«　WEEK 3　DAY 1　»

　　2 Kings 2:21 And he went out to the source of the water and threw salt there; and he said, Thus says Jehovah, I have healed this water; there will not be any more death or barrenness from there.

　　Rom. 5:17 ...Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

　　In the fulfillment of the types and figures in the Old Testament, Christ is also the real Elisha (2 Kings 5:9; Luke 4:27). Elisha was more pleasant as a prophet than Elijah was... One of the most striking things Elisha did was to heal the death waters with salt (2 Kings 2:19-21). This healing indicates that Elisha was a sweet prophet of blessing to the people. As a prophet of condemnation, Elijah was a type of John the Baptist, who rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees, even calling them “offspring of vipers” (Matt. 3:7). Just as Elisha came after Elijah and was the continuation of Elijah, so Jesus came after John the Baptist as his continuation. As the real Elisha, the Lord Jesus is a sweet and pleasant prophet, a prophet of blessing. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 472)

　　Elisha was a type of Christ in doing miracles of grace in life. Elijah did some great miracles, such as closing up the heavens so that it might not rain and calling down fire from heaven to consume the burnt offering and the water that had been poured upon it. However, when Elisha came in to replace him, he did not perform wonders. Instead, Elisha did miracles of grace in life.

　　Many Christians pay attention to miracles, but they neglect the matters of grace and life or speak of them in a very shallow way. Paul emphasized grace very much in the book of Romans. In Romans justification by grace is unto the reigning in life (3:24; 5:17-18).

　　Grace is God doing everything for us by giving Himself to us as our enjoyment. This grace issues in the divine life, which is rich and high, even unto making us co-kings with Christ. However, among today’s Christians it is not likely that one will hear a message telling the believers that God’s grace issues in the divine life for us to reign as kings.

　　When the men of the city [of Jericho] told Elisha that the water was bad and that the land was barren, he went out to the source of the water and threw salt there, saying, “Thus says Jehovah, I have healed this water; there will not be any more death or barrenness from there” (2 Kings 2:21). Jericho signifies Satan, and with Satan everything is death, including the water. But the bad water of Jericho was healed according to the word of Elisha and became good water, water that gave life. The first miracle the Lord Jesus performed in the Gospel of John was the changing of water into wine (2:3-11). The significance of this miracle is the changing of death into life. Changing death into life is the governing principle of all the Lord’s miracles in the Gospel of John and of all the cases dealt with by Him in chapters 3 through 11 of John. The significance of the miracle performed by Elisha in 2 Kings 2 and of the miracle performed by the Lord Jesus in John 2 is the same—the changing of death into life.

　　Next, Elisha called the things not being as being (2 Kings 4:1-7, 8-17, 42-44; cf. Matt. 14:14-21; 15:32-39; Rom. 4:17b). In particular, Elisha called things not being as being when he produced many vessels of oil from one vessel. The Lord Jesus did the same thing in principle. In Matthew 14 and 15 He fed multitudes with a few loaves and fishes.

　　In this matter also Elisha was a type of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament age. More than any other prophet, Elisha did things that, in type, were the same as what the Lord Jesus did in reality. In principle, Elisha and the Lord Jesus did the same thing, performing miracles of grace in life. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 85-86)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 44