Passage: 2 Kings 2-13 (overview)
The Big Idea
God used Elisha to perform more miracles than anyone else in the Old Testament, and his prayers were answered again and again. Elisha followed Elijah, and together they show us the two sides of God’s character: Elijah, like a tornado, brought judgment on sin; Elisha, like a dove, brought healing and restoration. That’s law and grace. Elijah pictures Jesus, who took the full force of God’s judgment, and Elisha pictures His church, which now ministers God’s grace to the world. Studying Elisha will teach us God’s heart behind His miracles and stir us to pray with faith.
Do Miracles Still Happen?
Writer Tanya Marlow has told how, at six days old, she was rushed to a leading London children’s hospital with a brain hemorrhage. The doctors said there was nothing they could do. If she survived, she might be severely disabled and never read or write. They suggested her parents pray. Her parents weren’t Christians, but a nurse prayed with them. The next day’s scan was completely normal. The doctors told her parents this was what’s known “in the trade” as a miracle. She grew up to earn a degree in English and become a writer. And her parents went looking for the God who had answered that prayer, and within months they both came to faith.
Author Eric Metaxas describes a miracle as Someone outside space and time reaching into space and time. And surveys consistently show that most people, not only Christians, say they believe miracles happen.
Paul asks the Galatians: Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you because you keep the law, or because you hear and believe? (Galatians 3:5).
Why Study Elisha?
God used Elisha to perform more miracles than anyone else in the Old Testament.
His prayers were answered!
- He prayed for miracles, and they happened!
- I don’t know about you, but I’m craving that for my life, my family, my church and my community.
- I’m longing for a fresh move of God.
- I’m not interested in an ordinary life.
- I’m disillusioned with the way the world is going, and with how many Christians seem to hope in things besides Jesus and prayer: desperate, dependent prayer.
I believe in Jesus and prayer.
- I believe Jesus answers prayer.
- I believe Jesus answers my prayers, because I’m in Him and He’s in me by faith.
I want to see miracles.
- I want to have the heart of God, so I can pray with confidence for things that sound a little crazy.
- Things that only make sense to the heart of God.
What’s amazing is that Elisha’s whole life is one miracle after another. There’s nothing but the powerful working of God in his life!
A time like ours
Elisha lived when Israel had struggled with idolatry for generations.
- Hardly anyone knew who the Lord was, and even fewer followed Him.
- God did powerful miracles to show both His glory and His mercy.
- God uses miracles to teach people who He is. He always has.
Remember Egypt. Neither the Egyptians nor even Israel really knew God. So God did miracle after miracle so He would be known and worshiped, and many were saved. God loved them.
Remember Israel entering the Promised Land. The Canaanites knew only rumors, and the Israelites had only stories. So God did more miracles so He’d be known there too. God loved them.
Then Jesus came. The Romans and Greeks worshiped idols, and many religious leaders had settled into lifeless tradition. God loved them.
God does miracles because He loves us! And He still works in our lives today, because He loves us and the people around us.
What kind of miracles?
Money? Fame? Popularity? Beauty?
Those would be miracles, I suppose. But we’re studying Elisha to see the heart of God behind His miracles. When we see that, we’ll stop praying for selfish things and learn to line up with God’s heart.
It’s not really about the kind of miracle, but the heart and spirit behind it.
Elijah and Elisha
Elisha was Elijah’s student, and then became the leading prophet in Israel. It’s important to see how they were alike and how they were different.
How they were alike
- Both were prophets.
- Both ministered in the northern kingdom, around Samaria.
- Both confronted the same wicked rulers.
- Elisha succeeded Elijah, so they had the same calling.
- Elisha’s first miracle was the same as Elijah’s last: parting the Jordan.
- Both described themselves as standing before the Lord (1 Kings 17:1; 2 Kings 3:14).
- Both raised a dead son to life.
How they were different
- Elijah appeared mysteriously out of nowhere. Elisha was an ordinary man with a family and a job.
- Elijah’s first public act was announcing a drought of three and a half years. Elisha’s first public act was healing a spring so people could drink.
- Elijah was often alone. Elisha was usually surrounded by younger prophets, teaching them.
- Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha died of an illness in old age.
