But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a women who was a widow.
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them were cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.
When Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, the Son of God had humbled himself and submitted himself to his very own word that had been sent to John in the wilderness for all the people. He did this despite having no need of repentance. It is a beautiful demonstration of the love of God, God himself became flesh and did so to repent on behalf of man.
How did God repent on behalf of man? He did this through a perfect obedience unto his Father, being found in fashion as a man.
This helps us to understand the narrative of Noah and the new creation to come through Jesus Christ are saviour. God repented that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. But God has taken his own sorrow concerning the wickedness of man upon himself.
The death of Jesus Christ was a violent and wicked act, yet his blood poured forth upon the earth, from whence God had formed man with his own hands.
As Jesus did not need to repent, but did so on behalf of fallen man, it speaks to us of the liberty of his life. Jesus did not screw himself up to obey Gods laws nor to humble himself. It was not an internal strife.
Now Gods word commands all men to repent, thus, we cannot continue in sin and claim that Jesus is my redeemer. But we know that true repentance has liberty at its source as Jesus would not have his commandments be an unnatural affair.
In truth, I tell you, the heavens were shut up accept to a widow in the land of Sidon.
This women despite her awareness of her own sins, obeyed the word of God, and according to the testimony of Jesus her son was raised from the dead. Not only did God supernaturally sustain this women during an intense famine but he revealed to her that all the enemies of mans liberty were defeated through the provided sacrifice to come. Death where is your sting.
Jesus time-lined the ministry of the prophet Elijah at the start of his own ministry as all prophecy concerns the testimony of Jesus, but specifically, Elijah as God through his resurrected Son, was going to fulfill all his promises of blessing unto Abraham: every kindred, tribe and nation.
Elisha, is a type of the Church, hence his slaying of twelve oxen when he determines to follow Elijah. And through the Church, through their inherited Sonship and liberty, God was going to multiple his own works and fulfill his covenant promises. The promised land would reach out and bless every nation under heaven.
When Jesus had been baptized in the Jordan, it did not rain as in the days of Noah. The heavens were not opened as they were in that day. The heavens were opened in respect of access unto God, a Word from God the Father not of displeasure but of a pure delight: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
This is a word only spoken after Jesus had repented on behalf of man. Therefore, God is opening the true grief that had affected his heart in Gen Ch 6 v6, the Father longing to impart his love and approval.
The baptism of Jesus enables sinners to know the heart of God the Father: music and dancing as sinners return during a time of famine.
The Fathers voice:
‘For this my Son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found’.
Naaman reveals that the Jordan was not just for the Jews, it was also the way for the Gentiles too.
Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, is like a man who built his house upon the rock, and the flood and the stream broke against it but that house stood strong as it was built upon the rock.
After speaking this, immediately, he prophetically returns to Capernaum, this is a further outworking of his fulfillment of scripture: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
Both Elijah and Elisha were prophets of the Lord. And their overlapping ministries were centered upon the river Jordan. The river Jordan was vital to the passing on of the prophetic ministry.
Therefore, when Jesus is baptized in the river Jordan, it is a prophetic fulfillment of scripture, it is symbolic of the fulfillment of all scripture: The testimony of Jesus is the fulfillment of Scripture – the worship of God is true liberty.
The centurion is a gentile military leader just like Naaman. Whether this man had been baptized we do not know, but we do know that he was a convert to the living God of Israel.
This man loved the nation of Israel and had built a synagogue in his home town. This man loved the nation, because he understood the scriptures in respect to crossing the Jordan and entering the promised land. This gentile military leader had listened to the word of God and kept it, and built upon in.
And this gentile military leader is followed by a widow women whose Son Jesus raises from the dead.
This is the same order but in reverse sequence as that affirmed by Jesus in his first sermon in his hometown Nazareth after his anointing for the ministry at the river Jordan.
Luke a man filled with the Spirit of God has had his attention drawn to this order so that we may understand that their is an open heaven and that their is the realm of the supernatural. It is accessible for all who will repent and believe, it is not founded upon Nazareth itself, but upon the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your heart.
Perhaps, the order is also reversed as scripture is immediately taking us back to John the Baptist again after the raising of the widows son.
