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Introduction
Good evening and welcome back!
This evening we are going to be continuing on in , turning our focus tonight on verses 19-22.
Elijah is now gone and Elisha has realized that God has in fact anointed him to be the next prophet after Elijah.
The first miracle or confirmation was Elisha parting the river and crossing over on dry ground that we talked about this morning.
And tonight we are going to talk about the second miracle and confirmation of Elisha’s anointing.
To bring us up to speed though, there are some verses between where we left off this morning and where we are going to pick up tonight.
It seems that Elisha wasn’t all alone when Elijah disappeared and Elisha parted the Jordan river.
Starting in verse 15, the Bible records that . . .
2 Kings 2:15-
So, these guys had seen everything that had taken place and they were probably just as shocked about Elijah’s disappearance as Elisha was.
And if that wasn’t enough they now had witnessed Elisha performing his first miracle and acknowledged Elisha as a great man of God.
And Elisha also wasn’t used to people bowing down to him, so he still really probably doesn’t even know how to act.
Which goes back to what we were talking about this morning about time and our circumstances changing so quickly and the importance of being prepared for the changes that are inevitably going to eventually come.
So, these men are now bowing down to Elisha looking to him to lead them and they tell him . . .
And on the surface we may say, “really, did you guys actually see what happened?”
Elijah is gone and he ain’t coming back.
But, it’s not an unreasonable request because we have an example of God doing just what they are describing.
And it’s not in the Old Testament, but in the New.
Philip had been sent by God to witness to (and convert) an Ethiopian Eunuch and after the Eunuch was baptized . . .
So, it was not unheard of for someone to hitch a ride with the Holy Spirit to get from place to place.
It must have been pretty common for the prophets in those days because this was immediately what the men went to as the reason that Elijah disappeared.
But Elisha knows the truth so he tells them not to bother looking.
However, . . .
So, now it is confirmed to everybody that Elijah is gone and now Elisha is the prophet.
And I will tell you that from a leadership perspective this is a scary thing.
He may have knew what he was doing but he is like every single leader in history on their first day of the job.
They did not have a clue.
It doesn’t matter what they tell you.
They may have known how to lead but they had no idea on how to lead that organization.
That comes with time and Elisha was brand new and still learning.
None the less, Elisha was now in charge and he is about to face his first problem, which brings us to our Scripture for tonight.
Again we are reading in , starting in verse 19 . . .
Scripture Focus
2 Kings 2:19-
Bad Water
So, Elisha’s first issue that he is called to deal with is a practical issue, the town of Jericho had bad water.
It was poisonous and useless.
They couldn’t drink it and couldn’t use it to grow their crops.
Their water problems though was not something that just started.
It had actually been going on for centuries.
If we go all the way back to , we find this . . .
Joshua 6:26
So, the entire town of Jericho had been under a curse ever since the time of Joshua even to the point that it had an impact on the water supply.
And it’s not recorded anywhere in the Bible, but I am convinced that Elisha was not the first prophet that they brought this before, hoping to end the curse.
However, the timing wasn’t right.
Things were not the way they needed to be for God to lift the curse.
Something, or someone was missing.
And that someone was Elisha.
This was a job that God was going to use Elisha to take care of and in doing so, God is confirming not only for Elisha but also for the people that Elisha is their prophet and is sent by God.
We see it again, the appropriate timing is everything!
Things have to be done in God’s time and not in ours.
And I really wish that we could grasp on to that point tonight.
Because there are so many times when we try to rush God into doing things in our own time.
For instance we want the church to grow, but we want to do it in our timing and not God’s.
We want our family and friends saved, but we want it in our time and not God’s.
We are always seeking and wanting, but we are seeking and wanting in our time and not God’s.
Sometimes we need to slow down and listen for God and wait on God.
reminds us to . . .
And waiting is sometimes harder than moving, but yet sometimes we have to wait.
But, there will come a time when the wait is over.
Get Me Some Salt
And that time was now for Jericho . . .
2 Kings 2:
Now, prophets are a strange breed.
The Bible is full of examples of them doing some strange things and here is just another example.
Elisha tells them to get him a new bowl and put salt in in and bring it to him.
Why in the world would he need a bowl full of salt to fix the water problem?
I can see maybe a bowl of salt removing some sort of bacteria from a bowl of water, but the entire water supply for Jericho.
Commentaries say that this is a huge spring.
And that’s what we are talking about here.
We are not talking about him purifying a little bowl of water.
He is going to use this bowl of salt to purify the the whole thing.
The salt itself really doesn’t matter that much.
What matters is everything that is going on behind the scenes and what everything represents.
Notice here, Elisha, who has never done this before by the way, is asking for two things:
A NEW bowl
Salt
The bowl had to be NEW because it was representing God doing something brand new.
It also is representing being made new.
Remember, God don’t just clean up our old junky self.
When Jesus Christ saves us . . .
New, not cleaned up version of the old self.
Brand spanking new.
So, God is not just going to clean up the water a bit.
God is REPLACING that old poisonous water with new, clean and pure water.
So, that’s why the bowl had to be new, but what about the salt?
Well, what do we know about the purpose of salt?
It purifies and it preserves.
God is going to use this salt to do both those things to the water.
It is going to be purified and it is going to be preserved for future generations as well.
In fact, verse 21-22 tells us that . . .
And the message was that when God make’s something new, it is new and when God fixes it, it’s fixed.
What’s the Point?
And that is a nice story and nice example of God confirming Elisha’s status for the people, but what meaning does this passage have for us today, in 2017.
After all, our water is in pretty good shape most of the time.
The message is not about water or salt or even Elisha.
The message is about newness, purity, and preservation.
We’ve already read God making all things new in Christ.
And that is the first thing that we have to realize.
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