A New Covenant Miracle in an Old Covenant Story

2 Kings 2:19-22

The first miracle that Elisha performed, after the translation of his teacher Elijah into heaven in a chariot of fire, was to part the waters of the Jordan. His second miracle dealt with water as well; this time in healing it so that it would support crops. In many ways, Elijah is a type of John the Baptist, while Elisha is a type of Jesus. As Elijah went before Elisha, so did John before Jesus. As Elijah’s work brought glory to God, Elisha’s brought glory both to God and life to the people. The ministries of John and Jesus mirrored this example.

When Elisha comes to Jericho everything is good with the city and its citizens, but they have water that will not support the growth of crops, thus the farming industry is about to face a serious shortage. Elisha requests a “new cruse” or a ‘new pot’ with salt in it. He takes the new pot with salt in it to the spring of the waters and “cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land” (2 Kings 2:21).

The “new cruse” is a type of the New Covenant, as proved by the statement of Jesus:

“No man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.” (Luke 5:37, 38)

The New Covenant cannot be placed within the bottle or the mentality of the Old Covenant. Actually, if you try to place the grace and mercy of the New Covenant within the law and works of the Old Covenant you will burst the Old while spilling the New. Man tries to ‘balance’ the two, but God just calls it ‘mixture’.

Stored within the “new cruse” of Elisha is “salt”. Christ calls the church the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) and asks how the world can be salted if we have lost our flavor. While salt causes thirst, it also holds medicinal value. The application of salt brings healing, and Jesus’ inclusion of us as salt shows that there is healing within the message of God’s goodness and grace and we have a responsibility to share that with all of the Jericho’s that we encounter.

Nestled into this Old Covenant story is a beautiful New Covenant truth. When there is barrenness and death in our lives, the healing salts of the New Covenant will enter to bring healing and wholeness. Paul called the gospel of Jesus Christ “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). Salvation is “soteria” in Greek, meaning “deliverance, preservation and wholeness”. The waters of our soul are restored by the finished work of Christ at the cross. He is our salt and the New Covenant is His “new cruse”.

Apply the goodness and grace of God to your situation today and watch the land of your soul flourish with His salvation.

Nehushtan: A Thing of Brass

2 Kings 18:1-4

In the 21st chapter of Numbers, Israel was plagued by venomous snakes biting and killing thousands. God ordered Moses to make a brazen serpent and put it on a pole and all who were bitten could look upon it and be healed. This was a type of Christ, crucified and lifted up, in the form of a curse, brazen by the fiery judgment of God; all who look to Him will be saved.

Seven hundred years have passed by the time that we arrive at 2 Kings 18, and we find that Israel is still burning incense to this brass serpent (verse 4). Newly crowned king Hezekiah breaks it into pieces, calling it Nehushtan, which means “thing of brass” in Hebrew.

What God had intended for healing and deliverance they had turned into an object of worship, forgetting that it was only a “thing of brass”. It took God’s chosen king to bring them back to the knowledge that there is no object that is to be worshipped and revered. There is no hope for the believer in hanging a picture of Jesus or wearing a cross around their neck. These are objects that are neutral within themselves, but if perspective is lost, they become a Nehushtan that should be avoided.

There are many wonderful things that we do in our church services that we all identify with as being special. They represent great and mighty things, but we must never be more in love with the formula of doing them than we are with the Jesus that they are about. Some have made a Nehushtan out of water baptism, the sacraments, their denomination, the Pentecostal experience, the church building, the preacher and even their favorite style of praise and worship. These are representatives or means to an end. Let’s worship Him, not His stuff!

There was never any power in the brass serpent, but it brought them back to the government of God, where man would look to a redeemer by faith. The fact that they had kept it around for 7 centuries teaches us some things that are similar to today’s church: They had lost consciousness of why they looked to the serpent. No Christian church has abandoned the image of the cross, but many have forgotten all that Jesus accomplished on that cross.

The presence of the serpent also shows that they were still hungry for God. People may not be going to church for all of the right reasons, but they are going, and that shows that many still hunger for God to be relevant in their everyday life.

Examine your life today, and be sure that there are no Nehushtans. These things do not take away your salvation, for nothing can do that, but they do impede your walk with your Savior, taking your focus off of Him and His finished work and placing it on an object that will someday pass away. You need no external stimulus to show you the finished work of your Savior and the love of God. Look no further than into your heart, and see your loving Jesus right there!

