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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And so God is going after those people. He's trying to prevent these wicked kings from ill-affecting the nation, okay? Because that is how that type of stuff spreads. You know, the king just goes bad, doesn't worship God, and it filters down through the people. And the next thing you know, you're in a situation where Ahab is running the government and it's just absolute chaos. So verse 4, it says, Definitely not something that Ahaziah wanted to hear. But again, 2 Kings starts off kind of in a similar way as 1 Kings, only obviously David went to heaven after he passed on. He left a great legacy for Solomon. I mean, even after all the problems that David had, right? He was able to save up and build and support the idea of the temple and literally built a great nation, passed it off to Solomon. What has this guy done? Enquired after the devil? I mean, definitely differences there, but it just goes to show you how far the nation has fallen. And I get the split. I get you have the northern kingdom, you have the southern kingdom. But I mean, you're really seeing like you open up this book and it's like the first thing you're reading about is that they're going after Satan, literally. Look at verse 5, it says, Okay, so he sees the messengers like, hold on for a second. I know you didn't have time to go down there and inquire, do a proper, you know, altar call of Beelzebub. This doesn't seem right here. What's the deal? Look at verse 6, Is it not because there's not a God in Israel that thou sent us to inquire of Beelzebub the God of Ekron? Therefore, thou shall not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shall surely die. Okay, so again, the king says, hey, wait a second. Why are you guys turned back here? What's going on? They give him the word of God, right? They give him that prophecy. And then what happens? Does he receive it instantly? No, he wants to know the qualifications of the guy that told him that, right? What Bible college did he come from? What's his background? What is his pedigree? Look at verse 7, Okay, what type of man? And that's the title of the sermon. What manner of man are you? What manner of woman are you? What type of human being are you? Okay, that's the question here. Now obviously he's trying to discern the guy's name, who it was, okay? Because he knows and has probably obviously heard of Elijah the prophet. And so the first thought I believe, and this is my opinion in his mind, might be like, oh no, is this Elijah the prophet? But he just asks what manner of man was he? What type of person was he that told you that? But doesn't that reflect the world today, right? Like we preach against the Sodomites. And like over and over and over again, even today, even yesterday, getting emails from these clowns like, you know, what gives you the authority to say these things? I went to Dallas Theological Seminary and I have never heard this in my life. You sir need to go to college. This guy hit me up with like, I don't know, maybe 15 messages from Friday all the way to today on why I need to go to Dallas Theological Seminary. He's like, my church runs over a thousand people and your church probably only runs 10. Doesn't matter. At least we're preaching the truth, you know? At least we stand upon the word of God. I'd rather have that than have a bunch of clowns that just go along with anything, you know? I mean, think about this here. You've got a thousand people. Virtually none of them can give you any real doctrine. None of them can probably tell you how to even get saved. None of them are probably soul winners, you know? So really, how many Christians do you have, pal? Probably close to zero. You know, I'm sure there's probably a couple of stragglers in there. But the point is, you know, what manner of man are you? What type? What's your pedigree? You know, what gives you the authority to say these things? Now look at verse number eight. And they answered him, he was an hairy man. And girt with a girdle of leather about his loins and he said, so he understands now, he said it is Elijah the Tishbite. So once he understands it's Elijah the Tishbite, he is upset. He's like, uh-oh, we've got to take this into action here. Because I know what this guy is capable of. I know what he can do. But what should he have done? He should have heeded the word of God and said, well, I guess this is my fate. I guess God said I'm going to die. You know, I just need to accept that. And maybe God's mercy would have came forth. And maybe God would have said the same thing that he said about his father, Ahab. Instead, you see how he repented, you see how he turneth, how he humbleth himself. Remember, we talked about that a couple of weeks ago. What is it that gets God's attention? Well, obviously, faith, right, but humility. That is what gets God's attention, being humble, okay. But what does this mean? So we're talking about this question today. What manner of man or woman, what manner of person are you? Well, first and foremost here, it says that he was a hairy man. Okay, well, what's the deal with that? Girt about with a girdle of leather about his loins. So in other words, he's not a soft person, okay. Now, the first thing that I want to bring up is he's fully embraced his gender. You know, something that today is a huge fight and a huge battle. You know, for a man to get up in front of a camera or in front of his job or just anywhere in the world system today and declare what a man should be and how a man should act according to the word of God. I mean, that is a literal death sentence today. You do that, you're a racist. You're homophobic. You're transphobic. You know, and the accusations just keep pouring on. Who are you? What manner of man are you? Who are you to say