2 Kings, 6th Chap. v. 6.
And the Man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place, and he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim.
All scripture is written for our instruction in the knowledge of the Person and Work of God our dear Saviour, as the only foundation of our hope, the object of our faith and love, the only refuge of guilty man, the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his love, his wisdom, and his infinite condescension. Holy men of old spake, and wrote the sacred scriptures, under the divine influence of the Holy Ghost. Christ is the main object they all believed in, looked to, hoped for, and held forth to succeeding generations. Christ is the substance of the whole Bible; every passage, in some way or other, like the Star of Bethlehem, points to him; and the most wise and spiritual children of the Most High, as divinely taught, must be ever upon the look-out for Jesus in every part of the divine word. Christ is in every doctrine, in every sacred illustrious character, in every type, in every ordinance, and in every precept, in every promise, and every Old Testament history, as well as every New Testament parable: and where the mind is sweetly influenced by the love of Jesus, it gladly receives Christ wherever it is given by the Spirit to see him.
I would not be wise above what is written, nor would I attempt to force the meaning of the blessed Spirit, or misapply it to answer any purpose; but I must humbly beg to remark, that in reading the circumstance which I have selected for a text, my mind was at first forcibly struck with the account; and looking up for wisdom to preach on it, and having been favored with the gracious presence of my Lord in handling it, I could no longer suppress my own feelings, with the earnest solicitations of many that heard it, who were apparently blessed by this feeble testimony, I present it in the simple form, as in part preached. I have tried to retain the substance, though I am not able to write verbatim, what was delivered: I only aim at setting forth the glory of the dear Saviour, as held forth in this passage, to the Church; that by comparing spiritual truths with spiritual experiences, some of God’s tried people may be built up in their most holy faith, and sweetly led to see that they have not believed in vain.
We find in this history, that the Spirit of Prophecy in the Church was increasing in the land; this was doubtless a favourable sign, for where there is no vision the people perish; and truly happy is that land which abounds in spiritual ministers, spiritual ordinances, and spiritual people. The increase of Prophets rendered it necessary that they should be convened together, tor the promotion of each other’s knowledge and comfort. We find there was a College of them at Gilgal, over which the prophet Elisha was a President, in the room of his Predecessor Elijah. We would, indeed, humbly hope, this College of Prophets, was a blessing to the Church, and that the Candidates for the Ministry were really moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon them that sacred office; but, alas! in those days was Gehazi, and others, who, it is to be feared, never were taught either Law or Gospel, experimentally; and may we not adopt the old Church Service, and exclaim, with grief of heart, As it was in the beginning is now? But our most blessed Lord will do all his will, perform all his gracious purposes, and as the great Head of the Church, and Saviour of the body, he must bring all his redeemed to the knowledge of himself, and at last home to glory, by all the means his own infinite wisdom has planned, whether they are educated at a Collage, or not. Human learning is a blessing to the Church, when sanctified; but most mere letter-learned men, like Pilate, fix their Hebrew, Greek, and Latin upon the head of Christ, instead of laying it at his feet, as Paul did. Most probably the College of Gilgal was at this time full, so that some of the Sons of the Prophets asked leave to go to Jordan, and reside there—we are informed of the reason of this request, in the first of this chapter. Their piety, humility, and industry are evident. The matter was laid before Elisha and before the Lord, by him; so should God’s dear ministers and people ever act—for in the multitude of counsellors there is safety; and hence that very important advice, In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. The humility of their minds is as clearly revealed; they did not desire a mansion, or even an elegant college, but only an humble cot—a little, with the fear and love of God, is far, yea, infinitely preferable to great riches. The main study of ministers should be usefulness; great riches seldom promote much spirituality in ministers or people: those who are running an heavenly race, should not load themselves with thick clay. The gospel ministry is called a warfare, and an aged father in the church, observes to his son Timothy, No man that warreth should entangle himself in the affairs of this life—that is, if he can avoid it.
Not only the piety and humility of these good men are evident, but their industry; not to be burdensome to any, they went to work themselves, in the thicket, near the river Jordan, the resort of wild beasts; but the appointed path of duty, is, in general, the place of safety; here the Lord had directed them, and being in his way, he doubtless honoured them with his protecting, supporting, and approving smile.—Elisha was with them, superintending their affairs, and entreating the Lord for their success. This act, thus recorded by the divine Spirit, of the conduct of the Prophets, in cutting down the thickets of trees, and building an House, might perhaps have brought to their minds, the work to which they were called, and for which they were preparing.—Sinners are called Trees; the Gospel is compared to an Axe; Ministers are called Labourers; and if they find but little success in their work, they are directed to Jesus for strength, and to the blessed Spirit for wisdom to aim right. Perhaps Solomon alludes to this, when he says, If the Iron be blunt, he must put to the more strength; but wisdom is profitable to direct.—Agreeable to this is the language of our Lord to his Disciples, when fishing; he said, Follow we, and I will make you fishers of men. Thus instructed by Jesus, they could spiritualize their employment as fishers. This World is called a Sea, the Church a Ship, Men are compared to Fish, Ministers to fishermen, and the Gospel to a Net cast into the Sea; thus out dear Lord improved any circumstance, for the instruction of his dear people.
