DIVINE OPERATIONS (EXTRACT FROM ADDRESS)
[p. 298] DIVINE OPERATIONS (EXTRACT FROM ADDRESS)
In the early part of 2 Kings much opens up to the mind by the Spirit as to characteristics of service. Elijah and Elisha enter into this book, as also into the previous one. They represent a certain feature of God’s ways with His servants; one a counterpart of the other. Such as Moses and Joshua, David and Solomon, and Paul and Timothy. The principle suggests how God in His operations works in parts. It is clear that in the physical creation this was so. All the worlds were not made at the same time. We do not know how many worlds there are, but we do know that the worlds were framed by the word of God. That is, God’s mind entered into every one of them. And from Job 38 we may deduce that the earth was made after the heavens, for the sons of God and the stars joined in as the foundations of the earth were laid. The heavens were already formed, clearly. God, no doubt, had pleasure in all the work of His hands. Although it is said of Him that He was refreshed on the sabbath after the formation of our present sphere, we cannot assume that tiredness ever eventuated from His work. His mind, His word, entered into everything. Worlds were framed by His word. Wisdom was there, occasioning joy and buoyancy; she rejoiced.
In the moral system we can see also how this principle has come through. It has developed in parts. So we see servants in pairs, one developing from another. Elijah preceded Elisha, but at the same time they become contemporary; and Elisha fitted perfectly into the work and outlook of his master, which Elijah was. God had told Elijah, when he would give up his commission and cease working, to [p. 299] anoint Elisha to carry on the work, and also to anoint Jehu and Hazael. Evidently Elijah was acquainted with the divine field of operations, for all these countries, having recently become familiar to us in the Near East, were then the field of divine operations. Elijah was to know where Hazael was, where Jehu was, where Elisha was. The commission to anoint these men was given at Horeb, and Jehovah said nothing as to how to find them. If it is in the divine field, we are to know it, and God gives us opportunity to know it, a great advantage.
Elijah found Elisha, not amusing himself, but ploughing, doing useful work. He was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he with the twelfth, and Elijah cast his mantle on him. Elisha was supposed to understand divine gestures, what they meant. Sometimes in ministry things are too much reduced into parts. One feels that in one’s own little services. We should all become acquainted with divine ways of communication, divine methods of influence, so that we may not miss anything, any divine gesture through God’s servants or otherwise, so that we may readily fall into the current, for it is always flowing.
Elisha followed Elijah; but he said, I want to go back and kiss my father and my mother. Elijah said, What did I do to thee? Go back. He went back, but it does not say that he went to his father and mother. What it does say is that he slew a yoke of oxen, and cooked them with the implements of service, and entertained everybody. He became greatly enlarged at once. It is an immense thing to be ready for enlargement. Then he followed Elijah. He came into the divine current, and enriched the current, for he poured water on the hands of Elijah. They were not naturally mated; they were divinely mated. They were suitable one to the other; God made them that. These two servants served currently. They did the work of the [p. 300] day. They did not write prophetic books; Elijah wrote the message to Jehoshaphat’s son, but that is about all. They were men of the moment. What was to be done in their day they did, as the work came to them. Isaiah did something of that kind, but he served for the future. So did many others, but these two great servants were current men; they met current needs. There are always current needs amongst the saints.