Suggested reading: 2 Kings chapter 8 verses 8-21; 32-37

ELISHA’S MIRACLES

Elisha’s miracles were not ends in themselves, but a means of turning the people away from their idolatry to God. Most of them were performed in response to those with needs they were powerless to meet from their own resources. A widow faced with her creditors and Naaman, the leper, who was the commander of the army of the king of Syria, were typical of many other needy souls. The four Gospels depict how that Jesus continuously ministered to the desperate needs of others.

Elisha occasionally performed a miracle that was not asked for, but given in grace. The Shunammite woman, in today’s reading, had a need that was too deep for her to express, but Elisha shared with her something she dared not hope for any longer, as her husband was old: ‘About this time next year you shall embrace a son’, 2 Kings chapter 4 verse 16. His promise to her came to fruition, but later the child died! However, by God’s grace, she became one of the women in the Bible, who ‘received their dead back to life again’, Hebrews  chapter 11 verse 35.

In Luke’s Gospel, we read of a widow, who was carrying her only son out of the city of Nain for burial. Without being requested to do so, the Saviour graciously drew near, touched the coffin and told the young man to rise. Then He graciously delivered him to his mother, Luke chapter 7 verses 11-16.

It moved Elisha to tears that the people did not respond to his ministry of grace. He wept at the prospect of the sufferings they would endure at the hands of the king of Syria, 2 Kings chapter 8 verses 10-12. Indeed, from this point onwards, his miracles of grace ceased. Again, he points us forward to the Lord Jesus, who wept over Jerusalem that had rejected His overtures of love and grace, Luke chapter 19 verse 41. His gracious miracles ceased during the final stages of His journey to the cross.

Concluded