In II Kings 2, we find a miracle of Elisha which can show us how to position ourselves for the next miracle of the Kingdom. We are going to learn to open our awareness to the next step in our progressive walk with God.
If Elijah was a prophet of fire, Elisha was a prophet of the double portion. Although at times Elisha appeared to be much more peaceful than Elijah, forty-two children were eaten by bears as a result of a curse given by Elisha. That is not exactly the kind of story a mother reads to her children just before they go to sleep!
While Elisha seemed to be more peaceful in nature than the fiery ministry of Elijah, the same ways of ministry and judgment came forth from him. Although Elisha seemed to be of a quieter temperament, his ministry was just as violent in its nature as Elijah’s. We can walk in that violence, too. It makes no difference what type of personality a person has: they may be a very quiet person, but as they move in God, the very violence of judgment and tribulation will become a part of what emanates from their spirit.
Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold now, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful” (it is barren; it miscarries). And he said, “Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. And he went out to the spring of water, and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer.’ ” So the waters have been purified to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke (this happened in Jericho). Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number. And he went from there to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria. II Kings 2:19–25.
The city of Jericho was a stronghold of priests in Christ’s day, and it was intended to be so from the beginning of its founding. Bethel, however, was a place that was often given to the worship of Baal and other idolatry. Elisha healed the waters of one city which was dedicated to the priesthood, and he destroyed the children of another city which was dedicated to Baal’s worship. Two miracles occurred: one was great blessing, restoration, regeneration, and healing, so that fruitfulness could come forth; the other was destruction of the people’s children, their prized little ones.
We are living in the day which Elisha portrayed as a day of the Kingdom. The day of the Kingdom brings a mingling of blessings and judgments in the earth. As we begin to move into the Kingdom, all the forces of nature, even before they are loosed from futility, will be made to bring forth judgment upon the rebellious. This truth is seen in the book of Revelation.
Judgment is not just the plagues that God pours out on man, but it is also the trouble that man causes for man. God will turn people over to what is in their own nature, so that they become destructive to one another. What is in each man will come forth. This will be true of all nature. In the days of the Kingdom, everyone who goes to keep the Feast of Tabernacles will be blessed, and upon his land it will rain. But upon the land of the one who will not go up and keep the Feast and obey the word of the Lord, it will not rain (Zechariah 14:16–17).
The Kingdom is not going to be filled with a great many people who have eternal life, continuing on endlessly. The power of the first resurrection will loose the saints of God and will also bring forth the saints of other generations in a glorified body. The resurrection will not be just one event, but it will be succeeding planes and experiences. There will also be inhabitants in this earth who have opened their hearts to the Lord and will still live on a human plane, though that life will be prolonged. God will still be dealing with the human race.
The only difference is that Satan will be bound for a thousand years, and the downward pull of gravity upon us by satanic powers will be reversed. The house of the Lord will be established above the mountains, and all nations will flow into it (Isaiah 2:2). The pull will be upward toward God.
That does not mean that many of us will not enter into glorified life. We will. But God’s dealings during the Kingdom will be entirely different from what they have been in ages past. Why would the Scriptures speak about the prolonging of life if everyone already had eternal life? They say that if a man dies at a hundred years old, it is counted a premature death; for the years of a man are to be as the years of a tree (Isaiah 65:20–22).
In those days God will wipe away all tears from His people’s eyes (Revelation 21:4) and will allow nothing that would make an offense to come against them (Revelation 21:27). He will rule with a rod of iron over the nations (Revelation 19:15). Do not get the idea that the need for government does not exist in the days of the Kingdom. But establish it in your mind that the need will be taken care of completely.
Elisha’s first two miracles are a miracle of deliverance and restoration and a miracle of judgment. That is the story of the salt and the story of the bears. Is the miracle of deliverance and restoration, what you need now? How much of your efforts actually miscarry?