what a man is? Who are you to say what a woman is, right? Do you have a degree in biology? You see, that's the message from the world. That's how the world is today, but Elijah, he hunkers down. And notice this, this is what they said about him. So how did Elijah carry himself and the gender that God gave him? I'm a man. He is a tough man. Now, you don't have to necessarily dress like this, obviously, to be a man, but I think in today's day and age, and what this definitely would agree with is that if you're male, you know, you need to embrace the full role of what the Bible says of being a man is. If you're a woman, you need to embrace that full role, rather, of what a woman is, right? We need to fight against this blurring of the lines that is being pushed on us from the world. This is a huge fight, a huge battle that we need to face today, and we can't just call these things out, you know, once every other year or just loosely, okay? When they come up, they need to be smashed, they need to be preached, they need to be pushed down, okay? Because obviously, guess who's about to go up to heaven? Guess who's about to escape the vehicle of physical death? It's this guy right here. It's this guy right here, Elijah the prophet, okay? So I want to look at this and be able to apply these things in our lives so that we can be successful as Bible-believing Christians, okay? So here's the news. It's Elijah the Tishbite. So this king, he's upset, and remember, he's in bed. He wants to be healed, but he doesn't, you know, accept God for anything. So what does he do? Look at verse 9. Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty, and he went up to him, and behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. Now look at the response from this man of God. Look at the response from Elijah the prophet. Verse 10. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. Okay? You see that? So again, we see, number one, that Elijah was a tough man, fully embraced what God had given him. God had given him a mission field. God had given him gifts and the ability to be a prophet. He understood that probably from a very young age and went forth full, just wholeheartedly, and embraced that. But number two, a man of God, you know, what manner of man are you? What manner of person are you? Well, he's saying here that he's a man who has faith in the word of God. And he says, You want me to submit to you? Okay, understand what's going on here. You have these fifty, right? You have these fifty, you have these people on the hill, you have this ruler, if you will, you have this captain, and he's saying, You need to do what I tell you. And keep in mind, Elijah is outnumbered here. Okay? What does he do? He disregards the fact that he's outnumbered and he says, No, if I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and devour you. Okay? So we can see here, obviously, that having faith in the word of God, not just our feelings, not just our opinions, but the written word of God is the type of people that we need to be. Okay? So look at verse eleven. It says, Again, also he sent unto him another captain of fifty, with his fifty, and he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down. And look at this here. Come down quickly. Okay? You need to come down here quickly. You need to do what I say very expeditiously. Now, isn't that what the world tells our type of churches today? You need to stop saying those things quickly. You need to get on board with us quickly. You need to do what we tell you to do. Well, Elijah, being, you know, inquired of what manner of man was he, well, we've seen that he was a tough man. He is a man of faith who trusts in the word of God. But number three, he's a man that doesn't conform to the world's demands. This is what we are lacking today in Christian circles. Okay? We need people that will not conform to the world's demands. Then you say, well, that's great. I'm against the Sodomites. I'm against this. I'm against that. Hey, amen, that's great. Keep those things. But are you against peer pressure from your so-called friends at work? Are you against all of these other things that the world brings and pushes on you? Are you against all of these crazy personality traits that bombard all of us Monday through Friday or Monday through Monday? That's the idea. That's the question. And hopefully we read this. Hopefully you're hearing what I'm saying and understanding, you know, what manner of man, what manner of person should I be as a king and priest in the nation of God? We need to be this type of man, this type of person, a person that is tough in the role that God has given us, a person that is faithful and strong in the word of God, and a person that does not conform to the world. Keep in mind, he is outnumbered. He is outgunned physically, but spiritually he knows the truth and he knows who is on his side. Look at verse 12. And Elijah answered and said unto them, again, look at this, the world doesn't learn. It's very rare that they learn. If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty. Guess what happens? And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. Verse 13, and he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and besought him and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life and the life of these fifty, thy servants be precious in thy sight. Okay, this is the type of boss you want. This is the type, if you're going to go out and work in the world, right, if you can, if you have the choice, if you have the ability, find a boss like this, you know, because this guy is looking out not only for himself, but he's also looking out for his guys, for his fifty. And he's like, wait a second here. Strike one, okay, this first fifty goes down after the prophet says that. The second group of fifty, they go down. So he's like, I'm not