Elijah and Elisha are two pillars in delivering God's message in
the northern kingdom of Israel. These two prophets rebuked the kings, stopped
the rain and brought forth the rain back on the land, and performed the unmatchable
miracles in all time. In the northern kingdom there haven't been any godly
kings at all. So God sent the prophets to warn and awaken them from the
imminent judgment of the Lord if they persist idol worshipping, forsaking the
Lord of heavens and earth. They are God's instruments through whom God is
telling us how he is running the course of the universe, especially of human
history. In this chapter of 2 Kings, the story is focused on two women who were
really in a desperate situation. It tells us that no one is off from God's
radar of care and watch. That's the reason this chapter pays full attention to
the lowly people with a greater detail. This in fact reveals what real humanity
is precisely. We are in need even desperately just like these women in the
story. It may be a bit difficult to think that we are in such a desperate need,
especially in physical level. But we are indeed in need in all three levels of
life, physically, mentally, and spiritually every second of our lives in this
age and the ages to come. Truly God has put every human being wherever and
whatever circumstance we are to learn the truth that we are forever in need. We
are not made to live on ourselves at all. We do not have what it takes to meet
our deepest needs of hunger and thirst. We do not even know what the problem
is. We know that we are not here by ourselves and for ourselves. We have been
made by God in his image and in his likeness. We are constantly in need of the
light and truth of God which reveal and teach us that we can live in him and by
him and for him and through him.
“The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha,
‘Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But
now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.’ Elisha replied
to her, ‘How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?’ ‘Your servant
has nothing there at all,’ she said, ‘except a small jar of olive oil.’ Elisha
said, ‘Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Donʼt ask for just
a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into
all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.’ She left him and shut
the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept
pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another
one.’ But he replied, ‘There is not a jar left.’ Then the oil stopped flowing. She
went and told the man of God, and he said, ‘Go, sell the oil and pay your
debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.’” (2 Kings 4:1-7)
In this story, there is a widow whose husband was a seminary
student but passed away, leaving behind his wife and two sons. Now, the debt
collectors are on the way to claim her two sons as slaves. What a pity! The
woman is so powerless and defenseless that she cannot but losing her sons and
even her fate is at high stake as well. There is nothing she could do not to
lose her children. The pain and sorrow of the mother is unspeakable and
unimaginable if not this woman. This is not written to tell this peculiar
woman’s tragic circumstance only but to teach us something significant on our humanity.
It is written as an example and warning for us. The Scripture tells, “These
things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us,
on whom the culmination of the ages has come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11) It is
written for our knowledge and understanding through which we may understand
what is really going on in our lives, so that we may take a careful heed to the
revelations God speaks in our hearts and minds.
See that she is not left alone but visited by the right person and
on the right time. The prophet Elisha has come to her and listened her whole
story. Elisha is asking her, saying “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you
have in your house?” Then she answers, “Your servant has nothing there at all except
a small jar of olive oil.” She has nothing but a small jar of olive oil which
worth little and far short of redeeming his children. Yes, it is little for her
to do anything at all, but more than enough for God to do his work. It reminds of
one of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew who brought five loaves and two fish and said,
“But how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9) But it was more than enough
for our Lord Jesus to feed five thousands with twelve baskets left over. We are
so obsessed to measure up the success even the possibility of being successful
with what is visible in our eyes, completely neglecting and ignoring what is
invisible. The Scripture tells, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on
what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
(2 Corinthians 4:18) What is seen is simply the manifestation of what is
invisible. One unquestionable fact is that no one can control and make run our
body as it is functioning and operating. Who can command the heart to pump the
blood every second or so? Who can control the complicated and complex digestive
systems of our body? Who can resist not sleeping for certain hours every day?
Even the most modern science cannot answer that. But the Scripture plainly
tells that God created heavens and the earth, and everything in it. God made
man in his own image and in his likeness. So, we are not here in random or by
accident, but with the cause and purpose set by the Creator. God is the
Creator, so he knows how to run and operate our body and the universe. Although
its cause and power are all invisible, it is truly working and functioning
according to his plan and will which was set even before the time began.
It must have been a while for the woman in this story to come to
receive a help from the man of God. She must have been worrying and fearing of
losing her children since the husband’s passing. It doesn’t mean that God had
not been concerning and caring her all along the difficult times. Rather, the
Father has been closely and carefully watching over her and finally when the
time comes he sent his servant to take care of her. The Book of Hebrews tells,
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) It tells that our Father in heaven not
only watches over us but also deeply empathizes with our troubles and
sufferings and heartaches. We don’t know why there is delay as far as we feel in
being answered of our pleas and prayers, even sometimes quite an urgent one.
