Msindisi Monthly # 99

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 99 Dec 2012

PO BOX 1481
VRYHEID 3100
KWAZULU NATAL
SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008
+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com ,
salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

Personal Website: http://msindisi.googlepages.com

Dear Friends and family,

Thank you to the knitters in Aussie the last box of Jumpers arrived safely this month many have been given out in the community but more still need to go.

This month we had Kevin and Michele with the three boys visit us from “Coming King Ministries “. They arrived from Salt Rock on the Friday night so we where able to visit with Johnny and Kim, Guy and Nicky as we are going through the Francis Schaeffer DVD series on church history. Sat morning was kids club where Kevin taught on “talking with God” both groups stayed together after the singing. That week we also gave out what
Oakhurst Insurance had kindly donated for each of the kids at kids club, a fleece blanket and T Shirt embroidered with Jesus loves me in English and Thanda UJesu in Zulu (Love Jesus). The kids where delighted and now wear there T shirts each week. Thank you !!!

Kevin and the family had to leave on the sat due to there own ministry comments on the Sunday. It was a pleasure having them with us and we were grateful to see them later in the month when we visited Stanger sharing a meal with them and Leslie then attended there bible study.

After many delays due to bad weather Lorens ( Johnny and Kim’s youngest boy ) decided he would get baptised in Bethany Baptist church. He asked Salvi if he could do it. So Jannie led the service and the message while Sal baptised Lorens. It was a lovely morning with family and friends. A couple of hours after the service we were both on the bus heading to Joberg.

Phumlani and Salvi have been able to resume evangelism in Ngenitsheni and we have caught up with Mrs MaNxele who still showed interest in the gospel. We trust that she will commit her life to the Lord. Phumlani baptised Jabulani’s brother, Jeffrey who has been visiting our meetings on and off for a year or so depending on where he is living. He testified that he had given his life to the Lord a little while ago at an evangelistic meeting and understood the gospel.

Sadly our dear friend Murjuru lost his wife Rachel to cancer. Rachel left behind a huge testimony of her love for the Lord. Many people shared of her witness. Our prays and thoughts are with you Mujuru at this difficult time. She was a special lady and mother but we give thanks that we are only parted from her for a time because we will see our dear sister again.

At the same time of Rachel’s death we also got news that Clayton Wells, dear friend and best man Jaques had died suddenly. Our hearts were broken for Marianne his wife and Seth, their boy. While there we were able to attend his service and get to see Clayton who had flown out from the UK to support Marianne. We continue to pray for you both who have lost your loved ones.

Gogo had an appointment this month in Pietermaritzburg hospital which is a 6 hour drive away for a further consultation with a specialist concerning her cancer. This was a huge thing for her and she was very fearful. After getting there she discovered it was a waste of time due to the specialist not being able to read her Vryheid hospital report and that the appropriate test had not even been done. She was told to return to Vryheid hospital to get the tests done then return. Sadly this is common. Vryheid hospital has a shocking reputation for its lack of service and care. Many public hospitals in SA tell you to bring your own blanket. The conditions can be shocking. Please keep her in pray over her health and salvation.

Our church fellowship “Ibandla Lendlela Eyodwa” had the opportunity to visit another fellowship in the area of Cliffdale who follow the word of God. Bonginkosi Zakwe is the pastor. This man had married Phumlani and Thabi over a year ago. Salvi had been asked to help interpret for Jannie from the Bethany Baptist church as he was preaching there. We saw it as a way for all the church to visit if they wished. All were keen, so we all piled into the back of the bakkie with blankets to keep warm. Phumlani introduced the church and at the time of singing Zuzu and Zanele sang a solo beautifully.

The end of the month was ‘Care Bear Preschool’s graduation for grade R preschoolers and the Christmas break up party. These two days were very special to us, Belinda, Chris and all the staff do an amazing job. The kids and parents love it. Salvi was invited to share with the parents the gospel and give out bibles.

After this and cell group on Tuesday we headed to Stanger to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary for a few days and catch up with friends. Salvi shared at the two morning services at New Guelderland and Carmel Reformed Pentecostal churches. Calvin has been unwell so it was good to see him and his precious wife Gracie.

On the Sunday evening we were blessed to spend time with Mark and Marianne Van Niekerk and their family along with Bill and Kristin Randles and Matthew Fanning who were out visiting. It truly was a blessed time of fellowship together, sharing stories, scripture and food. Bill spoke on the monday evening then before we knew it it was time to say goodbye.

What a amazing time we shared !!!! Psalm 133 v 2 .

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing-life forever. (Psalms 133:1-3 NASB)

Thanks Marianne for all your hard work with food preparation, etc. We pray that Bill, Kristin and Matt have a wonderful time in the Cape and return safely to the US taking with them our love to the fellowship there.

