By: Robert Serreyn
Question? Is there any spiritual applications that can be drawn from 2 Kings 4:40 & 41?
2 Kings 4:40-41 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof. (41) But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.
Answer: Yes there are.
The background to these two verses is that there was a GREAT famine and drought at that time.
2 Kings 4:38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth (famine & drought) in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.
The prophet Elisha instructed the sons of Gilgal to gather vegetables for a pot of soup.
Trouble arises when one of them puts in what is called Wild Gourds into the pottage.
2 Kings 4:39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.
The end result was that the soup BECAME tainted, and unfit to be eaten.
One spiritual application that can be extracted from from V40 is this…
A Pastor or Church can be RIGHT ON as far as the Gospel is concerned, BUT, If that Minister, Church, or Bible Study etc. IS NOT teaching sound bible doctrine (Titus 2:1 – But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine) THEN as 2 Kings 4:40 states… There is Death in the pot.
Sure the members of the church or the listeners of that pastor may be saved BUT Death in this sense that they have been tainted and ruined by the WILD GOURDS of false teaching and bad doctrine WHO in all truthfulness WILL BE of very little profitable use for the Lord.
Another is… One bad habit or uncontrolled sin can and will destroy a christians testimony that could prevent the salvation of the unsaved onlooker CAUSING is own Death in the pot spiritually to the one that may have otherwise trusted Christ as their savior.
V41… Elisha the prophet HAD the remedy for the tainted soup.
The word MEAL= Untainted Food, This I believe can be likened unto both Sound Doctrine and or a Good Testimony.
The Pastor, Church, and or the christian THAT STRIVES to be SOUND ON DOCTRINE and to present a CLEAR GOSPEL has the ONLY REMEDY for a lost and hell bound world.
In Conclusion:
Just as Elisha placed the MEAL (Untainted food) into the soup IN WHICH resulted in No Harm in the Pot, The MEAL of a Pastor’s Church Sound Doctrine or a Christian’s Good Testimony can result in the OVERCOMING of the Wild Gourds of false teaching, and the false gospel of the lost person.
Scripture states in Psalms 34:8…
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
The MOST IMPORTANT thing to know IS Jesus Christ as savior, just simply believe that Jesus Christ went to the cross and DIED and shed his blood, was BURIED and three days later RESURRECTED from the dead to pay for your sins.
The moment that you do YOU HAVE (at that second and forever) Everlasting Life which WILL NEVER be taken away no matter what.
-Christ DIED for you – Romans 5:8
-Christ PAID your sins in full – 2 Corinthians 5:21,1 Peter 2:24
-BELIEVE (Trust In Completely) in Christ ALONE as the complete payment of sin for salvation – John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8,9
“For the wages(payment) of sin is death (eternal torment in hell); but the GIFT(salvation) of God is eternal life THROUGH Jesus Christ our Lord”. Romans 6:23
IT IS THAT SIMPLE – THE GOSPEL TRUTH