Elisha was a Type of Christ as a Pleasant Prophet with the Ministry of Grace in life

Elisha was a type of Christ in His ministry of grace in life, for Christ is the real Elisha as a sweet and pleasant prophet, even a prophet of blessing.

Christ is truly the reality of all the positive things, matters, and persons in the Bible, and in particular, He is the reality of the prophet Elisha, and we will see how and in what way.

This week in our crystallization study of 1&2 Kings we come to a new topic, Elisha Being a Type of Christ in His Ministry of Grace in Life and as a Man of God Behaving Himself as God’s Representative, the Acting God.

This week we want to see two main matters regarding Elisha being a type of Christ.

First, we want to see how Elisha was a type of Christ in his ministry of grace in life; Elisha’s ministry was quite different from that of his predecessor, for the miracles he performed were not supernatural or outwardly majestic but were of grace in life.

Elisha’s ministry was a ministry of grace in life, and he himself was a sweet and pleasant prophet.

Elijah was a strong anti-testimony to that evil and idolatrous generation, and he called fire from heaven over the offering, and he prayed and it did not rain for three years and six months.

We could say that John the Baptist is the reality of Elijah, coming in the spirit of Elijah, and the Lord Jesus is the reality of Elisha, coming to carry out a ministry of grace in life.

Furthermore, Elisha was the acting God, representing God on earth wherever he went. He did not take this upon himself nor was he presumptuous, but he represented God on earth in a normal yet amazing way.

In this aspect, he was the same as Samuel who, at one time, became the acting God, for everyone who wanted to know God and hear His speaking had to come to him.

The Lord Jesus is the real acting God on earth; when others at His time wanted to see God, they could simply go to the Lord and look at Him.

He was the One who truly expressed God in His image and represented Him with His authority on earth in an individual person.

This truly is amazing and unique, and Jesus Christ as the God-man is the only One who can do this.

We today are part of the corporate Christ, the Body of Christ, and together with Christ, we are the one new man to express God in His image and represent Him with His dominion. Hallelujah!

May the Lord unveil us again and again to see the typology in the Old Testament and its fulfilment in the New Testament, and may we be those who enjoy and experience this wonderful, all-inclusive Christ for the fulfilment of God’s purpose!

The Lord Jesus is a Sweet and Pleasant Prophet, a Prophet of Blessing full of Compassion

In the fulfilment of the types and figures in the Old Testament, Christ is the real Elisha; He is the reality of Elisha the prophet.

As the real Elisha, the Lord Jesus is a sweet and pleasant prophet, a prophet of blessing (2 Kings 4:9; Luke 4:27; 7:11-17).

Elijah was a type of John the Baptist, for he stood strong as anti-testimony to the people of Israel who were worshipping the idols.

When all of Israel was worshipping Baal, Elijah stood strong for God and condemned them.

This is what John the Baptist did: he rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees, even calling them “offspring of vipers” (Matt. 3:7).

Elisha came as the continuation of Elijah, and he was a sweet and pleasant prophet, even a prophet of blessing.

The miracles that Elisha did were of grace in life, not outwardly supernatural or great but related to life and bringing in grace.

Elisha didn’t come to condemn the people but to bring blessing and be a sweet and pleasant prophet.

Similarly, the Lord Jesus came as the continuation of John the Baptist and He didn’t come to condemn or criticize; He came to be a sweet and pleasant prophet, a prophet full of blessing.

The One who dwells in us, the all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit and making His home in our heart, is a pleasant and sweet Person.

God in Himself is majestic, great, deep, and profound; but when God became man in Jesus Christ, He became sweet and pleasant.

If we read the stories concerning the Lord Jesus in the gospel of Luke, in particular, we will be touched to see what a sweet and pleasant prophet He is.

He is pleasing and delightful. He not only loved us so much that He died for us and shed His blood for us, but He is also the sweet and pleasant One caring for us.

He is our sweet and pleasant Christ.

When Christ came, the merciful compassions of our God were manifested, and He as the rising sun visited us from on high (Luke 1:78).

He is the real Samaritan (Luke 10:33) who is moved with compassion on our pitiful state and cares for us in love.

And He wants to reproduce Himself in us as such a One so that we also would be a sweet and pleasant people in caring for our neighbour who was persecuted and beaten and is now half-dead by the road.

Christ as our real Elisha is the sweet and pleasant One in us. In Luke 6:36 we are told to be full of compassion, even as our heavenly Father is full of compassion.

Luke 15:20, when the prodigal son came back home, while he was a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion. He ran and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionally.

This is how God our Father feels for any brother or sister who went off in a certain way and lived a very damaging life.

The Son is the Shepherd, the Spirit enlightens the inner being of the backslidden one, and the gift of repentance is presented.

Then, he just comes home, and the Father is moved with compassion, and He runs to welcome this one back in a very affectionate way.

May we also, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on the inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering (Col. 3:12).

On one hand, we need to put on the one new man; on the other hand, we need to bear one another and forgive one another.

And if there’s any encouragement in Christ, any fellowship of spirit, and consolation of love, and any tenderheartedness and compassion, we need to express these among us.

This should be the reality in the church life today.

Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3).

Our God is such a One, and Christ as the real Elisha is the sweet and pleasant prophet, a prophet of blessing.