It appears, the Prophets were not ashamed to handle an hammer, or an axe, nor did their Master forbid it; they were mechanics, as well as preachers. The Lord has often called the meanest of men to the highest office in the Church of God, and made them eminently useful: David from keeping Sheep; Elisha from the Plough’s-tail; Amos from gathering Sycamore-fruit; the Apostles from their Barges; and those Prophets to handle the axe, the saw, and the hammer. Their work as Carpenters and Builders, serves to remind them of their spiritual occupation—and it is worthy of observation, that when the Holy Spirit shewed Zechariah in vision, of the future opposition that would be made against the kingdom of Jesus, in the Gospel Dispensation, he shewed him four Horns, and after that, he shewed him four Carpenters, who were to fray them, cut them down; and such were the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel in the four parts of the World; who were to fell trees, cut them down, lay them low, fit them, square them according to God’s Word, and thus build them up an habitation for God, through the Spirit.
Our text relates, that as one was felling a Beam, the head of his Axe fell into the water; (most probably into Jordan). This was a grief to him, for the reason he assigned, so that he cried to Elisha, and said, Alas, master, for it is borrowed! Possessing a spirit of honesty, and being too poor to make it good to the lender, he applied to Elisha, not to work a miracle, that we can tell, but because the man’s Axe was sunk, and the Prophet’s work stopped. Thus, ministers have constantly something to try them in their work; they well know the world is always ready to reproach them, and the glorious cause they espouse, which fills them with grief, but leads them to the dear Saviour, to appear in the love of his heart, and in the power of his arm, for their deliverance, who always kindly assures them his grace is sufficient for them. Some have conjectured that this man was an hypocrite, or a figure of all false preachers, who run unsent of God; who preach a borrowed experience, a borrowed system of religion; who are only in the letter, and not in the spirit; of whose religion and preaching, like the poor man’s Axe, it may be truly said, Alas! master, for it was borrowed. And hence God threatens the Prophets, that steal his words from others, and declares they shall not profit this people at all; nor can unconverted, graceless preachers profit the experimental children of God. A preacher must be taught the plague of his own heart, the spirituality of God’s Law, the value of a precious Jesus, in his Person and Work, by God the Spirit, before he can be useful to the Church. We must first know, then speak what we know, as the Apostle says, We can but speak of the things which we have seen, and we are his witnesses. Many may borrow words from real saints, and may appear like believers indeed; nor can even the brightest saint at all times tell a hypocrite from a saint, but the day will declare it—then, then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked—a mere borrowed religion will let the soul sink in death, but the free gift of God is eternal life—locked up in Christ, manifested by the Spirit, and leads the soul to rest, live, and rejoice alone in the everlasting love of God, the free, unmerited grace of an everlasting covenant, the glorious person, and finished work of Christ, as its all in all.
The Prophet seeing the situation of his pupil, cut down a stick from a tree, and cast it into the water, when behold a most astonishing miracle appears—the stick, contrary to its native tendency, sunk, and brought up the iron head of the axe, which swam, contrary to its natural gravitation.—The man no doubt joyfully received it, and went on with his work. What cannot, what will not the God of Israel do for his people, to shew he is the Lord their God, that they are his servants, and that they are acting agreeable to his will. The Lord confirmeth the work of his servants and frustrateth the tokens of liars; and surely the petition of Elijah is exactly adapted, in many cases, to God’s dear ministers, when he prayed, and said, Lord God, let it be known this day that I am thy servant, that this is thy people, and that I have done all these things according to thy word.
Our text reads thus: But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas! Master, for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim—therefore said he, take it up to thee, and he put out his hand, and took it.
