God performed eight miracles during Elijah’s tenure as Prophet in Israel and sixteen during Elisha’s. In an extraordinary time, God used these extraordinary men in extraordinary ways.
It is fitting, and even unsurprising, that centuries after their deaths, Jesus revealed His world-wide mission focus by pointing to the life and ministry of these two great prophets.
Remember, it was always God’s purpose to redeem all mankind, Jew and Gentile alike. When God called Abraham, He said, “I will bless those who bless you … and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). All people from every tribe, and tongue, and nation.
So, preaching in His boyhood hometown, He read from the book of Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). Before He sat down, He proclaimed,
“Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled” (Luke 4:21).
It was as if Jesus held up a neon sign that read, “I’m the Messiah!” This, of course, caused the religious establishment great shivers. They knew that Jesus was just the carpenter’s kid.
Before they could push Jesus off a cliff, Jesus pointed to Elijah and Elisha, saying, although there were multitudes of hungry people during the famine, Elisha ministered to the widow at Zarephath, a Gentile. And during Elisha’s lifetime, there were lots of lepers, but he healed only Naaman, a Syrian military commander. Like the widow from Zarephath, Naaman was a Gentile.
Jesus declared that His Gospel message was meant for all … all the poor, all the captives, all the blind, all the oppressed … Jew and Gentile alike.
“When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They got up, drove him out of town, and brought him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl him over the cliff. But he passed right through the crowd and went on his way” (Luke 4:28-30).
“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).
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