Welcome to ALFC Podcast! We are so excited for what God has in store for you through today's message: âMiracles of God Pt 2" by Pastor John Mathews.
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MESSAGE NOTES:
(2 Kings 2:15-22)
2 Kings 2:15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
2 Kings 2:16 And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.
2 Kings 2:17 And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.
2 Kings 2:18 And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?
2 Kings 2:19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
2 Kings 2:20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
2 Kings 2:21-22 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren (land). So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
Who were âThe sons of the prophetsâ.
Where were they? Jericho, the Cursed City (Deuteronomy 34:3, Joshua 6:17, 24-26, 1 Kings 16:34)
When the children of Israel came up out of Egypt they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and then, under the leadership of Joshua, they crossed the Jordan River, and God miraculously parted the waters of the Jordan River so that they crossed over on dry ground. The first city in the land of Canaan that they had to conquer was Jericho, which God identified in Deuteronomy 34:3 as the âCity of Palmsâ. We read in Joshua chapter 6:
Joshua 6:17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
Joshua 6:24 And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
Joshua 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her fatherâs household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Joshua 6:26 And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.
Here we read that this city was accursed not only before the city was destroyed, but also there would rest a curse on anyone who would attempt to rebuild this city of Jericho. But about 550 years later, during the reign of wicked king Ahab, this command from God was forgotten, for we read in:
1 Kings 16:34 In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.
Why would anyone build a city on this place?
Apparently, it was a desirable location, for Jericho was described as the city of palm trees. There was water there. At the time Elisha tarried in that city it was still a young city. It was built in the days of Ahab, and the son of Ahab named Ahaziah had just begun his reign. But now they discovered a problem:
âThe Water Is Naughtâ (2 Kings 2:19, Genesis 6:5, 2 Timothy 3:16, John 4:10-14)
2 Kings 2:19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. (lit: causes barrenness)
âThe water is naughtâ.
This does not adequately reflect the strength of the Hebrew word that has been translated ânaughtâ. This Hebrew word has been translated ânaughtâ three times in the Bible, but the same word has been translated âevilâ or âwickednessâ or âwickedâ 526 times in the Bible. in the Garden of Eden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the word âevilâ is that same Hebrew word.
Another example is given in Genesis 6:5, where God says, âAnd GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuallyâ.
This Miracle is a Metaphor for Salvation
1. Jericho Represents the world, it has a desirable appearance but lacks life
2. Water Represents â The Gospel
The Gospel is like a stream of words flowing out of the mouths of those who claim to be prophets of God. But their gospels are evil. Before Christ came almost the entire world was enveloped by worship of idols that cannot save. These were gospels, or plans of salvation, that were dragging people even deeper into Hell than without this false worship. The Lord Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John
John 4:10-14 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
âBring Me a New Cruseâ (2 Kings 2:20, Genesis 19:26, Deuteronomy 29:23, Jeremiah 17:6, Colossians 4:6, Matthew 5:13, Mark 9:49, 2 Chronicles 13:5)
The prophets desired for prosperity. Historically the men of Jericho asked from Elisha if he could do anything to raise their level of prosperity. Since the waters were evil the ground causes barrenness, or it causes to miscarry, which means that women aborted their children before they were 9 months in the womb, and cattle were casting off their young before they were ready for birth. Jericho in spite of all its ideal qualities then lacked the one thing essential.
Usable Water, Living Water, A Pure Gospel
2 Kings 2:20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
Why salt?
The Judgement of God â
Lotâs Wife - Genesis 19:26, âBut his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of saltâ. Certainly, she did not become the emblem of sweetness and preservation, but she came under the judgment of God. Salt is here a symbol of the judgment of God. And on the Last Day she will stand before the Judgment throne of Christ and be cast into Hell.
Deuteronomy 29:23 about the land of those who commit the abominations of worshipping idols, and God says there, âAnd that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burningâ.
Jeremiah 17:5 God speaks about the man that trusteth in man, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. And then God says in Jeremiah 17:6, âFor he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabitedâ.
But how then should we interpret Colossians 4:6, where God says, âLet your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every manâ.
It means that we must never leave the judgment of God out of our vocabulary when we present the Gospel.
Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
If we leave Judgment out of our Gospel presentation, it has become good for nothing
Either we are judged with Christ and in Christ when He endured the equivalent of an eternity in Hell while He was hanging on the cross, or we must endure an eternity in Hell ourselves on behalf of our own sins. And every Old Testament animal sacrifice was salted with salt, because all those animal sacrifices were pictures of Christ on the cross, as He endured the Judgment of God on behalf of our sins.
Therefore when God speaks about a âCovenant of Saltâ we know that it is the Covenant of Grace whereby Christ has endured the Judgment of God in our place and for our sins. God says in 2 Chronicles 13:5, âOught ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?â
The Covenant of Salt was completed and satisfied with the covenant of Grace.
Elisha said to the men at Jericho:
âPut Salt Thereinâ (2 Kings 2:20, Isaiah 53:5, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Acts 4:25-28)
You put salt therein. You must inflict the Judgment of God.
Do we still interpret this correctly?
2 Kings 2:20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
What is this new cruse?
It means a brand new bowl, straight from the Potter, a bowl that has never contained any salt; a vessel that has never contained any sin, for judgment is the result of sin. This word for