How many of your visions and dreams that were born of God seem to suddenly abort? Before the fruit is ripe, it falls to the ground. Before the vision materializes, it comes to naught. It can be disturbing. Have you had prophecies and real direction from the Lord come over your life? Yet you reached an impasse that you could not break through, and you seem to be a failure? First you should bind and rebuke that abortive spirit. Then a pure flow from God will come forth. The ministry of salt which purifies, preserves, seals by covenant, and opens the door to fruitfulness is essential while the first days of the Kingdom come forth.
What Elisha did was highly symbolic. The miracle we need now is God’s loosing us from a barrenness, from an abortive thing that destroys our efforts to move into the fruitfulness that God has ordained. In the days of the Kingdom we will not plant and another eat, but we will long enjoy our efforts (Isaiah 65:22). What we do will last.
Many of us have labored diligently and yet have not seen a full fruitfulness in our labors. We do not see ourselves moving into what God originally spoke over our lives. God does not intend for us to have just a token fulfillment of His promises. The harvest is going to fill the whole earth.
God does not mean for us to prophesy and see only a little happen. He intends that our word will be mighty in His power. It is recorded in the book of Acts that one sermon was preached and three thousand were saved (Acts 2:41), and another sermon was preached and five thousand were saved (Acts 4:4).
For a long time there has been a complete reversal of this trend upon the religious world, and sermons have been unproductive. But we are beginning to move again in the productive Word of the Lord, and many people are met. The words impart to us and create in us, and we cannot forget them. They haunt us after we hear them, and they are constantly brought to mind. We are living in a more fruitful and productive age. We are being projected as the progenitors and the children of a new age at the same time.
God wants to bring the miracle of salt, so the waters that flow will bring forth great fruitfulness in the land. We will not see progress to a certain point and then failure. But we will see sons come to birth and be delivered. In another age, many sons came to birth, and there was not strength to deliver (Isaiah 37:3). But of this age Isaiah prophesied, Before she (Zion) travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Isaiah 66:7. This is fantastic. God gives a word, and before the pains begin we find sons being projected into a mature walk with Him. We are living in quite another age now.
In Ezekiel 16 we again find salt mentioned. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born. When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ I made you numerous like plants of the field.” ’ ” Ezekiel 16:1–7a.
This is a beautiful prophetic picture. It is speaking of the dealings of God upon Jerusalem before the captivity. It emphasizes the significance of new beginnings. In those days when a couple was married, they would partake of salt together. A covenant of salt was made at the beginning of a relationship, at the forming of a bond. When a child was born, he was washed with water and rubbed with a salt solution. It would be a little rough on tender skin, but the salt was applied not because the baby’s skin needed the salt, but because the baby was entering into life, into a covenant. Ezekiel prophesied, “I saw you squirming in your blood, and I said, ‘Live!’ ” God was speaking of the way that Jerusalem had come into being in His sight, He was also giving a symbolic picture that salt was the covenant made with God.
Salt was the symbol of many things. Offerings were made to the Lord, but the people were forbidden to make any offering to the Lord that was not seasoned with salt (Leviticus 2:13). Even in the New Testament the Lord speaks of salt: “For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:49, 50.
“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 14:34, 35.
Ye are the salt of the earth. Matthew 5:13a.
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person. Colossians 4:6. Every sacrifice was offered with salt. Numbers 18:19 records that God made a covenant of salt with the Levites. II Chronicles 13:5 says that God made a covenant of salt with David that there would always be someone to be upon his throne.
There is no single meaning of salt. Salt was the symbol used for covenants that were binding. It was used in dedication at the beginning of a relationship, and it was used in sacrifice. Salt was often the symbol of corrective judgment with which God prepared the heart for better things. Salt was also a symbol and a sign of blessing upon the dedication of an individual. Salt was the sign of a divine bond of God with His people that He would fulfill His promises over them. Salt was also used when two people made a covenant with each other. A covenant of salt was to be perfect.