The arch angel Gabriel prophesied unto Zechariah concerning his Son, that ‘he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared’.
And so while Jesus is a fulfillment of all scripture, it is also fair to stipulate that following after John he is also a type of Elisha in this sequence.
John & Jesus.
Jesus refers directly to the ministry of: Elijah and Elisha, in the first message of his ministry.
Jesus, demonstrates the ministry of Elisha and Elijah through the Centurion and the widow of Nain.
Jesus teaches it and demonstrates it. Jesus himself built upon himself, as he is the revelation from the Father that the gates of hell shall not prevail against: Jesus defeated all the enemies of mans liberty through the provided sacrifice to come. Death where is your sting.
Wickedness, the accuser of the brethren. Their is a higher throne and the mercy seat is accessible. Stephen declared it and demonstrated it, ‘lay not this sin in their foundations’. And Saul became Paul, a master builder in the house of God, founded upon the promise that God himself would provide himself a sacrifice – a man blind to the grace in Gods eyes becomes an apostle of Grace unto the Gentiles – A chosen vessel, a promised land shared as a blessing unto all nations & families.
John, Jesus – Elijah & Elisha (Preached) Elisha & Elijah (Demonstrated) – John, : JESUS.
Bookends, ripples, shaken together in the centre, running over and pressed down. For with the measure you apply Gods word will be measured back: A double portion for Elisha meant a ministry that brought healing to a military leader of the enemies of God, and sight for his servant to see that their are more for us than against us, in that Elisha lead the enemies of God with mercy. Mercy and Grace are more powerful than wickedness and rebellion, it is according to the Spiritual principle of Life.
The disciples of John reported all these things to him. The demonstration of more than a double portion, but the actual Word of God fulfilling scripture: Behold the Lamb of God – ‘Man your sins are forgiven you’.
And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John.
This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you’.
Johns vocation and calling in God was to be a messenger. Yet here he sends messengers to his own message: Behold the Lamb of God.
The messenger of the message sends messengers to his message.
Does the message change? No, Jesus continued according to the prophetic word declared in Nazareth. Go an tell John what you have seen and heard. Bookends, ripples, shaken together in the centre, running over and pressed down… the ministry of Jesus will not alter in its inherent nature: Go and tell what you have seen and heard.
Are witness is determined by how much we have seen and heard the spirit of prophesy: The finished work of the Cross. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, first born from the dead.
Jesus declares three times: What did you go out to see? In respect to the people going out to John in the wilderness. And affirmed that they had seen the fulfillment of that which was written in respect to the messenger, who was sent before to prepare his way.
God deals with calamities. John was the messenger, yet he is sending messengers to his own message.
John is not mentioned hereafter in this gospel, as the issue of his purpose in being a messenger unto the message has been highlighted and underlined.
God deals with calamities in his own unique and gracious manner. See and hear how Jesus spoke of John unto all the people. Jesus never got all uptight at some perceived failure, but rather spoke of John as the greatest born women. Jesus is not looking for perfection in respect to the sequential learning of man, rather he is solely focussed on the message, the ROCK we are built upon that changeth, never changeth not: Slain before the foundations of the world.
The message of Jesus is relayed back by the messengers to the messenger. JESUS is transparent grace, back and forth, ebbs and flows, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.
One of the Pharisees asks Jesus to come and eat in his house.
This follows immediately after Jesus affirming that he came eating and drinking & that the Pharisees had not been baptized by John.
The women who comes to him is an outworking of Luke Ch 6 v27-42.
This women was bolder than the leper & the centurion. She touched Him without asking.
V39: the big question and recent focus is on Jesus being a prophet.
V48: This is a perpetual motion of the Sun/Son – it is Ch 6 v35.
V43: Simon the Pharisee! Phar i see…Luke Ch 6 v42: Three times Jesus asked what went you out into the wilderness to see. This Pharisee saw himself as righteous not needing a mighty baptism of repentance.
There was nothing wrong with the Pharisees judgement concerning; Debt, the Master & Love. He understood the message!!
But he had been unwilling to hear the messenger: Repent & be baptized. He rejected the ABC of salvation for his own righteousness.
V50: Jesus adds virtue to this women with these words. He speaks worth and virtue into her. He speaks the original love song.
eternalrays 