattice in his upper chamber, which was in Samaria, and became ill. So he sent messengers and said to them, Go inquire of Behezebub, the god of Ekron, which I will recover from my sickness.

[12:43] But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, It is because there is no god of Israel that you are going to inquire of Behezebub, the god of Ekron.

[13:00] So the Lord sent the prophet Elijah to confront the messengers and give them God's message that king Ahazai would never receive, recover from his injuries, and he eventually would die from them.

[13:14] Verse 4, Now therefore says the Lord, You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you shall surely die. Then Elijah departed. When the messengers returned to him, he said to them, Why have you returned?

[13:31] Ahaz sent the messengers, them, but they never made it because Elijah intercepted there. When the messengers returned to him, he said to them, Why have you returned? They said to him, A man came up to meet us and said to us, Go return to the king who sent you and say to him, Thus said the Lord, It is because there is no god in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Behezebub, the god of Ekron.

[13:57] Therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you shall surely die. He said to them, What kind of a man was he who came to meet you and spoke these words to you?

[14:10] Then the king sent him a captain of fifty and his fifty, and he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill, and he said to them, O man of God, the king says, come down.

[14:26] Verse ten, Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

[14:41] So again, he sent to him another captain of fifty and his fifty, and he said to him, O man of God, that says the king, come down. Elijah replied the same thing.

[14:53] This happened three different times and the Lord told Elijah to go to the king and tell him he would die because of his own belief. So Ahaziah died according to the word of God which Elijah had spoken, and because he had no son, Jerohoram became king in his place.

[15:15] So again, very short reign, now we'll be seeing another king come into place. But before we get to that, the second chapter of Kings is going to talk about Elijah taken to heaven.

[15:32] And I think most of us know or have heard about this particular story in the Old Testament. Second Kings 2, 1-11 is the story of the translation or transformation of Elijah which brings to close his ministry on earth.

[15:49] Elijah's translation and the events that surround it become a means of testing Elijah's whom God had called to step in the shoes of the older prophet.

[16:02] In verses 1-6, there's a test of Elijah's commitment. When asked to stay behind, Elijah went on. Elijah each time responded a double oath to show his willingness to stay with his teacher to the very last, knowing his master was about to be taken.

[16:23] This demonstrates several things about his character, a teachable spirit, loyalty, and a commitment to God's calling to the very last. And 2 Kings 2, 1, it came about when the Lord was about to take Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven that Elijah went up to Elijah.

[16:44] This gets very complicated when you're talking about both of them to try to say both of them together. But, Elisha from Gilgal, Elijah said to him, Elisha, please stay here for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.

[17:02] But he said, as the Lord lives, as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho. Verse 5, the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elijah and said to him, do you know that the Lord will have taken away your master from you this very day?

[17:21] And he answered, yes, I know, be still. Then Elijah said to him, please stay here for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, as the Lord lives, as you yourself, I will not leave you.

[17:35] So the two of them went on. Now the fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance. While the two of them stood by the Jordan, Elijah took his man and folded it together and struck the waters and they were divided there so that the two of them crossed over on dry land.

[17:58] In verse nine we are told that immediately found the crossing of the Jordan, Elijah proposes a very simple question. It's a question with a tremendous ramification on the life of any believer in Christ.

[18:12] He said to Elijah, asked what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. Primarily this question was a test. The Lord, if he recalled, asked Solomon a similar question at the beginning of his ministry and worked there back in Solomon when he became king.

[18:34] We ask such a question because our desires and requests show the condition of our hearts. It shows how ready we are for ministry, responsibility, and for sacrifice.

[18:46] It shows that if our treasure is primarily here on earth or in heaven, it shows that if we really see heaven as home or whether we are trying to take his fallen world our heavenly home, it shows that we are ready to be a servant or still want to be served.

[19:06] Verse nine, when they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, asked what I shall do for you. I am taken from you. And Elisha said, please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.

[19:23] His words double portion do not mean two portions or twice as much of something. It especially does not mean twice as much of the Holy Spirit.

[19:35] The expression double portion was used in connection with the firstborn. If you go back into the Old Testament and see when Abraham and all those got started, who by law inherited two parts of his father's property and he also became the responsible to be the spiritual leader of the family and responsible to perpetuate God's covenant promises.

[20:02] And I think this is what was happening with Elijah. Elijah was not asking for more power or more of the Holy Spirit, but simply that he might be a successor to Elijah to carry on Elijah's important ministry.

[20:16] From what we know about Elijah's life and the ministry that follows, this clearly was not a request of pride, of a personal glory or selfish gain of any kind.