sure what to make of all this, but I don't want to end up like that, so please just allow my life to be precious in thy sight, you know. It's like, how many times do we have to be proven right before the world or before a Christian will finally understand and accept the fact that the word of God always prevails, that the word of God is always true? The written, preserved word of God. Answer that question. You say, great, what does that mean? Well, what that means is that a man of God also has compassion, okay, because here's the thing, we have to be tough and ready for war, and we have to apply all of these things, all of these attributes, we have to be willing to cut off, we have to be willing to confront, we have to be willing to not conform and make enemies and tell people hard truths to the face, okay. But when someone comes and says, you know what, let my life be precious in thy sight, I need help, okay. We need to learn how to turn the steering wheel back over and actually help these people out, okay, because if we don't, then what's gonna happen? Well, then you just stay, you know, in Jehu land and you never really grow, okay. We'll talk about him in a few weeks. Look at verse number 14. So it says this, Behold, there came fire down from heaven and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties. Therefore, let my life now be precious in thy sight. Verse 15, And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him, be not afraid of him. And he arose and went down with him unto the king. Okay. So at this point in time, what does God respond to? Humility. You see that again, right? You see that theme all throughout the Bible. God responds to humility. This guy is humble. This guy says, you know what, I can see what's going on here. I can see what you've said. You know, I'm starting to see this faith thing and I am interested. Okay, I want to get on board. And God says, okay, he's safe. You're good to go, Elijah, right? See how God is protecting him through this entire process of being outnumbered? That is the God that we serve. That is the rock that we stand upon. And the world needs to understand that and the world will see that. Look at verse 16. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, for as much as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Beelzebub, the God of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore, thou shall not come down off that bed, which thou art gone up, but shall surely die. You see, there was no repentance. There was no turning from Ahaziah. And the word of God did not change. The only time you see the word and the situation change at all so far in this chapter is when this third captain of the 50 says, Let my life be precious in thy sight. So again, what is it that gets God to move? It's humility. Every single time. Humility. That is what it is. Okay? But the king's not humble. The king doesn't get it. And what happens? The word of God stays the same. Okay? But we live in a world today full of so-called Christians who say, No, no, no. That's not what the word of God really means. That's not what it says. No, no. It can't be that tough. It can't be that hard. You can't be stepping on people's toes. No, no, no, no. That's not how it's supposed to be. Look, if we don't change when we're told the things that are written in the word of God, then guess what? We go down like Ahaziah. We get taken out. We stay on that bed and we don't get to come off. But when we can display some humility like this captain did, then guess what? Things start to happen. That's when God says, Okay, now I see how you've humbled yourself. I see the faith that you're showing here, and I'm not going to bring this judgment on you at this time. Look at verse 17. So he died according to the word of the Lord, which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because he had no son. Now the rest of the Acts of Ahaziah, which he did, are they not written in the books or the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? And of course, we'll come back and scoop that up later on. Now go to chapter number two. Chapter number two. Okay, so we're just going to same kind of thing here. We're just going to push on. Look at the beginning of chapter two. It starts with this word and. Okay, so and these are connected here. Okay, so in the same way, we read the passage and we get some spiritual application. We're able to apply it to ourselves today. Same pattern is going to proceed here in chapter number two. Now you might be thinking, hey, I thought we were having cookies. This is Christmas. Look, all that stuff's true. I'll get you out of here. Okay, we're already one chapter down. It's going to be fine. Okay, I know there's someone back there that's like keeping an eye on my time. And don't worry, we'll get you out of here. You're going to be fine. Look at verse one. And it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind. Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. Now remember, we were introduced to Elisha a couple weeks ago. Here he is again. We're about to see this transfer, if you will, in prophetship where Elijah is about to go somewhere and Elisha is about to take power. He's about to take control here. He is going to be one of the main figures in the nation of Israel. But very interesting here what this verse says here in 2 Kings 2, verse 1. It says that it came to pass when the Lord would take what? Take up. Right? You see that? Which direction is up? Right? We would all point up. I mean, it is a simple, two-letter word. Very simple. Take up Elijah into heaven. So where is heaven? Is it up or is it down? It's up. It's up. Unless you are one of these people that say in the Old Testament, okay, people died and they went to a place called Abraham's bosom. You're pretty much a Catholic at that point. Seriously, you're