- Most importantly, their miracles had a different character. Many of Elijah’s were about judgment and destruction. Most of Elisha’s were about healing and restoration.
- Elijah’s ministry emphasized judgment on those who broke God’s law. Elisha’s emphasized grace.
- Elijah could be pictured as a tornado, and Elisha as a dove.
- Elijah came to confront and fight evil. Elisha taught people to receive God’s goodness and mercy.
Law and Grace
What does this mean for us?
God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).
God is light. He hates sin and must deal with it. He can’t let a single sin go unpunished. That’s the only right way. Imagine you were the one wronged: if someone killed your child or spouse, you would rightly demand justice. God is always in that position.
The commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light (Proverbs 6:23).
God is love (1 John 4:8).
God is love. He restores and heals. He provides and protects. John greets the church with grace, mercy and peace from the Father and the Son, in truth and love (2 John 3).
Elijah and Elisha show us these two sides of God’s nature. Justice and mercy meet. Law and grace. And it’s perfect.
Though they had very different personalities and gifts, together they give us a fuller picture of God’s character.
God will judge wicked people and nations (law), but He will never abandon His people. He always helps those who belong to Him (grace).
What a perfect God! What a perfect plan! He can judge sin and still save sinners!
When Christians don’t understand both sides of God’s character, their view gets distorted:
- If they see only law, they live in fear of failure.
- If they see only grace (without seeing the seriousness of sin), they don’t sense their daily need for the saving life of Jesus.
Jesus and His Church
Finally, what do these two men picture for us?
Elijah is the master; Elisha is the servant who follows.
Elijah confronted God’s judgment against sin, and then Elisha ministered God’s grace to the people.
In this way, Elijah pictures Jesus, and Elisha pictures His church. They’re types, foreshadows, and the Spirit recorded them so we could discover these truths.
- It’s not that the church creates God’s grace. The church is where God’s grace is seen at work.
- It’s not that Jesus only dealt with the law. But He did take care of the law’s demands, fully, so the Father could pour out the grace the church now lives on and shares with the world.
Jesus took the wrath of God for us! Now His church serves the world by sharing the blessings of His grace.
God did great miracles through Jesus, the greatest of all being His bearing our sin on the cross. And God still delights to fulfill the “Elisha” picture through His people today. There are so many miracles of grace we need to see and experience.
What We’ll Learn
As we study Elisha’s miracles, we’ll keep building on this theme. By the end, I pray we’ll know God’s heart better and depend wholly on His supernatural work in our lives.
We’ll learn to recognize the miracles God has already done in our lives, and to expect and receive His future blessings.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).
- We’ll learn from Elisha how to trust God’s Word and receive His Spirit and His miracles, which glorify God.
- We’re not seeking miracles that glorify us. We only want the God of heaven to be glorified!
- People saved and healed of hurts and addictions.
- The spiritually dead given life.
- Unfruitful people made fruitful.
- A supernatural purpose for living.
- Wandering believers brought back to Jesus.
- Answered prayer.
These are some of the grace miracles we’ll study. Some of the ways God teaches them are hilarious. Some are bizarre. Some are easy to grasp, and some aren’t. But they’re all given to us to learn from. It’s God’s Word, and it will build our faith and propel us into the life God intends for His children.
Grace Takeaway
The tornado has already passed through: Jesus took the full storm of God’s judgment against sin. Now the dove has come. God’s heart toward His people is healing, restoration and miraculous grace. As we study Elisha, let’s ask God to enlarge our faith, align our hearts with His and do things in and through us that only He can do, for His glory.
For Discussion
- How would you define a “miracle”?
- Is there anything in your world that you know isn’t the way God wants it, but it seems impossible to change?
- Read Mark 11:22-24. Why does Jesus use the image of a “mountain” for our prayer requests? What instructions does He give about how to pray?
- When you read this promise, do you try to limit it to what feels safe or probable? What if we let it enlarge our hearts to all God is willing to do? How would that change your prayer life?
- Does God do all He says He will do? Can “whatever things” really be true? Why would God write this promise in the strongest possible words?
- Can the way you think about “God’s will” affect how you pray? How can we be sure of God’s will?