We have now reached the end of the gracious ministry of Elisha, with all its instructive lessons for the men of his own day, and for us also. “And Elisha died, and they buried him.” But a remarkable thing happened a little later. “The bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet” (2 Ki. 13:20-21).
How wonderful are the ways of God! Contact with the dead prophet restored life to the dead. Even so will it be with Israel at the end. In one of His many characters the Lord Jesus is the Prophet like unto Moses, unto whom Israel should have hearkened when He came amongst them in grace (Deut. 18:18-19). Both Peter in Acts 3:22 23, and Stephen in Acts 7:37, urged this upon the people after His departure. National scattering and death have come upon them as the fruit of their rejection of Him. But Israel will yet come into contact with the Prophet like unto Moses. In the tremendous crisis which seems near at hand, compared with which the Moabite invasion was a trivial matter, Israel will be led into touch with the Christ who died. National revival will be the result, likened over and over again in Scripture to life from the dead (Ezek. 37:1-14; Dan. 12:1-2; Hosea 6:1-2; Rom. 11:15).
Upon the same principle has God dealt with us who now believe in the Saviour. Contact with Him as the One who was slain has brought life to us who once were dead in trespasses and sins. It is labour in vain to proclaim Him to the spiritually dead as the pattern Man and the model Preacher, whose teaching all should follow. Nothing of this will meet the sinner’s need. Expiation is wrought by blood alone, and life—eternal life—can only be our portion as the fruit of death. This is what the Lord taught in the synagogue in Capernaum, and which many, even of His disciples, declared was “a hard saying” (John 6:60). The saying is no less hard for carnal religionists of the twentieth century, but the true believer delights to say, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
But we may carry the lesson still further. If Christ has through death become fruitful in life to others; in the same way may Christians become fruitful also. So the Lord Himself tells us in John 12:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” The language here is purposely abstract. In its first application the reference is to the Lord Himself, but in its more general application it refers to Christians also. We are all grains of wheat, and if God’s garner is to be filled at the end, every grain must be fruitful and multiply. After the pattern of the parent plant each grain must fall into the ground and die. He leads the way in the path that all should follow.
It is the practical application of death to ourselves. In God’s account we have all died with Christ, and our life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). This has to be practically applied daily if we would be fruitful for God. We see this exemplified in the devoted apostle. Hear him in 2 Corinthians 4:11: “We which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” The result for others comes out in the following verse: “So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” In so far as the man Paul was put out of sight, and Christ manifested in his words and ways, blessing followed for those to whom he spoke. How is it with us? Are we spiritually fruitful? Are other grains of wheat being produced as the result of our presence in the world! Alas! how many heads must be bowed in shame when such questions are raised! Personal obtrusiveness in preaching, and fleshly indulgence in living, renders so much of our testimony null and void. God ever has had use, and still has use, for those who are willing to hide themselves in death that Christ may be magnified. Life out of death is the great lesson of the ages taught everywhere in the Word of God. May both reader and writer learn the lesson well.