Strike the ground

2 Kings 13:14-21 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵ Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. ¹⁶ Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷ He said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.” ¹⁸ Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. ¹⁹ So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.”

²⁰ Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. ²¹ As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.

Elisha was the successor of Elijah; both were great prophets and spiritual leaders. At the time of Elijah’s death Elisha asked to receive a double portion of Elijah’s spirit so that he could carry on and continue the work and ministry of his master. The same words which Joash spoke from today’s text, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” were also spoken by Elisha when Elijah was taken up into heaven. The account is in 2 Kings 2:9-14:

 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”  He said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”  As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.  Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.  He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan.  He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.

Elisha did indeed inherit the spirit of Elijah. The account says he took up the mantle of Elijah, he carried on Elijah’s work, in the same spirit. We too have a master who has gone before us, trained and equipped us to continue His work and ministry. Jesus Himself says:  ^“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12) We do those greater works because Jesus gives us His spirit. He continues in John 14:16-17 saying:  “ I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;  that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”    He, the Holy Spirit abides with us and in us. In verse 23 of John 14 Jesus also says: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”      We then, have the Father, the Son and the Spirit, a triple portion of the Spirit. We are called, like Elisha to pick up the mantle of our Master, to continue His work, His ministry, to do the things He did.

We have been trained and equipped by Jesus. We have His words and His example in the Gospels to guide us. We also have the Holy Spirit of whom Jesus says:  “He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 16:13) We also have God the Father, working in and through our own lives, using the circumstances of our lives to prepare us for His purpose. Romans 8:28-29 says:  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.       God doesn’t cause the bad things that happen in our lives. But He does cause all things, both the good things and the bad things to work together for our good. To conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, that we would be like Him. Jesus was the first born of many brethren. He was the first to conquer sin and death. We too are to walk in the mantle of that victory.

There is another application for us in today’s text. Before he dies Elisha gives Joash a prophetic instruction:      Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows.  Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands.  He said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them.”  Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.”   

We too have been given the victory over our enemies. It is granted and assured, if we read the end of the book we see that Jesus and His followers prevail, we win! Sometimes though we, like Joash, stop short of the complete victory we have been given. As soon as we see the situation or the circumstances change we relent. Rather than simply rejoicing that we see our situation improve, we need to continue to strike the ground of our enemy. Rather than relent and pull back, we need to press in. We need not to always be only on the defensive, responding to the attacks of our enemy, we need to press the attack. We need to continue to strike until the enemy is defeated. In Matthew 16:15-19 Jesus speaks of the power and authority we have through the revelation that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Lord of lords and the King of kings, our Master.

 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”   

Jesus says the gates of Hades will not over power His church, His followers. There is an important key in Jesus words which we must remember and apply to walk in and win the complete victory. It is the principle of binding and loosing.  “whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”   When we strike and bind the enemy, we need also to loose the realities of heaven. When we bind sickness and death, we need to loose wholeness, healing and life. When we bind the plans of the enemy in a situation we need to loose the plans of God for that situation. Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.      On earth as it is in heaven. We are to be those who continue the work of our Master. He has given us His Spirit to empower us and enable us to complete the work. May we not stop until it is finished, until the kingdom of heaven has come to earth.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.   Amen