It was fun when we read in chapter 2 about the double portion of Elijah's anointing given to Elisha

We shouted when the Shunamite woman said "it shall be well", and her son was raised from the dead

And when Naaman the leper's skin came again as a little baby's, after he dipped 7 times in Jordan

But we forget that 2Kings opens in chapter 1 with Ahaziah calling on Beelzebub for his healing,
  and that Elijah told the king "thou shalt surely die", and called fire down on the companies of 50

What about the 2 she-bears that mauled the 42 children that mocked the man of God, and the rapture?



I set out to preach deliverance, and felt led of God to preach the book of 2 Kings

but as a young Christian it was hard to read the prophets, a great rending in my spirit took place

David's prayer of repentance in Psalm 51:
  vs. 6   Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
          to know wisdom.
  vs 7    Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
  vs 8    Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Jeremiah's call (1:10) was "to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to thrown down,
  to build and to plant"


Sometimes the judgment of God is gruesome, as in the next few chapters.
  Elijah killed the 250 prophets of Baal, and the other 200 prophets
  but Calvary was gruesome too... it cost the life of God's Son, beaten to a bloody pulp

  Isaiah 52:14-15 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man,
  and his form more than the sons of men:
  So shall he sprinkle many nations...




our text...

2Kings 8:1-6

The shunamite woman, her son raised from the dead

7 years' famine prophesied

"sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn"

the woman strolls in to plead for her land as Gehazi is in the middle of testifying about her

vs 6  restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land,
     even until now



We find that God judges sin, outright punishes for sin
  but that oftentimes judgement is redemptive in nature
  and also that God cares for His own, makes a way for them, and restores what the cankerworm has eaten

This 7 years' famine, we've seen this before... Joseph in Egypt
  God used that event to bring back his brothers to him, and into a right relationship with God
  eventually they made it back to the land of Israel, but the paschal lamb had to die first

The famine is a prophecy of the Great Tribulation, soon to come upon us
  its correct interpretation is God's gathering and purging of Israel, and their restoration
  but the Lamb Of God had to die... and they have to accept that sacrifice



Zechariah... a horrible time, but God gathers Israel: Zech. 10:8

Calvary, and the gospel believed by the poor: Zech 11:10-13

there is a fountain: Zech 13:1

Jews finally accept Jesus as their messiah: Zech 13:6

the second comming: Zech 14:4