An Alternate Altar

2 Kings 16:10-17

The furniture of the tabernacle was to be of particular size and shape, as was every single thing about God’s tabernacle. Moses was given specific instructions pertaining to each item and there was to be no deviation. These measurements, colors and shapes all held deep spiritual significance, pointing forward in one way or another to the coming Messiah.

King Ahaz was a wicked king over Judah, and his decisions reflect a man depraved of the presence of the Lord. He visited Damascus to meet with the king of Assyria, a sworn enemy of Israel and Judah, and while he was there he became infatuated with the architecture of that nation. He sent word back to the high priest in Judah that he wanted a replica built of a magnificent altar that he had seen in Damascus. The high priest built the altar per the king’s specifications and the king began using it immediately upon returning home.

After arriving, the king ordered the priest to begin using the new altar for all of the sacrifices of Israel, and to leave the old brazen altar that sat in the temple for the king’s use only. Actually, he had the brazen altar moved closer to the new altar so that he could enquire at it whenever he wished. This combination of bad decisions leads to the premature death of Ahaz and the subsequent judgment of God. By building a new altar, he was considering the brazen altar out-dated and useless. This is a type of a “new Christianity”, where there is no need for a crucified Savior, or talk of His finished work. He also denied the nation and the people access to the brazen altar, thus making salvation a gift only for the aristocracy. Calvary leveled the playing field, so that everyone, great and small comes to God by the same means. There is no respecter of persons with God (Romans 2:11), and Calvary is no exception.

Ahaz made one more move that will link him forever with the doomed Pontius Pilate. There was a brazen laver outside of the door of the temple, which sat on 4 feet, lifted from the pavement. This laver contained water which the priest would use to wash his hands and feet so that he could enter the temple in a purified state. Ahaz cut the legs off of the laver and sit it on the floor, thus lowering the purification of God to the level of the common man. The laver sat up, separated from the floor, for God’s holiness was not common, and it could be approached only after the priest had offered a sacrifice on the altar. By placing the laver on the floor, it became average, and just like any other basin.

The text says that Ahaz sat it “upon a pavement of stones” (2 Kings 16:17), a statement that does not appear again in the Old Testament. However, we do find it in the New Testament, written in Hebrew, in regards to the trial of Jesus Christ. Pilate has tired of talking to Jesus and he brings Him into a place “called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha” (John 19:13). Gabbatha was a platform made of square stones. Pilate puts Jesus on a cross and numbers him with the transgressors, killing Him between two common criminals. Jesus was anything but common, but the world has tried to make Him as much ever since.

Lift Jesus high and to His rightful place in your own life and conversation. Don’t cheapen and lessen the price that Jesus paid by always emphasizing your sin and failure instead of His perfection and success. He suffered so that you would never suffer. All other forms of Christianity are alternate altars, like Ahaz’s creation. There is nothing cheap or common about the price paid for us and we would do well to give Him the honor that He paid for.

A Thing of Brass

2 Kings 18:1-4

Nearly 700 years had passed since Moses had fashioned a serpent out of brass and placed it on a pole for all of Israel to look upon and be healed when twenty-five year old Hezekiah became king of Judah. A true son of David, he followed in his ancestor’s footsteps, doing “that which was right in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 18:3).

One of the first things that Hezekiah did as king was brought spiritual reform to the nation. He started by removing the high places of worship that Israelites had fashioned to avoid making the journey to the temple in Jerusalem. These high places represented alternatives to the brazen altar and were as damaging to the people as an alternative form of Calvary would be to us.

He also broke in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made. This brass snake had been held in high regard by the children of Israel for 7 centuries, and had become a holy relic to the people. They had gone so far as to burn incense to it (verse 4), which is a form of worship. Barred from worshipping idols by the law, Israel was taking something that was meant to be good to a previous generation and turning it into a shameful thing.

Hezekiah calls the serpent “Nehushtan” which in Hebrew means, “a thing of brass”. This title removes all mystery and superstition from the snake, taking it back to what it truly is, just a thing made out of brass. He meant to jolt Israel into a realization that it was never the snake that had delivered them, but it was the Lord God of their fathers.

The presence of this brass snake after 700 years shows us that Israel had lost consciousness as to who God really was. It also shows that they still had a hunger for the things of God, though they did not know how to bring those things about. They had also made a mistake that is common to the church today; they had misinterpreted history and trusted the serpent instead of what the serpent represented.

We are often guilty of making holy relics out of things that are purely symbolic. Some have elevated the act of water baptism to a level on par with salvation itself. Others view the sacraments of the church as vital to salvation or a particular denomination as having special revelation from God, and only the members of that denomination as being truly saved. All of these things hold their place within Christianity, but they are still “Nehushtan”, and can be treated as nothing more.