God says, “You have salt in yourselves; but if the salt has lost its savor, it is not good for anything. It will be put out on the manure pile” (Luke 14:34, 35). It is not even good for the earth! It is good for nothing. In God’s dealings and the judgment that He brings upon your life, He is preparing your submission and dedication to Him. When you open your heart to Him, that will guarantee the barren waters will be healed.
When the prophet Elisha poured salt into the stream, it had a deep spiritual significance. God is doing the same thing for you, whether you realize it or not. You may think that God is just using the salt to rub into the wounds. The salt is not for your wounds; the salt is for future fruitfulness. God is making a covenant with you. If the Lord did not love you, He would not deal with you in that way.
The great usefulness of salt is amazing. Salt has long been used as a preservative. Salt has also been used for disinfecting. After the Romans had beaten a person, they would rub salt into the wounds. That was cruel, but the salt minimized the danger of infection.
God is bringing to us His dealings in order to guarantee the future of fruitfulness. Why is a tree abortive in its nature? Why does it drop its fruit while the fruit is still green? God made the tree to bear fruit, so there must be some condition in the soil, in the water, or in the circumstances that prevent that fruit from coming to its full maturity. Why have the efforts of the Church been abortive? Why have we sown much and received little? Why have we labored to put our money into a bag of holes? When we have looked for much, why has the Lord blown upon it, so that it has come to little? (Haggai 1:6, 9).
Lack of dedication and roots of many things have been in our hearts. Satan knows how to use the weaknesses in our hearts to abort the real results we could see. God’s dealings on you today are the dealings of salt. They are the beginnings of a dealing that will be deep and drastic in its nature, so that the future will be guaranteed and the fruitfulness will come forth. He will not allow an infection to be in your spirit that might later cause the fruit to fall or cause the bearing process to be aborted. God will not allow it.
You are not going to carry within your heart the seed of your own future defeats. You will not carry within your nature the roots of that which would rise up like thorns to choke out the word. You will not carry within your being a hidden response, an openness to the old life, or an openness to a satanic contact or bond. It might suddenly destroy everything that has been attained in God through the years when you have reached the place that you are ready to really lay hold upon a tremendous thing from God.
The Kingdom of God begins with God’s removing of every offensive thing from our lives. We may not even be aware of the cause of His dealings. But His deep dealings within us reach to the very depths of our beings, so that the causes of barrenness and unfruitfulness will be removed. In the days to come, our efforts will not be without great effect. The effect of our word and ministry will increase. God is not dealing with a diminishing anointing. He is bringing an experience and an anointing that increases every day. Whereas we used to labor hard and long to see just a few results, now just a little effort brings forth much fruit. There is a greater fullness coming now, and we are just getting started.
In days to come the ministries will be restored with such authority and such power that an apostolic company will go through the land. The results will be as great or greater than they were in the days of the Apostle Peter, whose shadow fell upon the sick and they were healed (Acts 5:15). The fullness will not be diminishing. We do not yet realize how unfruitful we have been and how much effort it has taken to bring us to this point. There has been a famine in the land (Amos 8:11); but now there is a Living Word that is coming from God. There is bread. Now the waters are flowing, and they are healed.
The Living Word will not diminish, but it will come like a flood tide. It will be like a tidal wave that will sweep away the refuse of lies. Babylon will hate the word that flows. But we can only do one thing with these beautiful, healed waters: let them flow. The world has not been significantly moved by the methods Christianity has used. Testimony meetings, promotional magazines, clever programs, and organizations have not brought forth mature fruit. Christians have even resorted to the tactics of the world and sent computer-written letters requesting money. Every sort of gimmick has been used, but it is not doing the job, because all the programs and organizations are corrupt in the sight of God. The fruit drops; nothing is brought to the birth.