pretty much a Catholic and Abraham's bosom is like purgatory to these people. It's not true. This is why I keep saying this. New Evangelical Christianity honestly is nothing more than Catholicism just kind of squished and twisted just a little bit and reworded here. That's really the only difference. I mean, it's virtually the same thing, okay? So we learned in this verse some very great truths, especially for today. Elijah would go up into heaven. This is Old Testament. So where is heaven in the Old Testament? It's up. Where is Elijah going? He's going up. I've heard people say, well, he went up like this, okay? And then he kind of went down into Abraham's bosom because nobody could go up into heaven before Jesus died on the cross. We'll break that down another time. We're just going to trust what this says. Obviously right now he was about to go up into heaven, okay? Verse 2. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel. And Elijah said unto him, As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee, so they went down to Bethel. Okay? So you're going to see this play out three times, okay? In this first situation here, what do we have? Well, we have Elijah, who knows he's about to go up to heaven, and he says, All right, Elisha, I want you to stay here while I go to Bethel. What does Elisha do? It's like, uh-uh. I'm not leaving your side. Okay? When you study the life of Elijah, he represents the word of God, doesn't he? Very clearly. I mean, how else do you explain the miracle of him outrunning the king, outrunning Ahab and his chariots? Right? We told you that's a picture of the king following the word of God. It ought not to be the other way around. Okay? So Elijah pictures the word of God. And what is Elisha, the one who wants a double portion of his spirit, the one who wants to follow in his footsteps? What does he do? He says, I'm not leaving you. Okay? You're going to have to kill me, basically. He's like, I'm not going anywhere. I'm coming with you. Okay? I can't let you go. Verse three. And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, yeah, I know it. Hold your peace. Okay? So he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard it before. Just be quiet. Okay? Now Elisha, obviously a great person, a great man of God here, but he doesn't want his boss to go. You know, he doesn't want his trainer to leave and he doesn't want to even be reminded of it. He's like, yeah, I heard it. Okay? Just hold your peace. So in other words, just check yourself and get out of here. Okay? You know, I don't need somebody else telling me what I already know. I don't want to hear it right now. Okay? Verse four. And Elisha said unto him, so here's number two, Elisha, Terry here I pray thee for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. And he said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. Okay? So this is the second situation, which is very similar. Okay? Number one, Elisha says, Terry here, I'm going to Bethel. He says, no, I'm going with you. And then on the way, we're somewhere in the process of this here. These prophets say, hey, your master's going to be taken from you today. And he says, don't tell me that. Don't worry about it. Hold your peace. Elijah says, okay, stay here. Elisha, you stay here and I'm going to Jericho. And Elisha says, nope, I'm coming with you. Okay? Number two, look at number three here. Let's look at verse five. And the sons of the prophet that were, that were the word Jericho came to Elijah and said it to him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, yeah, I know it. Hold your peace. Okay? I know it. Hold your peace. This kind of reminds me of this conversation that we always have with people where we're like, you know, it's after the tribulation and they tell us, hey, hold your peace. You know, like, like just stop. You know, just stop. Okay? I, I don't want to admit it, but just, just, just quit. Number six. And Elijah said, and I'm going to come back and break this down in a second, okay? And Elijah said unto him, Terry, I pray thee here for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they too went on. Now if you were to retrace these steps here, okay, just, just real quickly, I know we don't have a lot of time, but if you were to go through the Bible and study Bethel, Jericho, Jordan, okay, these all have significant meanings, okay? And they all start off as, as, as blessings. Okay? They all start off as blessings. I mean, Bethel just, just the top of my head, Abraham builds an altar at Bethel. Bethel's where Jacob, the story of Jacob's ladder takes place. There's so many things that happen at Bethel, okay? What about reading in Joshua about Jericho and how they're, they're, they're gaining the promised land and they go in there, they defeat these Kings, you know, they, they take possession back of Bethel. They take possession of Jericho in a magnificent way where God delivers the nation of Israel and, and basically Joshua cursed the city of Jericho. Remember that? Joshua cursed that city and said, you know, cursed to be the man who tries to rebuild this. What did we see early on a couple of weeks ago? Well Hyle, remember Hyle, I forgot who he was the son of, Harold Hyle, the son of somebody under Ahab's reign, but basically he lost his children trying to rebuild Jericho, okay? Because they ignored the word of God. So what about Jordan? I mean, we could spend all day on Jordan, you know, I mean all day on any of these things. The point is these things, these places all started off as blessings, but guess what? They all ended up by the time you get here as curses, as defilements, okay? And so what you see here is you're seeing that Elijah is basically doing, and remember nothing in the Bible is in the Bible by coincidence. So what does this all mean? Well, this means that we need to take the blessings that we have and secure them and make sure that we're not defiling them. That's what we need to make sure of, okay? And that's what we're seeing here, and guess what is the process for doing that? Well, Elijah says, I'm going to go to these places, you stay here. Elijah says, no way, I'm sticking with you, I'm sticking with the word of God, okay? And this was supposed to be a message, this was supposed to be the word that would go out and remind the nation of Israel of the blessings that they once had that they defiled of their own free will, of their own volition, okay? And so that is what I see there. Let's move on here. Where are we at? Verse seven, okay? So verse number seven, it says, and 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off, and they too stood by Jordan. Verse eight, and Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither so that they too went over on dry ground, okay? Now, where have you seen that before, okay? God rescuing the nation of Israel from bondage, okay? And this pictures all sorts of things going on here. You know, Elijah is about to go to heaven, he is about to depart, and Elisha stood and stayed with him, and he got to witness this great miracle. You know, sometimes you just need to stick things out. You need to stick through the things that were once good and made bad by other people so that way you can see the events here that you're reading now where Elijah takes off his mantle and he smites the waters and they part and they both go forth on dry ground. That is what is going on here. Look at verse number nine. He says, and it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha, ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. Interesting. The question is, and I don't think I have the answer for you today, but I think if you think about this, it's very compelling. Would Elijah have been able to first of all see the parting here? Would he have been able to even ask this if he tarried at Bethel? If he tarried at Jericho? If he tarried at Jordan? Probably not. I think that's what the story is trying to tell you. I think that's what it's trying to tell us. You know, at this point in time, remember, Bethel defiled. You say how? Remember Jeroboam son of Nebat? What did he do? He set up his own religion. He said, I can't lose control of this. Let's set up a golden calf in Bethel and set one up in Dan. That's what you're dealing with here. In fact, you're dealing with worse by now because remember all the damage that Ahab did? With Jezebel building an altar and a temple to, you know, bail? Think about this. A blessing turned into a defilement. In defiling things, we look at it like, I don't want any part of that. I'm not sure I want to deal with that. But you know, sometimes we have to face the trash. Sometimes we have to face these types of things. And Elisha was the manner of man that was not afraid to go to war. He was not afraid to follow. He was not afraid to do the hard things. So what does he get in return? He gets the impossible. He gets a miracle. Here's what he gets. And then he gets this opportunity to ask a question and he takes full advantage of that opportunity that God has given him right here. Look at verse nine. And it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elijah, ask what I shall do for thee. Before I be taken away from thee, Elijah said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. Verse 10. And he said, thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee. But if not, it shall not be so. Okay. That's a pretty tough request. You know, a lot of times when people ask me, you know, like, like sometimes customers will like hold out a basket, you know, and they're like, here, you know, and it's like all these different traits. I'm like, boom, give me them all. And they're like, whoa, you know, let me take a couple now. I don't do that. What I, what I typically do is like, oh really? I can have one. Now the other day we were at the Russian bread store and this lady, she pulls out these treats, you know, I don't know what they are, they're like in Russian. They look good though. A bunch of chocolates. And she's like pointing to them and I'm like, all right, I tried grabbing them all. She's like, oh, one, one, one. I was like, oh, okay, okay. You know, so I picked two of them up and I looked, I was like, I'm going with a solid chocolate deal and I'm glad I did it because they were good. But you know, here, you know, Elijah, Elijah rather, I mean, he's, he's presented with the opportunity. He's like, what have I got to lose? I'm going to go for broke here. I mean, I'm just going to ask for a double portion of what you did. Why not? I'm going to lose. Right? And then the answer was, okay, you've asked a hard thing, but if you see me go up, God has agreed to this. You, you're going to get it. But if not, then it's not going to be so. Verse 11, and it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder and Elijah, here it is again, went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Where did Elijah the prophet go? Up to heaven by a whirlwind. It doesn't say he went up and the curvature of the earth brought him right back down to Abraham's bosom, where he kind of chilled out for a while and you know, then once Jesus died, then they went up to, to have no that's, that's false doctrine again. That's the injector. Okay. That's somebody injecting that into the word of God. It's not there. He went up into heaven. But it has always been up, always. Okay. Very clear. I'm going to get off that before I spend all night on that. Look at verse 12 and Elisha, here it is, Elisha saw it and he cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and rent them into pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan. Okay. So this is like bittersweet here. He's he's probably like, okay, I'm seeing this here. That means my, my requests are, you know, what I asked for, I'm going to get. But at the same time, he's heartbroken here because Elijah is now gone up into heaven and now it is him. The responsibility falls on Elisha. He has to man up. He has to pick up the pace here and do the work of a prophet. Look at verse 15. It says, and when the sons of the prophets, which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, the spirit of Elijah does rest on Elisha and they came to meet him and bow themselves to the ground before him. And you know what I see here as well. I see what this pictures here. Okay. It's like Elijah going up into heaven by whirlwind. They're like pictures. I mean, it's like reading, you know, acts. It's like you read how Jesus went up in the cloud into heaven and the disciples stood there looking up, you know, like, here we go again. Like, like, like as he's going up, they're like, now I get it. Remember what Jesus said to them? You know, I'm going to, it's needful for me to go away so that the comforter can come unto you. And he also said to them, hey, greater works will you do, you know, through the Holy Ghost, through the Holy Spirit, greater works will you do than what I've done here because I will send you the comforter. Okay. So this like pictures and this is pictures that happening. And so again, if you were a Jew during that time, the idea here is hopefully you would equate what happened and what was preached unto you to these stories and like, wow, something similar to that that we've been learning in the synagogue and here's how it connects and makes sense. Look at verse 16 and they said unto him, behold now there be with thy servants 50 strong men. Let them go. We pray thee and seek thy master, last pair adventure. The spirit of the Lord hath taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said, ye shall not send. So you know, they're like, they recognize that a double portion has been placed on Elisha, but they're like, wait a second here. Maybe Elijah is actually just on a mountain somewhere, right? They're kind of almost like the dispensational guys. Maybe he didn't go into heaven. Maybe by heaven they meant like this. He went up and then down to a mountain or something, right? So they're kind of doubting, right? Guess who else doubted? Little Thomas, the disciples, right? Remember after Jesus died on the cross and was buried and rose again the third day, they're just like, oh, somebody stole him. I don't know what's going on here, right? I'm not sure. That's kind of a similar event that you're reading here. Verse 17, and when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, send, they sent therefore 50 men and they sought three days, but found him not. Interesting about three days, they sought him three days and found not. You know what I mean? This is humanity here, okay? This is what we're saying. All this proves that the Bible was written by God and it's stories like this, okay? That really irked the world, okay? This really irks the world because this puts us into perspective because we have all been able to plug ourselves somewhere in this passage here, okay? These guys don't understand the prophecy, right? But they're prophets. They've been talking about it. Hey, don't you know that the Lord's going to take away your master today, right? And Elisha is like, hold your peace. Be quiet. Check yourself. Hold your peace. Okay? And now we're reading that they're like, well, let's go look for him. Maybe God just sent him on a mountain, you know? Maybe he's just over here. Maybe he's over there. He's like, that wasn't the prophecy. He was to go up into heaven by whirlwind. Verse 18, when he came again to him, for he tarried at Jericho, he said unto them, did I not say unto you, go not? He's like, you just wasted three days. You know, did I tell you this? Okay, again, what do you have here? You have the man of God, okay, preaching the word of God, essentially. And he's right. And you have 50 people. I don't quite agree with this yet. I need to see some signs. I need to see for myself here. Okay? Guess what? Another principle we can get from this. The majority is not always right. Okay? Hate to break it to you, but a lot of times the majority is not always correct here. Who comes out on top? Elisha, who stood by the word of God. Look at verse number 18. Verse number 19, I mean. And the men of the city said unto Elisha, behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant as my Lord seeth. But the water is not in the ground barren. So they're shifting gears here. They're like, okay, cool, you were right. We're just going to kind of like pretend that three day thing just didn't happen. But by the way, there's a problem here. So immediately they come at him with this problem here. We're almost done. Okay? Verse 20, here's the solution. And he said, bring me a new cruc and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. Verse 21, and they went forth unto the spring of the waters and cast the salt in there and said, thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters. There shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha, which he spake. What's a cruc? It's a vessel. It's like a jar or a container for water. Okay? Look at the language here. Look at what this pictures. Verse 20. It's a new cruc. Okay, was a new prophet in town, right? I mean, I mean, think about this. Elijah goes up. Okay. The spirit comes upon Elisha. Okay. Jesus goes up. The comforter comes down, right? And is now on the disciples and in the world ready to go in to believer's hearts. What then proceeds? You have confusion. Some people doubting, some people not believing. They see it. Okay, get on board, we'll solve this problem, okay? No worries, verse 20, and he said, bring me a new cruc, and put salt therein, and they brought