[20:28] So in verse 2-11, as they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, of horses of fire, which separated the two of them, and Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven.

[20:45] Note that the prophet was not taken in a fiery chariot. He was taken up in a whirlwind. The chariot and the horses of fire were manifestations of God's divine presence or a manifestation of his angelic forces who came to get Elijah and accompany him to heaven.

[21:07] Elijah, like Enoch, was translated without seeing death. He was taken up into heaven, which represents the paradise of God. He was removed from the pain of this fallen world into the abyss, to the blessed and joy of paradise.

[21:24] As Elijah was translated without seeing death, we also today, because of our imminent hope of the coming of the Lord, we too have the prospect of not seeing death, but suddenly being changed into glorious bodies and caught up into heaven to be ever with the Lord, this is the hope of the body of Christ.

[21:50] And that's what we have today. If you want to, you can turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. and this is our hope as Christians today.

[22:10] And it's amazing when you go back and forth to see how the Old Testament is just making ground work for what's coming in the New Testament.

[22:21] And we can see that as we go through all the scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15, 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.

[22:35] In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we will be changed.

[22:46] For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when the perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then we will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

[23:06] 1 Corinthians 15, 55. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? Now back to 2 Kings 2, verse 12.

[23:20] And what a glorious thing, this chapter 15 in 1 Corinthians, talks about what happens when Jesus Christ comes again, and we have this new life.

[23:35] Death is swallowed up. Yes, we're going to die once, but we're going to have eternal life. because that death is only temporary, and we have eternal life.

[23:49] What a great message for us today. So 2 Kings 2, verse 12, Elisha saw it and cried out, My father, my father, the chariots of fire and its horsemen, and he saw Elijah no more.

[24:06] Then he took a hold of his clothes and tore them into two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

[24:19] He took the mantle from Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And when he also struck the waters, they were divided, and there Elisha crossed over.

[24:34] And here are some of the miracles that Elijah performed when he had his ministry, and he had quite a few of those miracles. And one of them was in chapter 17, there was a long drought.

[24:48] Remember there he told Ahab and all the northern tribe that there would be a big drought, and for years there was no rain. Multiplies widow's flower and oil, we saw there in chapter 17.

[25:05] Resurrects the widow's son, also there in 17. Calls down fire from heaven, that's when he was fighting with the 400 prophets. Predicts Azaz's death, we see in 2 Kings.

[25:21] Ahab's men killed by fire from heaven, and that's during the battle there in 2 Kings 1-9. Parks the Jordan River, which we just talked about.

[25:34] So other facts about Elijah, John the Baptist's ministry was marked by the spirit and the power of Elijah. You don't have to turn, but Luke 1-17.

[25:47] It is who has a forerunner before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and to the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

[26:05] Fulfilling the process also of Malachi in 4, chapter 4. Behold, I am going to send you, Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

[26:20] At the transfiguration the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 17. And his disciples asked him, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

[26:32] And he answered them, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has already came and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they wanted and they wished.

[26:46] So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

[26:58] And we know that story, how John the Baptist came foretelling the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And we know that he won many but also there was a lot that was against him and he suffered much.

[27:14] so this is just another tracing the scriptures from the Old Testament to the New Testament and how all these things unfold.

[27:26] So back to 2 Kings 2.15 Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho opposite him saw them they said the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha and they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground.

[27:43] So the succession of Elisha to the power and the office of Elijah was apparent to others. Elisha didn't need to persuade or convince them with his words.

[27:54] God's blessings on his actions were enough to prove it. So in 16 they said to him behold now they there are with your servants 50 strong men.

[28:05] Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the superior of the Lord has taken him up and cast him on some mountain into some valley and he said you shall not go. These men saw this stuff but they still thought well he's not in heaven with the Lord.

[28:22] He's out there and he got lost somewhere. He got deposited on some mountain or something like that. But in 17 but then they urged him until he was ashamed he said they sent therefore 50 men and they researched three days but they did not find him.

[28:38] They returned to him while he was staying in Jericho and he said to them did I not say to you do not go. The men of the city said to Elisha behold now the situation of the city is pleasant and as my Lord sees but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.

[28:59] So now we're going to get the start of Elijah's ministry and start seeing some of the miracles that Elijah was also performed. And what was the purpose for Elijah doing all these miracles and also for Elijah coming on now and he'll start doing all these miracles.

[29:18] What was the reason for Jesus and doing all his miracles? miracles. Just to show the people. You know they were they wanted to see something.

[29:30] They had to see something. And that's just the way we function as humans. Roger? Jews require a sign. They require a sign. And we're not that much different from them today.