Many people brag about how many years they have supported a certain minister, but they do not realize that they have not grown in that time. They feel that the minister is doing a good work, but they forget to look for the fruit. They continue sending their money to keep something going that has become an abomination and a stench in the sight of God. Drinking from such fruitless waters protracts the babyhood of people and does not allow them to grow. When they drink the waters, nothing comes to perfection or maturity.
The Living Word should be exalted without the focus on anything else but the Lord. The Lord is not against advertisements as long as we advertise His word. We are not to advertise man, for no flesh is to be exalted. It has been a directive from the Lord that flesh is not to be exalted. Therefore, we will advertise the Living Word that God has brought by placing it into hands of many people. Though they may not understand the word at first, it will begin to move on their spirits, and slowly something will happen. A pure word from God can change the world.
The salt has been put in the stream, and the city is beginning to revive. Little babies are coming to birth. The trees and the orchards are blooming. The flocks are reproducing abundantly. There is the baa of little lambs as they are leaping in the fields, and there is the lowing of cattle and the little calves that are sucking. What has brought all this fruitfulness? The waters are healed. The corruption of man’s works has been removed, and now life can be sustained. The day of fruitfulness has come because the pure fountain is flowing.
The motivation of a walk in the Spirit is different than the motivations used in the past. In the past, the focus was forbidding the people from doing certain things, making them fear they would go to hell if they did them. For instance, the people could not at any time go to a dance, for the Lord might come and they would be left on the dance floor. The teaching of the rapture was used as a threat. The trumpet call would not be heard if they were sleeping on the lap of Delilah.
The motivation is different now. In a walk in the Spirit, people’s motivation is not the fear of being rejected, but it is the delight of being accepted by God. It is the living hope that He soon will appear; and that hope causes us to purify ourselves, even as He is pure. Our motivation is not the threat of what we will miss; it is the hope of what we will have. We are entreated by the mercies of God, not by the threat of judgment; therefore, we present ourselves as living sacrifices. We purify ourselves in a covenant of salt, that we might be acceptable sacrifices in God’s sight.
The young people in the world are not moved by the threats of legalism. They do not worry about going to hell because of sexual promiscuity. But when young people come into a walk with God, we warn them that they cannot be promiscuous because the bond they make will cloud their relationship to the Lord. They strive for purity because they know a wrong bond will prevent them from serving God as they should. Today, it is not the negative approach that is motivating people; it is a Living Word from God. By the washing of water in the pure word, we will be His Bride without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish.
The beginning of the Kingdom is noted for the covenant of salt that makes the streams pure. This is a key of fruitfulness. Let us walk in it. Let us cry for God to meet our hearts, to purge and purify them. Let us be vessels of honor in the house of God.
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these (with salt), he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet (prepared) for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. II Timothy 2:20–21.
These are the days that the pure waters of Jericho flow. These are the days of fruitfulness, and these are the days of anointing. We shall labor and bring forth abundantly. We shall sow and we shall reap bountifully. These are the days when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.
There is a deep repentance upon us; a repentance that has an eagerness to believe God. We will cast away the abominable thing that would defeat us. For God is creating such a love within our hearts for righteousness that we will abhor that which is displeasing to God.
Lord, we lift our hearts to you in deep repentance. Cleanse us, O Lord, of all iniquity. Purge us with hyssop, that we shall be clean. Stir the depths of our beings, and make us Thy holy and righteous people.
We know that righteousness is not attained by our own efforts, but by reaching into Thee and hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness in mind and thought. Bring down everything that exalts itself against Thee, and let our hearts be focused upon Thee alone. Lord, we bind everything within our own beings over to Thy dealings, so that we will be vessels of honor unto Thee. We refuse to carry within our hearts the seeds of future defeats; we will Be a people who shall walk with the Lord with all grace.
O God, we would enter into a covenant of salt with Thee. We come with our sacrifices seasoned with salt. We come before You, purposing that we will turn away from every corruption and be purified from everything within us that would in any way corrupt the flow of Thy word through us.