Still others elevate the act of praise and worship to the highest level in the church or they have a secret worship of their building and structure, feeling that these things actually bring them closer to God. If we do not keep Jesus in our sights we are all susceptible to a Nehushtan becoming bigger and more important to us than Christ and His finished work.

Let’s live our lives in a way in which we can keep the serpent of brass around for what it is without making it more important than who we are in Christ. Our traditions and buildings and beliefs are beautiful and should be respected, but our Savior is glorious and should be adored.

Dip 7 Times

2 Kings 5:1-14

The story of Naaman and his dipping seven times in the Jordan River to be cured of his leprosy is one of the most famous Old Testament stories, heard by all way back in Sunday school. Naaman was a Syrian general who had the favor of God resting on him, having been used to deliver his nation. He also owned an Israeli slave girl whom the Bible leaves nameless, who tells the leprosy-stricken Naaman that there is a man of God in Israel who can help him (2 Kings 5:3).

The man of God is Elisha, who tells Naaman to wash himself in the Jordan River seven times, “and thou shalt be clean” (verse 10). The Jordan River is the same place that Jesus will be baptized over 900 years later, marking the beginning of His earthly ministry. It is also the river that Israel crossed when going into the Promised Land. It holds a significant place in Biblical history as the beginning point, or the entrance to a new land. Just as Israel began to possess Canaan at Jordan, Jesus began to do His Father’s work at Jordan. For Naaman, it would represent the beginning of a new life of physical health.

For the believer, our Jordan River comes at Calvary, the moment that we meet Christ as our Savior. We give Him our life, allowing it to be crucified with all of its old lusts and affections. He gives us His eternal life, and we walk a new walk with Him every day. For Naaman to dip seven times is no coincidental use of numerology. Seven is God’s number of completion and perfection, thus, Naaman’s seventh time down represents Christ’s finished work at the cross. Elisha is pointing us forward to the healing virtues of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Every sickness and sin that plagues the family of man can be taken care of at our spiritual Jordan, Calvary. Just as the waters of that river washed over the sores of Naaman’s body, the blood of Jesus will wash over the wounds of a life spent in sin. We are made clean by His blood, through no effort of our own.

Naaman is typical of the world searching for redemption through any other means than through Jesus Christ and His finished work. He is first upset that Elisha does not come out to him and lay hands on the wounds, claiming healing in the name of the Lord. He wants a deliverance that looks spectacular, rather than one that is effective. Some are more concerned at how their religion looks to the outside than whether or not there are any tangible results.

Next, Naaman asks if the rivers of Damascus, namely Abana or Pharpar are not better and cleaner than the dirty, insignificant Jordan River. This complaint is a type of the sinner attempting to purify themselves through the “clean” means of this world’s self-help philosophies, psychiatric means, etc. Jesus’ cross is a bloody place that kills our old man. Sometimes we forget just how costly that His cross was, and we lean towards our own abilities to heal ourselves.
Fortunately, Naaman’s desire to be healed is stronger than his objections to the fashion in which he is to be healed. His faith is what takes him into the dirty waters of the Jordan, for as his servant points out, “What does he have to lose”? What do you have to lose by allowing the purifying waters of Calvary to wash over your soul? The end result is cleanliness in the presence of your Father, and there is no greater reward!

A New Covenant Miracle in an Old Covenant Story

2 Kings 2:19-22

The first miracle that Elisha performed, after the translation of his teacher Elijah into heaven in a chariot of fire, was to part the waters of the Jordan. His second miracle dealt with water as well; this time in healing it so that it would support crops. In many ways, Elijah is a type of John the Baptist, while Elisha is a type of Jesus. As Elijah went before Elisha, so did John before Jesus. As Elijah’s work brought glory to God, Elisha’s brought glory both to God and life to the people. The ministries of John and Jesus mirrored this example.

When Elisha comes to Jericho everything is good with the city and its citizens, but they have water that will not support the growth of crops, thus the farming industry is about to face a serious shortage. Elisha requests a “new cruse” or a ‘new pot’ with salt in it. He takes the new pot with salt in it to the spring of the waters and “cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land” (2 Kings 2:21).

The “new cruse” is a type of the New Covenant, as proved by the statement of Jesus:

“No man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.” (Luke 5:37, 38)

The New Covenant cannot be placed within the bottle or the mentality of the Old Covenant. Actually, if you try to place the grace and mercy of the New Covenant within the law and works of the Old Covenant you will burst the Old while spilling the New. Man tries to ‘balance’ the two, but God just calls it ‘mixture’.

