Elisha ministered mostly to the ten northern tribes of Israel, who shortly after his ministry were taken into captivity by Syria. Many of the people were destroyed because of their idolatry, for the judgments of God were upon them.
Both Elisha and Elijah were a counteracting force in stopping the apostasy in Israel for a time. The kings of Israel could not afford to return to the Lord because if they did, the people would go to the temple at Jerusalem for the feasts and sacrifices.
Then the people would have been under the influence of Judea and the king of Judah. The kings of Israel did not want that influence over their people. Even if the people intended to serve the Lord, while they feared the Lord, they served their own gods (II Kings 17:33).
The kings kept the people away from the Lord because it was financially and politically expedient. Otherwise, the people would have been paying their tithes and taxes in Jerusalem. However, some kings, such as King Joash, did look to Elisha.
The story of the death of Elisha is found in II Kings 13:14–21. When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” And he put his hand on it, then Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you shall defeat the Syrians at Aphek until you have destroyed them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Syria until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Syria only three times.”
And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. And as they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.
The northern tribes were in the proximity of Syria; and even today this is a battleground between the descendants of Syria and descendants of Israel, as guerilla bands come from this area to harass the Israelis.
When Joash went to Elisha, he did not come to make a request, but he did need help. Elisha sat up in his bed and told him what to do. The actions were simple actions, but they were actions that expressed faith. The faith was expressed to determine the nature of the future. (Scientists are studying how to forecast when a man will have a heart attack by classifying his personality type. Even the people of the world try to predict the future. But Christians would be called fanatics for moving in the predictive wisdom of the Lord.) Elisha prophesied and then limited the extent of the fulfillment of the prophecy. He said that the fulfillment of the prophecy would depend upon Joash. The extent of the fulfillment of any prophecy depends upon how it is received and acted upon.
After Joash shot the arrow through the opened window, Elisha told him to take the arrows and beat the ground with them. Joash struck the ground three times and stopped. Elisha was furious and said that Joash should have struck the ground five or six times. Then the Syrians, who had constantly harassed Israel, would have been thoroughly and completely destroyed, instead, Israel would defeat Syria only three times. Prophecies and their fulfillment are relative. It does not matter what is prophesied over you; the extent of the fulfillment of that prophecy, no matter how wonderful it is, will depend upon your approach to it.
Men sometimes reject prophecies as being false because they develop a bitter spirit. They have prophecies over them that they will do certain things. God is faithful, and there is a token fulfillment of the prophecies. Yet these men never really develop into the ministry that could be expected. The prophecies are fulfilled in only a small measure. Fulfillment is relative to the faith of the individual involved and is also dependent upon his enthusiasm and wholeheartedness and upon his focus on the word.
Paul instructed Timothy, “Remember the prophecies that have come over you. Meditate on them. Give yourself wholly to them that your profiting may appear to all” (I Timothy 4:15). The prophecy may be very true, but the fulfillment may not amount to much. It is up to you. A prophecy can be fulfilled in such a great way that the people who heard the prophecy will marvel that such a simple statement would see such a great fulfillment. The fulfillment is up to you. You cannot judge whether a prophecy is true or false by the extent of its fulfillment. The extent of fulfillment still rests upon the individual over whom the prophecy has come.
Do you believe that Judas Iscariot was an apostle? Do you believe that he healed the sick and performed miracles? He certainly did. He must have been one of the seventy Jesus commissioned (Luke 10). Peter said that Judas went to his own place in suicide and his bishoprick let another take (Acts 1:20, 25). Judas missed a great deal.
Judas will never be able to say that the prophecies did not come to pass or that they were not true. The prophecies were true. The fulfillment was dependent upon his faithfulness, his focus, and the giving of himself to the grace of God that could bring the fulfillment forth. He determined the extent of the fulfillment himself.
God has spoken great things over us, and I cannot think of anything more embarrassing than to have all these prophecies and revelations and to see only a measure of fulfillment. I do not intend for God to fulfill the prophecies over me in a small way. I want the fulfillment to be exceedingly, abundantly above all that I ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). I am expecting God to use His principle of abundance. He takes loaves and fishes and multiplies them until much is left over after everyone has eaten (Mark 8:8).
Honestly, I am not satisfied with the fulfillment of the prophecies in my life. Are you satisfied with what you are walking in? Are you satisfied with the way that the prophecies have been fulfilled in your life? Do you believe that the words over you are alive? Are you discontented with the measure of the fulfillment, with the extent to which the word has come to pass?
The extent of the fulfillment of a prophecy depends on you. The prophecies are true, but the fulfillment is relative to the way that you give yourself to it. If there is a limited preparation in your heart, then there will be a limited fulfillment. If you have refused to enter into the work of the cross and have hidden certain areas of your life from the Lord, then do not be surprised if God’s use of you is also limited. To the extent that you become a vessel sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, to that extent you will be a vessel of honor (II Timothy 2:21).
I want God to use me to the utmost. I want Him to do whatever is necessary in my life that will enable me to believe for a fulfillment that has no limitation on it. I do not want to beat the ground three times with the arrows. I want to beat the ground until the points come off, the feathers fly out, and all that is left are splinters in my hand.
The key to fulfillment is to faithfully enter in to walk with God. We must be people with enthusiasm. The word “enthusiasm” comes from two Greek words: “en” and “theos.” “Theos” is the word for God. The word “enthusiasm” originated as an expression for the ecstatic joy and tremendous emotion found in a man who lived in “theos,” in God.
O God, grant that we have some enthusiasm, that we be in God—believing for the joy, believing for the fulfillment, believing for the anointing of the Spirit to be upon us.
We do not want a little measure. Elisha lived with that idea; he demanded a double portion. When he died and was buried, his corpse had more life in it than many of the living. When the frightened men threw a dead man’s body on Elisha’s carcass, the dead man revived and stood up. The men must have really been frightened then!
Elisha had more life in his dead carcass than most people have after forty days of fasting. What was the secret of Elisha’s ministry? Wholeheartedness. He raised up on his deathbed to rebuke King Joash, telling him with what wholeheartedness he should have believed God and struck the arrows.
Let us serve the Lord with all our hearts. When we have done it, we will have only fulfilled the first commandment He gave us: …Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Matthew 22:37. We must be wholehearted in our walk with the Lord.