A woman’s kindness, repaid….double.

Matthew 10:41-42 “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.”

Elisha is a prophet to Israel. He and his servant went around the country, and held meetings with God’s followers…..teaching about God, and His commandments.

There were not that many, in comparison to the whole population of Israel…..for most followed the example of their kings, and worshipped golden calves.

Those that follow Elisha’s teachings are called the sons of the prophets.

Elisha and his servant, were making a circuit…..when:

2 Kings 4:8-10 “And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed Shunem, where was a great woman; and she contrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.

Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.”

Here, a wealthy woman, sees Elisha going on his rounds….and goes out and asks him to come and eat with them.

This happened every time he went by, and so the woman talked to her husband, saying, that they should build Elisha a little room, so he could stop and rest there, when he traveled by.

This was a great kindness…..not all regarded the prophet with kindness.

Elisha was grateful….and wanted to thank her….so he asked if she wanted to be spoken for, to someone important…

….this could be quite an advantage to her farm…to her livelihood.

But she was content to live where she was, with her own people…..she was happy in the circumstances….she did not need more.

“What then is to done for her?”(2 Kings 4:14)

Elisha’s servant remarked that she had no child…..no heir.

So Elisha called and told her that God would give her a child.

2 Kings 4:16-17 “And he (Elisha) said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.”

Now, she had not asked Elisha for anything….

…..she felt blessed that he was stopping by, for she knew him to be a man of God.

(Godly, Bible believing ministers or friends….are a blessing we should all cherish.)

But God gave her a son…..a blessing she could hardly believe!

Years pass, and the boy is old enough to go out in the field to see his father work there….

As he goes, he is pained in his head….”My head, my head!”

His father sends him back into the house with a laborer, to his Mother.

She holds him, all morning,…..perhaps praying, reminding God of His giving him to her…..

….but at noon, he dies.

Now, with the death of a loved one…..there is loss, great loss….

But this woman, had faith in God,….and knew immediately she had to act.

By Elisha’s word to her….she had been given a promise…..now she needed to hear his word again….to complete the original promise,….that she would have him……even though her son, now, was dead.

Faith is seeing God, in what He is, what He has done, and what His Word says….

…..and what we “see” is Someone who knows everything, and has provided for everything…..before we are aware we need anything.

So she took her son and placed him in the room she had set aside for Elisha….and got a servant to lead her to mount Carmel, where Elisha was having meetings.

Coming to him, she throws herself down and holds on to his feet….saying, “Did I not tell you not to lie to me!”

He knows then it is about the child….and learns that he has died.

He sends his servant ahead with his rod to lay it on the boy.

A man’s staff or rod, was a symbol of his work….and Elisha was a prophet of God….who spoke God’s Word……the rod symbolized that.

(Now we may think this strange…..why did not Elisha just pray for him?

Why did he have to leave his ministry at Carmel, and travel to the boy to heal him? Many times in the Bible…..a principle is shown only by action.

Remember Jesus telling the ten lepers to go and show themselves to the priests…..and it was in their going…..that they were healed. Luke 17:13-15)

Nothing happens until….

2 Kings 4:32, 34. “And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.

And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.”

Elisha, himself, comes and….places himself over the child….identifying with the death of the child….

(Jesus saw we were dead in trespasses and sin….and came…..identifying with our death of sin….”becoming sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him”

His sacrificial death was the ransom paid….)

But what Elisha did at first, is not enough to revive the boy…to make him alive again.

Nor is Christ’s death enough for us….without His resurrection.

His death takes away our sin, once for all…..but His resurrection gives us His life, His power to live…..

….both are required for us to have His life in us.

2 Kings 4:35-37 “Then he(Elisha) returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.

Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.”

Life….Eternal life, is what God gives in Christ Jesus.

Christ has stretched Himself across the whole of our sin…..the sins of the mouth, the sins of the eyes, the sins of our hands,…..

…..the whole of our sin is covered by Him on the cross.

And then Christ stretched Himself completely across our life….all our plans, all our thoughts and ways,….

….the whole of our life….spirit, soul, and body….is completely saved….and we are given His life in us…..eternal, powerful, peaceful, joyful, useful life.

This woman was repaid for her kindness to God’s prophet….double:

Once in giving her a son…..and once in restoring her son to her.

If we are Christians…..we too, have noticed Christ….seen him as the Holy Son of God….

….and we have given Him a room, a place in our hearts and lives….

…..and when He has given us promises….blessings….we praise Him….

…then troubles come…..in whatever form….and seem to bring death…

….but faith sees God….His might, and His Word…and goes to Christ.

It must be Him that revives and restores. It is His life…..in us, and for us…that makes the miracle….for He is our life.

Have we learned this yet? He is our life….

He will leave whatever….and whoever….and deal with us…..if we will but go to Him….

…..with Christ, all our blessings are double:

They are for us…..that we may be a blessing to others…..showing His life through us.

