HE WAS DEAD BUT RAISED THE DEAD

This sermon is about death being an instrument that can also obey the word of God, and recognizes the power of God; yet it is an enemy. When you are of God, the spirit of God dwells in you and for sure the spirit of God leads and guides you. Romans 8:14, “for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Death has no power over the sons of God. The sons of God know who is master over death; Revelation 1: 18, “fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” What a word of power and authority. This is the creator and deity talking to mankind, whosoever was willing to listen.

Death has an end, Revelations 20:13-15, reads, “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.” As can be seen, death can be sentenced and death can be put away where the false prophet, the anti-Christ and the Satan will be; when the white throne comes into view. 1st Corinthians 15:26, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Death to a child of God is like being asleep; all the power of God in your life when you were physically alive remains with you; and miracles can happen if when you are asleep. Things happen in the spirit and made manifest in the physical.

There was a brother and a prophet that had a tremendous ministry with the Lord. His ministry was precious, powerful, energetic and inspiring. He was a faithful servant to his master. 1st Kings 19:21 reads, then he arose, and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. He was very close to his master until his master was taken from him. Verse 11 reads, as they were walking and talking after crossing river Jordan, behold there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder: and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

Elisha the prophet, after Elijah was honorably carried to heaven took up Elijah s mantle and headed for River Jordan. He needed a miracle to cross over Jordan. Elijah was gone, so Elisha smote the river with Elijah s mantle, calling on the God of Elijah. The river parted for him and he crossed over to Jericho. He was met by the sons of the prophets who earlier told him that Elijah was to be taken away on the day he was translated. This time they came to him bowed to the ground before him and acknowledged that the spirit of Elijah doth rest of him. They may have seen him when he smote the river like Elijah did and crossed back to Jericho. They manifested another side of their belief; when they said in verse 16 that they were going to search for Elijah in the mountains. Do not halt between two opinions, be sure what you believe and who you believe in.

He came to the city of Jericho and the inhabitants told him the city was pleasant but the water was naught and the ground barren. 2nd Kings 2:21-22, he asked for a fresh cruse of water with salt in it. He took it unto the spring of waters and cast it into it and said, “thus, saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day.”

You do not mess with a prophet indeed, as the children of Bethel found out in verse 23-24. They mocked Elisha, saying “go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” He turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty two children of them. Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm, 1st Chronicles 16:22. There are false and powerless prophets as there are true and powerful prophets of God; Elisha was one. In 2nd Kings 3:16-20, Moab threatened Israel. Israel was camped in a valley. The prophet told Israel , “make the valley full of ditches, for thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle, and your beasts.” This came to pass.

Imagine what the spoken word can do, when it comes from a child of God, like prophet, Elisha. He was confronted by a woman whose husband was dead; one of the sons of the prophets. Her husband s creditors came to collect but she could not deliver so they wanted her two sons to be bondmen. She asked for help but he replied saying what do you have in your house, and she said a pot of oil. Then he said unto her go borrow lot of vessels, verse 3 “borrow not a few.” The summary was that she borrowed all the vessels she and her two sons could find. As she poured oil from her oil pot, to the borrowed vessels, the word of the man of God was fulfilled as all the vessels were filled with oil and there were no more empty vessels. The man of God instructed her to go sell the oil, pay the creditors and live on the balance with her children. A man who has this power is more than a billionaire and does not care about amassing this world s wealth to himself or taking advantage of his God given power.

In 2nd Kings 4:18-37 Elisha raised a dead boy, never done before except by Elijah. According to Elisha by the word of the Lord, a lot of things happened in the life of Elisha; that included:

1. 2nd Kings 4:39-41, he healed a pot of meal that contained death
2. In verse 42-43 the prophet feed one hundred men miraculously starting with twenty loaves of bread
3. 2nd Kings 5:8-19 tells the full story of the healing of Naaman the leper
4. In 2nd Kings 6:1-7 Elisha did the impossible, recovering an axe from the river in an unusual way
5. 2nd Kings 7: 1-20 tells the story of instant fulfillment of more than one prophecy by Elisha the man

In 2nd Kings 13:20-21 Elisha was sick and died. He was not God and like any human on earth had his time upon this planet. He was a prophet, with many miracles, signs, and wonders but the time came for him to meet his creator and he did. He left one unfinished act and was prophet enough to finish it. Let verse 21 speak for itself, Elisha died and they buried him; and it came to pass as they were burying a man, that behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. As you can see Elisha was already dead and buried but a prophet is always a prophet and when it counts, they never fail to deliver, because the spirit of the Lord is always with them dead or alive. In death Elisha still raised the dead. Remember his bone did this, he spoke no words to the dead man, it was supernatural. Elisha was a prophet that stood his ground based on the word of God to him. It is very important to stand your ground and be made manifest like Elisha even in death. Let your relationship with the Lord be gracious and fulfilling like that of Elisha with the Lord. He spoke and it came to pass. He never shied away or avoided any confrontation; he trusted in the Lord greatly and was never disappointed. Amen.

by Douglas E. Amobi