1) The Solemn Condition of the Axe Head.
a) Loss – each person is lost. Rom 3:23; 6:23.
b) Liability – it was borrowed. Ezekiel 18:4.
c) Limitation – man’s efforts. Mark 8:36.
2) The Sudden Conversion of the Axe Head.
a) Apparently very superficial – throw a stick!
(The hidden plan of salvation – 1 Cor 1:18)
b) Actually very sublime – type of Messiah!
(The stick cast prefiguring Calvary)
c) Assuredly very successful – it worked!
(Yeshua plunging into death and rising again)
3) The Silent Confession of the Axe Head.
a) Its task – the work could continue.
b) Its testimony – God working with them.
Now the work could continue.
2 Kings 6:1-5, 7.
‘See now, the place is too small for us.’
‘Please go with us and Elisha did.’
‘Cutting down trees and building homes.’
‘Alas master! For it was borrowed.’
‘He reached out his hand and took it.’
2 Kings 6:2. The believer needs –
For increased capacity Psalm 119:32 – I will run the course of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart to obey ……. 2 Cor 6:13 – O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open.
For increased capacity to receive God’s blessings Psalm 81:10 – I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
For increased capacity to rejoice in the Lord – Isaiah 54:2-3 – Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.
For increased capacity to refresh God’s saints –
1 Chronicles 4:10 – And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “O that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me and that you should keel me from evil, that I may not cause pain! So God granted him what he requested.