2Kings 4:18-35

18 And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.

19 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.

20 And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

21 And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.

22 And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.

23 And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.

24 Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.

25 So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:

26 Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well:

27 And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.

28 Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?

29 Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.

30 And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her.

31 And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.

32 And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.

33 He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.

34 And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

35 Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

This is about the prophet Elisha and the shunamite woman’s boy who died.

Elisha is a type of Jesus, the boy, of one of us.

The boy is dead, as we were dead in trespasses and sins before we were saved.

Elisha first sent his servant with his staff….as Jesus sends His children, to present the gospel to the unsaved, with the power of God (the power is in the staff, ..it was for Elisha, as well as Aaron and Moses).

But, the presentation of the gospel, the presentation of the sacrifice of Jesus and the new life to be had in its acceptance, isn’t what will bring life, as the staff did not bring life to the boy.

When Elisha came, prayed, and laid on top of the boy, he received life. It is the relationship with Jesus Christ that enables us to obtain the New Life that He sacrificed and won for us. It does not rely on what we do, or what we pray, but on our union with Our Beloved Saviour.

Elisha laid over the boy in a specific way. Verse 34 says, “And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.”

He lined his eyes, mouth, and hands up with those of the boy. To do this, he would necessarily have to be lined up with his forehead. He became one with him in a sense, allowing the life-giving power of God to flow through Him into the child.

That’s what the Lord wants to do for us. After He has given us that Life, enabling our spirits to live and grow in Him, He wants us to be more and more one with Him, as Jesus prayed in John chapter 17.

This means being one with Our Lord in our thinking (“the mind of Christ”–1Corinthians 2:16)

It means seeing things as the Lord sees them, as Elisha lined up his eyes with the boys’. We should see people and situations through Him, through our relationship with Him, and through His Word. We need to see every situation in view of eternity, not the confines of this world.

It means we only speak what the Lord would have us speak. Think, pray, and give it time before we say what we feel we want to say. (1Cor. 2:13)

He also lined up his hands. This is the entirety of our life. Thinking, seeing, speaking, working, to the glory of God!

This relationship is what saved us in the first place, all the glory to Jesus Christ, and this is what sustains our salvation so we can “endure to the end”.

The thing that surprises most Christians, however, is that there is no way we can do these things. We cannot contribute one tiny thing to our salvation, or to the development of our relationship with Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Oh Yes, there are some things—our repentance, our submission, and our weakness.

Start to finish, Alpha to Omega, it is all about Jesus, and never about us.

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