In further considering this most instructive subject, I would take occasion to notice our fall and recovery, in the two heads; Adam, the sinful head and representative of all mankind; and the adorable Jesus, the elect head of his dear people. It is a solemn and a glorious truth, that as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. Or, as the learned say it is literally in the Greek, All in Adam die; all in Christ shall be made alive. Here are the two heads, and no more—the one represents all mankind—the second Adam, all his children given to him, loved, redeemed, and saved by him. Much has been said and written on the subject of the Fall of Man: great indeed was that Fall, and dreadful has been the consequences of it. All the miseries in earth and hell are the consequences of it. Alas! how deeply fallen is man into the mire of corruption, sin, and folly; and into the waters of deep affliction—sunk, as iron cast or dropped into the waters of Jordan, which naturally gravitates to its own centre. Our nature was sunk so deep, that it was apparently lost, and so incapacitated, that it has no more power to come up out of it, than iron has to swim of itself, independent of a miracle—covered over, sunk in earth, yea, the Apostle asserts, it is earthly, sensual, and devilish; having fallen from wisdom, and become foolish; from righteousness, and become a criminal; from holiness, and become impure; and from happy freedom, to awful bondage. The powers of the soul, all the noble talents that were only lent; these are awfully depraved, yea, so evil, that I am bold to assert, no man can believe he is as vile as the Bible declares him, till he is put in the possession of the faith of God’s elect. There requires as much divine power, to credit the state of man, as to believe in the salvation of the soul. The same faith the holy Spirit gives to see Jesus, believe in Jesus, and rest on Jesus, is required to believe the desperate depravity of the human heart. The same light in which I see the new man, I see the old; in the same teaching I see truth, I discover the aboundings of error, and by the same anointing I behold my standing in the second Adam, I see my fall in the first. But it is well for the people of God, who are acquainted with their fallen natures, that the holy Spirit leads them to see the glorious remedy in the gospel; that as the Law enters, sin being discovered, weakness felt, corruption a burden, misery groaned under, and the awful consequences deplored. The Gospel is so highly esteemed by such persons, and none know the value of the Gospel, but those who feel their sins, and see them in the light of the Law, as deserving the wrath of a holy God; and finding the utter impossibility of keeping the Law, in thought, word, or deed—that the law condemns most justly for a sinful thought, as well as a sinful action. Hence the dear Redeemer, in his grand Sermon on the Mount, preached this Law in its spirituality, and insisted upon it, that anger in the heart against another without cause, was murder; and a lustful glance of the eye, adultery. Truly believing this testimony from the word, and by the teaching of the Spirit out of the Law, we must exclaim, What flesh can be saved? The scripture answers, (and all the election of grace is brought to believe it) Therefore by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. But it is the grand design of the Gospel, to open to a poor sinner, the glorious plan of salvation, by the joint work of the ever adorable trinity in unity. And it is the business of gospel ministers, to be ever stating the precious truths of the Gospel, and pointing poor guilty man to the blessed means whereby he can be justified and pardoned. This leads me to notice the conduct of the Prophet; when the man cried on account of his loss to him, he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim. Many great events were done at Jordan, it divided when the Israelites were to pass over to Canaan. As soon as the Ark, borne upon the shoulders of the priests, made its appearance, the waters parted. Hence the Psalmist asks, What ailed thee, O thou Sea, that thou fleddest, and thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back. Another text answers, The waters saw thee, O God, in the midst of Jordon. Joshua set up twelve stones in remembrance of the surprising event. Jacob passed over it twice, once with a heavy disconsolate heart, in leaving his home—and twenty years after, he passed the same place, and called to remembrance the gracious conduct of his God; with this Staff I passed over Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Elijah and Elisha smote the waters of Jordan with the same Mantle, but the most distinguished honour that was ever conferred on Jordan, was the descent of the lovely Son of God into them, by the ordinance of baptism, when the adorable Spirit alighted upon him, visible, though in the manner in which a Dove hovers in its descent; and Jesus was anointed to enter into his great work, while the Father bore testimony to him as his beloved Son, in whom he rested, pleased with him, and all his dear people in him. In the waters of Jordan the Axe head fell, and gravitating to its centre, sunk deep, no doubt, in the mire at the bottom, but a stick is cut down, cast in, sinks deep, and brings up the head, by causing it to swim—this was the means; and who can read this circumstance with attention, but must be reminded of him, who is the stem of Jesse, who was so many years typified by the rod of Moses, who performed so many wonders for the children of Israel, and is, in a certain sense, doing the same for his people in the wilderness to this day. He was also typified by the rod of Aaron, which budded, blossomed, and yielded almonds—to all human appearance, a very unpromising object, a dry stick. This is he, of whom the prophet Isaiah spake, perhaps in allusion to Aaron’s rod, He shall come up before him like a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; to all human appearance, a very unlikely person to be the Messiah, the Saviour of men. But another chapter holds forth his qualifications, And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his root. So says the Lord by another Prophet, Behold my servant, the Branch. And the Lord again, by Ezekiel, says, I will take off the top of his branch a young twig, and I will set it, and under his branches shall dwell all fowl of every wing. And perhaps, in allusion to this, the dear Saviour compares himself to a grain of mustard seed, small when sown, but large when grown, so that the birds of the air lodge in the branches thereof. This was to shew the reality of his human nature, his amazing condescension, his deep abasement, and the meanness of his descent. As man, humbled himself to the form of a servant, and as the saviour of the body, of which he is the head, the Father called him to the great work of redemption, and said, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. He gave him to the church, to deliver it from the ruins of the fall, and, as a Branch, he was cut off from the land of the living. Hence the prediction, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. He was indeed cut off from the synagogue of the Jews, from the carnal worldling, and from the proud Pharisee. He was cut off from his own relatives, from his own dear disciples for a time, from every earthly comfort and convenience, and cut off from the land of the living, by a most violent, painful, and shameful death; for the transgression of my people was he stricken. He was cast into the deep waters. He had been baptized in water at Jordan—now he must be baptized in blood, and sweet, and tears. Hence his deep afflictions are called waters; and he sighed and said, Save me O God, the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire. I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Deliver me out of the deep waters, and out of the mire. Let me be delivered from them that hate me. Hence we see our dear Lord sinking with the blood of our guilt, bearing our sins, sustaining our curse, and enduring the hell that we had merited—