Faith in the Dead

In 2 Kings the story of kings that come to power and do evil in the sight of the Lord become an expectation after a while. You come to realize that the children of Israel had no intention of ever fully getting rid of their idol worship. In 2 Kings 13, we meet Jehoash the king of Israel at the time and he is offered a priceless opportunity. Elisha, the prophet, is on his deathbed. When Jehoash finds out he says, " My father! My father! . . . the chariots and horsemen of Israel!" (V.14) This verse also states that he wept over Elijah. This was the same exact statement which Elisha uttered at the departure of Elijah (2 Kings 2). Elisha had much to learn as a new prophet just like this king had to learn now. A basic understanding of this statement is "What am I supposed to do? You are the defense of Israel!" Where is there sorrow rooted? It's definitely not centered around general grief for losing a friend to death. But what is it? It's sorrow at the thought of losing someone they idolized- someone who was full of God and was a lighthouse to the world! In short, they had faith in the prophet- not in the God of the prophet.

The difference is in the lesson learned. When Elijah was taken up to heaven, Elisha proceeded to take Elijah's cloak and state, "Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" (2 Kings 2:14). The verse goes on to state that when he struck the water with Elijah's cloak, the waters parted to reveal dry land. Elisha knew that God was real, God alone was the source of power which Elijah had, and now he was to be the prophet that depended on God to minister and lead Israel.

The scene that unfolds with Jehoash is different. Elisha tells the king to pick up a bow and then places his hands on the king's hands symbolizing he is about to offer an opportunity to obey the Lord's words which were about to come. He was to take an arrow and shoot it out of the window facing east. This symbolized a victory against Arameans- one of Israel's many enemies. He then states to take the bow and arrow and shoot the arrows at the ground. Jehoash obeys but stops after shooting three arrows. I think his reasoning is that maybe poor old Elisha is losing his mind seeing how he's on his deathbed. Jehoash's lack of faith in the words of God and his half-hearted obedience cost him. Elisha states that had he shot all the arrows he had instead of just three, the Arameans would have been totally destroyed. Because of his disobedience, now they would only defeat them three times without total destruction (see 2 Kings 13:15-20)

One last scene occurs to remind Israel and the King their source of power. A scene occurred when a man is to be buried. All of the sudden, the men burying this man see a group of thieves come up and so they lower the man in the first available grave they have, which happens to be Elisha. The moment that this man touches Elisha's body, he is revived. Who revived this man? Elisha was dead in body, God is very much alive. It wasn't the spirit of Elisha from heaven that came down and raised this man. Jehoash's faith was in the man, Elisha. Elisha was now dead. It was God. God is alive and He is our source of power.

Faith in any man will fail you- faith in your pastor,  your mentor, your friend, your parents, a televangelist, and even yourself.  Humans have a sin nature and while Christians are saints who choose to sin since they have the power of the Holy Spirit to deny it, they still fall short. Your God is omniscient, omnipresent, perfect, just, and will not fail. He is your father, your brother, your friend, but equally your Lord. Can you honestly say that God is all these things in your life?

I know in my life recently, standing on the fact of the Words of God and not my emotions has been difficult. Faith in an inspirational quote or the hope of what may happen tomorrow is far easier. My logical reasoning can not make sense of circumstances because I don't see where they're headed. God asks for commitment and full obedience in the face of your fear and uncertainty and that's hard, I know! As Adrian Rogers says, "It's not great faith in God you need; it's faith in a great God!" Read and memorize about the character of God. Please see my earlier post "Biblical Names" about the LORD, the great I AM, and claim these facts in your life. Entrust Him with your circumstances and keep your eyes "on the old rugged cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain." Then, and only then, will you stop questioning the power and love of your LORD.