However, the Scripture puts this way, saying “And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to
his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Whether
happy or unpleasant, good or bad, shameful or painful, failing or humiliating
in our experience, God knows how to work them together for the good of those
who love him. And in another place it says, “Not only so, but we also glory in
our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because
God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has
been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5) God’s love is behind in all the human events
including some noticeable delay of being answered to the prayers of the saints.
It is significant to note how she is helped by God. The prophet
asks her, “How can I help you?” It’s not a question to be answered but a rhetorical
one because he knows how he is going to help her. It arouses her expectations
and draws her attention to see how the heavenly Father is working when it seems
nothing would work out. Then he tells her to tell what she has in her house.
She tells that she has nothing there at all except a small jar of olive oil. Immediately,
the prophet tells her to go around ask all her neighbors for empty jars, not
just a few. The woman isn’t sure why but she did what she was told to do. She then
enters inside with her two sons and begins pouring the olive oil into the empty
jars until the last one filled and the oil stops flowing. It could fill all the
empty jars in Israel if she brought them all. With the jars filled with olive
oil, the mother did save her sons.
What does empty jars indicate? I believe it indicates our humanity
easily breakable and fragile. Oil in the Scriptures is used as the symbol of
the Holy Spirit. Putting together, it tells that we humans have a fatal flaw represented
by the empty jar which can only be filled by the Spirit of God. In the place
like the Epistle to the Corinthians, Apostle Paul describes humans as jars of
clay or earthen vessels. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show
that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians
4:7) French philosopher Blaise Pascal said something remarkable. “What else does this craving, and this
helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of
which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain
to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the
help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this
infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in
other words by God himself.” This earthen vessel is made by the Creator God and
he knows how to fill it to the full. One of the missing pieces in our humanity
is a great mystery. Philosophers and mind searchers and scientists have been
searching hard to find the answer throughout the history but no avail. The mystery
is not something we can find in the world because what God has written in our
deep hearts can be only taught and revealed by himself. Yes, we are designed
and made as God’s vessel and instrument which holds the treasure, the Spirit. So,
the Scripture calls that we are the temple of God. Man has not only body and
soul but also spirit. In essence man is spirit. “God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24) Since Adam
fell, man has been lost in darkness which means the spirit of man is not
functioning and operating as God intended man to be working even before the
creation of the world. The fallen man is lost how to handle lives. It’s a total blunder. What man
intends to do good eventually falls into a shamefully embarrassing evil. Never
meant to do wrong but to do good purely and earnestly, but falls into an undeniable
blunder. The Scripture confirms bluntly, saying “Now we know that whatever the
law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be
silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.” (Romans 3:19)
The Prophet tells the woman to go inside
with her children and to pour out the olive oil into the empty jars. It tells
the work of the Holy Spirit is from within, not making any noise or spectacular
show externally. Jesus tells, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty
again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the
water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal
life.” (John 4:13-14) This is how God is working through the Holy Spirit who is
quietly and yet powerfully delivering the needy in due time without fail.
Nothing can resist and hamper the power of God working mightily in the heart of
believers. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit will never leave but stay forever in
the spirit of man whose Lord and King is Jesus Christ. “Be strong and
courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your
God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6,
Hebrews 13:5)
The Tabernacle is the place where the
Lord God has been indwelling in the midst of his people all along the tumultuous
and yet victorious experience of his people. It is a pattern of his holy
residence, especially the holy of holies where the Ark of God is permanent
stationed. Prophet Isaiah has seen a great vision in the temple of God. “In the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a
throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1) It must have
been an utterly holy and exquisite experience to the prophet. The holy and
exalted glory of the Lord had been visibly manifested to the eyes of man
Isaiah. It is a personal and intimate revelation to a man inside the temple,
not a spectacular broadcast to the nation in public. That is how our Lord God
manifests and reveals his power and glory and honor within the realm of spirit.
This Tabernacle is the picture of humanity in whom God has made his royal
residence forever. The holy of holies is the picture our human spirit where the
Spirit of God indwells forever. It had been forbidden to enter into except once
a year by the high priest. But Jesus Christ opens the door for us to access the
throne of God by tearing his body apart as the ransom sacrifice to the heavenly
temple. He died on a cross for our sins. He shed his blood to redeem the lost
humanity. Then, the Father opened a way for sinners to come into the holy of
holies by faith. “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from
top to bottom.” (Matthew 27:51a)
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since
we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since
we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a
sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts
sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed
with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22)
2017.
1. 27.
©
2015-2017 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment