Consequences of Wrongdoing

KEY VERSE: “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel.” —II Kings 9:6

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: II Kings 9:1-12

AS ELIJAH’S LIFE was especially ordered of God to represent many circumstances which would occur during this Gospel Age and the history of the Lord’s people, called to eventually be taken up into heaven, so it seems that Elisha’s experiences were directed to more particularly depict those who would succeed the Elijah class—the visible prophets of God on the earth during the age to come.

Elisha kept a very high profile among the people and the exercise of his prophetic authority was accompanied by many miracles. Essentially, every incident the Bible records of Elisha’s life pertains to a miracle! From this standpoint, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon the prophet in an abundant measure. Nor was he partial as to who benefited from his miracle-working power. One miracle gave power of conception to a childless woman, and then, years later, when her boy died of sunstroke, another miracle raised him from the dead. Thus again is presented an exhibition of the power of God which will, in his own due time, awaken all the dead.

Then there was the miracle of purifying the poisoned “pottage,” followed closely by another in which a small amount of food was increased sufficiently to feed a hundred men. (II Kings 4:38-44) This, on a smaller scale, was similar to Jesus’ miracle of feeding the multitude on Galilee’s shores.

One of the last official acts of Elisha was to authorize one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu to be king of Israel. (II Kings 9:1-10) Jehu was used by the Lord to destroy the house of Ahab—wicked king of Israel—and Jezebel—his notoriously wicked wife. Thus came about the fulfillment of the prophecy given to Elijah by the Lord. (II Kings 9:16,17) Actually, God had instructed Elijah to anoint Jehu. The fact that Elisha did this (even though by proxy—one of the sons of the prophets actually performed the anointing) helps to emphasize how completely the Lord recognized Elisha as Elijah’s successor. Elijah’s mantle fell on him, meaning that he could act for Elijah, which he did in the anointing of Jehu.

The dynasty of Ahab thus came to an end when his son—successor to the throne—was killed by Jehu. And then, riding into Jericho with his army, he also accomplished the death of Jezebel. Ahab and Jezebel represent, in symbolism, the combined civil and religious authority of this world, as fulfilled primarily in the church-state system which held sway for so many centuries in Europe, but is now essentially gone.

Ahab was slain while Elijah, the predecessor of Elisha was still alive, and Ahab’s son became king. But it remained for Elisha, after Elijah was gone, to finalize the work of destroying these two enemies of God and Israel. Just so in the antitypical reality of the sequence of their service as prophets, the destruction of the governments of this world begins in this age, while the church is still in the world, and it remains for those who will represent the glorified church in the world after they are no longer here, to completely destroy the false kingdom concepts in the hearts and minds of the people of earth. Elisha was greatly responsible for putting an end to idol worship.

In the person of Elisha we see beautifully reflected the work of the Ancient Worthy class in the kingdom.

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