RESURRECTION POWER KNOWN
[p. 217] RESURRECTION POWER KNOWN
2 Kings 2:8 - 14; 2 Kings 4:18 - 21; 2 Kings 4:32 - 37; 2 Kings 6:4 - 6; 2 Kings 13:20,21
These scriptures speak about resurrection, and so I have read them in order to seek to show, by the Lord’s help, how resurrection is seen in the history of God’s people, pending the coming of the Lord, when it will be applied in a literal way; as it is said, “Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23).
This book foreshadows, not the actual resurrection of the saints, as seen in 1 Corinthians 15, but the truth and power of it realised here for the testimony and for the enjoyment of our souls. And so these scriptures correspond rather with the epistle to the Colossians — at least, it is in the light of that epistle that I desire to speak, for there it is said that we are “raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead” (Colossians 2:12).
Now I wish, as I said, to work out the truth set out in Colossians from these scriptures. And first I desire to speak of what marked the beginning of this era or dispensation, so that we may see how God intends that the testimony of His people now should be in correspondence with what marked the beginning. His thought is to bring us back to what marked the beginning, and so I finished with the incident we read in chapter 13, because it presents to us a man standing up in the power of resurrection, having touched the bones of Elisha. The bones of Elisha retained the virtue or living power that marked the prophet in the height of his ministry. In chapter 2 we have the resurrection of Christ foreshadowed, and not only the resurrection of Christ, but the ascension of Christ, for Christianity is not based only on resurrection. It is a heavenly thing, so that Elisha is said to [p. 218] have returned in the spirit of Elijah: “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha”; indeed, he had, by his own request and under the conditions described by Elijah, a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.
Now it will be observed that in the beginning of the book, one man falls; the king of Israel fell down, and another man is taken up into heaven; so that Christianity, foreshadowed in Elisha, is set up here in that which, although outwardly retaining its power to oppose, is nevertheless known to be fallen. The foundations of the world were sapped in the death of Christ. The Lord said, as He was about to die, “Now is the judgment of this world ... And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:31,32). It is on this ground that the testimony went out; the death of Christ settled the question of righteousness, and the resurrection of Christ demonstrated the superiority of divine power over this world and the prince of it; it involved the fall of the world. The Lord in Luke anticipates all that, for He says, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). The Lord, entering in as having accomplished righteousness, must displace him who is there; so Satan falls as lightning; he is effectively displaced, and the powers of evil have been dealt with, and spoiled.
So that the foundations of the world are broken up, and Elisha has returned across the Jordan in that power. It was in that power that the testimony was set up in the Acts. Elisha had said to Elijah, “My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!”. For the prophet went up in a chariot of fire with horses of fire. Could all the power of the world combined interfere with that ascent? The poor sons of the prophets would attempt to deny the great fact that Elijah went up, as many have sought to deny the great antitype; but Elijah could not be found; he had gone up, and Elisha was clothed with the spirit and power of Elijah. He set [p. 219] aside all human power in the rending of his own garments, and he takes the garment of Elijah which had fallen from him, and says, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went over. He returned into the scene of testimony in the same power by which Elijah had gone up into heaven.
And so he proceeds from one point to another, indicating the various features of the testimony, in that power. I would that I could convey to you, beloved friends, the power in which the gospel was announced on the day of Pentecost, and the power that possessed believers on that day. It was a wonderful day; in Christianity grace is connected with power, and that is what runs through this section of 2 Kings. There is the power of God on the one hand, and grace connected with it on the other; in other words, it is the power of God acting in grace.
Now I want to show how we are brought into accord with this, because God does not intend that the testimony should be carried on otherwise. As the Lord said to Philadelphia, “Thou hast a little power” (Revelation 3:8). There may be a diminution of quantity, but not of quality, and I wish to point out from chapter 4 how we come into correspondence with Christ. The chapter deals with the saints viewed as in possession of the Spirit; first there is the widow who becomes possessed of wealth, and then the married woman who has means, but is childless. Unless there be children, there can be no continuance of the testimony. So the prophet, through the aid of his servant Gehazi, discerned the need. The woman had means; she provided for the prophet, prepared a room for him; she behaved herself nobly. She was a spiritual person typically, she had the Spirit in that sense. She made room for Christ as the vessel of testimony. She discerned that Elisha [p. 220] was a holy man of God, for the possession of the Spirit enables us to discern holy men of God. We attach importance to none other. She had prepared for him, but there was a great need, and that need is met in a son.