Stored within the “new cruse” of Elisha is “salt”. Christ calls the church the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) and asks how the world can be salted if we have lost our flavor. While salt causes thirst, it also holds medicinal value. The application of salt brings healing, and Jesus’ inclusion of us as salt shows that there is healing within the message of God’s goodness and grace and we have a responsibility to share that with all of the Jericho’s that we encounter.

Nestled into this Old Covenant story is a beautiful New Covenant truth. When there is barrenness and death in our lives, the healing salts of the New Covenant will enter to bring healing and wholeness. Paul called the gospel of Jesus Christ “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). Salvation is “soteria” in Greek, meaning “deliverance, preservation and wholeness”. The waters of our soul are restored by the finished work of Christ at the cross. He is our salt and the New Covenant is His “new cruse”.

Apply the goodness and grace of God to your situation today and watch the land of your soul flourish with His salvation.

Nehushtan: A Thing of Brass

2 Kings 18:1-4

In the 21st chapter of Numbers, Israel was plagued by venomous snakes biting and killing thousands. God ordered Moses to make a brazen serpent and put it on a pole and all who were bitten could look upon it and be healed. This was a type of Christ, crucified and lifted up, in the form of a curse, brazen by the fiery judgment of God; all who look to Him will be saved.

Seven hundred years have passed by the time that we arrive at 2 Kings 18, and we find that Israel is still burning incense to this brass serpent (verse 4). Newly crowned king Hezekiah breaks it into pieces, calling it Nehushtan, which means “thing of brass” in Hebrew.

What God had intended for healing and deliverance they had turned into an object of worship, forgetting that it was only a “thing of brass”. It took God’s chosen king to bring them back to the knowledge that there is no object that is to be worshipped and revered. There is no hope for the believer in hanging a picture of Jesus or wearing a cross around their neck. These are objects that are neutral within themselves, but if perspective is lost, they become a Nehushtan that should be avoided.

There are many wonderful things that we do in our church services that we all identify with as being special. They represent great and mighty things, but we must never be more in love with the formula of doing them than we are with the Jesus that they are about. Some have made a Nehushtan out of water baptism, the sacraments, their denomination, the Pentecostal experience, the church building, the preacher and even their favorite style of praise and worship. These are representatives or means to an end. Let’s worship Him, not His stuff!

There was never any power in the brass serpent, but it brought them back to the government of God, where man would look to a redeemer by faith. The fact that they had kept it around for 7 centuries teaches us some things that are similar to today’s church: They had lost consciousness of why they looked to the serpent. No Christian church has abandoned the image of the cross, but many have forgotten all that Jesus accomplished on that cross.

The presence of the serpent also shows that they were still hungry for God. People may not be going to church for all of the right reasons, but they are going, and that shows that many still hunger for God to be relevant in their everyday life.

Examine your life today, and be sure that there are no Nehushtans. These things do not take away your salvation, for nothing can do that, but they do impede your walk with your Savior, taking your focus off of Him and His finished work and placing it on an object that will someday pass away. You need no external stimulus to show you the finished work of your Savior and the love of God. Look no further than into your heart, and see your loving Jesus right there!

An Alternate Altar

2 Kings 16:10-17

The furniture of the tabernacle was to be of particular size and shape, as was every single thing about God’s tabernacle. Moses was given specific instructions pertaining to each item and there was to be no deviation. These measurements, colors and shapes all held deep spiritual significance, pointing forward in one way or another to the coming Messiah.

King Ahaz was a wicked king over Judah, and his decisions reflect a man depraved of the presence of the Lord. He visited Damascus to meet with the king of Assyria, a sworn enemy of Israel and Judah, and while he was there he became infatuated with the architecture of that nation. He sent word back to the high priest in Judah that he wanted a replica built of a magnificent altar that he had seen in Damascus. The high priest built the altar per the king’s specifications and the king began using it immediately upon returning home.

After arriving, the king ordered the priest to begin using the new altar for all of the sacrifices of Israel, and to leave the old brazen altar that sat in the temple for the king’s use only. Actually, he had the brazen altar moved closer to the new altar so that he could enquire at it whenever he wished. This combination of bad decisions leads to the premature death of Ahaz and the subsequent judgment of God. By building a new altar, he was considering the brazen altar out-dated and useless. This is a type of a “new Christianity”, where there is no need for a crucified Savior, or talk of His finished work. He also denied the nation and the people access to the brazen altar, thus making salvation a gift only for the aristocracy. Calvary leveled the playing field, so that everyone, great and small comes to God by the same means. There is no respecter of persons with God (Romans 2:11), and Calvary is no exception.

