This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Life of Elisha” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 12, 1989.

Tonight we’ll read 2 Kings 6. We’ll be reading the first seven verses, and then we’ll be looking at a passage in Matthew. 2 Kings 6, the first seven verses. Let’s hear the word of God. Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, The place before you where we are living is too limited for us. Please let us go to the Jordan and each of us take from there a beam and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live.”

So he said, go. Then one said, please be willing to go with your servants. And he answered, I will go. So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water, and he cried out and said, Alas, my master, for it was borrowed. Then the man of God said, Where did it fall? And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron float. And he said, take it up for yourself. So he put out his hand and took it. And then in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 9, verses 35 and 36.

And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. And seeing the multitudes, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd.” O Lord, what strength we derive from being here with your people and in your presence. And is not that strength, Lord, communicated to us by your word?

O Lord, we ask that we might thrive on your word, that it might be food for our souls. We ask our Father that we would be anxious to receive your word, that we would be diligent in hearing it and in rehearsing it. And surely, O Lord, may it be stored up within us in order that we might have within us then that reservoir out of which we might answer everyone who asks of us the reason of the hope that is in us. We pray now, our God, that by your word your people may be strengthened throughout the world, that our concern would not be merely for ourselves, but for all of those who call upon your name in truth. And may their assemblies with this one be well supplied. And may we be satisfied, Father, with what you give, and learn to delight in you all the more. We pray these things for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Well, here we are at the floating axe head story. This is certainly one of the most perplexing stories that we find recorded with regard to this most extraordinary of persons, Elisha. In fact, the story of the floating axe head could be called one of the most perplexing in all of scripture, even ranging beyond simply the parameters of the life and times of Elisha. It is the story of the floating axe head and others that we might attach to it reading them in light of this particular tale that has led many a radical critic to compare Elisha with Merlin the Magician. After reading this story, what some have said is, what we’re dealing with here is a wizard, not a prophet. a wizard a magician and I know not a few from conservative and reformed ranks who after reading this story have expressed similar sentiments floating accents now get serious What in the world are we to do with this story?

On the surface of it, that could be a pun, it does seem to be a bit far-fetched. And if not far-fetched, useless. What meaning could it possibly have? What usefulness for us? Is our life really dependent upon floating assets? Is there any spiritual value here? Any spiritual meetability?

Now, there have been a number of approaches to the passage. And I’m not going to try and cover them all tonight. Rather, I will deal with one. One approach, that of classical liberalism. Now, don’t become dismayed. We’ll try to make it interesting and compelling for you. I will take one liberal, a man by the name of J. Robinson, an Englishman, a liberal scholar, who has contributed a commentary in the Cambridge Bible Commentary Series on 2 Kings.

This is what he says, the story is a legend. The story is a legend. Along the lines of those type of stories that grow up around famous personages and religious leaders, It’s not extraordinary to have this story appearing here because after all we come to expect such things when people enamored of certain personalities and certain religious leaders go to spinning tales. So this is one more tale spun by subsequent admirers.

In this approach by Mr. Robinson, the personality of the Prophet, the personality of the Prophet is foundation, so he says. And the personality of the Prophet is actually the main point of the story, it determines the nature of the story and its meaning.

This then establishes, according to Mr. Robinson, that purpose of this story, which is to communicate to us something about Elisha’s personality. that is thought to be, then, of spiritual value. We are to see something here in Elisha’s behavior, in his response, in the circumstance recorded, that is to be of spiritual value to us. What might that be? So says Mr. Robinson, Elisha in this story is depicted for us as a man of great compassion, devoted to the service of others. That’s the meaning.

Such service exhibited by Elisha stands opposite the private acquisition of power for personal gain. Besides, At the time of Elisha, iron was scarce and valuable. An iron ax head was a valuable implement. Its loss, particularly since it was borrowed, would involve the loser in considerable hardship. that Elisha is shown here using his powers to relieve hardship tells us a great deal then about Elisha.

The moral of the story, since liberalism is wont to give us morals, the moral of the story is that we should be compassionate in the use of power as Elisha was himself. In other words, be like Elisha. Now that is the approach of a classical liberal to the text. The story is a legend. the intent of which is to communicate to us something of the personality of Elisha so that we might derive from that personality something of religious value.

Are you with me so far? Okay. Before we go on to vampoon the approach, though, We might want to take a little time to think about its positive features. For after all, there is a certain attractiveness to the liberal point of view. There is here something of positive value that is of use to us.

We would all admit This approach is hopelessly moralistic. And any time that word is used in our presence, we recoil in horror, and rightly so. Moralism. The reduction of religion to moralism. Ah! Nothing more repugnant than that. We know the drift of such thoughts.