You will notice, dear brethren, that whilst she is the wife, the initiative is all hers; the husband is in the background. We are therefore reminded of the saints in their exercises as having the Spirit; the subjective side is in view here. And so, when the lad becomes ill, he goes to his father, but his father immediately sends him back to his mother, and she takes him on her knees. I wish we had more maternal solicitude in regard to the young ones. We all know that young believers’ minds travel much more rapidly than their feet — and indeed that may be so with all of us; but with the young especially it is so, and they are apt to speak freely of things of which they know nothing spiritually. It is well, however, that they should speak of the things of God, and the people of God, rather than of the things of this world. The lad goes to his father at the time of harvest, and as they were reaping he says, “My head, my head”. The trouble was in the head, and notwithstanding the nursing of the mother — for the father discerned that it was a matter for the mother — he died. His last words, so far as we know, were “my head, my head”. You will recollect how, in Deuteronomy, the priest’s portion from the sacrifices was the jawbone and the maw — the stomach — meaning that we have to live upon the truth; it is not merely food for the head, but it is to be assimilated in the system, so that I become, not in my head, but in my spirit, soul and body, characterised by the word of God; I am formed and nourished by it. But this young man had trouble in the head. It is important, surely, to have a mind, but the Holy Spirit, in Romans, brings about a renewal of the mind, and in Ephesians in the [p. 221] spirit of the mind, so that the whole man is taken account of. It is always well to be studious, and to take advantage of every possible help that the Lord gives; but let us see that the food is not only masticated, but digested and assimilated, otherwise there will be an abnormal condition — spiritual disease and death; there is no escape from it.
So the mother knew what was needed, and she went to the prophet. The prophet himself seemed to be below the mark at the time. She had laid the child on the bed of the man of God, for she recognised where the power was; and it is a great thing for us, dear brethren, to know just where to go. I believe this scripture indicates a disease common among the people of God, but the saints are to know where the remedy lies.
And so Gehazi is sent, with the prophet’s staff, which he laid on the face of the lad, as Elisha had said, but that did not suffice. Experience will not do. There are old brothers amongst us; experience is most valuable, experience with God, none other. A man might live a thousand years twice told, but it is experience with God that counts. But even that suffices not, for the staff was laid upon the face of the child, but there was “neither voice nor hearing”.
Then Elisha comes, and sees the child dead, laid upon his bed. Elisha had rights there; he could shut the door, and he did it. You will recall how Peter shut out the widows in order to raise up Dorcas. The prophet’s bed was his, and the room was his; it had been given to him, and he had rights in that chamber. Is there a place amongst us, beloved, where the Lord has absolute rights to do as He wills? He looks for such a condition. He Himself put out the crowd when He raised the daughter of Jairus.
Then you get the individual touch; the prophet lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes. The young man’s [p. 222] mouth now is to be formed to the mouth of Christ. He had been saying a great deal, saying things that others said, repeating them; now he will say things for himself. The Lord could say to the Jews, when they asked Him, “Who art thou?” “Altogether that which I also say to you” (John 8:25). What He said, He was. And so the prophet’s mouth is placed upon the lad’s mouth. It is said of the mouth of Jesus that it is “most sweet” (Song of Songs 5:16), and we read also that they marvelled at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. So with the eyes of the lad — they would be conformed to Christ’s eyes. We could dwell on His eyes, for many references are made to them — how He looked up to heaven when He prayed; “lifted up his eyes to heaven” (John 17:1). The prophet, too, put his hands upon the lad’s hands, but what covers it all is this — we have the mind of Christ. That is not simply that you know His mind; it refers to the faculty, His way of thinking. You do not think naturally, according to the flesh; you think as He thinks, you look as He looks, you speak as He spake, and work as He worked. It is all a question of correspondence with Christ.
Then the flesh of the child waxed warm, and he sneezed seven times; he has full lung power. There is room now for the Spirit in that sense, not as water, but as breath, for it is a question of life in the upper regions. What comes in lower down, living water, follows at once when the person is set up in relation to God, as Christ is, quickened together with Him, and quickened like Him.
Then the mother is called and told to take up her son. The prophet does not take him and hand him to her, as we get in the New Testament; when the widow of Nain had her son raised to life, we read, “He gave him to his mother” (Luke 7:15). What a son, we may say, taken into the bosom of the assembly! How like Christ he will be! Henceforth he will not merely [p. 223] repeat things that others say, but he desires to speak as Christ speaks, and his mother has him — the saints, so to say, have such an one. Is it not worth all the maternal exercises to have a young man like that? As the apostle John says, “I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you”. This passage is the secret of that.
Now the sixth chapter refers to our service. In chapter 4 the lad is brought into correspondence to Christ and he is in the bosom of the saints; the mother is invited to come and take him, and she worships; she is thankful; she values the son brought back in this way. He will never again die from disease in the head. In chapter 6 it is, as I have already said, a question of service, but here, again, we have what corresponds to a diseased head, that is, losing something morally. Christianity is not made up of borrowed things; it is what belongs to us — what is our own. Christ has restored everything; He has gone up on high, passed through the heavens, and given gifts unto men. The Holy Spirit here is not borrowed; we have untold wealth of our own, but this axe was borrowed, and hence it fell into the water. They were cutting down wood; they had the best intentions; they were governed by right principles, because they had come to Jordan, but they have to learn that the enlargement must be with instruments out of death, not with borrowed ones. We have to understand that we have infinite wealth, but it has all to be used on the principle of life out of death. The instruments are for those who understand resurrection power, and in such wise as to be superior to death, because it says, the iron swam, in response to the wood. The figure refers to the death and resurrection of Christ. We can only cope with the power of death as understanding the power of life in Christ, so that the weapons of our warfare [p. 224] are not carnal but mighty through God, and our teaching is not according to man, but in demonstration of the Spirit and in the power of God.
Now I want to make a few comments on chapter 13. We have seen in chapter 4 a young man made to live according to Christ, which illustrates the truth in Colossians; then in chapter 6 we have the power of resurrection, in the iron being made to swim, but now we have in this chapter a man raised. So far the principle of burial has not been brought in. It says in verse 20 that Elisha died, and they buried him. From the resurrection of Isaac, typically, the principle of burial is prominent in Scripture; burial is thus in the light of resurrection. “Elisha died, and they buried him”, we read; he may be taken to typify the saints, but he also represents the Lord Jesus, and he does so here, for Paul says Christ died, and was buried. It is part of the gospel; and if He were buried, it is obvious that all must be buried if there is to be correspondence with Him, so that our baptism is into His death. “So many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death ... that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3,4).
Now that is Romans. Then in Colossians we are buried with Him by baptism, and raised with Him by the faith of the working of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
Now I want to make a few remarks on burial. Elisha died and was buried, and it says they were burying a man. I believe that at the beginning the moral import of burial was what marked the people of God; they had recourse to burial, that is to say, they were exercised to be true to their baptism. But the bands of the Moabites invaded the land, and I have no doubt that the bands of the Moabites have invaded all Christendom, and these bands hinder [p. 225] burial. It is not that they do not baptise, but it has become a mere religious rite, with no spiritual significance. It is not burial. Baptism is burial, and, at the beginning they were burying a man, to bring him into accord with the gospel. Christ died and was buried, and so the apostle says, we are baptised for the dead. There is no point in baptism unless it is burial. The Moabitish bands interfered, and they have interfered; but what comes out here is that they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha — fortunately for him. Whether it was by mistake or accident we cannot say, but they cast him into the sepulchre of Elisha. Things are done very irregularly now, but the man went down. I have no doubt that this refers to the fact that they cast him in and he went down literally, but spiritually it may refer to what is available to us; notwithstanding Moabitish bands we may go down, and in going down, touch the bones of Elisha, that is to say, we come into contact with the power of God that wrought in Christ. He went into the lower parts of the earth, and, in going down we touch the power of God. The remnant takes root downward. The principle of this world is upward, but the principle of Scripture is to take root downward, and then you bear fruit upward. So this man touched the bones of Elisha, then it says he revived, and stood up on his feet.
Now I think that is what God is bringing about. The thing was done irregularly; there are a great many things current amongst us that are irregular; let us accept it, dear brethren. Why should they not bury a man? They cast him into a grave; nevertheless he got into the right one. God is overruling everything, and so with us. He touched the bones of Elisha, and the result was he became alive and stood on his feet. What can the Moabitish bands do now? You have got a risen man — for that is what has happened [p. 226] here, and he stands up, as you see in Ezekiel later, when the dry bones took on flesh, received breath and stood up, an exceeding great army. What can the world do with a man out of death, a man that can stand up on his feet as having gone down? You take root downward; that is, you touch the power of God. The power of God has wrought in Christ; it is that which works in believers in Ephesians, the power that worketh in us. I believe God is bringing us to that. If you get one man risen from the dead, the Moabitish bands cannot overcome him; he stands true to the testimony.
Well, dear brethren, I hope you will see how God is working to bring about a living state of things, things that may come to life in our souls.
Pages 227 - 353 — “Readings at Indianapolis”. December, 1925 (Volume 77)