it to him. Guess what, that new cruc is the new man, and that new man is intended to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world to heal the waters, and in the Bible, waters are pictured as nations many times. So what does this all symbolize? This is all literally picturing the New Testament, the new covenant, the new nation of Israel, because this nation of Israel is done. This nation of Israel is physically weak. They are not put together, it's fractured, and God is letting people know, letting the reader know. Guess what, there's a new cruc coming, and there's gonna be salt, and that salt is going to go into the waters, into the nations of the world, and that salt is going to heal people forever, unto this day, unto the day of redemption. That is what this is teaching us here. Verse 22, so the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha, which he spake, and so of course, Elisha now, the word of God, having the double portion of Elisha on him, okay? Three verses, we're done, three verses, and we're done, and really, this needs to be a sermon by itself, so I'm just gonna kinda read these three verses and make a quick commentary, and we'll be done. Verse 23, he went up from thence unto Bethel. Okay, remember, golden calf place now, okay? This is defiled. So now he's going back to Bethel, and as he was going up, by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, okay? Says little children, okay? I believe these are little children like mentally, but I don't believe they're like, you know, you seven or eight year olds, okay, or you're younger people, and I don't have time to develop this because we've already spent a lot of time. We'll come back next week when we have more time, and I'll come back and cover this again, but it says there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him and said unto him, go up thou bald head, go up thou bald head, and of course these, you know, keep in mind, these kids, we would call them kids, they're on their own, okay? They're out on their own. You don't see the parents involved, so they're obviously old enough to be away from mom and dad, to be away from authority, and to be able, and look at this, they're even comfortable enough to even go and approach an adult and say these things, okay? So it tells you right now, it's not like your little munchkins like we have running around here, okay? So they mock Elisha and said unto him, go up thou bald head, go up thou bald head. It's interesting how the word of God allows us to get a little bit of a physical insight on Elisha here, you know? It's like Mr. Clean maybe, I don't know. Verse 24, and he turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord, and there came forth two she-bearers out of the wood and tare, 40 and two children of them, okay? Now that pictures all sorts of things, okay? Obviously, we see Elisha goes up, spirit goes down on Elisha, okay? There's a new cruc, salt, healing of the waters. Well, it's kind of funny how this chapter ends with this judgment, because what ultimately happens? Well, we're in the last days. People are lovers of their own selves, they're mocking the word of God, people are departing from the faith. There's all kinds of weird things going on now. The word of God is being mocked all around us, you know, being mocked on every angle here. And what do we see? God's judgment. So we have to remember that, that God will avenge his word. God will do this same manner here in the end times and save all of us from the wicked government that we fall under. But look at verse 25, and he went from thence to Mount Carmel and from thence returned to Samaria. And then we'll get into the rest of this here next week. So again, we'll stop there. The question of the sermon, what manner of man are you? I want to be the manner of man that we saw in Elisha, the manner of man that we saw in Elisha. Okay, that's what I want to be. I want to read the book of 1 and 2 Kings, the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, and pull the good things that they did and apply them to my life and the bad things that they did, and I want to say, nah, I don't want to do that stuff. So again, that's the idea of going through these chapters. So let's stop right there. We're going to bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, again, for a great night of church. We just pray you bless the fellowship after the service and bring us back again safely on Wednesday. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, everyone, our final song of the evening. We'll have everyone turn to song number 429. 429, hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king, peace on earth and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled, joyful all ye nations. Rise, join the triumph of the skies with Angelic host proclaim. Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king. Christ by highest heaven adored. Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time, behold Him come, offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh, the God and see. Hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell. Jesus, our Emmanuel. Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king. Hail the half-born prince of peace. Hail the Son of righteousness. Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings. Mild He lays His glory by, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king. Come, desire of nations, come. Fix in us thy humble home. Rise, the book in sponging sea. Bruise in us the serpent's hand. Adams, like this now effaced, sent thine image in its place. Second Adam from above, reinstate us in thy love. Hark, the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king. All right, Brother Schoelke, I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer. I ask that you please end the service in a word of prayer.