Ahaz made one more move that will link him forever with the doomed Pontius Pilate. There was a brazen laver outside of the door of the temple, which sat on 4 feet, lifted from the pavement. This laver contained water which the priest would use to wash his hands and feet so that he could enter the temple in a purified state. Ahaz cut the legs off of the laver and sit it on the floor, thus lowering the purification of God to the level of the common man. The laver sat up, separated from the floor, for God’s holiness was not common, and it could be approached only after the priest had offered a sacrifice on the altar. By placing the laver on the floor, it became average, and just like any other basin.

The text says that Ahaz sat it “upon a pavement of stones” (2 Kings 16:17), a statement that does not appear again in the Old Testament. However, we do find it in the New Testament, written in Hebrew, in regards to the trial of Jesus Christ. Pilate has tired of talking to Jesus and he brings Him into a place “called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha” (John 19:13). Gabbatha was a platform made of square stones. Pilate puts Jesus on a cross and numbers him with the transgressors, killing Him between two common criminals. Jesus was anything but common, but the world has tried to make Him as much ever since.

Lift Jesus high and to His rightful place in your own life and conversation. Don’t cheapen and lessen the price that Jesus paid by always emphasizing your sin and failure instead of His perfection and success. He suffered so that you would never suffer. All other forms of Christianity are alternate altars, like Ahaz’s creation. There is nothing cheap or common about the price paid for us and we would do well to give Him the honor that He paid for.

A Thing of Brass

2 Kings 18:1-4

Nearly 700 years had passed since Moses had fashioned a serpent out of brass and placed it on a pole for all of Israel to look upon and be healed when twenty-five year old Hezekiah became king of Judah. A true son of David, he followed in his ancestor’s footsteps, doing “that which was right in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 18:3).

One of the first things that Hezekiah did as king was brought spiritual reform to the nation. He started by removing the high places of worship that Israelites had fashioned to avoid making the journey to the temple in Jerusalem. These high places represented alternatives to the brazen altar and were as damaging to the people as an alternative form of Calvary would be to us.

He also broke in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made. This brass snake had been held in high regard by the children of Israel for 7 centuries, and had become a holy relic to the people. They had gone so far as to burn incense to it (verse 4), which is a form of worship. Barred from worshipping idols by the law, Israel was taking something that was meant to be good to a previous generation and turning it into a shameful thing.

Hezekiah calls the serpent “Nehushtan” which in Hebrew means, “a thing of brass”. This title removes all mystery and superstition from the snake, taking it back to what it truly is, just a thing made out of brass. He meant to jolt Israel into a realization that it was never the snake that had delivered them, but it was the Lord God of their fathers.

The presence of this brass snake after 700 years shows us that Israel had lost consciousness as to who God really was. It also shows that they still had a hunger for the things of God, though they did not know how to bring those things about. They had also made a mistake that is common to the church today; they had misinterpreted history and trusted the serpent instead of what the serpent represented.

We are often guilty of making holy relics out of things that are purely symbolic. Some have elevated the act of water baptism to a level on par with salvation itself. Others view the sacraments of the church as vital to salvation or a particular denomination as having special revelation from God, and only the members of that denomination as being truly saved. All of these things hold their place within Christianity, but they are still “Nehushtan”, and can be treated as nothing more.

Still others elevate the act of praise and worship to the highest level in the church or they have a secret worship of their building and structure, feeling that these things actually bring them closer to God. If we do not keep Jesus in our sights we are all susceptible to a Nehushtan becoming bigger and more important to us than Christ and His finished work.

Let’s live our lives in a way in which we can keep the serpent of brass around for what it is without making it more important than who we are in Christ. Our traditions and buildings and beliefs are beautiful and should be respected, but our Savior is glorious and should be adored.

Dip 7 Times

2 Kings 5:1-14

The story of Naaman and his dipping seven times in the Jordan River to be cured of his leprosy is one of the most famous Old Testament stories, heard by all way back in Sunday school. Naaman was a Syrian general who had the favor of God resting on him, having been used to deliver his nation. He also owned an Israeli slave girl whom the Bible leaves nameless, who tells the leprosy-stricken Naaman that there is a man of God in Israel who can help him (2 Kings 5:3).