And He lives in us, reproducing Himself as such a One with such a sweet, tender, compassionate, long-suffering, and loving attitude toward those around us.

May we as the members of the Body of such a One know Him and allow Him to live in us the same kind of life as He lived on earth, expressing Him as the sweet and pleasant One, the One full of blessing.

Lord Jesus, we come to You to enjoy You as the sweet and pleasant One, the prophet full of blessing. Thank You for coming to us in love and full of compassion to reach us where we are and bring us back to God. Thank You for Your tenderheartedness and love toward us. You are the God of all comfort, and You comfort us. We come to You as we are. We want to experience You and know You as the indwelling One who is full of love, compassion, sweetness, and pleasantness. May we enjoy You, experience You, and even live You out as the One who is full of compassion, love, sweetness, and blessing. Amen, Lord, fill the church life with much encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, the fellowship of spirit, tenderheartedness and compassion. Make us Your duplication as the sweet and pleasant prophet, a prophet of blessing!

Seeing how Elisha was a Type of Christ in His Ministry of Grace in Life

Elisha is a type in the Old Testament who represented God’s New Testament economy in grace.

What is grace? One of the definitions of grace is that grace is God doing everything for us by giving Himself to us as our enjoyment (John 1:1, 14-17).

When Christ came, grace came; now we receive of His fulness, and grace upon grace.

This grace issues in the divine life, which regenerates us and is rich and high; the more we enjoy the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, the more we reign with Christ, being co-kings with Him (Rom. 5:17). Amen!

We reign in life to be co-kings with Christ not by imposing our own man-made authority but by enjoying the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness so that grace would reign in us and we would reign in life.

Elisha was a type of Christ in His ministry of grace in life; the miracles that Elisha did were of grace in life.

Elijah did some great miracles such as closing up the heavens so that it might not rain and calling down fire from heaven to consume the burnt offering.

But Elisha, who came in to replace him, didn’t perform wonders but rather, he did miracles of grace in life.

Many Christians love to see miracles and run to where miracles are performed, but not many pay attention to grace and life.

In the book of Romans, Paul emphasized grace and life very much (Rom. 3:24; 5:17-18), even saying that justification by grace is unto the reigning in life.

We need to be those who pay attention much more to the ministry of grace in life than to miracles or supernatural acts.

In 2 Kings 2:4, 19-22 the men of Jericho told Elisha that the water was so bad and the land was barren; instead of calling fire from heaven or doing something supernatural outwardly, Elisha went to the source of the water, threw salt there and healed the waters.

He said, “Thus says Jehovah, I have healed this water; there will not be any more death or barrenness from here” (v. 21). Jericho signifies Satan, and anything related to Satan is death, including the water.

But even such death waters were healed according to the word of Elisha, for Jehovah did this, and that water became good, even to give life.

This is similar to the Lord Jesus’ first miracle in the gospel of John, the changing of water into wine (John 2:3-11).

The significance of this miracle is the changing of death into life, and actually, this is the significance of all the cases dealt with by Him in John 3-11.

What the Lord Jesus is after is not outward, great manifestations of the power of God so that all may “see and believe”; He is after changing our death into life.

In case after case, situation after situation, and person after person, He has a ministry of grace in life, changing any kind of death into life.

Elisha called the things not being as being (2 Kings 4:1-7, 8-17, 42-44), especially as he produced many vessels of oil from one vessel.

The Lord Jesus did the same in Matt. 14-15 where He fed multitudes with a few loaves and fishes (Matt. 14:14-21; 15:32-39).

Elisha was not a prophet who made great outward miracles but miracles of grace in life, and those around him received life through what he did; Elisha was a type of Christ.

Today we can enjoy Christ as the most gentle, lovely, sweet, and pleasant One, and we partake of Him as grace to the extent that we reign in life through Him as the One who rules and reigns in us.

Lord Jesus, come to enjoy You as the One who has the ministry of grace in life. We want to pay attention not to miracles but to grace and life. Keep us enjoying the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness so that may reign in life through You as the One who reigns in us. Amen, Lord, keep our being open to You. Change all our death into life. Heal any death in our being. Fill us with the enjoyment of Christ as grace. Fill our whole being with life. May our enjoying of You as life issue in our reigning as kings. Amen, Lord Jesus, make us those who pay attention to the enjoyment of Christ as grace in life until we reign in life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message, and portions from, Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 85-86 as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 3, entitled, Elisha Being a Type of Christ in His Ministry of Grace in Life and as a Man of God Behaving Himself as God’s Representative, as the Acting God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Dear Lord Jesus, precious Jesus, / Thou hast won each love from me; / Who like Thee—so fair and comely? / Who like Thee—so sweet and lovely? / Matchless One, unrivaled beauty, / None can e’er compete with Thee! (Hymns #1158, stanza 1)
  – Now we’re rejoicing, standing in grace, / Oh hallelujah! Sin is erased! / God, in us flowing, in our hearts growing, / We are saved in His life! (Hymns #1131, stanza 3)
  – In loving-kindness Jesus came / My soul in mercy to reclaim, / And from the depths of sin and shame / Through grace He lifted me. / From sinking sand He lifted me, / With tender hand He lifted me, / From shades of night to plains of light, / Oh, praise His name, He lifted me! (Hymns #320, stanza 1 and chorus)