The Miracle of the Floating Ax Head – part 2

The prophet Elisha was a traveling evangelist who taught at a “school of the prophets” or what we’d today call a Bible college or seminary. Such schools existed across Israel (1 Sam 19:22-24; 2 Kings 2:1-5; 4:1-7, 38-44).

When a larger classroom was needed, the students and their teacher expanded the building. As the men cut trees along the riverbank, one man’s ax broke. He’d borrowed the ax from a neighbor and under Jewish law, damaging a tool meant buying a new one (Exodus 22:14-15; Deuteronomy 19:4-5). The Hebrew word translated “borrowed” is actually much stronger, meaning he “begged” to use his neighbor’s ax. Begging suggests he lacked the money to own one himself, and buying a replacement was an excessive burden.

The student pointed to the area in the river he saw the ax head splash. Rather than chastising him as careless, Elisha cut a stick from a tree, tossed it into the river where the ax head was last seen, and the ax head floated to the surface. There was no magic in the cut stick. God performed a miracle and the stick symbolized what Elisha wanted the ax head to do.

Interpretation answers the question, “What does the text say? What did the author intend us to understand?” Application addresses the question, “What does the text mean for me? What am I to do?” Before applying Scripture to your life, you must know what Scripture means in its original context and intent.

Second Kings 6 doesn’t suggest this kind of miracle is normative.

I received a video of a modern Kenyan apostle who claimed to be a regular miracle worker. The video showed him commanding a van engulfed in a raging river back to dry ground. Careful watching revealed he simply played the video in reverse when the van was swept into the flood.

Miracles are very rare in Scripture, occurring during only 3 historical periods: Moses and Aaron, as they established Israel as a nation; Elijah and Elisha when Israel was under attack by paganism; and Jesus and the apostles at the establishment of the church.

Miracles demonstrated more than God’s might. Creation is sufficient for that! Miracles were signs pointing to a greater truth beyond themselves, saying something about the character, nature, and works of God.

Part 3 of 4 tomorrow.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

I grew up in a religious tradition that placed an extraordinary emphasis on the Holy Spirit and certain aspects of His work – or perceived work. There was the “Holy Ghost Crusade”, people got “Holy Ghost Goosebumps”, the “dove” was plastered on church walls, banners, and even on crosses. Every strange idea or thing – real or imagined – was attributed to the “moving of the Spirit.”

People claimed visions and messages from the Lord which were often nothing more than repetitions of Biblical ideas or cockamamie signs of self-worship. We boasted in being “Spirit-filled” rather than simple followers of Christ.

Show me people infatuated with the Holy Spirit and I’ll show you people who have gone astray from Jesus.

Please don’t misunderstand me. The Christian life is impossible without the abiding presence of the Spirit. Redemption becomes a reality in the sinner only by the Spirit’s work. He illuminates the mind to understand and apply the Word of God. He distributes spiritual gifts to the Church as He wills. He is the Third Person of the Godhead and worthy of all honor, praise, worship, and adoration.

However, Jesus said of Him, When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will tell you all things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you  (John 16:13-14).

When the Spirit descended to indwell the church on the Day of Pentecost, His arrival was with the sound of a mighty, rushing wind (Acts 2:2), but all the noise that day declared the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11) in the Person of Jesus; the Spirit wasn’t bringing attention to Himself. He never takes the attention due the Son, the Saviour, the One who died to save the Church, the One who did the finished work. Never.

It is before Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess (Philippians 2:11). If the spirit points to anything or anyone other than Jesus – including itself – it’s not the “Holy” Spirit doing the pointing.

Frederick William Robertson (1816-1853)

From childhood, Frederick imagined joining the British army like his captain father. He trained as an officer, asking for assignment in India, a land whose people he admired and loved. Two weeks before deployment, his father insisted he become an Anglican priest, and Robertson surrendered his dream. “It is not the situation that makes the man, but the man who makes the situation“, he wrote at the time.

In seminary, Frederick studied hard, committing the New Testament to memory in both English and Greek. His love for India also drew him to the missionary works of Henry Martyn and David Brainerd. At the age of 24, Frederick was ordained and became one of the highest praised – yet now forgotten – English preachers of the 1800s.