We thank the Lord for His amazing Grace, His faithfulness, His lovingkindness.
May the blessing of the Lord be upon you, as we press on !!!!
Shalom

Salvi and Di

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For those who are interested there is a website with three audio messages uploaded that concerning the building of the Church and having a Zeal for God’s house. These messages were recorded in Port Elisabeth, South Africa 2011. http://www.sermon.net/msindisi . More teachings will be posted in the future.

 

ELIJAH AND ELISHA
FULFILLING THE COMMISSION 2
PART 20
2 Kings 9: 1 – 10, & 13: 14 – 21

1 Kings 19: 15 – 18.

There would be three agents of judgment under God’s anointing and as we will see they will bring an end to the house of Ahab. There will be a remnant left, of 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Ba’al and because of this we may see why we have been looking at the narratives of Elisha concerning how they typify and illustrate truths about Israel’s hardening, judgment and restoration. The first fulfilment of this verse happened when Elijah anointed Elisha. The second fulfilment was what we looked at in the last session where we studied the anointing of Hazael and tonight we will look at the anointing of Jehu and the end of Elisha’s ministry.

9: 1 – 10 THE ANOINTING OF JEHU

This section is not an attempt to look at the person of Jehu. We must look upon him to some extent because such an analysis of his person and commission is part of the ministry of Elisha. The commission to anoint Hazael and Jehu was given to Elijah but the commission was transferred to Elisha. The proof of the possibility of this transference of the commission is seen in verse one where Elisha himself transfers this commission onto one of the servants of the prophets. And so we see this is also the case with the church. In Matthew 28: 18 – 20 Jesus gave the eleven disciples the Great Commission. But in this commission Jesus promised that he would be with the disciples, even till the end of the age. In order for Jesus’ words to be fulfilled, He must have been speaking by extension to the Church at large because the Apostles died out well before the end of the age. Therefore, even though the commission was given to the 11, there is transference of that commission to the whole church. Concerning the commissioning of the son of the prophets we may note some things. Firstly, the flask of oil is something that was paramount. The whole object of this exercise was to anoint Jehu. This holding in the hand of something seems to be indicative that nothing was to sway the prophet from his task and nothing was to interfere with the oil itself. It is similar to the instruction given concerning the yearly festive tithe. (Deut 14: 24 – 25). The Jews had a notoriety for taking the instruction of the scriptures literally. If so we can easily see that the prophet would have kept the flask of oil in his hand for the entire journey. Secondly, besides searching out Jehu, he was to anoint him secretly. And often in the scripture someone’s calling is manifested to them privately before it becomes evident publicly. Joseph received the dreams of grandeur as a boy and shared them only with his family. It was not until years later that the fulfilment came about. Moses knew he was to deliver Israel when he was 40, but the ministry did not come about until he was eighty. (Acts 7: 24 – 25). David was anointed in his house before he was anointed as king publicly. Even Saul, (Paul) was given his commission before God brought it about. (Acts 22: 14 – 16).

God may reveal to us the direction we must go but, often, He first does this privately before He brings it to pass. It is a case of God initiating and we respond so that everything is by His grace and His leading. Our part is to respond in faith and obedience. A pastor of mine once said, ‘I believe that God wants to give everyone a vision, and really there is only one true vision. That is the vision that Isaiah had of God on the throne. Every other vision stems from that.’ He said, ‘I believe God wants to give each one of us a vision, but then we must die to that vision. Why? Because then He raises it up so that the glory goes to Him.’ And that is so true. We see that Jehu does not assert himself in verse 11 but tries to keep it to himself.

But thirdly, in verse 3, the prophet is to say, ‘Thus says the LORD, “I have anointed you.”’ In other words, though the prophet did the physical act of anointing, and though it was Elisha that sent him, and though the commission was originally given to Elijah, in reality it was not any of them that was doing the anointing but God was the one who anointed Jehu. One thing that I dislike are these books that contain questionnaires that are supposed to help you find your spiritual gifts. This makes a mockery out of the work of the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 2: 14 – 16. The things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned and not discerned by natural methods or wisdom. The Holy Spirit gives the gifts severally as He wills. Any unbeliever can take one of these books and find out their supposed spiritual gifts, and they are unbelievers. Jehu was not anointed by human choice or human will but by the will of God. Granted he was suited for the job in hand but ultimately it was God’s choice to use him in that particular role. The anointing comes from God and not from a man. The prophet poured the oil but it was God who did the anointing.

