Elisha performed miracles of divine healing for others but, in the will of God, he himself was not healed by a miracle, this was Paul’s experience also, for he was under the discipline of the inner life rather than under the power of the outward gift.
This is quite interesting, for it applies to us in the New Testament in the way of life. Elijah was a type of the Old Testament age and ministry, and Elisha is a type of the New Testament age and ministry.
The miracles that Elijah did were outwardly great and supernatural, even though the Lord did at one point try to get him to realize that He is the God who hides Himself, speaking in a small, gentle voice.
Elisha, however, was not an outwardly great person who stood as a strong anti-testimony as Elijah did, but he had the ministry of grace in life.
The miracles that Elisha performed were of grace and in life, and they were a type of the things that Christ did and is doing, which is of grace and in life.
For example, Elisha healed the waters at Jericho; this is a type of Christ turning the water into wine at the wedding in Cana, and it is a type of what Christ is constantly doing in us and with us – He is changing our death into life.
This is what the Lord does in us and among us: He wants to bring in life, more of His life, more of His resurrection life, so that our death may be swallowed up and we would be filled with life.
What we need is more life; we don’t need more miracles or outward things, we simply need more life, more of the divine life.
Elisha also called things not being as being, in the principle that the Lord Jesus did by feeding the five thousand with a few loaves of bread and some fish. Elisha is a type of Christ.
Elisha resurrected someone from the dead, just as the Lord raised two persons from the dead in His earthly ministry.
Even more, Christ is the One who still raises us from the dead, for when we touch Him, any death is removed and life comes in to enliven us.
Both physically and spiritually and psychologically, when we contact the Lord, life is imparted into our being.
Elisha nullified the poison of the wild gourds in the soup with flour is the same in principle as the Lord healing us of the leaven of the Pharisees with Himself as the fine flour.
He is the fine flour who came to heal us and make us the same as He is so that we may be mingled with pure Holy Spirit as the oil to make a loaf of unleavened bread, the church, for God’s satisfaction and for man to enjoy also. Amen!
Oh, what a Christ we have! How rich and wonderful He is, and what a rich type of Christ we see in Elisha!
Being under the Discipline of the Inner Life rather than under the Power of the Outward Gift
In 2 Kings 13:14, we are told that Elisha was suffering from a certain disease, a sickness, of which he eventually died.
Many may be surprised to see that, even though Elisha exercised his gift of healing to heal many other people, he did not heal himself of this sickness.
This is similar to what happened to Paul and his co-workers; Paul left Trophimus at Miletus in sickness without exercising healing prayer for him, and he didn’t exercise his healing gift to cure Timothy of his stomach sickness (2 Tim. 4:20; 1 Tim. 5:23; Acts 19:11-12).
Here was Paul, an apostle, who definitely had the healing gift from the Lord, and he healed many people; but when it came to his co-workers, it seems that he didn’t exercise his healing gift from the Lord to heal them.
In 2 Tim. 4:19, after greeting Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus, Paul says that Erastus remained in Corinth and he left Trophimus sick at Miletus (v. 20).
![Now when Elisha was ill with his illness by which he [eventually] died, Joash the king of Israel went down to him and wept over him and said, My father! My father!... 2 Kings 13:14 No longer drink water [only,] but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. 1 Tim. 5:23 And God did works of power of no ordinary kind through the hands of Paul, So that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and their diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out. Acts 19:11-12](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Now-when-Elisha-was-ill-with-his-illness-by-which-he-eventually-died-Joash-the-king-of-Israel-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Now when Elisha was ill with his illness by which he [eventually] died, Joash the king of Israel went down to him and wept over him and said, My father! My father!... 2 Kings 13:14 No longer drink water [only,] but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. 1 Tim. 5:23 And God did works of power of no ordinary kind through the hands of Paul, So that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and their diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out. Acts 19:11-12")
How come Paul left one of his intimate co-workers sick somewhere without exercising healing prayer for him? Why would he not exercise his healing gift (Acts 19:11-12) to cure Timothy of his stomach illness but rather instruct him to take the natural way of healing (1 Tim. 5:23)?