[29:44] We like to see something. Not just be told. God. So all these miracles that God instructs his prophets and everybody. He had a purpose behind it.

[29:57] And that was to show them a picture. Show them a picture. They just won't get it by just saying words. They're stiff-necked and they won't listen.

[30:08] And so we have to do this. And that's exactly what's going to be going on. So in verse 22-21 he went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, Thus says the Lord, I have purified these waters.

[30:23] There shall not be from their death or unfruitless any longer. So the waters have been purified to this day according to the word of Elisha, which he spoke.

[30:35] Then he went up from there to Bethel and he was going by the way. And young lads came up from the city and mocked him and said to him, Go up, you bald head. Go up, you bald head.

[30:48] When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up 42 lads of their number.

[30:59] Wow. I guess that would get your attention, wouldn't it? Now he didn't say how many was in that group, but he said he tore up 42 of them.

[31:11] So I would assume that would be a good picture for any of others that were left. So that was pretty drastic. So I think the ultimate outcome of the miracle was to break up the gang, frighten the offenders, and be able to enter the village without trouble.

[31:32] And so you see it right away, Elijah faced all kinds of heckling, and what is all this stuff that you're doing, you're calling on Elijah, you say he got tooken up into heaven on a fiery thing, and all this stuff.

[31:48] You bald-headed man, you bald-headed man, and they were just causing him all kinds of problems. In verse 25, he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

[32:01] And now we, in 2 Kings chapter 3, Jeroham, the ninth king of Israel. Now Jeroham, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel at Samaria in the 18th year of Judah, and reigned 12 years.

[32:21] Since we see now, there's three northern kings that's ruled during the time of Jehoshaphat that was going on. He did evil on the side of the Lord, though not like his father and his mother Jezebel, for he put away the sacred pillar of Baal, which his father had made.

[32:40] So he did a little bit, maybe, but he was still bad. Nevertheless, he clung to the sins of Jehovah, the son of Nabat, which he made Israel sin.

[32:51] He did not depart from them. Now Meshach, king of Moab, was a sheep breeder, and he used to pay the king of Israel one thousand lambs and the wool of one thousand rams.

[33:05] But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel, and the king Jeroram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all of Israel.

[33:17] They went up and sent word to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judas, saying, the king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go up and fight with me against Moab?

[33:27] And he said, I will go up, and I am as you are, and my people as your people, my horses as your horses. We heard that before, didn't we?

[33:40] the two great Israels was no longer, has long since been separated by civil war. The two nations, Judah and Israel, were now willing to come together to fight this common foe, or at least Jehoshaphat was, as he did this before with Ahab.

[33:59] So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, but along the way, they lacked water to feed their horses. Instead of searching for water, they searched for a prophet, and summoned Elisha.

[34:13] But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not a prophet of the Lord here that we may require of the Lord by him? And the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Elisha is here.

[34:26] Now, remember, Elijah and Elisha were prophets for the northern tribes of Israel. Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him, so the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, the king of Elam, went down to him.

[34:44] Now, Elisha said to the king of Israel, What do I have to do with you? Go to the prophets of your fathers and the prophets of your mother. And the king of Israel said to him, No, for the Lord has called these three kings together to give them into the hand of Moab.

[35:02] Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.

[35:15] So that's pretty interesting. He was the prophet for the northern tribes. But again, there was people in the northern tribes that still had the heart for God.

[35:26] And Elisha was one of those. and he was going against the king of the north. And he was saying, If it wasn't for Jehoshaphat, I would not look upon you or see you.

[35:42] But now bring me a mistral. And it came about when the mistral played at the hand of the Lord, it came upon him. He said, Thus says the Lord, Make this valley full of trenches.

[35:55] For thus says the Lord, You shall not see wind, nor you shall not see rain, yet the valley shall be filled with waters that you shall drink, both you and the cattle and the beast.

[36:08] But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites arose and struck the Moabites, so that they fled before them, and they went forward into the land, slaughtering the Moabites. In chapter 4 through 8, with the prophet Elisha and his miracles, we first hear of Elijah, Elijah obeyed God's word and found Elisha.

[36:33] Okay, now we're going to, this is another thing as you're going through this. We hear about Elijah, but it doesn't really tell how it all happened.

[36:45] It just says God told Elijah to go seek Elisha. And it doesn't say anything about the thing, but here in chapter, those chapters it does.

[36:57] And I'm not going to read everything from those four chapters. Elijah asked only to say goodbye to his family, and they would return to Elijah. Elijah went back, slaughtered his oxen, and burned his equipment, gave the meat to the people, then followed Elijah as his servant.

