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God’s response to the spiritual darkness in Israel was to send the greatest prophets of the Old Testament, Elijah and Elisha. He sent them with a message of revival. God had not given up on them, He sent these prophets to call them back, to come back to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “Why do you need the worldly gods of Baal, Ashtoreth, Molech or Astarte when you have the God of heaven and earth? Is there something wrong with Jehovah?”

Not only does God send Elijah and Elisha with the message of revival, He makes His power known yet again. He is the same God who defeated Egypt, who parted the sea and brought Israel through on dry ground. He fed them manna in the desert for those forty years, He redeemed them with his mighty hand and outstretched arm.

What followed was spiritual conflict. It was a battle for the minds and hearts of God’s people. Spiritual darkness was drawing them away from God because the gods of the world appealed to their flesh, but God sent His great prophets to appeal to their soul. That is the nature of spiritual warfare.

The context of 2 Kings 6 is that Elisha was at that time the renown prophet of the Lord in the northern kingdom of Israel. Just before Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire, Elisha asked for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. The story then unfolded as Elisha walked in the spirit and power of Elijah, He walked in the power of God.

There are two stories of great significance in this chapter. These events demonstrated the power of God to Israel, but there also great spiritual applications and life lessons in these stories as well.

Both stories have to do with potentially terrible tragedies, and each is answered by the hand of God moving through Elisha as God rescues and saves. God demonstrates that He is mighty to save, not by the power or might of man but by the Spirit of the living God.

The first story is centered on one of the schools of the prophets Elijah had established near the Jordan River. The place where they were living was too small for them and they wanted to expand the school of the prophets. Tragedy strikes while they are cutting down trees for lumber.

This was a spiritually dark time in Israel. Yet in a spiritually dark time, the sons of the prophets needed to expand their school. That right there should be encouraging. We are living in spiritually dark times today and it’s getting spiritually darker, but the Spirit of God is still moving on those whose hearts are turned toward Him.

The sons of the prophets invited Elisha to go with them to the Jordan River to cut down trees and carve out beams for the building of a new and larger school. While they were hard at work, one of the axe heads flew off the handle and was lost in the Jordan River.

I. Don’t Lose Your Cutting Edge

 The axe head is the power of the instrument. Without that, it's just a stick of wood, without power, and without effect.

 Imagine trying to cut down a tree with just the handle of the axe. There is no effect, there is no power without the head of the axe.
 In the scriptures, and the Old Testament in particular, there are many symbols that teach of greater truths. Wood in the scriptures is a picture of man and of the flesh.

 Jesus died on a wooden cross, Paul spoke of the deeds of the flesh as wood, hay and straw that would not survive the judgment of fire.

 But this plain stick of wood with an ax head attached becomes very powerful. With it you can cut down a forest or build a house or carve a table to eat a meal.

Illus - Many years ago when I was a youth director, we decided to do a fundraiser for a retreat by having the kids chop wood. We soon discovered just how powerful a stick of wood was with an axe head attached to it.

A. Don’t neglect your spiritual life
 An axe head doesn't fall off all at once, it loosens a little at a time, bit by bit, and then finally, after neglect, it flies off.


Pastor Rich Jones
Pastor Matthew Dodd
Rich Jones Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel Worship Center
Calvary Chapel Hillsboro
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