Many Christians today would think that, if you have a healing gift, you should use it to heal yourself and your co-workers.
But both Paul and his co-workers were under the discipline of the inner life in this time of suffering, rather than being influenced or excited by the power of an outward gift.
Today many Christians seek signs and healing, thinking that, if God is real and He is our God, He needs to heal us, His people.
But God would allow us to suffer in sickness and even allow us to die because of a certain sickness, instead of healing us.
We may want to exercise some sort of a power of an outward gift, for we want to be healed or to heal those who are in sickness, but there’s the discipline of the inner life.
There were many leprous in Israel, but only some of those were healed by Jesus. There were many paralytics that were in Israel in the Lord’s time, but He only healed particular ones.
And in the case of Paul and his co-workers, as they were suffering for the church, what was needed was not so much the gift of power but the grace in life.
When the church was first raised up, miraculous gifts had a place; the Lord allowed the disciples to make miracles when the church was first raised up, but later on, these miraculous events happened less and less.
For the church to withstand decline or persecution, miraculous gifts of powers are not very helpful – it is only the eternal life that helps, for life mends, life causes things to grow, and life can withstand decline and persecution.
Only the eternal life on which we are to lay hold is prevailing; by this life, we can withstand decline and persecution.
Some people may think that Paul behaved like an unbeliever toward Timothy when they read that the apostle asked his young co-worker to take a little wine with his meal for his stomach sickness.
It doesn’t say anywhere that Paul prayed for Timothy’s sickness or that he tried to exercise his gift of healing. Instead, it seems that Paul was caring for him in a very human way.
We need to learn from this, for today in the church life in the Lord’s recovery we’re not here to make a show; we are here to care for the divine life and lay hold of this life.
And when sickness or problems come, we are under the discipline of the divine life inwardly, not seeking to have a miracle performed or some great escape from our situation.
Our emphasis must be not on miracles or great things that God needs to perform for us but on the divine life within us.
It is by the divine life within that we can withstand trials, tests, persecution, attack, and opposition.
As we grow in the divine life we will allow the Lord to lead us inwardly, and many times we may go through persecution, suffering, and trial, and are under the discipline of the inner life, being limited in what we do and say outwardly but unlimited in our enjoyment and experience of Christ.
The discipline of the inner life is not a punishment; it is a discipline, for the Lord disciplines those whom He loves.
We may have a lot of Why, Lord? kind of questions, but His silent answer is that we’re under the ministry grace in life and not under some gift of power and miracles.
May we thank and praise the Lord for whatever we’re going through, and may we remain under the gift of grace in life, under the discipline of the divine life inwardly, for us to continue in the faith and enjoy the Lord in all things for His building.
And the way for us to enjoy His life is to exercise our spirit; 2 Tim. 4:22 says, The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.
We need to have a strong spirit by exercising our spirit, and we need to enjoy the grace of God which is with our spirit.
A strong, loving, and sound spirit was given to us by which we can fan the gift of God into flame and suffer evil with the gospel according to the power of God and the Lord’s life-imparting grace (1 Tim. 1:6-10).
The Lord is with our spirit so that we may enjoy Him as grace to stand against the down current of the church’s decline and carry out God’s economy through His indwelling Spirit (1:14) and equipping word (3:16-17).
Lord Jesus, we love You! We come to You as we are to enjoy You as our life and our everything. Thank You for being the divine life in us to supply us with all we need for our Christian life and for us to express You. We want to pay attention to the divine life within more than to any outward gift of power. Amen, Lord, grant us the experiences of Christ that we need for us to be under the discipline of the inner life in our time of suffering rather than under the power of any outward gift. We come to You, again and again, to enjoy You as our life. We take You as our life and our everything. Amen, Lord, what we need is more grace in life, not more gift of power. Keep us one spirit with You today, growing in life and ministering life to others. Amen, Lord, may Your will be done in us and may Your kingdom come among us.
Whoever Touches Christ in His Death and Resurrection is Enlivened! Hallelujah!