[37:14] Elijah responded to the call immediately. He completely removed himself from his former life, essentially hosting a celebration, and leaving himself no option to return to his oxen.

[37:28] Not only did Elijah leave his former life, he became his servant in this new life. We see that in Kings 19. As God had told Elijah on the mountain, it was during Elijah's ministry that organized Baal worship was eradicated.

[37:46] In his ministry, Elijah traveled widely and served as an advisor to the kings, a companion of the common people and a friend of both Israelites and the foreigners. There are many well-known accounts of Elijah's servant as a prophet.

[38:01] He healed the waters in Jericho in 1921. He also was jeered by the youth upon him who occurred upon him.

[38:13] We read about that. And he multiplied the widow's oil. We see that in 2 Kings chapter 4. Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elijah, Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord.

[38:32] And the Creator has come to take away my two children to be his slaves. In verse 2 of chapter 4, Elijah said to her, What shall I do for you?

[38:43] Tell me what to do, to do have you in the house. And she said, Your maid servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. Then he said to her, Go borrow vessels from your neighbors, even empty vessels, do not get a few.

[39:00] And you shall go in and shut the door behind you, and your sons will pour into all the vessels, and you shall set aside what is full. So she went from him and shut the Lord behind her and the sons.

[39:12] They were bringing the vessels to her, and she poured. When the vessels were four, she said to her son, bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is no more vessels.

[39:23] And the oil stopped. Then she came and told the man of God, and he said, Go sell the oil and pay all your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.

[39:35] He prophesied as a son of the wealthy Shumanite family who hosted him and later resurrected that same son in chapter 4 verses 8.

[39:46] chapter 4 verse 9. She said to her husband, Behold, now I perceive that this is a holy man of God passing by us continually.

[39:56] Please let us make a little walled-up chamber and let a study bed for him there and a table and a chair and a lampstand. And it shall be when he comes to us that he can turn there.

[40:10] So he said, What then is this to be done for her? And Gerser answered, Truly she has no son and her husband is old. He said, Call her. When he called her, she stood in the doorway.

[40:22] Then he said, At this season, next year, you shall embrace a son. And she said, Now my Lord, O man of God, do not lie to your main servant. Verse 417, The woman conceived and bore a son, and that season, the next year, Elisha had said to her, The son later died, and Elijah went back and raised that son also.

[40:51] Let's go down to verse 40. So they, and here's some other miracles that Elisha had done. So they poured it out of the man to eat, and as they were eating of the stew, they cried out and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot, and they were unable to eat.

[41:09] But he said, Now bring meal, and he threw it into the pot, and said, Pour it out for the people that they may eat. Then there was no harm in the pot. Now a man came and brought the man of God bread, the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in the sack, and he said, Give them to the people that they may eat.

[41:30] And they multiplied twenty barley loaves to feed one hundred men. his attendant said, What will I set before this before a hundred men?

[41:41] But he said, Give them to the people that they may eat. For thus says the Lord, they shall eat, and have something left over. And again, how that translates to the New Testament, and what Jesus did there in feeding the five thousand.

[42:00] Forty-four, so he set before them, and they ate, and they had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. He cured Nahum, a leprosy. So Nahum came with his horses and his chariots, and stood at the doorway of the house of Elijah.

[42:17] Elijah sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you will be clean.

[42:28] But Nahum was furious, and went away, and said, Behold, he will surely come out to me, and stand and call on me, the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leopard.

[42:41] Are not the rivers Damascus, but are in all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in rage. But his servant told him, Come near, and spoke to him, and said, My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you have done it?

[43:01] How much more then, when he says to you, wash and be clean, and that's what he did. He also made the axe, brought the axe out of the water.

[43:15] We see that as part of his miracles, and all the other miracles. The miracles he should be formed, for the most part, acts of healthfulness and blessings.

[43:26] others strongly resemble some of the miracles of Christ, such as the multiplying of food, and the healing of the leopards. And as we see, this will be the end of also Elijah, not completely, but we're going to hear a little bit more about him.

[43:45] But that's part of his ministry that he had. So the prophets of Elijah and Elisha, for the northern tribes of Israel, they performed all kinds of miracles, worked for God, talked to the kings, talked to the people, for what?

[44:06] For what avail? And we'll continue to see that the nation of Israel was hard-hearted, stiff-necked, and they still needed other prophets to come before them and tell them what God is going to do for them and what he's possibly going to do in the future.

[44:28] And we'll see that as we get into all the other prophets as we continue here in the chronology of the kings and the prophets. Any questions or comments about today's content?

[44:43] If not, we'll see you next week. Have a holiday season and a Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.