A Floating Axe Head - 2 Kings 6:1

2 Kings 6:1. Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there.” And he answered, “Go.” 3 Then one of them said, “Be pleased to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.” 4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” 6 Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 7 And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

The miracle of the floating axe head, was one of Elisha’s 18 recorded supernatural interventions during the darkest days in the history Israel. Elisha, and Elijah before him, had a ministry of the proclamation of the power of the Lord in Israel where spiritual wickedness seemingly reigned. Their very names in Hebrew: Elijah and Elisha were a bold proclamation as to who God is and their own relationship to God. As I am sure you know, In the days of Elijah 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah ate every day at Queen Jezebel’s table. It seemed, if possible, that the God of Israel had been defeated in his own land and among his own people. Official government policy was bitterly hostile to the things of God, and against those who would not bow the knee to Baal.

But Elijah and Elisha’s combined ministries were 80 years of works of power, showing that the LORD, the God of Israel, was still in charge. Proof that there was a God in Israel, but not only proof to Israel but to the nations around about, proof that there is no God in all the earth but Yahweh: proof to the Syrian general Naaman; proof to the Phoenician widow of Zarephath; proof to the Syrian authorities as Elisha anointed a new royal dynasty in Syria.

This story of the lost axe head is not about a magic trick done for a friend. But in the context of the day it was a fresh revelation of God’s reality in Israel. It didn’t by itself stop false worship in Israel, but imagine how this event must have encouraged these students at the E P M T C (The Elisha Prophet and Missionary Training College), who must have felt the spiritual oppression of the time. When a lost iron axe head, which was very valuable at that time, was supernaturally recovered, floating up from the riverbed. What a reassurance that miracle must have been to those student prophets! They were at the right school, and worshipping the true God after all.

And I am sure they needed encouragement. They knew that if the spiritual situation in Israel was going to be turned around they were going to need to see God at work supernaturally against the murderous kings and queens of Israel like Jezebel and Ahab and their evil successors.

I know this story in 2 Kings ch6 was not written to us in 21st century New Zealand, but I believe it was written for us …

As you graduate today and leave this college and move on into ministry, you too are going to need to see some axe heads float – contrary to naturalistic expectations. In fact I believe cross-cultural missions will always see some special and precious moments when we know God is at work around and with us – those special interventions which only can be of God - those God moments.  Because the Lord will be at work when you move in the promises of God for world mission. Indeed I believe you will all see axe heads float as you obey the Great Commission. Because God’s mission to the nations, is the work of Christ which is by definition, a supernatural work. As Jesus says: “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

So what are these floating axe heads in missions?:

1.     Firstly, remember Christianity itself is a faith, founded on axe heads that floated in human history – things that defy the understanding of the natural man: God’s creation of the universe and life; the virgin birth; God becoming man; Jesus’ stupendous miracles; the resurrection from the dead; the gift of the Holy Spirit – to mention a few important floating axe heads. Not to mention the greatest one yet to happen – the return of Christ in glory at the end of the age. When the Son of Man will come again to judge the peoples of the earth in his glory seated on the clouds of heaven …  talk about floating axe heads!

These miracles demanded by Christian doctrine must inevitably spill over into the floating axe heads of Christian ministry. And you graduating students have been living in a floating axe head for two years. Everything around you has been provided by God: this land; these buildings; the monthly financial support of your teachers and staff – all begun with a single $10 donation from a Wellington widow in 1992, which has ballooned into all we see around us today. 

2.     Secondly, I am certain that as you yourselves set out in missions you will see some axe heads float. When your funds run low; when that ‘impossible’ visa needs to be obtained; when you are dealing with a corrupt government official; when your child is sick in an isolated situation. Although they are stressful, ‘impossible’ situations, which I believe God sometimes allows to happen so, when they are resolved, we will see the axe head float – and God break in – and we are doubly reassured, as it were, that there is a God in Israel – and for you, that your call is real. Not every lost axe head will float alas, but just enough will float for us to know Emmanuel, God is with us.

3.     Thirdly, seeing axe heads float when we proclaim the gospel in whatever context. The gospel is ultimately a verbal message, people don’t become Christians by osmosis, at some stage the non-Christian has to hear words to be saved – here too we will see axe heads float: I am often daunted by face-to-face Christian evangelism, but almost always come away thrilled, because I saw a floating axe head. That ‘chance’ conversation, that ‘coincidental’ meeting: that person who just ‘happened’ to raise the subject.

In conclusion: I often quote Archbishop William Temple who said, “When I don’t pray, co-incidences don’t happen”. Or, my version: “When I don’t pray axe heads don’t float.” Indeed, for world mission to be completed, axe heads will have to float – and as you go out at the Lord’s command you will see this happen. Worldwide evangelisation for Christ does not just happen in the natural course of things – but in the hidden supernatural coincidences ordained in heaven in response to prayer. 

So, like Elisha, cast a stick at the problem in prayer. But you say I am not Elisha, I am not an Old Testament prophet. No! But in some senses you are more than an Elisha; you have the immense privilege of living in this dispensation in days of great church expansion. During which we can say, unlike Elisha, ‘Christ in me the hope of glory.’  Elisha once asked, “Where is the God of Elijah?” I tell you, he is here with us in this room this afternoon!