In the second message of Elisha: God’s Double Agent, Pastor Jeff Anders shows how the double portion was revealed in miracles. Elijah’s ministry was marked by eight miracles. Elisha, with a double portion of the spirit that was upon Elijah, is credited with sixteen. This message covers the last of Elijah’s miracles and the first four of Elisha’s.
Recap: The Mantle and the Man He Followed
Elisha was first introduced in 1 Kings 19. After the juniper tree and the still small voice on Mount Horeb, God sent Elijah to find Elisha plowing in his field, and Elijah threw his mantle on him.
- The mantle is not the source of the power. God is. The mantle is only a symbol of His power.
- Elisha kissed his parents goodbye, offered his oxen with the plow as firewood, and followed Elijah all the way to the Jordan.
- At Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho, Elijah kept telling him to stay behind. It was a test of whether he was really all in. God doesn’t put His power on just anybody.
- Elisha saw Elijah taken up in the whirlwind, picked up the fallen mantle, and received a double portion.
The Eight Miracles of Elijah
Elijah and Elisha stand out among the Old Testament prophets because their ministries were filled with miracles. Pastor Anders walked through the eight miracles of Elijah:
- 1. The drought: no rain for three and a half years until Elijah prayed again.
- 2. The meal and the oil that never ran out at the widow’s house in Zarephath.
- 3. The widow’s son raised from the dead.
- 4. The fire on Mount Carmel that consumed the soaked sacrifice, the altar, and the water.
- 5. The rain: after Elijah prayed seven times, a little cloud became a torrential rain.
- 6. Fire on the first captain and his fifty.
- 7. Fire on the second captain and his fifty.
- 8. The parting of the Jordan (2 Kings 2:8).
The Fiery Judgments
After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled (2 Kings 1:1). Ahab’s son Ahaziah fell through a lattice and sent messengers to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether he would recover. In 2 Kings 1:3–4, God sent Elijah to meet them and ask whether there was no God in Israel. The king would not recover.
- When the messengers described a hairy man with a leather girdle, the king knew it was Elijah (2 Kings 1:5–7). John the Baptist dressed a lot like him. Elijah was no smooth, gentle preacher. He was a rugged, rough man who didn’t care whether you liked how he dressed.
- When a wicked king hears a message he doesn’t want to hear, he often retaliates. The king sent a captain with fifty men, and fire came down from heaven and consumed them (2 Kings 1:10). The same thing happened to a second captain and his fifty (2 Kings 1:11).
- The third captain was wiser. He fell on his knees and begged for his life and his men’s (2 Kings 1:13–14). God told Elijah not to be afraid and to go down with him to the king (2 Kings 1:15).
- Be careful how you handle a man of God who has the power of God on his life.
A Place Where You Need God
Elijah led Elisha across the Jordan to a place of dependence, where nothing could substitute for the power of God. If you want a comfortable life, you’d better not follow a man of God like Elijah.
- Religious people prop themselves up with all kinds of things, including religious entertainment.
- Churches don’t have to have property, buildings, or budgets. The church is a body of born-again people indwelt by the Spirit of God. The one thing we must have is God and His power.
The Miracles of Elisha, God’s Double Agent
Where Elijah had eight miracles, Elisha has sixteen. Pastor Anders covered the first four.
1. The Dividing of the Jordan
In 2 Kings 2:12–14, Elisha saw Elijah go up, tore his own clothes, took up the fallen mantle, and struck the waters, calling on the Lord God of Elijah. The waters parted, and he crossed over alone.
- He had more than a piece of clothing. He had the reality the mantle symbolized.
- This was the third time God parted the Jordan. It recalls the Red Sea under Moses, and Moses and Elijah later appeared together on the Mount of Transfiguration.
- The sons of the prophets saw it and knew Elisha was now their leader.
2. The Healing of the Jericho Waters
In 2 Kings 2:19–22, the men of Jericho told Elisha that the city was pleasant but the water was bad and the land was barren. He asked for a new cruse with salt, cast it into the spring, and announced that the Lord had healed the waters. They stayed healed.
- This is like Moses throwing an ordinary tree into the bitter water so the people could drink.
- There was nothing magic about the tree or the salt. It was the power of God.
- We take good water for granted, but in the Bible it was essential and often had to be sought from God.
3. The Cursing of the Mocking Youths
In 2 Kings 2:23–24, on the road to Bethel, youths came out of the city and mocked Elisha, telling him to “go up” and calling him “bald head.”
- The Hebrew word suggests older teens or young men, not little children.
- “Go up” may have been a jab at Elijah being taken up, telling Elisha to be gone too. “Bald head” was a term of derision.
- The devil hates God’s people and God’s Word, and he stirs up rebellious hearts against the man of God.
- Two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of them. The scars were likely a lifelong reminder not to mock God’s man.
- God did something similar when Israel complained against Moses and He sent the venomous serpents (Numbers 21). The brass serpent on the pole is a beautiful picture of Christ lifted up on the cross.
4. The Defeat of the Rebelling Moabites
In 2 Kings 3:6, King Jehoram rallied Israel and called on Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, against Moab. The king of Edom joined them, but after a seven-day march they ran out of water (2 Kings 3:10). Jehoshaphat asked for a prophet of the Lord, and they went to Elisha.
- Elisha told the king of Israel to go to his father’s and mother’s prophets. He only answered out of regard for Jehoshaphat (2 Kings 3:13).
- He called for a minstrel, the hand of the Lord came on him, and God said to fill the valley with ditches.
- They wouldn’t see wind or rain, but the valley would be filled with water, and God would also deliver Moab into their hand (2 Kings 3:17).
- In the morning, water came by way of Edom and filled the country (2 Kings 3:20).
- The Moabites saw the sun on the water, red as blood, and assumed the kings had slaughtered each other (2 Kings 3:22–23).
- They came for the spoil, and Israel rose up and drove them back into their own land (2 Kings 3:24).
Dig the Ditches
It made no sense to dig ditches where there was no water. Walking with God sometimes means doing things that don’t make sense to you. They trusted the man of God enough to dig, and God did the rest: He sent the rain, confused the enemy, and gave the victory.
Take-Homes
- The power is God’s, not the mantle’s. God puts His power on those who are all in and won’t turn back.
- God leads us to places where we need Him. The church doesn’t need props. It needs the power of God.
- Don’t mock or disrespect God’s man or God’s Word. God takes it seriously.
- Get your shovel out. Whatever ditch God is telling you to dig, trust Him, obey Him, and watch what He does.
- No enemy is too powerful for God. You defeat the enemy by listening to what God says and doing it.