Text: 2 Kings 2                   

Reading: 2 Kings 2, 19-24

Dear brothers and sisters,

Recently I had a conversation with someone about the history of Elisha, when he healed the water source of Jericho. He told me that this text wasn’t meant to be preached. I soon reacted, because I didn’t agree. God’s word was gave for us to strengthen our faith and I believe that all God’s word is meant to preach. I know that there are hard texts or even well-know texts that are not easy to preach, but all texts serve to preach the gospel. I mean, Christ gospel.

I believe that the bible is Christocentric. Not only gospels and the Apostles letters, but also the prophecies and the histories of the Old Testament. All of them, in one way or another, point to Christ. Our problem is to discover the right relation with Christ.

So, let’s observe once again the history of Elisha in Jericho. [Read 2 Kings 2, 19-22]. Reading the history, I asked myself: what is the message for us? The miracle was only for the Jericho’s population OR it also has a meaning for us, in the 21th century? I know that there are preachers who would soon focus in the new plate and the salt. They want to use those elements to make miracles in their services. But is this the message? I was in doubt and then started to read the context. The whole chapter.

The chapter tells us about the end of Elijah’s prophetic work and the beginning of Elisha’s prophetic work. What happened in Jericho is his first act, and soon, later follows what happened with the teenagers in Bethel.

Observing this, I noticed a contrast that we find some other times in the Bible. The contrast between a BLESSING...To read more, click here.