The man of God is Elisha, who tells Naaman to wash himself in the Jordan River seven times, “and thou shalt be clean” (verse 10). The Jordan River is the same place that Jesus will be baptized over 900 years later, marking the beginning of His earthly ministry. It is also the river that Israel crossed when going into the Promised Land. It holds a significant place in Biblical history as the beginning point, or the entrance to a new land. Just as Israel began to possess Canaan at Jordan, Jesus began to do His Father’s work at Jordan. For Naaman, it would represent the beginning of a new life of physical health.

For the believer, our Jordan River comes at Calvary, the moment that we meet Christ as our Savior. We give Him our life, allowing it to be crucified with all of its old lusts and affections. He gives us His eternal life, and we walk a new walk with Him every day. For Naaman to dip seven times is no coincidental use of numerology. Seven is God’s number of completion and perfection, thus, Naaman’s seventh time down represents Christ’s finished work at the cross. Elisha is pointing us forward to the healing virtues of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Every sickness and sin that plagues the family of man can be taken care of at our spiritual Jordan, Calvary. Just as the waters of that river washed over the sores of Naaman’s body, the blood of Jesus will wash over the wounds of a life spent in sin. We are made clean by His blood, through no effort of our own.

Naaman is typical of the world searching for redemption through any other means than through Jesus Christ and His finished work. He is first upset that Elisha does not come out to him and lay hands on the wounds, claiming healing in the name of the Lord. He wants a deliverance that looks spectacular, rather than one that is effective. Some are more concerned at how their religion looks to the outside than whether or not there are any tangible results.

Next, Naaman asks if the rivers of Damascus, namely Abana or Pharpar are not better and cleaner than the dirty, insignificant Jordan River. This complaint is a type of the sinner attempting to purify themselves through the “clean” means of this world’s self-help philosophies, psychiatric means, etc. Jesus’ cross is a bloody place that kills our old man. Sometimes we forget just how costly that His cross was, and we lean towards our own abilities to heal ourselves.
Fortunately, Naaman’s desire to be healed is stronger than his objections to the fashion in which he is to be healed. His faith is what takes him into the dirty waters of the Jordan, for as his servant points out, “What does he have to lose”? What do you have to lose by allowing the purifying waters of Calvary to wash over your soul? The end result is cleanliness in the presence of your Father, and there is no greater reward!

A New Covenant Miracle in an Old Covenant Story

2 Kings 2:19-22

The first miracle that Elisha performed, after the translation of his teacher Elijah into heaven in a chariot of fire, was to part the waters of the Jordan. His second miracle dealt with water as well; this time in healing it so that it would support crops. In many ways, Elijah is a type of John the Baptist, while Elisha is a type of Jesus. As Elijah went before Elisha, so did John before Jesus. As Elijah’s work brought glory to God, Elisha’s brought glory both to God and life to the people. The ministries of John and Jesus mirrored this example.

When Elisha comes to Jericho everything is good with the city and its citizens, but they have water that will not support the growth of crops, thus the farming industry is about to face a serious shortage. Elisha requests a “new cruse” or a ‘new pot’ with salt in it. He takes the new pot with salt in it to the spring of the waters and “cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land” (2 Kings 2:21).

The “new cruse” is a type of the New Covenant, as proved by the statement of Jesus:

“No man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.” (Luke 5:37, 38)

The New Covenant cannot be placed within the bottle or the mentality of the Old Covenant. Actually, if you try to place the grace and mercy of the New Covenant within the law and works of the Old Covenant you will burst the Old while spilling the New. Man tries to ‘balance’ the two, but God just calls it ‘mixture’.

Stored within the “new cruse” of Elisha is “salt”. Christ calls the church the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) and asks how the world can be salted if we have lost our flavor. While salt causes thirst, it also holds medicinal value. The application of salt brings healing, and Jesus’ inclusion of us as salt shows that there is healing within the message of God’s goodness and grace and we have a responsibility to share that with all of the Jericho’s that we encounter.

Nestled into this Old Covenant story is a beautiful New Covenant truth. When there is barrenness and death in our lives, the healing salts of the New Covenant will enter to bring healing and wholeness. Paul called the gospel of Jesus Christ “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). Salvation is “soteria” in Greek, meaning “deliverance, preservation and wholeness”. The waters of our soul are restored by the finished work of Christ at the cross. He is our salt and the New Covenant is His “new cruse”.

Apply the goodness and grace of God to your situation today and watch the land of your soul flourish with His salvation.