They take us off into the realm of pure behaviorism, away from a redemptive religion altogether, away from a gospel of salvation, away from that message that tells us that something has to be done for us, a sacrifice has to be made, payment has to be made, in order for us to experience the blessings of God.

No, you see, liberalism comes at us along the lines of that which preaches to us abilities, Naturally conceived, we have the ability to save ourselves. We, if we are but moral enough, can chart for ourselves that path that is appropriate and gain for ourselves our rightful spot in God’s Son and in His Kingdom. So yes, there is the obvious moralist But despite this obvious moralism, the figure of the prophet does gain a certain prominence that even we of the Reformed faith are drawn to. If I were to go at it from this direction, for instance, Now, not that the liberal would go at it from this direction, but if I were to go at it from this direction, if you were to go at it from this direction, if we were to see Elisha as a type of Christ, could we then say that there is positive value for us in considering the personality of the man? That there are things there for us to emulate, to imitate? Is there then here an appreciation that we should not avoid, an appreciation of the prophets, something to which then the liberal approach calls our attention to.

After all, Jesus Christ in his miracles, think of them, think of the passage that we read from Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus Christ, in His miracles, in His wonderful works, is presented to us as a man of compassion, devoted to the service of others. He acts out of a deep-seated love that stands opposite the private acquisition of power for personal gain. Truly, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, does indeed relieve hardship. And though we lack the power to do miracles as Jesus did them, we too, in expressing our place and role within the kingdom of his power, are to express ourselves as he expressed himself, namely, compassionately.

So there is that sense in which we can derive from the stories of the miracles a lesson. Yes, be like Elisha, but even more, be like Jesus. Be like Jesus. Well, you see then there is a positive road we might take even when we are taking our cue from a liberal like J. Robinson. However, we dare not lose sight of the tragedy of liberalism. Dr. John Gershner has called liberalism a cult. An appropriate description and definition. A cult! Sub-Christian!

J. Gresham Machen has called liberalism a completely different religion. That’s why he entitles his 1923 book, Christianity and Liberalism.

They are not the same. They are completely distinct. They are completely opposite, one to the other. Now in this day, when evangelicals and reformed people have become preoccupied with themselves, and the only fight seen worth fighting are the fights they have among themselves, We can easily lose sight of the enemy, liberalism. And what an insidious enemy it is. It’s still out there. Do you have any doubt? Did you notice last month?

The visit of the great liberal to Pittsburgh? Dr. William Sloan Coffin arrives in Pittsburgh. Is liberalism dead? Who else escapes front-page coverage? I do say that Billy Graham himself came to town and wouldn’t give front-page coverage. William Sloane Coffin comes, he does. Is liberalism dead? Oh, no. Oh, no. When was the last time you read a summary of a Sunday sermon in Monday’s paper? When William Sloane Cochran was here, the summary of his sermon preached at his Liberty Presbyterian Church here in London. Liberalism isn’t dead. It is now being ignored and that doesn’t even much bother the liberal.

Because while others divert their eyes, they are hard at work. And they know the end of this century belongs to them. You think I’m kidding? You think I’m kidding? Liberalism is coming back on the back of evangelicalism and the end of this century is going to be devastating because the liberal is going to be stronger than ever. You can content yourself now and say it’s not touching me, let me tell you, in 10, 15 years it will and I can guarantee you it’s going to touch your children. the tragedy of liberalism.

And it is exposed well by J. Robinson’s approach to this passage in 2 Kings. He has said that the value of the story is what it tells us about the personality of Elisha. And from this we can judge that his position on Elijah’s personality would be the same as his position on Jesus’ personality. That is, the value of the miracle stories in the Gospels would be, in fact, what they tell us about Jesus’ personality. That is the value, and that is the value alone.

No more, no less. As it was with the story of Elisha and the floating exit, so it is with the story of Jesus and the transformation of water into wine at Canaan. The multiplication of loaves and fishes in the regions of the Sea of Galilee. Virtually the same.

Are you able now to perceive What, those like J. Robinson, are you able now to perceive what they are saying when they deal with the passage as they have dealt with this one in 2 Kings? Let me give you a rundown as to what they are saying. First of all, personality. is separated from person. You start looking at the features of the personality. Elisha is compassionate.

It doesn’t matter really what he was in himself. We can even lay aside the issue of whether or not he was a man called of God, whether he was actually a prophet. Does it matter whether God literally spoke to him or not? No. All we need to know is that the man was compassionate. That is sufficient, and that is religion enough for us. That is what you see the liberal is saying. Do you understand? Do you understand?

