For Our Admonition Part 9
Enduring to the End – Restoration of the Land
Key Verses: 2Ki 8:1 – 8:6
We have one more “story” regarding the Shunammite woman that is instructive to our own growth and maturity in Christ. Salvation and our sanctification, is a process, one that never ends while we occupy these clay vessels. We should be striving continually as we endure the trials and temptations the Lord has defined for us all the way to the end.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Here is our story involving Elisha, the woman, her household, Gehazi and the king.
2Ki 8:1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.
2Ki 8:2 And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.
2Ki 8:3 And it came to pass at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.
2Ki 8:4 And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.
2Ki 8:5 And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.
2Ki 8:6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.
Even after being raised from the dead (our last Study Part 8), we still have a walk to walk out. Our resurrection in down payment form is the beginning rather than the end of our trials and tribulations.
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Act 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Why is it that the Lord gives us seven years of plenty and then tries us by putting us through seven years of famine and drought? Here is why.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Our calling and election is a LIVING HOPE. It is not a done deal, we have to live it out and Lord willing we will be found faithful, IF we stay on the course through thick and thin.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
There is a time and season for everything under the sun (Ecc 3:1). We are all under this sun which is really all under The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is because all things that happen are being done IN CHRIST.
Joh 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
The Lord uses these seasons of trial, temptation and famine to kill our old man and our carnal and fleshly desires. These trials are most precious to the Lord because they are what is killing our old man and bringing forth the new man.
Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Before we move on, let’s remember where the land being spoken about is.
Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you
It is all within God’s people and our possession of the land is our being given dominion over sin and abiding in life as we are given to overcome and obey the Lord.
Deu 8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.
Elisha warns of the famine to come and the woman is led of the Lord to take her household (son and presumably her husband) into a carnal land for seven years.
2Ki 8:2 And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.
Even after coming to Christ, we are yet carnal as were the Corinthians (1Co 3:1-3). We have to sojourn with the Philistines which is in the land of Israel yet are of the uncircumcision (1Sa 17:26) for our time and seasons appointed. Yet that land is part of the promise given to Israel and we will be given dominion over this land.
Exo 23:31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
To understand this war raging within the land of Israel (inside your mind and walk), a lot can be learned looking out in the physical to see what the Lord is doing in the Kingdom of God within His elect in this age. Israel is always at war with the Philistines even unto this very day (Rom 1:20).
Wikipedia: The Philistines were an ancient people known for their conflict with the Israelites described in the Bible. … In biblical Hebrew they become Pelishtim; in Greek, their land becomes Palestina, hence the terms Palestine and Philistine.
Spiritually speaking, the Philistines represent our flesh and its carnal lusts. Even the root word of Philistines bears this out. H6428, pâlash
paw-lash’
A primitive root; to roll (in dust): – roll (wallow) self.
Total KJV occurrences: 4
We have to wallow in the dust of our carnal mind for seven years before the land is restored unto Israel. This is torment and herein lies the patience of the saints as we wait on this restoral or restitution of all things.
Act 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Act 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
This is the activity going on now within God’s elect in the Kingdom of God. This will play out outwardly at the Great White Throne judgment (aka the lake of fire) when all men shall be saved from their sins and go through the same judgment and torment the saints are enduring now in this age (Rev 14:10-12). It takes all seven years (the complete time the Lord has ordained) of us striving between the flesh and the Spirit to be growing into maturity so we can enter into the land to possess the land.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
The old man is the one being starved and the one upon whom God’s wrath is fallen. It is good we go thru a famine as otherwise the old man would not die (Rut 1:1-3). This experience is preparing us for greater works in the Kingdom and Temple of the living God. It is not us that drives out the heathen Philistines, it is Christ in us and the armies of Christ.
We are being saved from famine in the same way we are saved from death and judgment. It is by our old man experiencing these things that the new man is saved from them.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Eze 36:28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Eze 36:29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
Eze 36:30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
When we battle giants in our land and fall down our seven times, we are being chastened. It’s so easy to revert to the righteousness of the law to justify ourselves but we do much better remembering who is being saved and who is being destroyed and this is all the Lord’s work.
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us (the new man) to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
It is this experience of evil, the Lord uses to humble us (Ecc 1:13 CLV) so we will remember our evil ways and be given the presence of mind (Christ) to obey God.
Eze 36:31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
In the times appointed, the seven years are completed and we, as this Shunammite woman, are being led of the Lord back to our own land where it will be restored unto us.