He was scholarly with a deep love for the high worship of the Church of England and yet connected easily with the simple, uneducated people of his parish. He brought Bible characters to life and deep theological truths to practical application.

Robertson’s thirst for scholarship and the daily task of ministry quickly wore him out. He was lonely and often depressed by the loss of friends because of his Biblical preaching. He was easily wounded by criticism and said, “It is an endless task to be refuting error. Plant truth, and the errors will pine away.” Daily intense and uncontrollable headaches also plagued him. After his first year as a pastor, he was forced to take a leave of absence or die

Frederick went against the growing social liberalism of the Anglican Church by urging his congregants to embrace Jesus as Saviour by faith and reject sin. In one sermon from John he said, “There are people who would do great acts, but because they wait for great opportunities, life passes, and the acts of love are not done at all. Observe, this considerateness of Christ was shown in little things. And such are the parts of human life.”

The young preacher attracted people of all kinds, yet was criticized from all sides. He was too scholarly yet too emotional, evangelical but too traditional. A Jewish rabbi complained of him, “Robertson believed that Christ did something or other, which, somehow or other, had some connection or other with salvation.”

Robertson’s expository sermons from Genesis and First Corinthians were published and widely lauded. He preached only 13 years before his death, likely from a slow-growing brain tumor.

2 Wives are Better than 1

Former president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, with 4 of his 6 wives at his 70th birthday party.

The African pastor read from the Bible: Two are better than one. Sure enough, it was right there in Ecclesiastes 4:9 in black ink on white paper. Then he explained this was proof of the goodness and godliness of polygamy. Two wives are better than one. God said it, the preacher repeated it, the congregation believed and applauded it with hands raised in praise.

This preacher twisted and perverted the Bible. The context of the statement that two are better than one isn’t about marriage. King Solomon was writing about the importance of two people working together in their labor rather than alone, especially when traveling. Context is king, and when the context of the Bible is ignored all kinds of evil will reign.

When working to understand the Bible, or any other written or spoken word, there are two questions which much be answered. The first question is: What was the author’s intent and purpose when he wrote these words? To answer this you’ll need to study about the author, the people he wrote to or about, the historical setting, and the thoughts around the statement or “context”.

Only after answering the first question can we ask, How does this affect me?

The first question is interpretation, the second question is application. Interpretation is about “MEaning”, application is about “ME.” Without careful interpretation, application will always be faulty.

Interpretation and Application

I sat down this morning to begin work on a sermon and on the table was a note in my wife’s handwriting: Get 3 dozen eggs. I set down my chai, drove to the store, and bought 36 eggs.

When my wife came home I proudly presented my purchase expecting her to pat my head and say what a good boy I am. Instead she stared at me puzzled. I showed her the note she’d left me and smiled.

I was cleaning out my purse today, she said, and found that note I’d written as a reminder to myself over a year ago for the family reunion.

Without considering the historical-grammatical context of the note I found, I’d misapplied what I read. I’d twisted the meaning and intent of the author and applied it wrongly.

This is often how we treat the Bible.

A famous preacher-politician recently performed a memorial service for another politician. In his sermon the pastor quoted Isaiah 53:5 and applied it to the dead man’s political efforts. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

Christians were rightly offended by this preacher, accusing him of blasphemy. For two thousand years, we have always and only understood this passage to be about the suffering and death of Jesus to save sinners from eternal damnation by His death on the cross. The preacher ignored the historical-grammatical context and twisted the Scripture applying it so it no longer meant what Isaiah (and the Holy Spirit) intended.

For more than 30 years I’ve taught classes on hermeneutics, the science of understanding the Bible. I always begin by explaining that to understand the Bible, there are two questions to consider. The first to ask is, What was the author’s intent and purpose when he wrote these words? To answer this you’ll need to study about the author, the people he wrote to or about, the historical setting, and the thoughts around the statement written.

Only after answering the first question can we ask, How does this affect me? The first question is interpretation, the second question is application. Interpretation is about “MEaning”, application is about “ME.” Without careful interpretation, application will always be faulty.

Jesus said, Love your neighbor (Mark 12:31). I’ve seen this used to promote homosexuality, orgies, and even pedophilia. It’s the blasphemous application without interpretation.