Personality is separated from person. So, you see, it doesn’t really matter what rank you assign to Jesus. It doesn’t matter whether he was the son of God, whether he was who he claimed to be. It doesn’t matter at all. All that is necessary is that you know he is compassionate. And then you start being compassionate too, my people. You understand? Does it matter? Separation of personality from person. Next, the separation of person from work. From the work of the individual. Thinking of this in connection with Jesus himself.

The liberal separates Jesus from his work. from his miraculous works, his miraculous supernatural acts. In fact, so says the liberal, the miracle becomes a mere device to convince us about the qualities of Jesus’ personality, just as it was in the case of Elisha. Therefore, you need not get too worked up about floating assets, or water that is turned into wine. or the particulars of any miracle recorded in scripture. These miracle stories are only for the purpose of placing before us positive examples of proper spiritual character that is then to be imitated by us. What we are dealing with here are legends and myths.

So, says the liberal, it doesn’t matter whether they happened at all. It doesn’t matter whether they happened at all. So we’ve moved from the separation of the personality from the person, to the separation of the person from the work, and now we move to the separation of the work from history altogether. By placing the miracles on the side of legend and myth, The liberal now has attacked, deliberately and forthrightly, the historicity of those miracles. So serious is this, that we must understand that he has attacked the historicity of those miracles in such a way so as to render those miracles superfluous to faith. In other words, the truths of the faith, what is important to our faith, can stand whether the miracle actually occurred or not. That is what Luther Brooke is saying. It doesn’t matter whether they ever happened. Faith can remain intact. And all of the miracles of the Bible be denied, so says Philippians.

Do you think I’m inventing this? Have you ever heard a liberal? Have you ever read a liberal? I’d like to tell the story about my wife. She grew up in the shelter of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Whether she ever met a widow in her life, she didn’t know. She met me. I wasn’t a widow. But it just so happened that shortly into our marriage we had the occasion to attend a lecture in South Jersey.

Who was speaking? President James I. McCord President of Princeton Senate Did Jesus actually come out of the tomb? The man was asked the question Did Jesus actually come out of the tomb? What was his answer? No Now that experience shocked who I was. And I hope something of the shock registers on you as you sit here this evening and hear this. The man said no. In fact it doesn’t matter whether Jesus came out of a tomb, because he said faith can be preserved even though the resurrection was denied.

So now you see, the works are separated, they are separated from history. The faith is made to depend only in a literary way upon the factuality of events recorded. The story of the floating axe head is reported as history, but it’s only to be understood in a literary way. But why is any miracle necessary at all to tell us to be compassionate in our use of power? It merely becomes then illustrative material.

But finally, how is it that we’ve moved, that we’ve rechecked my notes, It’s tough to think on your feet up here. You have the separation of the personality from the person. Then the separation of the person from the work. Then the separation of the work from history. And then coming full circle, the separation, the separation of the history from the personality. We’re back to the beginning again. You see? You see what they do? the separation of the history from the personality. You see, in the end, the liberal is not claiming to say anything authenticatable. He is not claiming to say anything authenticatable, historically, about that personality in view in the text.

Whether it’s the prophet Elisha, or the Messiah, Jesus. All that the liberal can claim in the end is that there have been some people at some time who have revered these individuals and thought this and that about them. There have been some people, some time, who have revered these personalities, the Prophet and Jesus, and wish to convey their own convictions about these personalities. That’s all that the liberal can say, in the end, with any certainty. There were some people living after Elisha, who thought him compassionate, and wished to communicate that. There are certain people who are living after Jesus, who thought him compassionate, and wish to communicate that about Jesus.

Which is not to say, then, that either Elisha or Jesus were actually compassionate. You can’t prove that. On the liberal foundation, you cannot even prove that Elisha or Jesus were compassion. Really, then, the only history we can know anything about is that of those groups responsible for these stories about the prophets and about Jesus. We are left, then, pleading ignorance with respect to the lives of each. Do you see where liberalism leaves you? As far as scripture is concerned, it leaves you in vacuous skepticism. It is utterly destructive. Of course, you and I begin somewhere else, don’t we?

We, having been touched by the Spirit of God, and we do not say that in a vain and self-righteous way, we, having been touched by the Spirit of God, have had our hearts opened to the message of the Word, and have perceived that Word as authoritative and as self-authenticative. And we stand over against all of this which we’ve heard tonight ready to affirm the historicity of the works of the prophets and of Jesus our Savior. We stand ready to affirm the historicity of the personages of the prophets and our Christ as those personalities have been revealed in scripture. From floating axe heads to empty tombs We, without hesitation, declare our allegiance to the miraculous, supernatural message of Scripture. And we would rather die than give it up. from there.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.