A woman’s kindness, repaid….double.

Matthew 10:41-42 “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.”

Elisha is a prophet to Israel. He and his servant went around the country, and held meetings with God’s followers…..teaching about God, and His commandments.

There were not that many, in comparison to the whole population of Israel…..for most followed the example of their kings, and worshipped golden calves.

Those that follow Elisha’s teachings are called the sons of the prophets.

Elisha and his servant, were making a circuit…..when:

2 Kings 4:8-10 “And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed Shunem, where was a great woman; and she contrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.

Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.”

Here, a wealthy woman, sees Elisha going on his rounds….and goes out and asks him to come and eat with them.

This happened every time he went by, and so the woman talked to her husband, saying, that they should build Elisha a little room, so he could stop and rest there, when he traveled by.

This was a great kindness…..not all regarded the prophet with kindness.

Elisha was grateful….and wanted to thank her….so he asked if she wanted to be spoken for, to someone important…

….this could be quite an advantage to her farm…to her livelihood.

But she was content to live where she was, with her own people…..she was happy in the circumstances….she did not need more.

“What then is to done for her?”(2 Kings 4:14)

Elisha’s servant remarked that she had no child…..no heir.

So Elisha called and told her that God would give her a child.

2 Kings 4:16-17 “And he (Elisha) said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.”

Now, she had not asked Elisha for anything….

…..she felt blessed that he was stopping by, for she knew him to be a man of God.

(Godly, Bible believing ministers or friends….are a blessing we should all cherish.)

But God gave her a son…..a blessing she could hardly believe!

Years pass, and the boy is old enough to go out in the field to see his father work there….

As he goes, he is pained in his head….”My head, my head!”

His father sends him back into the house with a laborer, to his Mother.

She holds him, all morning,…..perhaps praying, reminding God of His giving him to her…..

….but at noon, he dies.

Now, with the death of a loved one…..there is loss, great loss….

But this woman, had faith in God,….and knew immediately she had to act.

By Elisha’s word to her….she had been given a promise…..now she needed to hear his word again….to complete the original promise,….that she would have him……even though her son, now, was dead.

Faith is seeing God, in what He is, what He has done, and what His Word says….

…..and what we “see” is Someone who knows everything, and has provided for everything…..before we are aware we need anything.

So she took her son and placed him in the room she had set aside for Elisha….and got a servant to lead her to mount Carmel, where Elisha was having meetings.

Coming to him, she throws herself down and holds on to his feet….saying, “Did I not tell you not to lie to me!”

He knows then it is about the child….and learns that he has died.

He sends his servant ahead with his rod to lay it on the boy.

A man’s staff or rod, was a symbol of his work….and Elisha was a prophet of God….who spoke God’s Word……the rod symbolized that.

(Now we may think this strange…..why did not Elisha just pray for him?

Why did he have to leave his ministry at Carmel, and travel to the boy to heal him? Many times in the Bible…..a principle is shown only by action.

Remember Jesus telling the ten lepers to go and show themselves to the priests…..and it was in their going…..that they were healed. Luke 17:13-15)

Nothing happens until….

2 Kings 4:32, 34. “And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.

And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.”

Elisha, himself, comes and….places himself over the child….identifying with the death of the child….

(Jesus saw we were dead in trespasses and sin….and came…..identifying with our death of sin….”becoming sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him”

His sacrificial death was the ransom paid….)

But what Elisha did at first, is not enough to revive the boy…to make him alive again.

Nor is Christ’s death enough for us….without His resurrection.

His death takes away our sin, once for all…..but His resurrection gives us His life, His power to live…..

….both are required for us to have His life in us.

2 Kings 4:35-37 “Then he(Elisha) returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.

Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.”

Life….Eternal life, is what God gives in Christ Jesus.

Christ has stretched Himself across the whole of our sin…..the sins of the mouth, the sins of the eyes, the sins of our hands,…..

…..the whole of our sin is covered by Him on the cross.

And then Christ stretched Himself completely across our life….all our plans, all our thoughts and ways,….

….the whole of our life….spirit, soul, and body….is completely saved….and we are given His life in us…..eternal, powerful, peaceful, joyful, useful life.

This woman was repaid for her kindness to God’s prophet….double:

Once in giving her a son…..and once in restoring her son to her.

If we are Christians…..we too, have noticed Christ….seen him as the Holy Son of God….

….and we have given Him a room, a place in our hearts and lives….

…..and when He has given us promises….blessings….we praise Him….

…then troubles come…..in whatever form….and seem to bring death…

….but faith sees God….His might, and His Word…and goes to Christ.

It must be Him that revives and restores. It is His life…..in us, and for us…that makes the miracle….for He is our life.

Have we learned this yet? He is our life….

He will leave whatever….and whoever….and deal with us…..if we will but go to Him….

…..with Christ, all our blessings are double:

They are for us…..that we may be a blessing to others…..showing His life through us.