2 Kings 4:40-41 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said… The acts of Elisha are like rays of divine glory shining through his poverty and humiliation. "Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land." This is a picture of our world. Dearth is on every side. Of every stream that runs through it it may indeed be said, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." But in the midst of this dearth Elisha has a table spread for all his children. So the Lord Jesus has a table for His children in this land of dearth. And mark, this table is especially prepared not for Elisha but "for the sons of the prophets." The Lord takes care of His children. In the desert they shall never want. But in this land of dearth there is always danger near. The poison is always liable to find its way into the feast of the Lord. And so it was here. "And one went out into the field to gather herbs." But here lies the danger: we are poor, weak, blind creatures, and the "wild vine" mingles with the "true" everywhere around us. Worst of all, we "know it not." And the danger is worse from the fact of it being "a vine." If it were a thorn, a thistle, or some growth bearing the danger on its very front, we should avoid it. There would be no temptation to stoop down and gather it. But it is not from the thorn or the thistle that the danger arises. And is it not so still? Our danger lies not in the open blasphemer, the avowed atheist; not in the open vice, or profligacy, or crime; not in the sin that lifts itself up with unblushing front in our way. These are the thorn and the thistle that carry their own character on the surface. No; our danger lies in that which is so like the vine and yet not it. It lies in that which looks so good, so Christian, so generous, so liberal, so praiseworthy — Rationalism under a great display of the love of Christ, yet denying the innate depravity of the heart. It lies in the theatre, the ball, the concert, under the specious gilding of "charity." It lies in the world's follies and amusements, while yet maintaining family prayer, regular attendance at church and its ordinances. In these and a thousand other ways we see the "wild vine." We think it is "the true vine," and so, like the man here, we gather plenty of it. We carry the poison home with us. We shred it into the pottage. We carry the spirit of the "wild vine" into our hearts, our thoughts, our spirit, our whole life. And what was it we needed? To see the true character of this "vine" that it was "wild"; to see the true nature of these gourds that they were deadly. Yes, we wanted more spiritual sight, more prayer, more communion with God, more distrustfulness of self, more watchfulness, more of the Spirit of God. For lack of these we were unable to distinguish between the "true vine" and the "wild," between Christ and mere religion, between Christ and popular Christianity, between Christ and mere benevolence and charity, between Christ and the world. "There is death in the pot!" — everywhere God's truth blended with "wild gourds." In ten thousand different forms it is presented to us — in the Church and in the world, in doctrines, in preaching, in services, in private life and public life, at home and abroad. "So they poured out for the men to eat." How many in this day do the same thing! They literally pour out this mixture of truth and error, light and darkness, — Christ and the world, self and Jesus, for men to drink! In the day in which we are living, this blending of opposites and "pouring them out for men to drink" is most conspicuous. And it will become more and more so. Strict and clearly drawn lines are not palatable to man's fallen nature. The death in the pot was only discovered in the eating. And then it is said, "they could not eat thereof." It is so still. It is in the eating that the proof lies. It is when the soul tries to enjoy Christ and the world it finds out the death — that is, if there be any conscience left, if it has ever known,, the joy of God's presence. Then it "feels how impossible is this blending. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." It is then that the soul of the true child of God feels the force of this "cannot." We say it again: if the man has ever tasted the joy of God's presence, of abiding communion with Him, and if there is any conscience left in harmony with this, then it will be felt most keenly that "there is death in the pot"; then it will be felt that he cannot live nor grow in grace on this mingling of "wild gourds" with the pottage of the Lord. A spiritually sensitive soul will feel that, to enjoy the feast of the Lord, it must draw sharp lines between truth and error, light and darkness, Christ and the world. "There is death in the pot" will be felt, and there will be found no real food but in the "true vine," Christ alone. We notice here that the Divine mode of healing is not by taking out the evil, but by putting in something to counteract it. When Elisha found the spring of Jericho bad he did not strive to draw out the evil, but put in the salt to counteract it. When Moses found the waters of Marah bitter he put in the tree to sweeten them. Throughout the Bible this is God's way. Man's is exactly the opposite. He begins by cutting off what he conceives to be the fruitless branches. He begins by reformation, forgetting that it is not reformation man needs, but revolution. Thus man cuts off the branches and leaves the tree unchanged. God lays the "axe at the root of the tree." The Holy Spirit is given to the sinner. It is a new and Divine power working from within. It is the meal cast into the pot, the tree cast into the bitter waters. Thus God's "new creation" begins. Hence the spiritual conflict — a redeemed soul in an unredeemed body — the new nature inside the old. Hence the struggle, the agony, the cry, "O wretched man that I am!" This goes on to the end, for the old nature is never made new. It is the old Adam to the last. When the Lord comes again we shall then have the redeemed body. This body will match the redeemed soul, and the conflict will end. Not till then. There will then be a redeemed soul in a redeemed body, and its result everlasting joy and blessedness. What is this "meal"? It is, spiritually, Christ. It is the Holy Spirit bringing Christ into the soul, into the house, into the duty, into all things. Christ is the one great antidote to all error. Christ is the life of all things. "He that eateth Me, he shall live by Me." The soul will find food in everything where He is, but it will starve without. (F. Whitfield, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. |
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