Now the story seems to indicate that it was only for a moment that the
prophet's hands were laid on the king's hands, because, after they had
been so laid, he is bidden to go to the window and fling it open, and
the bedridden man could not go there with him; then he is bidden to
draw the bow, and another hand upon his would have been a hindrance
rather than a help. So it was but a momentary touch, a communication
of power in reality or in symbol that the muscular young hand needed,
and the wasted old one could give. And is that not a parable for us?
We, too, if we are Christian men and women, have a gospel of which the
very kernel is that there is to us a communication of power, and the
very name of that divine Spirit whom it is Christ's greatest work to
send flashing and flaming through the world, is the 'Spirit of Power.'
And so the old promise that ye shall be clothed with strength from on
high is the standing prerogative of the Christian Church. There is not
merely some partial communication, as when hand touched hand, but
every organ is vitalised and quickened; as in the case of the other
miracle of this prophet, when he stretched himself on the dead child
eye to eye, and mouth to mouth, and hand to hand; and each part
received the vitalising influence. We have, if we are Christian
people, a Spirit given to us, and are 'strengthened with might by the
Spirit in the inner man.'
That gift, that strength comes to us by contact, not with Elisha, but
with Elisha's Lord and Master. Christ's touch, when He was on earth,
brought sight to the blind, healing to the sick, vigour to the limbs
of the lame, life to the dead. And you and I can have that touch, far
more truly, and far more mightily operative upon us than they had, who
only felt the contact of His finger, and only derived corporeal
blessing. For we can draw near to Him, and in union with Him by faith
and love and obedience, can have His Spirit in close contact with our
spirits, and strengthening us for all service, and for every task.
Brethren! that touch which gives strength is a real thing. It is no
mere piece of mystical exaggeration when we speak of our spirits being
in actual contact with Christ's Spirit. Many of us have no clear
conception, and still less a firm realisation, of that closer than
corporeal contact, more real than bodily presence, and more intimate
than any possible physical union, which is the great gift of God in
Jesus Christ, and brings to us, if we will, life and strength
according to our need. I would that the popular Christianity of this
day had a far larger infusion of the sound, mystical element that lies
in the New Testament Christianity, and did not talk so exclusively
about a Christ that is for us as to have all but lost sight of the
second stage of our relation to Christ, and lost a faith in a Christ
that is in us Brethren! He can lay His hand upon your spirit's hand.
He can flash light into your spirit's eye from His eye. He can put
breath and eloquence into your spirit's lips from His lips, and His
heart beating against yours can transfuse--if I may so say--into you
His own life-blood, which cleanses from all sin, and fits for all
conflict.
Then, further, let me remind you that this power, which is bestowed on
condition of contact, is given before duties are commanded. This king,
in our acted parable, first had the touch of Elisha's fingers, and
then received the command from Elisha's lips, 'Shoot!' So Jesus Christ
gives before He commands, and commands nothing which He has not fitted
us to perform. He is not 'an austere man, reaping where He did not
sow, and gathering where He did not straw'; but He comes first to us
saying, 'I give thee Myself,' and then He looks us in the eyes and
says, 'Wilt thou not give Me thyself?' He bestows the strength first,
and He commands the consequent duty afterwards.
Further, this strength communicated is realised in the effort to obey
Christ's great commands. Joash felt nothing when the prophet's hand
was laid upon his but, perhaps, some tingling. But when he got the bow
in his hand and drew the arrow to its head, the infused power
stiffened his muscles and strengthened him to pull; and though he
could not distinguish between his own natural corporeal ability and
that which had been thus imparted to him, the two co-operated in the
one act, and it was when he drew his bow that he felt his strength.
'Stretch forth thine hand,' said Christ to the lame man. But the very
infirmity to be dealt with was his inability to stretch it forth. At
the command he tried, and, to his wonder, the stiffened sinews
relaxed, and the joint that had been immovable had free play, and he
stretched out his hand, and it was restored whole as the other. So He
gives what He commands, and in obeying the command we realise and are
conscious of the power. Elisha and Joash but act an illustration of
the great word of Paul: 'Work out your own salvation ... for it is God
that worketh in you.'