The Mission and Miracles of Elisha - Part Seven

Extract

The Mission and Miracles of Elisha – Part Seven
A. W. Pink

17. Sixteenth Miracle
18. Seventeenth Miracle
19. His Young Deputy
20. His Death

17. Sixteenth Miracle

First, its reality. The first six verses of 2 Kings 8 chronicle an incident which is rather difficult to classify in connection with the ministry of Elisha. By which we mean, it is perhaps an open question whether we are to regard it as properly belonging to the miracles which were wrought through his instrumentality. Undoubtedly, the majority of Christian writers would look upon this episode rather as an example of the gracious and wondrous operations of Divine providence, rather than a supernatural happening: With them, we shall have no quarrel, for it is mainly a matter of terms—some define a “miracle” in one way; and some, in another. No question of importance is involved, either doctrinal or practical: It is simply a matter of personal opinion whether this series of events are to be viewed as among the ordinary ways of the Divine government as God orders the lives of each of His creatures, and in a more particular manner undertakes and provides for each of His dear children, or whether we are to contemplate what is here narrated as something over and above the workings of providence.

The signal deliverances which the Lord’s people experience under the workings of His special providence are just as truly manifestations of the wisdom and power of God as are what many theologians would technically term His “miracles,” and are so to be regarded by us. While strongly deprecating the modern tendency to deny and decry the supernatural, we shall not now enter into a discussion as to whether or not “the day of miracles be …