![And it so happened that as [the people] were burying a man, they saw a band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life and stood up on his feet. 2 Kings 13:21](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/And-it-so-happened-that-as-the-people-were-burying-a-man-they-saw-a-band-683x1024.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "And it so happened that as [the people] were burying a man, they saw a band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life and stood up on his feet. 2 Kings 13:21")
In 2 Kings 13:21 we have a very unusual story; some people wanted to bury a dead person when they saw a band of Moabites, and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life and stood up on his feet. Wow.
Elisha was deceased in his body yet he still ministered in the spirit to enliven one of the dead. Even the dead Elisha could enliven people.
We may consider this as being something quite miraculous, but even such an event is a type of Christ.
This is a picture of Christ in resurrection. Christ is the real Elisha; He went through death and entered into resurrection, and whoever touches Him in His death and resurrection is enlivened (John 11:25; Acts 2:24; Phil. 3:10).
Millions upon millions of people throughout the last twenty centuries touched “the bones” of this “dead man” Jesus Christ and were enlivened, resurrected, and brought to life. Hallelujah!
Whoever touches Christ in His death and resurrection is enlivened.
When the gospel is preached and man hears concerning the Lord’s dying love and His resurrection, something within them rises up to believe into Him, and they touch the dead and resurrected Christ to be enlivened and made alive with the life which is real life.
Regeneration involves a spiritually dead person touching the dead and resurrected Christ and being enlivened (John 5:25; Eph. 2:1-6). Wow, Hallelujah!
This is mysterious, supernatural, and amazing, yet so normal and real!
We believers in Christ are those who have touched the Lord Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection, and we were made alive.
And even more, day by day, we are those who want to know Him, touch Him, and experience Him in His death and resurrection so that we may be in the divine life and grow in life.
Whenever we touch the Lord, even right now, by calling on the name of the Lord, we are enlivened.
Did you touch the Lord today? Were you enlivened by Him?
Maybe we can take a break right now from whatever we’re doing to just tell Him, Lord Jesus, I love You. I need You. I want to touch You! You are so real to us right now.
When we contact the Lord in a simple way, we are enlivened.
Throughout the day we can keep turning to Him and He will enliven us.
Even when we go through things such as the discipline of the inner life within us, trials, and persecutions, we can still contact the Lord, and the result is that we are enlivened.
We may want things to change, and we may desire that some things or persons be removed from our environment because they cause us much pain and grief, but all we need to do is contact the Lord Jesus as the One who died and was raised.
He may not change our situation but may keep us under the discipline of the inner life within us, but we are inwardly supplied.
What we need is not that our situation would be better or that the people around us would be nicer or that we would get more prosperous; what we need is more life, more of God as life added to us.
We are under the ministry of grace in life. We are learning to enjoy Christ as life and, in every kind of death, His life is being outpoured.
Hallelujah for our Christ who went through death and resurrection for us to touch Him and be enlivened! Praise the Lord, whoever touches Jesus Christ is made alive, for the divine life is imparted into him! We come to You, dear Lord, to contact You; give us more of Yourself as life. Enliven us and remove any kind of death in us and around us. We want to know You and the power of Your resurrection and the fellowship of Your sufferings, being conformed to Your death. We love You, Lord Jesus. You are so real to us. You are our life and our everything. We come to You to contact You right now!
