2 Kings 8:7 - 29: The Lord's faithfulness - His lamp

Never lie : V14
Never murder : V15
Wicked Hazael did both to succeed in his throne.

Despite the wickedness abounding, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah. For the sake of his servant David. V10 "He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his decendents forever" Amen!

2 Kings 8 : Incredible 7!

The power of the number 7? Perfection. Restoration.

2 Kings 8:1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, "Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years." 2 The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.
3 At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. 4 The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, "Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done." 5 Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, "This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life." 6 The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, "Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now."

2 King 7 : Never doubt?

Here is the story of the 4 men with leprosy going in to the city during the time of famine to find food.

In the earlier chapter, we saw the besieged Samaria where a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for 5 shekels.

But later Elisha prophesed that the next day, prices would be restored back, a seah of flour will sell for 1 shekel adn 2 seahs of barley for 1 shekel at the gate of Samaria.

But the officer on whose arm the king was leaning DOUBTED. He said" Look, EVEN IF the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" Well, the miracle of the Lord causing the sound of the chariots and horses and great army to make the Arameans flee came to pass.

So key lesson as seen from the Officer's eyes "Never doubt". He was a witness of the miracle but never lived to see it through. People trampled him at the gateway and so he died!

2 kings 6:8 -23: "SUPER" Elisha

After the weird floating axehead incident came some more super "gengchow" miracles!

Story of the King of Aram at war with Israel and how Elisha frustrated the plans of King of Aram.
There are 5 things that were SUPER in Elisha:-
1. He has supersonic hearing (V12)! - He could hear King of Aram's plans
2. He has supersonic sight (V17)!- He could see the unseen chariots and horses on his side
3. He has supersonic travel speed (V19) - He transported the Arameans to Samaria in a twinkling of an eye
4. He prepared super feast for the enemy (V23) - He did the unthinkable of giving the best feast to the POWs.
5. He concluded a supernatural ceasation of war between the Arameans and the Israelites! (V23)

Oh what a supernatural prophet was Elisha!!

2 Kings 6:1 - 7 What about the iron axehead?

I don't know seriously!
Stuck here and wondering why on earth did the Lord put this interlude floating axehead miracle in the middle of Namaan's healing and Arameans' war?


Strange...

2 Kings 5 : Lesson #3: What about Gehazi's greed?

2 Kings 5: 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God said to him:"My master was too easy on Namman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him"

2 Kings 5:25,26" Where have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked. "YOur servant didn't go anywhere" Gehazi answered.

Lessons to be learnt:

• Serve without any reservation. As in Mark 10:45. The Lord never asked anything from man, so must we.
• Never lie . As in Commandment #9 in Exo 22, we must observe.
• Never covet. As in Commandment #10, we serve with a pure heart without expecting anything in return.

Consequences of disobeying : Departure from the Lord's presence and curse entails.

2 Kings 5 : Lesson #2 : What about Elisha's service?

2 Kings 5:16 "As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing."

Lesson #2 :

Sacrificial service unto the LORD and not unto man without expecting anything from man.

Our reward is in heaven and not on earth.

Mark10:45

" For the Son of man came not to be served but to serve"

2 Kings 5 : Lesson #1 : What about Namaan obedience?

Namaan :-

- Commander of the army of the King of Aram

- Great man in the sight of his master

-Highly regarded because through him the Lord has given victory to Aram

-Valiant solder

BUT he had leprosy.

And he was later healed.

Lesson #1:

Learning to be humble irrespective of your position in life.

Simple obedience is the key to experience the greatness of God.

1 Sam 15: 22:

But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

2 Kings 4:38-44 Food supplies!

Interesting to know that way before Jesus came on this earth, Elisha (like his master - Elijah) was already performing miracles after miracles in his time.

• Imagine adding flour to the pot of stew which had turned bad to make it edible?
• Imagine putting salt in earlier chapter 2 in a new bowl before pouring it to the water to make it clean and drinkable?
• Imagine feeding a hundred men with just 20 loaves of the barley bread?

Awesome isn't it? As this was written, Chile (17mio pp, 70% catholics) was struck with a 8.8 earthquake on 27/2/2010. (quake struck in the middle of the strip of the country - Conceptiaon )Photos that streamed in saw massive destruction. Water and food - a big need at this point in time. Imagine the scenes of Elisha walking through the streets in parts of Chile right now and performing these acts of life saving miracles, WOW!