WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.160 All right, we're going to read tonight from the Old Testament, from 2 Kings chapter 2. 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:11.880 This is the Word of the Lord. 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:20.080 Now, when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha 00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:22.500 were on their way from Gilgal. 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:29.320 And Elijah said to Elisha, Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:35.560 And Elisha said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:37.079 So they went down to Bethel. 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:42.719 And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, Do you 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:46.640 know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:48.400 And he said, Yes, I know it. 00:00:48.400 --> 00:00:50.039 Keep quiet. 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:55.280 Elijah said to him, Elisha, Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:00.160 But he said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. 00:01:00.160 --> 00:01:02.000 So they came to Jericho. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.439 The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, Do you 00:01:06.439 --> 00:01:11.400 know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? 00:01:11.400 --> 00:01:14.120 And he answered, Yes, I know it. 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:15.120 Keep quiet. 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:20.799 Then Elijah said to him, Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:25.879 Everybody said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. 00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:28.239 So the two of them went on. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:33.920 50 men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them as they 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:36.200 were both standing by the Jordan. 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:40.879 Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water. 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:47.280 And the water was parted to one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:48.479 on dry ground. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.719 And when they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:54.880 I'm taken from you. 00:01:54.880 --> 00:02:00.159 And Elisha said, Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me. 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:03.040 And he said, You have asked a hard thing. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:09.199 Yet if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you. 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:12.439 But if you do not see me, it shall not be so. 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:19.240 And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:20.740 the two of them. 00:02:20.740 --> 00:02:23.879 And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:29.240 And Elisha saw it and he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:30.240 horsemen. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:33.079 And he saw him no more. 00:02:33.079 --> 00:02:36.479 Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:41.639 And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on 00:02:41.639 --> 00:02:43.239 the bank of the Jordan. 00:02:43.239 --> 00:02:48.239 Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, 00:02:48.239 --> 00:02:51.279 Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? 00:02:51.279 --> 00:02:55.759 And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.119 And Elisha went over. 00:02:58.119 --> 00:03:03.519 Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, 00:03:03.519 --> 00:03:08.519 The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:11.600 And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. 00:03:11.600 --> 00:03:17.080 And they said to him, Behold, now there are with your servants fifty strong men. 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.879 Please let them go and seek your master. 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:24.320 It may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain 00:03:24.320 --> 00:03:26.320 or into some valley. 00:03:26.320 --> 00:03:28.600 And he said, You shall not send. 00:03:28.600 --> 00:03:32.400 But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:34.840 They sent there for fifty men. 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:38.400 And for three days they sought him, but they did not find him. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.879 And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho. 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:44.319 And he said to them, Did I not say to you, Do not go? 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:49.200 Now the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, the situation of the city is pleasant as my 00:03:49.200 --> 00:03:54.040 Lord sees, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful. 00:03:54.040 --> 00:03:56.920 He said, Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it. 00:03:56.920 --> 00:03:57.920 So they brought it to him. 00:03:57.920 --> 00:04:02.240 And he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, Thus says the Lord, I 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:03.719 have healed this water. 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:07.319 From now on, neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it. 00:04:07.319 --> 00:04:11.840 So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:13.079 He went up from there to Bethel. 00:04:13.079 --> 00:04:16.959 And while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:19.240 at him, saying, Go up, you baldhead. 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:21.240 Go up, you baldhead. 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:24.920 And he turned around and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:29.399 And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys. 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:31.399 From there he went on to Mount Carmel. 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:35.680 And from there he returned to Samaria. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:41.480 So tonight we are, we're carrying on with Elijah and Elisha. 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:47.480 And one thing we've seen in the last few weeks in this series is that at the heart of almost 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:54.960 everything that happens in Israel, in this time in history, at the heart of it is idolatry. 00:04:54.960 --> 00:04:58.560 And we're told at various points how this idolatry is expressed. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:05.839 And Elijah is surrounded in his life by the prophets of Baal who say that there is no 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:07.160 one true God. 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:12.280 There are many gods that you can pray to, but there is not one true God. 00:05:12.280 --> 00:05:17.319 So if you want rain, then you pray and you will get rain. 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:22.879 If you want your wealth to increase, then you pray in this direction and you'll be heard. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:29.079 You believe and worship all the gods you want to, but make sure you do not say there is 00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:31.680 only one true God. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:34.920 That is the world that Elijah is in. 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:40.519 And now he's about to be taken away and you see what's happening. 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:46.360 Elijah is about to leave a minority group of people who believe the same as him. 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:52.839 He's about to leave them behind and yet nothing has changed really in Israel. 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:54.079 Ahab might be dead. 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:58.319 The king who we've been looking at the last few weeks is the evil king. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:05:59.319 He might be dead. 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:04.079 He might be gone, but Israel is determined to continue the way it's going. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:11.399 It's determined that it will continue to build its culture around this idolatry. 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:19.199 It will continue to say fundamentally there is not one true God. 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.679 You go out into the city today. 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:25.120 You go into Edinburgh today. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:30.199 And we probably agree that there's not much difference in attitude between Edinburgh 00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:33.879 today and Israel in the Bible. 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:37.639 The writer John Hick, he said it in his book. 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:43.480 He talks about interpreting religion and he looks at all the religions and he says this, 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:52.639 these traditions or religions are ways along which men and women can find salvation, liberation, 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:54.919 ultimate fulfillment. 00:06:54.919 --> 00:06:59.479 He's describing how our culture works, how it operates. 00:06:59.479 --> 00:07:02.519 You find what you want in any religion or movement. 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:09.000 They can all be true if you find what you want, if you find fulfillment in one or if 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:13.159 you find that all your hopes are answered here. 00:07:13.159 --> 00:07:17.919 There is room to believe in everything you want in Edinburgh today. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:24.759 There is room to find truth in different places but surely there cannot be one true 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:25.759 God. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:34.560 Israel, 9th century BC or Edinburgh today, the need that we see here is for spiritual 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:36.600 renewal. 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:42.960 The need is for an absolute trust in the one true God who promises to protect the tired 00:07:42.960 --> 00:07:46.280 and the weak and the needy. 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:51.439 The need is for the people we are close to and spend time with every week to come and 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:59.799 see what we know ourselves to find that there is one who promises to make their lives like 00:07:59.799 --> 00:08:04.319 they are meant to be. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:10.599 There is a lot, as we were reading that, there's a lot in this chapter, a lot that we will have 00:08:10.599 --> 00:08:14.839 to pass over but just two points from it tonight. 00:08:14.839 --> 00:08:21.479 In a place that needs spiritual renewal, Israel, 9th century BC, Edinburgh today, in 00:08:21.479 --> 00:08:28.000 a place that needs spiritual renewal, two things happen that we see in this chapter. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:34.439 We bear the family name and God heals the land. 00:08:34.439 --> 00:08:37.720 So firstly, we bear the family name. 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:44.720 Verse 9, Elijah is about to be taken into heaven, his life on earth is almost over and 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:50.000 he's spent the last probably six years with Elijah. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.800 So Elijah has been watching and following his teacher, we assume in the background because 00:08:54.800 --> 00:08:59.480 he's not really mentioned in the last few chapters. 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:06.360 So he's the prophet in training, he's the apprentice to the true prophet. 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:12.200 Elijah is near the end of his life on earth, everyone seems to know it and he tells Elijah 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:16.000 to ask for what he wants from him before he goes. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:26.240 He says, ask what you want and Elijah asks quite boldly for a double portion of his spirit. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:29.640 What is Elijah asking for? 00:09:29.640 --> 00:09:34.440 He's asking to be given the same power that Elijah had. 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:42.880 He's asking to continue the work that Elijah was doing in Deuteronomy 21. 00:09:42.880 --> 00:09:52.040 We get to the laws on inheritance rights and it says in verse 17, to your firstborn only, 00:09:52.040 --> 00:09:54.840 you shall give him a double portion of all that you have. 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:58.680 So you'll give them possessions, you'll give them land more so than you would give the 00:09:58.680 --> 00:10:00.680 rest of your children. 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:05.839 But most importantly, to receive a double portion was to take on the family name. 00:10:05.839 --> 00:10:11.439 It was to continue the work of the Father. 00:10:11.439 --> 00:10:15.159 It's the firstborn who bears his Father's name. 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:21.239 So it's not in this passage that Elijah once doubled the power, doubled the effectiveness 00:10:21.239 --> 00:10:23.839 that Elijah had. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:32.399 He wants to continue the ministry that his prophet before him was working out in terms 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:33.800 of inheritance rights. 00:10:33.800 --> 00:10:38.920 He wants to bear the family name. 00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:42.920 And yet look at Elijah's response. 00:10:42.920 --> 00:10:44.920 He says it's hard for him to grant this. 00:10:44.920 --> 00:10:48.920 It's hard for him to give him what he wants. 00:10:48.920 --> 00:10:50.240 Why is it hard? 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.320 What does he say to Elijah? 00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:58.800 If you see me as I'm being taken from you, it shall be so. 00:10:58.800 --> 00:11:08.320 If Elijah sees Elijah being taken up in the whirlwind, if he sees heaven breaking in and 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:13.720 lifting Elijah up, if he understands that everything that happens here is a spiritual 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:20.080 work completed by God and not by Elijah, then he says it shall be so. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:21.080 And he does see it. 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:25.360 And when he returns to the Jordan River, he strikes it and he asks, where is the Lord, 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:26.759 the God of Elijah? 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:29.440 The prophet has gone. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:30.800 Has God gone with him? 00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:32.759 Has God left with him? 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:39.120 No, the river parts just like it did earlier when Elijah struck it. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:44.840 Straight away, Elijah can do the work that Elijah did. 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:50.720 In fact, we'll probably see in the next few weeks, he goes on to perform double the amount 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:53.759 of miracles that his mentor did. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.200 But he can do that. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:00.160 He can part the river because it's God's work. 00:12:00.160 --> 00:12:03.759 Where is the God of Elijah? 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:05.800 Does his work end with one man? 00:12:05.800 --> 00:12:12.759 No, it says he works through all his people. 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:21.639 In John 14, Jesus is preparing for his own departure, he's speaking to his disciples, 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:26.559 and as he is doing that, he tells them, this, whoever believes in me will also do the works 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:34.840 that I do, and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father. 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:41.319 When Jesus leaves, he says, those who believe in him, those who are left behind will do 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:46.560 greater works, in what sense? 00:12:46.560 --> 00:12:53.320 Jesus' offer of salvation, his offer of being saved and being forgiven, the offer that he 00:12:53.320 --> 00:13:01.640 made in the three years of his ministry on earth was made on the basis that in the future 00:13:01.640 --> 00:13:10.760 he would die and he would rise again to secure that forgiveness and that saving. 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:15.319 His offer was pointing forward to his death and resurrection when these things would be 00:13:15.319 --> 00:13:16.319 secured. 00:13:16.319 --> 00:13:23.120 But we do greater works because he has gone to be with the Father. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:27.639 We do greater works not by pointing forward, but we do greater works because we point 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:34.439 backwards and we say it's been completed. 00:13:34.439 --> 00:13:35.919 Forgiveness has already been bought. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:43.000 We do not wait in anticipation, John Piper says like this quite helpfully, what's new 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:49.919 and greater is that never before in the history of the world had anyone ever been forgiven 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:56.439 by faith in the already crucified, already risen, already reigning, already indwelling 00:13:56.439 --> 00:13:58.719 Christ. 00:13:58.719 --> 00:14:01.439 What does it mean to bear the family name? 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:10.440 What it means to do the greater works that Christ has given to us. 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:17.640 There needs to be something in how you do your work, nine to five, Monday to Friday. 00:14:17.640 --> 00:14:21.720 There needs to be something in how you interact with your friends in school and you need, 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:26.200 there needs to be something in how you talk to your family. 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:34.640 There needs to be something in how we live that says to the world, there is one true God. 00:14:34.640 --> 00:14:41.320 Your honesty in the workplace, your refusal to speak harmful here about someone behind 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:47.280 their back, you caring for your family and loving them. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:56.959 Our work is to live in a way that says there is one true God who rose again and who reigns 00:14:56.959 --> 00:14:57.959 in heaven. 00:14:57.959 --> 00:15:03.639 The prophets, they look over the river, they look over the Jordan River, they see Elijah 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:07.279 and they say look here is one who comes just like Elijah. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:11.039 He does the same work, he parts the river. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:14.399 But it's God's work that continues. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:20.079 In a society that needs renewal, in a city that we know is looking for peace. 00:15:20.079 --> 00:15:24.799 We know people here who look for peace anywhere they can be found. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:31.360 In that place, in that city, we bear the family name. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:37.159 We are sent and told to do greater works by Jesus and we do that. 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:44.879 We do these greater works when we live in a way that says there is one true God. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:48.159 Where is the God of Elijah? 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:55.799 God still works, but he does it through his people who bear the family name. 00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:59.199 People who are sent by Jesus. 00:15:59.199 --> 00:16:01.759 Just quickly and more specifically here. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:08.480 There is fear in the prophets over how God will work when Elijah goes. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:13.319 The first seven verses are showing these prophets coming to Elisha and they say don't you know 00:16:13.319 --> 00:16:15.480 your master is going to be taken from you. 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:19.000 Don't you know your friend is going to leave you. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:29.439 What God shows in this handover is that he chooses to work through not one man, but all 00:16:29.439 --> 00:16:30.439 his people. 00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:36.000 His work of spiritual renewal does not end with one person. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:40.480 So that means that we are not meant to look in any one place and expect that God will 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:42.200 do all his work there. 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:44.800 We don't look to our minister. 00:16:44.800 --> 00:16:46.120 We don't look to our curc session. 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:50.520 We don't look to our denomination and expect that God is only going to work in this city 00:16:50.520 --> 00:16:53.680 through that person, through these places. 00:16:53.680 --> 00:16:54.680 No. 00:16:54.679 --> 00:17:01.759 God works out spiritual renewal through his people and he works it out across different 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:06.039 years regardless of the person. 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:12.240 Those who trust and those who know his voice, those who bear the family name have been given 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:19.240 the greater work of going out and living and saying that there is one who has already come 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:21.240 and died. 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:29.120 He says he will work through these people and bring hope to the searching. 00:17:29.120 --> 00:17:30.559 So we bear the family name. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:35.799 Our second point, God heals the land. 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:40.960 In a society that needs spiritual renewal, God's people bear the family name and it's 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:45.240 God who heals the land. 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:51.880 If you look at verse 19, the prophets that have watched Elisha return across the Jordan 00:17:51.880 --> 00:17:55.799 River, they go with him to Jericho. 00:17:55.799 --> 00:18:01.519 When you read this chapter, you see, you probably saw it when Cori was reading it, Elisha is 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:07.079 retracing the steps that he took with his master Elijah a few days before that. 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:14.679 They travel together, probably east, directly east, to Bethel, to Jericho, to the Jordan 00:18:14.679 --> 00:18:20.559 River and then Elisha, he comes back over the Jordan River to Jericho, to Bethel and 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:22.799 then up to Samaria. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:27.480 When he comes back on his own, Elisha is not just retracing the steps he took a few days 00:18:27.480 --> 00:18:29.319 before. 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:36.199 He's retracing the steps that Joshua and the Israelites took 500 years before that. 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:41.559 So if you read the first few chapters of Joshua, you see that when they first come into the 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:49.080 land, they cross the Jordan River, they go to Jericho, they go to camp near Bethel. 00:18:49.080 --> 00:18:56.640 In Elijah's last days, he is heading east, away from a society that is adamant it can 00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:59.000 find truth wherever it likes. 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:05.559 When Elisha comes back, he comes back the same way and God does exactly the same thing. 00:19:05.559 --> 00:19:13.159 He takes the land and he tells it, he is the only true God. 00:19:13.159 --> 00:19:14.159 So where does he do that? 00:19:14.159 --> 00:19:16.799 Elisha's first call is to Jericho. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:22.240 In Joshua 6, Joshua and his army, they destroy Jericho. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:24.639 We are told because of how evil the people are. 00:19:24.639 --> 00:19:29.799 And at the end, he makes an oath and he says, curse before the Lord, be the man who rises 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:35.079 up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:40.039 This idea of cursing is quite foreign, it's quite alien to us today. 00:19:40.039 --> 00:19:48.799 And the Bible to be cursed is to be handed over by God to the consequences of your wrongdoing, 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:49.799 of your evil. 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:54.679 So when Joshua says curse before the Lord, he is saying, if anyone tries to rebuild this 00:19:54.679 --> 00:20:00.799 city, Jericho, they are going to be handed over to the consequences for their evil. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:07.639 The curse Joshua says is the loss of family, it's death. 00:20:07.639 --> 00:20:15.119 In a few chapters before this, we see it in 1 Kings 16, a man named Teal, he comes and 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:16.960 he rebuilds Jericho. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:23.200 And so his oldest child and his youngest child, they die. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.240 Elisha comes to the rebuild Jericho. 00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:33.359 And the prophets say to him, this city is beautiful, there's just one problem, the water 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:34.359 kills. 00:20:34.359 --> 00:20:41.400 In verse 21, it says that this drinking water has been killing people and causing miscarriages. 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:46.319 The curse remains in 2 Kings 2. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:52.039 The prophet comes to the city and though this curse remains, he throws salt, he performs 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:59.399 his miracle, throws salt into the spring and the water is cured. 00:20:59.399 --> 00:21:06.680 God's first step in renewing the city, in healing the land, is going to Jericho and 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:09.960 healing the water and lifting the curse of death. 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:15.159 Elisha says himself, thus says to the Lord, I have healed this water. 00:21:15.159 --> 00:21:18.559 The curse is undone in Jericho. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:23.240 Elisha comes and God works through him to remove the curse of death. 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:28.599 He heals the water. 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:33.799 Paul in his letter to the Galatians, he takes up this language of being cursed. 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:39.960 And he says this in the third chapter, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming 00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:41.599 a curse for us. 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:48.200 For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:54.440 Paul says to us tonight, the curse doesn't just belong to Jericho. 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:58.480 It belongs to us. 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:01.600 It's not just them who are punished for their evil know it. 00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:06.519 He says very clearly we are as well and we fall under the same judgment. 00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:10.200 We don't live like we're meant to. 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:14.680 For all the ways that God shows us how to live well by his law, we go and we do the exact 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:18.039 opposite of what he says. 00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:22.079 We are convinced we can live in the way that we want to. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:26.839 We are convinced that we can rebuild Jericho and the curse that comes with that, Paul says, 00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:32.039 is the curse of death. 00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:35.920 Yeah what does he say? 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:43.680 Christ is set as free by taking on our curse himself. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:48.279 The rule in the Old Testament is that whoever is hung on a tree is cursed. 00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:49.960 Where did Jesus go? 00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:50.960 Where does he walk to? 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:53.720 He goes up the mountain and he's hung on a tree. 00:22:53.720 --> 00:22:57.039 He's nailed to the cross. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:23:00.640 The Son of God who lived perfectly hangs on a tree. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:06.759 He takes on the curse of death that belongs to us. 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:11.720 And he does it so that we who were cursed by our own fault can be free. 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:22.360 If you're here and you haven't believed, if you haven't trusted in Jesus, then Elisha's 00:23:22.360 --> 00:23:23.920 journey is important to you. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:30.120 The curse of death remains. 00:23:30.120 --> 00:23:36.960 The curse of death for rebuilding Jericho is the same consequence for you and me who might 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:42.160 decide that we will live the way we want to live. 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:47.279 It's the same consequence for us when we say we will look for truth, we will look for meaning 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:51.720 everywhere apart from in the true living God. 00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:56.880 And yet you can have freedom from the curse if you trust in the one who took that curse 00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:00.240 on himself. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:05.559 And just as he who died on the tree was raised three days later, those who believe in him, 00:24:05.559 --> 00:24:10.039 the Bible says, will not be held down by death either. 00:24:10.039 --> 00:24:15.799 But they will be raised again and they will be able to spend eternity with him in his 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:17.200 presence. 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:22.079 God heals the land by curing the water and lifting the curse. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:28.399 Christ heals us by taking the curse on himself. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:35.920 Lastly, just one more episode here in this account of God healing the land. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:43.120 Elisha carries on this journey and he goes to Bethel and we read it there, the last three 00:24:43.120 --> 00:24:49.519 verses that again it's something that our modern minds probably struggle to read and 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:52.720 make sense of even more so than the last scene. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:25:01.799 It says that this group who were mocking Elisha at first, it seems because he's bald, they 00:25:01.799 --> 00:25:10.360 ... or Elisha calls this curse from the Old Testament and has this group killed by these 00:25:10.360 --> 00:25:16.559 two bears and even more unsettling is the fact that in verse 23 it says that they were 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:19.400 small boys who were mocking him. 00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:26.120 Why does Elisha participate in undoing the curse in Jericho and then come to Bethel and 00:25:26.120 --> 00:25:33.360 call out a curse against these 42 boys who only seem to be making fun of him? 00:25:33.360 --> 00:25:37.560 Our first reaction is probably to be shocked and disturbed and we're not going to fix that 00:25:37.560 --> 00:25:38.560 completely. 00:25:38.560 --> 00:25:44.600 But just two or three things to help us make sense of these last few verses. 00:25:44.599 --> 00:25:52.439 The first thing is that the Hebrew word used here for small boys does not exclusively mean 00:25:52.439 --> 00:25:54.959 small boys. 00:25:54.959 --> 00:25:56.980 It can mean adults as well. 00:25:56.980 --> 00:26:01.679 One thing the commentaries pick up on is this word being used across the Old Testament for 00:26:01.679 --> 00:26:02.919 people who are adults. 00:26:02.919 --> 00:26:10.839 So they might be boys, they might be 12, they might be in their 30s as far as this word 00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:11.839 is concerned. 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:20.639 But the other thing is that Bethel in terms of idolatry is as bad as it can get. 00:26:20.639 --> 00:26:26.199 It's the center for the worship of false gods and there's this golden calf that's situated 00:26:26.199 --> 00:26:33.279 in Bethel purely to stop people worshiping the God of Israel. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:38.399 It's not the case that you can look here and there for truth and maybe pray to the true 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:44.800 God at some point, no, under no circumstance will you pray to the true God. 00:26:44.800 --> 00:26:49.440 It's a completely hostile place. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:56.160 The last thing is in what the boys do and say, they come out of the city to meet Elisha. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:27:00.160 They don't just sit there and wait for him to walk past but they come out to him and 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:08.360 when they shouted him, being bald is a minor issue for Elisha here. 00:27:08.359 --> 00:27:12.479 They come out and they shout at him, they come out and they mock him because they know 00:27:12.479 --> 00:27:16.199 he comes in the name of someone greater than himself. 00:27:16.199 --> 00:27:19.199 They know he comes to do God's work. 00:27:19.199 --> 00:27:24.039 So when they say go up, go up, go up you bald head, go up where? 00:27:24.039 --> 00:27:28.199 Go up where Elijah went. 00:27:28.199 --> 00:27:31.359 Go up wherever your master supposedly went. 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:34.000 Don't you bring the God of Israel here to Bethel? 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:36.879 That's what they're saying. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:39.280 Don't tell us he is the only true God. 00:27:39.280 --> 00:27:44.120 Don't tell us that we have done wrong. 00:27:44.120 --> 00:27:45.320 That's what they say. 00:27:45.320 --> 00:27:53.560 Whatever we make about Elisha's curse, the bears that God sends to kill the 42, however 00:27:53.560 --> 00:28:00.480 we work by one point is this, God has the final say. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:05.360 You see these boys, this group, they know who Elisha is. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:09.039 They know whose name he comes in. 00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:14.479 They know which God he believes in and ultimately they're not mocking Elisha, they're mocking 00:28:14.479 --> 00:28:17.679 God himself. 00:28:17.679 --> 00:28:23.639 The one who brings about spiritual renewal, the one who cures the water and ends the rule 00:28:23.639 --> 00:28:26.079 that death has in Jericho. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:36.240 Yes, they might only be chasing his messenger out, but they are denying God and it brings 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:38.119 about their judgment. 00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:42.799 God has the final say for this group. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:45.759 God brings spiritual renewal, that's his work. 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:52.000 If you are searching for the truth, if you want to know why you have been made, if you 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:59.440 question why your life looks the way it does, the answer is to run to Jesus who promises 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:00.440 healing. 00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:07.640 Like the water in Jericho being cured, being healed, God promises to heal you by coming 00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:09.680 to his son, Jesus. 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:21.599 If you say that he is not the one true God, then you don't get the final say. 00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:30.319 Paul says himself, eventually God's people will be with him in a perfect place forever. 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:36.599 But for those who refuse him all their days, for those who reject him, for those who reject 00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:45.240 the idea that he is the only true God, for those who force him out of Bethel, eventually 00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:46.240 they will be judged. 00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:54.440 And the judgment will be spending eternity away from his goodness, which you could have 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:58.680 known down here. 00:29:58.680 --> 00:30:03.400 Judgment will be spending eternity separate from the love that God has offered to you, 00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:07.599 all your life. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:09.279 Where is the God of Elijah? 00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:17.399 He's still here and he works through his people who bear his name and he heals the land. 00:30:17.399 --> 00:30:20.559 He brings hope that overrules grief. 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:23.920 That is what Jesus gives to you in the gospel. 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:26.720 That is what we know if we have trusted in him. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:29.200 His work is spiritual renewal. 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:36.079 So don't sit in Bethel and chase him out, force him out, but come to him who promises 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:39.519 you the truth and tells you you can be healed. 00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:45.279 The city, Edinburgh needs to be spiritually renewed. 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:51.599 And that work is done by the one true God, but he says to the church, he says to his 00:30:51.599 --> 00:30:57.279 people, those who know his voice, those who go with the family name. 00:30:57.279 --> 00:31:03.079 He says to go out with the greater work that has been given by Jesus, to live in a way that 00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:07.720 says he is the one true God. 00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:08.720 Let's pray. 00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:11.919 Lord, we thank you for this chapter. 00:31:11.919 --> 00:31:16.240 We thank you for what we see and how you deal with Elijah and Elisha. 00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:19.799 Lord, we pray that we would bear the family name. 00:31:19.799 --> 00:31:26.159 We pray that we would go out and do the greater works given to us by Jesus. 00:31:26.159 --> 00:31:32.199 The work of living and speaking in a way that says there is one true God who loves perfectly 00:31:32.200 --> 00:31:35.200 and who offers hope and peace to the lost. 00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:37.200 So be with us in these ways. 00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:43.240 If anyone is here and they have not yet trusted in you, Lord, we pray that tonight even they 00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:54.640 would come to know the love of a true and living God who shows kindness and forgiveness to 00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:56.960 all who run to him. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:02.680 So heal this land, we pray, heal our families, heal our friends and use us in this work, 00:32:02.680 --> 00:32:04.240 we ask, for Jesus' sake. 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:30.240 Amen.