KI 4:1-7{We have noticed that the first mention of Elisha in Scripture tells us of his repentance. He determined that he was going to follow Elijah wholeheartedly. Elijah tested the reality of Elisha's desire when Elisha said he first wanted to kiss his parents before following Elijah. After this Elisha followed him down from Gilgal to Jordan, where he saw him go up into heaven. Then he went back over Jordan in the power of his master, and he retraced the path leading through the four points: Jordan, Jericho, Bethel and Gilgal. This journey covers, in type, about two thousand years of the Church's history.
The subject, "The House of God," which we shall now consider, does not have to do with length of time but with the assembly of God as a testimony to the great truths given in 1 Tim. 3:15,16 and 4:15,16.
Let us turn to 2 Kings 4:1-7.
"Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen." 2 Kings 4:1.
In another translation "sons" in verse 1 reads "children." It suggests the thought of adoption. This is the beginning of our knowledge in the things of God, the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. One of the first actions in the soul with divine life is to cry, "Abba, Father!" Every one who by faith can cry, "Abba, Father," is one of the children of God and belongs at the Lord's table as well. Being at the table is not a question of intelligence but of nature.
New creation is not a question of time or place, but of kind. Of what kind are you?
What nature do you have? Are you in the flesh or in Christ?
After Elijah had gone on high, Elisha represented him, giving a picture of Christ working on earth through His servants by the Holy Spirit.
In 2 Kings 4:1 the Holy Spirit has set before us a woman who had lost her husband. "Woman" in Scripture is sometimes used to set forth position in contrast to responsibility.