2Ki 8:3 And it came to pass at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.
The famine worked its work in us and we are being prepared for the spiritual journey back home to our own land and our own people. Such is the inheritance of God’s people and this abode is only in The Christ.
Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Coming to know this is how we are being prepared and made zealous for good works, the reason we have been put into this Body of Christ (Tit 2:14) and that is to serve.
Col 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Col 3:24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
The trial of our faith is waiting on the Lord during these times of famine and struggle with the Philistines within. This is how we are learning patience during this symbolic period of seven years (Luk 21:19, Rev 14:12). We come to glory in our tribulations and all seasons the Lord is giving us as we are growing in faith and are given patience to wait upon the Lord to finish His work. Only then do we learn to trust not in ourselves and what we see with our natural eyes, but instead stand on the Lord’s promises and the hope we receive from these promises when we believe.
Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
When our appointed time of sojourning is up, the famine ends and all our possessions we lost are being restored back unto us.
Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
This is the double blessing of our heavens and earth. The Lord is in the business of calling light out of darkness that He creates in us that are comprised of a heaven and an earth.
Gen 1:1 In the (firstfruits) beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
The heavens typify our mind which is becoming the mind of Christ through trials and suffering that decrease the old man and increase the new man. The earth is our walk and outward actions which are also blessed as we are given dominion over sin. John and all of God’s elect see this new heaven and new earth (in down payment form in this age) within them being formed as they are given to abide in the Holy City (Zion) which is also Christ’s bride.
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Psa 134:3 The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
All men reap this blessing after coming through the lake of fire (Zion) in their day of judgment. We cry out for restoration of our land and the fruits thereof as the people of God.
2Ki 8:4 And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.
2Ki 8:5 And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.
Our new man (the king of Israel in this case) asks the servant about all the wonderful works and great things that Elisha (Christ) has done. The Lord told us that blessed are those who believe in the miracles of Christ without seeing (Joh 20:29). Yet we, as kings in training, are given signs in our immaturity in seeing the return of the woman and her son resurrected from the dead.
It is the elect of God who are the kings and priests of the Lord.
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Our new man is already sitting on the throne of Israel (Christ in us) judging righteous judgment (Joh 7:24) within the Kingdom and nations within us (Luk 17:21). This is just an earnest of our role to come in the Millennium Reign and the Lake of Fire.
Mat 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
The woman makes her plea directly to the king of Israel which leads to restoration of her land.
2Ki 8:6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.
The woman that we are individually and corporately as the church (elect), give birth to the son. As any good mother, we naturally seek the well-being of our offspring as is the duty of all in Christ. By the words we speak, and deeds we do, we are always making petitions for restoration of the land as we seek salvation and overcoming of our sins.
Luk 18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
The certain officer that is appointed here is the Body of Christ and the multitude of counselors in whom all of God’s people will trust.
Pro 11:14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
Wise counsel is righteous judgment which is evaluating all things through the prism of the Scriptures. It is the elect of God, the only ones given to understand the Scriptures (Mat 13:10), who are the judges. It is by those works (judgment) by which the land within every one of us is restored and the fruits of increase returned unto us two-fold (Zec 9:4, Isa 61:7). These blessing to the new man are found only in The Christ.
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
We are being redeemed by the Lord through judgment. This is how our land is restored.
Isa 1:26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
Isa 1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
The latter rain (Truth we receive) will come in abundance when we are being returned to the land of Israel. The Lord promises to restore all that was eaten by our bondage to lies and carnal mindedness that had to be burned out of us in the land of the Philistines.
Joe 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
Joe 2:24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
Joe 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
The restoration of the land requires the prayers and actions of righteous men that avail themselves much.
Jas 5:19 If anyone among you goes astray from the truth, brothers, and anyone turns him back,
Jas 5:20 know that the one turning a sinner from the error of his way will save the soul from death, and will hide a multitude of sins.
This officer of the king is the trust we put into the Body of Christ as the watchmen and overseers of the flock of God.
Eph 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
1Pe 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
The restoration of the land within ourselves comes when we are witnessing for Christ to the elect angels of Christ and throughout all the earth within and without.
Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
I hope this study has reminded us that we struggle with many things and that we are clay in the Lord’s hands. Everything is exactly on schedule for the Lord to finish His work and fully restore the land in the Kingdom of God within us. It is our trusting in this Hope, despite all the signs contrary to that hope (our struggles with sin and the beast within) that will and IS saving us, if we endure to the end.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.