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 2 Timothy, pp. 71-72 (by Witness Lee), 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:
– Jesus is the living Spirit, / Our reality; / We enjoy Him just by calling / In simplicity. / Jesus is the living Spirit, / We must now proclaim; / He is rich unto all men / That call upon His name. (Hymns #1142, stanza 1 and chorus)
– Praying always in the spirit, / Even groaning from within, / Thus we utter God’s intention / By the Spirit’s discipline. (Hymns #780, stanza 4)
– O how nigh the Lord is unto all who call on Him! / When we call, His very presence strengthens us within. / Seeking Jesus, He is found, and calling, He is near— / O what a comfort to our hearts to call His name so dear! / Jesus! O what a name! / O Lord Jesus! Life-giving name! / Name victorious, name all-glorious, / Name exalted—O what a name! / Jesus! Strengthening name! / O Lord Jesus! Comforting name! / Name to breathe in prayer, calling everywhere, / “O Lord Jesus!” O what a name! (Hymns #1083, stanza 1 and chorus)
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After greeting Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus (2 Tim. 4:19), Paul says, “Erastus remained in Corinth, and Trophimus I left at Miletus sick” [v. 20]… Why did the apostle leave such an intimate one in sickness without exercising healing prayer for him? Why did he not also execute his healing gift (Acts 19:11-12) to cure Timothy of his stomach illness rather than instruct him to take the natural way for healing (1 Tim. 5:23)? The answer to both questions is that both Paul and his co-workers were under the discipline of the inner life in this time of suffering rather than under the power of the outward gift. The former is of grace in life; the latter of gift in power—miraculous power. In the decline of the church and in suffering for the church, the gift of power is not as much needed as the grace in life. Life-study of 2 Timothy, pp. 71-72, by Witness Lee
Elisha was deceased in his body yet still ministered in the spirit to enliven one of the dead. Even the dead Elisha could enliven people. This is a picture of Christ in resurrection. Whoever touches Him is enlivened. Regeneration involves a spiritually dead person touching the dead and resurrected Christ and being enlivened (cf. John 5:25; Eph. 2:1-6a). 2 Kings 13:21, footnote 1, Recovery Version Bible
what we need today is not the power of the outward gift but more enjoyment and experience of the divine life.
May the Lord grant us the experiences we need for us to grow in life and be under the discipline of the inner life so that we may be saved from any decline and degradation in the church.
In this age, the gift of power is not as much needed as the gift of life.
Only resurrection life can prevail against decline or persecution.
Life is our firm foundation. Therefore, we all need the Lord to be with our spirit so that grace will be with us.
May the Lord grant us all a strong spirit so that grace will be with us.
Only a strong spirit can confront the degradation of the church.
Dear brother, in these days as we see through the pattern and words of Paul what is needed are not miraculous power or gifts but the grace of life though the indwelling Spirit and the equipping word.
Neither Trophimus or Timothy were healed by Paul but he concluded his epistle at a time of degradation in the church with the Lord as grace in our spirit!
The Lord be with your spirit brother, grace be with you!
Brother we wee that in Paul never healed Timothy or miletus he took care of them in a human way.
Today in the church degradation when the church will be persecuted we do not need the gift of healing or any powerful gift we need the eternal life and grace of life to endure and overcome any degredation or persecution may we be those who are open to receive this life and even be like Elijah who can minister this life even in a dead situation
To be a real minister means to serve others. To serve others means to serve God.Therefore, God, in His will, can give us the gift of the divine healing to help others.
But, to have the gift of healing does not necessarily mean that the body (flesh) of the minister is free from the outside spoiled world. His body could be sick and his gift of healing to serve others might not help for his healing.
But, if the gift of life, grace of the Lord, is inside him, the minister could be strong to stand firm regardless of all difficulties that come from the outside natural environment.
In other ways, the essential and the economical gifts of the Holy Spirit are for life and work (serve) respectively.
Praise the Lord for the discipline of the inner life and the outward gift.
Lord, cause us not to faint under Your divine discipline. Bring us rather into the enjoyment of grace so we can grow further in life. Life is what we need and why You have placed us here. Turn us from just desiring outward gifts of power but enliven us even more, that we can withstand persecution, trials and today’s degradation.
In the decline of the church and in one’s suffering for the church what is needed the most is the grace of life rather than the gift of power.
Elisha performed healing for others in the will of God but he himself was not healed.
Same with the apostle Paul and his co- workers who were under the discipline of the inner life
Praise the Lord for His life in us affording us with such all-sufficient grace to be our portion day by day to overcome the downward trend of the church’s decline.
Oh may we exercise our strong, sober and loving spirit to fan it into flames that we may contact and enjoy the Lord as grace through the indwelling Spirit and equipping word to carry out God’s economy.