Elisha Succeeds Elijah

   

 2 Kings 1:15-24

 

August 19, 2021

 

Elisha Succeeds Elijah

Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.   And they said to him, “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that the Spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send.”   But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, “Send.” They sent therefore fifty men. And for three days they sought him but did not find him.   And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”

Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.”   He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So, they brought it to him.   Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.”   So, the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”   And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.   From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

 

Elisha has now crossed back over the Jordan, Elijah is with the Lord, and Elisha has been granted a double portion of the spirit of Elijah.  And it is recorded that fifty of the sons of the prophet come to him and want to look for Elijah.  Elisha says no do not go, but they keep asking and so he allows them to go.  After searching for three days they return and guess what they have not found Elijah, for they were looking in the wrong place.

 

Could that be the problem many of us who claim to be Christians, we are looking for Jesus in the wrong place?  He has told you where he can be found it is not in doing good deeds, and yes, He is all about doing good deeds.  It is not in being religious, for those are the ones that wanted him dead.  It’s not attending church are giving to support your church, and yes Jesus has commanded us as His followers to do so.

 

No, it is about a dead, His death, and His victory over death, and about you dying to all that you treasure in this world, agreeing with Jesus that He alone is holy, and confessing your sins.  I did that now some 52 years ago in a hotel room in Victoria, Texas, after reading this in Romans 10:9-10.  I acted on those verses that night and told the Lord I had not one thing He needed but He was everything I need, and He came to live in me and I in Him.  What does Romans 10:9-10, say; “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.”  I looked in the right place!

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice