Okay, now we're going to try
to bring a message this evening from 2 Kings chapter 13. 2 Kings chapter 13. I'm entitling the message, A
Picture of the Resurrection that we have in Christ. From what is said there down
in verse 21. And it came to pass as they were
bearing a man, that behold they spied a band of men, that is
these marauding people that invaded these Moabites, and hurriedly
they cast the man who had died into the sepulcher of Elisha. And when the man was let down
and touched the bones of this one man of God who was already
dead, this dead man came to life. He revived and stood up upon
his feet. Now what a miracle, what a miracle. We know one thing for certain
and sure, it wasn't the power of Elisha. He was dead. It was God that made this man
to live. So I'm entitling the message,
a picture of the resurrection we have in Christ. We know the
Lord Jesus Christ, he is our resurrection and he is our life
because he is our salvation. He is our salvation and he is
our resurrection. Now don't turn to this because
you're most familiar with it, but I'll turn and read it for
you in John chapter 11. You remember, Lazarus had died,
and Martha and Mary were weeping over their dead brother. And
our Lord says, thy brother shall rise again. And Martha quickly
said, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection in
the last day. And the Lord said to her, I'm
the resurrection. I'm the resurrection. I am the
life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me, John 11, 26 says, shall never die. Never die? Oh yeah, never die. You believe
this? Yes I do. Elisha, we know is
called the man of God many times. And as I pointed out earlier,
he's known as a miracle prophet. The Lord worked many, many miracles
through this man. And the many miracles that he
performed by the will and power of God in his life, And even
in his death, all picture the many miracles the Lord Jesus
Christ performed in that great salvation that we have and that
we enjoy in Him. John put it this way, he that
hath the Son has life. He that hath not the Son does
not have life. Now next week I may bring a message
just on Elisha's miracles and how they picture the Lord Jesus
Christ. Elisha is called the prophet
of God, right? He's called the man of God, right?
In Acts chapter 10 verse 43, to him give all the prophets
witness. They all point to, preach about,
and tell us something about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in Elisha's death, when
a dead body was cast into his grave and came in contact with
the bones of Elisha, The dead body of this man that was cast
in revived and came to life again. Here we have another glorious
miracle, not by the power of Elisha. Elisha did that. That body was dead, lifeless.
but another glorious miracle by the will and power of almighty
God featuring our resurrection in the Lord Jesus Christ because
Elisha is a picture and type of Christ. Christ is all and
in all in our salvation in our righteousness, in the revelation
of God, in reconciliation, and Christ is all in all in our resurrection. He is our resurrection and He
is our life. You remember Romans chapter 4? He was delivered for our offenses,
and raise again because he justified us. How did he justify us? He
justified us with his blood. You see the Lord Jesus Christ
is all and in all. Now we don't have the name of
that man that was cast into the grave of Elisha that revived
and stood up But old John Gill often refers to those Jewish
writers. Now, this is not given in scripture,
but the old books of the Jews and their Jewish history, they
even give this man's name as Shalom, S-H-A-L-L-U-M, that he
lived, the old Jewish historian Josephus and others, that he
lived many years after this incident and had many, children now I
don't know but I do know this God did raise this dead man up
and give him life and I know that's a picture of Christ our
resurrection in Christ, Christ our life. Now when reading through
the book of Kings and Chronicles there are many kings both of
the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah Some by the
same name. Example, we just read about Joash. In the kingdom of Israel, the
northern kingdom, whose capital was Samaria, I've counted 19
different kings, 19 of them, different kings, over a period
of many hundred years. In the kingdom of Judah, I counted
20 kings, and we know the capital of Judah in the south, Judah
and Benjamin, was Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Those Jews are still
trying to make Jerusalem their capital. It's amazing that they're
still fighting, fighting, fighting. Syria and Israel, Ishmael and
Isaac still battling, aren't they? That battle will never
end. There's two kings named Joash. When you read to all these
kings and some of their names even sound the same, Jehoaz and
Jehoaz, they get very confusing and hard to keep track of it.
And hard to kind of wrap my puny mind around it. Kind of hard
to digest, isn't it? And I like genealogy. I study
genealogy. And I like how the progression
of this genealogy goes. But there are many different
kings, and it gets a little bit hard, a little bit convoluted,
a little bit mysterious to try to wrap yourself around it. But
here's the blessing. When we talk about salvation
in Christ, there's only one king. There's almost in the north and
in the south, there's 39 different kings. There's two kingdoms,
Israel and Judah. It gets confusing there too,
doesn't it? But when we come and talk about salvation, there's
just one king, there's just one kingdom, there's just one name,
there's just one way, there's just one gospel, there's just
one salvation. Aren't you glad that there's
just one way? One way of salvation in Christ.
There's one Lord, one body, one spirit, one gospel, one faith,
and one baptism. Our Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. I'm not a way, I'm the way. I'm the life and I am the truth. He's the only name whereby we
must be saved. Remember Peter said, neither
is there salvation in any other. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Psalm 2, God said, I've set my
king upon my holy hill, Zion. David was a great king, a picture
of Christ. Solomon was a great king, but
behold a greater than Solomon is here. The Lord Jesus Christ
is a greater David, God our Savior. Salvation is in Him. Salvation
is by His grace. Now I want to glean a few thoughts
on our way down to verse 21. Remember the Lord promised Jehu
that his sons would reign for four generations And they did,
did so. You remember, look back at chapter
10, 2 Kings chapter 10. We're gonna see three of them
in this chapter, in chapter 13, and then in chapter 14, we actually
run into another one. And then we see these four sons. 2 Kings chapter 10, and the point
I'm trying to make here, God made this promise to Jehu. You
reckon he'll keep it? And the LORD said to Jehu, Because
thou wast done well in executing that which is right in my eye,
and hast done unto the house of Ahab, remember he killed all
the enemies of God, Jezebel, all that was in my heart, you
executed it, thy children of the fourth generation, shall
sit upon the throne of Israel." And you know what? They did.
God is true to His Word. Every promise that He makes,
and He made a lot of them. Even though it says here in verse
2 that Jehoahaz did that which is evil
in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin. And he departed
therefrom, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against him.
Yet the Lord raised up the sons of Jehu, and put them on the
throne. Jehoahaz did evil in the sight
of the Lord. He was an evil and wicked man
that did sinful things. And he did these things, notice,
not so much in the sight of men, but look what it says there in
verse 2, in the sight of the Lord. Now, the Lord that we serve
knows everything. All things are naked and open
unto Him with whom we have to do. There is nothing that God
does not know about every creature under heaven. He's omnipotent,
He's omnipresent, and He's omniscient. He knows all things, all things,
even though Jehoahaz departed not from the sins of Jeroboam,
says that three times in this chapter. Remember Jeroboam introduced
those two golden calves in Dan and in Bethel, and encouraged
the people to go to God through these idols. And Jehu, we know,
turn back to chapter 10, Jehu did the same thing, didn't he?
In chapter 10 verse 28 and 29, Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel,
howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel
to sin, Jehu departed not from after them to wit the golden
calves. That were in Bethel and that
were in Dan. You remember I pointed out that
word, howbeit. Remember? Howbeit. Howbeit. Jeroboam encouraged people to
go to God through those idols and Jacob did the same thing.
And here's the thought on this. Religious people in our day are
no different. Are they? Religious people in
our day are no different. They still think that they can
come to God through their idols. And that's what they were doing
with those golden calves. It was idols of convenience. Remember, put them in Dan and
Bethel so the Israelites wouldn't go to Jerusalem. Idols of convenience. And people
today are still doing the same thing. They have idols and religion
of convenience. And they try to approach God
through their idols, whatever they may be. Sometimes it's a
church or church building. Sometimes it's crosses and statues
and different religious relics. Sometimes it's ceremonies. Or
sometimes they've invented this thing of an idol called man's
free will. Man is a free will agent, they
say. Really. Man's not free, he's
in bondage to his sin. He has a will, but it's in bondage
to his sin. He's not free, he's not an agent.
Because he has no power nor authority with God. Man is not a free will
agent. He's in bondage to his sin. Now something other, another
thought I want to try to glean here. Even though Jehoahaz continued
in the sins of Jeroboam, it says that they departed not. They
departed not. It says that three times. They
departed not from the groves. Look down at verse 6. Nevertheless,
they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who
made Israel to sin, but walked therein, and there remained the
grove also in Israel." Now, who made those groves in
Israel? We know that Ahab introduced
that. Ahab introduced those golden
calves. But the point I want to point
out here, the point I want to make is this. Look at verse 4. When Haziel, king of Syria, invaded the land and the anger
of the Lord was kindled against Israel and delivered him into
the hand of Haziel, king of Syria, into the hand of Ben-Hadad, his
son. Now, notice what this king does,
Jehoahaz. It doesn't say that he went to
the groves. It doesn't say he went to the
golden calves. You see, he was a desperate man
in need. His country was being invaded.
What did he do? Jehoahaz besought the Lord. He knew the only place he could
find help was not in those idols, those dead, dumb idols, but in
the true and living God. And you know what? Now this is
a long suffering of the Lord. The Lord hearkened unto him.
The Lord heard his cry. Here's a king that did evil in
the sight of the Lord, that went after those golden calves of
Jeroboam, that walked in the groves and worshipped Baal, and
yet when he got in desperate need and desperate trouble, he
called upon the Lord, and the Lord heard his cry. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, shall be saved." That's the promise of God. The
Lord heard his cry and the Lord, look what it says in verse 5,
the Lord sent a Savior. Now when I first read that, and
the Lord gave Israel a Savior. Now what's the first thing that
goes through your mind? Christ, our Savior, right? So
that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians and the
children of Israel, and dwelt in their own tents ad before
time, but nevertheless they departed not from the sins of Jeroboam."
Now this is just amazing, amazing, amazing. Now this Savior that's
mentioned here in verse 5 refers to the son of Jehoahaz who delivered
them three times. You remember he struck those
arrows to the ground? Why did the Lord show mercy to
them? Why was the Lord long-suffering
and kind unto them? Why did He hear the cry of this
king? Verse 23 is the answer. The Lord
was gracious unto them, had compassion on them, had respect unto them
because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and
would not destroy them, neither cast them from his presence,
or from his face." There we see that covenant of sovereign grace
and sovereign mercy, don't we? You see, in that covenant that
God made with Abraham way back in Genesis chapter 12, when God
called him out of the era of Calvary, out of the house of
idolatry, and said, go into the land that I show you. I'll make
a great nation of you and I'll bless your seed. Out of that
seed came the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember
Galatians chapter 3, now to Abraham and his seed. Seed, where the
promise is made, he saith not unto seeds as of many, but as
of one, and thy seed which is Christ. Remember that Isaac,
that promised son, who is he a picture of? The Lord Jesus
Christ, the promised son. In the book of Exodus, when Aaron,
like Jeroboam, when Aaron made a golden calf and said to the
people, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought us up out of the
land of bondage. And when God, Moses, came down
and saw what was going on, and the Lord appeared and was going
to destroy the people, and Moses interceded for them, and God
had mercy on them because of a covenant. Turn over to Exodus
chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32. You see, our
God is a covenant God. is that covenant of eternal mercies
through the Lord Jesus Christ. Next is 32. Verse 13, remember Abraham with
the last part of verse 12, turn from thy fierce wrath and repent
of this evil against the people. This is Moses crying unto the
Lord. Remember Abraham and and Isaac
and Israel thy servants to whom thou swearest by thine own self,
and saidest unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars
of heaven." God is going to wipe out that whole nation right then
and make a whole new nation. All this land that I've spoken
will I give unto thee. and they shall inherit the land
because of that covenant that he sware that I will multiply
that seed and I'll give you a seed and they shall inherit the land
and the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto
this people because of that covenant that he made with Abraham." Now,
what is all that a picture of? You see, this is a picture of
the gospel concerning Christ and covenant mercies in Him.
We, like Jehoahaz and Jeroboam and Jehoash, we have sinned and
we have done evil in the sight of the Lord. We, by nature, are
idolaters. We deserve nothing but judgment,
not mercy. The wages of sin is death. We
have all sinned and come short of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Yet, the Lord has had mercy on
us because of that eternal covenant of grace. Made within the blessed
Trinity, within the Godhead between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
He made Christ our Savior and Christ our Servant. You remember
the Lord said, all that the Father had given to me, they will come
to me, and those that come to me, I will in no wise cast out. The God of peace that brought
again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ through the blood
of that everlasting covenant. And because of that everlasting
covenant, God sent us the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Call his
name Jesus, he shall save his people from their sin. As this
Savior Jehoiaz was sent in a particular time for a particular purpose,
even so the Lord Jesus Christ was sent at a particular time
for a particular purpose. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under that law. The Lord sent us, as it says
there in verse 17, The Lord sent us the arrows, these are the
arrows, He said, of the Lord's deliverance. And the arrow of
deliverance from Syria, for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek,
till you have consumed them. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
only our Savior, He's the arrow of deliverance. We read in Romans
11, let me read it to you. And so all Israel shall be saved
as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer,
Romans 11, 26 and 27. And that word there, Deliverer,
is capitalized D. the capital D and shall turn
away ungodliness from Jacob for this is my covenant unto them
and I shall take away their sin you see all that is a picture
of Christ in the gospel the only reason that God has mercy on
us remember Ephesians chapter 4 we're told to love one another
and forgive one another even as God for Christ's sake has
forgiven us. What is the only reason that
God would show mercy to such a sinner as you? You see, we don't merit mercy
in any way. All we merit is wrath, judgment,
righteous judgment, and truly so. It's only because of His
mercy. Only because of His mercy. Now,
I want to come down to the last part of this and talk about Verse 14 down to verse 21. Now, Elisha was fallen sick of
his sickness. Well, if he's a man of God, and
he's a holy man, God's prophet, what's he doing being sick? I
mean, don't you have enough faith, Elisha? Why are you sick? The only reason for sickness,
ailment, and death is sin. Elisha was a sinner saved by
grace alone, saved by Christ alone. Now Elisha was fallen
sick of a sickness whereof he died. And right as that was happening,
Joash the king of Israel came down unto him and wept over his
face and said, my father." Now this man is an
idolater. And yet when the man of God dies,
he knows, he knows something. He knows that God is God. He
doesn't worship him as such. He said, oh my father, my father,
the chariot of Israel, the defense of Israel, the strength of Israel,
and the horsemen thereof. They're gone. He said, my defense
is gone. When we come to the end of Elisha's
ministry, he's called the man of God, and I love that phrase.
Verse 19 says, the man of God was wroth with him. The man of
God. When we come to the end of Elisha's
ministry, and I started to write down when we come to the end
of Elisha's life, and I backed up and changed it. When we come
to the end of Elisha's ministry, that's a better way of saying
that, the man of God, but not to the end of Elisha. This wasn't the end of Elisha.
Oh, his body went back to the dust. But like Elijah, who was
taken to heaven in a whirlwind, so too is Elisha. Elisha, not
in body, but in soul and in spirit. He went to be with the Lord.
When he died, where'd he go? His body You remember the scripture
said, from dust thou art, dust thou shalt return. In Ecclesiastes
chapter 12, verse 7. Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who
gave it. Now, when Elijah died, the Lord
took him body, soul, and spirit in that whirlwind to glory. But when Elisha died, They put
his body in the grave, but his soul and spirit went to be with
the Lord. And that's what happens when
a believer dies. To be absent from the body is to be present
with the Lord. Most think that his ministry
lasted for 66 years. Most think he was called to the
ministry when he was around 30, 35 years old. So he's an old man. The Lord
called him when he was young. Now his ministry is over. Someone
said years ago, man's days, that is believers, man's days or believers'
days are immortal here. And I mean by that, not subject
to death until their work is done. You get what he's saying? The Lord's not going to take
us home until our work here is done. And when it's done, we're
done here. I think about Cody Groover. His
ministry in Mexico lasted 22 years, and when it was over,
he preached that Wednesday night. The next day on Thursday, he
was scheduled to preach down south, down in Cancun. He was headed to Cancun on Thursday
to preach there, but he died Thursday morning. His ministry
was over. He preached his last message.
I'd love to get it and listen to it, wouldn't you? I wouldn't
understand it because he's speaking in Spanish. I'd have to get someone
to interpret it for me. Psalm 16 says, Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. That was a precious
morning, that Thursday morning there in Merida, Merida, Yucatan,
when the Lord took Brother Cody home. And this was a precious
day too when Elisha died. Elisha was a man of God, like
Cody, a man of God. And the Lord took him to glory.
And the Lord did give Israel a Savior from deliverance of
the Syrians and Joash did beat them back As it says there in
verse 18, he smoked the ground thrice. And then in verse 25,
it says there that Joash, the son of Jehoash, took again the
hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Haziel, the cities which he had
taken out of the hand of Jehoash, his father, by war. Three times
did Joash beat them and recovered the city of Israel. But think
about this. I thought about this. It's amazing
to see the turmoil that's going on in Syria right now. Right now. All these thousands
of years later and God still has his finger of judgment on
that nation. It's amazing. That civil war
that broke out among their own people, I mean, the Lord just
sent confusion and hatred among them, and they're just killing
each other off. But I want us to focus a minute here on this
resurrection scene, down in verse 20 and 21. The Lysha died and
they buried Him. They buried Him. And the bands
of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming of the year, in
the spring of the year. They did that every year. to
steal the fruits and harvest, or the fruits of the spring of
that year. And it came to pass as they were burying a man, that
behold, they spied the band of men, these robbers, these marauders,
and they hurriedly cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha.
And when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha,
he revived and stood up on his feet. Do you think that really
happened? Absolutely, absolutely I do. I believe everything God
says in his word. Elisha's body was placed in a
tomb and again the old Jewish historians, this is not in the
word of God, but the old Jewish historians say that it was in
Mount Carmel in the cave of Elijah it was called. Sometime later
in the spring of that year, these Moabites invaded the land to
plunder and to steal the crops. And then it says, and it came
to pass. It came to pass because God brought
it to pass. It just wasn't by fate or it
wasn't an accident. God brought it to pass. When
they saw this band of robbers and they were looking for a place
to bury their friend, they uncovered the stone from the grave and
they threw this man in Elisha's grave and as soon as the bodies
came in contact with one another, he came alive and revived. Now here's the gospel for us.
Elisha is an eminent type of the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember, there's providential
types, there's instituted types, and then there's personal types.
Remember? Instituted types, providential
types, and personal types. David is a personal type of Christ. Aaron is a personal type of Christ,
the priest. David is a personal type of Christ,
the king. Moses is a personal type of Christ. The king, when this man was buried
with Elisha, he was immediately raised to life again. You see,
our Lord in everything He did, and everything He performed,
He did so representing us. He's a representative man. In
Adam all died. Even so, in Christ shall all
be made alive. He lived not as a private man,
but rather as a public man, as a federal head, federal headship. He's called a representative
man. For example, Romans 5.19, for by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, So by the obedience of another shall
many be made righteous." God's going to deal with all men in
those two men, Adam or Christ. Christ was delivered from our
offenses and raised again because He justified us with His blood.
We read in 1 Corinthians 15 that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
firstfruits. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you again. By man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead, and that's talking about
the God-man. Whereas in Adam all died, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order, Christ of firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's
at his coming, then cometh the end when he shall deliver up
the kingdom to God. All that the Father giveth to
me, will there be any missing in that day? When He delivers
up the kingdom unto God. Remember Hebrews 2, it says,
Behold, I and the children, they're all here. Even the Father, when
He shall put down all rule and all authority and all power,
for He must reign, till He puts all things under His feet. The Lord Jesus Christ as our
federal head, You see, when He lived, we lived. When He died,
we died. When He was crucified, the scripture
said we were crucified with Him, right? We were crucified with
Him. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you. These are familiar scriptures. For I'm crucified
with Christ, Galatians 2.20. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, In the life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Therefore I do not frustrate
the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain." You see, we're crucified with Christ, we are
risen with Christ, we're ascended with Christ, and we're seated
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, listen to this scripture,
Ephesians 2. But God, who was rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us, verse 4. Ephesians
2, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together
with Christ, by grace are you saved, and has raised us up together
and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward
us through the Lord Jesus Christ. You see what's through the head
through the body. Where the head is, that's where
the body is. When the Lord Ascended to glory,
we ascended in Him. Our forerunner is entered in
for us, and we are entered in with Him. Crucified with Christ,
we're risen with Christ, we're seated with Christ, and you know
what? And we shall reign with Him forever
as kings and priests. Do you know that? Turn to Ephesians,
or rather, let's find the Revelation. The Revelation. Revelation, let's
turn to chapter 1 first of all. Revelation chapter 1 verse 5,
Revelation 1 verse 5, Jesus Christ, who is a faithful witness, the
first begotten of the dead, you remember he's the first fruits,
the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us,
washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings
and priests under our God and His Father. To Him be glory and
dominion forever and ever. Now turn to this one. Find Revelation 22. Revelation 22, five. Verse three said, there shall
be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be
in it. and his servants shall serve him." Revelation 22, 4.
And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their
forehead. What's my name? Jesus Christ. I'm one with him. And there shall be no night there.
They need no candle, neither light of the sun. For the Lord
God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever. You mean we're gonna reign with
him? Yeah, we're one with him. Oh, tell you the gospel is good
news. Good news, we have a risen victorious
savior. Thanks be unto God who's given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, the victory over
sin, death, hell and the grave. We're more than conquerors through
him that loved us, gave himself for us.