The rest of Elisha’s words are found in verses 7 – 10. Jehu’s role is to strike the house of Ahab and the reason is for vengeance. Note here that Elisha commissions this judgment after a long period of grace. Here, it is said, Elisha is an old man which is probably why he commissioned one of the sons of the prophets to take the journey. The point of the judgment is to avenge the blood of God’s servants. Rev 6: 9 – 11 & Rev 16: 4 – 6. Here we see that one of the main reasons for the judgment of the bowls of wrath is to avenge the blood of God’s saints and prophets. God is very disturbed when people martyr His servants and He is very angry about it too. The sin of killing Naboth in order to get the vineyard is repaid severely. It was not the murder of Naboth only but it was the murder of all the prophets that the house of Ahab was being judged for but Naboth seems to be the representative head for all the righteous that were killed. (cf 1 Kings 19: 14 – 17 and 2 Kings 9: 25 – 26). We see a similar phenomenon of judgment in Matthew 23: 34 – 35. The blood of prophets sent to that generation is seen as encapsulating, or as representative of, all the blood of all the righteous in the Old Testament. And it is almost like God has a measuring jug for sin which God waits to be filled up to a certain point before He dispenses judgment. (cf Gen 15: 16 & Mt 23: 31 – 32). So Hazael and Jehu are called to be instruments of judgment and how does this work out? Those who escape the sword of Hazael, Jehu will slay and those who escape the sword of Jehu, Elisha will slay. (cf 2 Kings 8: 28 – 29 & 2 Chr 22: 5 – 9.)

2 KINGS 13: 14 – 21 DEFEAT AND RESURRECTION

So now we arrive at the last narrative concerning Elisha in 2 Kings. We have seen how Elisha prefigures Christ in his ministry of grace during the age of the Church and in bringing judgment and, as well we will see, ultimately restoration. Between the last passage and this one there is nothing more written concerning the prophet Elisha. The reason for this must be because the details of Elisha’s life where not so important as his ministry of bringing judgment to Ahab’s house initially but as heralding God’s judgment on all the northern tribes. God’s judgment is always speared at the leaders of God’s people first before it is given to God’s people. The house of Ahab have received their judgment but the judgment against Israel was still on its way and it would only be about 13 years between the death of Elisha and the rise of the Assyrian kingdom who were God’s chosen vessel of judgment against the northern kingdom. Jehu has died and although Jehu was obedient in getting rid of the house of Ahab and in trying to get rid of Ba’al worship, he was not wholehearted in his obedience to the LORD because he did not walk in His ways and he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam. Jehu dies and Jehoahaz becomes king in his place but follows in his father’s footsteps in doing the sins of Jeroboam. 2 Kings 13: 3 says that God’s anger was kindled against Israel over them following the same sins and even though God shows grace in delivering Israel, those sins were never repented of.

After Jehoahaz dies, his son, Jehoash becomes king in his place and he also walks in the same sins. It was during this king’s reign that we read about Elisha’s death.

Elisha’s death is imminent and so Jehoash (or Joash as he is now called) goes to visit him and weep over him. What is interesting is that Joash says the same thing about Elisha as Elisha said about Elijah when Elijah was taken up to heaven. Remember how inadequate Elisha was back then, how normal he was and that he was not anything special. It was the same with Jesus. Jesus lived a normal life as a carpenter, in normal society. So much so, that His own people in Nazareth rejected him. They had seem Him grow up and His glory had been veiled. It was not until the wedding in Cana of Galilee that Jesus performed His first miracle. So Elisha was just a normal, average person, working in a normal job when Elijah called him but now he was regarded in the same way as Elijah. As Jesus said in Luke 6: 40. A student is not above his teacher but after he has been trained by him he will become like his teacher. But look at Joash. He is weeping over Elisha, and he says to Elisha the same thing that Elisha said when Elijah was taken away. He is saying that Elisha is Israel’s only true defense against the enemy. Do not be overly taken in by outward shows of piety. It is not to say that we despise them or shouldn’t desire that piety be outwardly manifested. But we should always bear in our minds the fact that God sees the heart. We cannot judge on face value. Sure Joash was weeping over Elisha and sure, he spoke the truth about Elisha but he was still involved in a form of worship that God had not ordained. He was involved in Jeroboam worship and the spirituality of the Asherah which was occultic. He looked like a believer but he was not a believer in the true sense of the word.

So Elisha tells Joash to do something, a little ritual if you like. But this act that Joash would do would reveal something about his character. Firstly he was to take a bow and arrows and to shoot one out of the window towards the east. In verse 17 Elisha clearly spells out the interpretation of this act. The arrow signifies victory. In scripture, on at least two other occasions, a bow has something to do with conquest. Firstly with Nimrod, it says he was a mighty hunter before the LORD and this is in connection with him founding cities and taking governance over many people and secondly we see the same in Revelation with the rider on the white horse carrying a bow, the signification of which is explained by the words, he went out conquering and to conquer and thus he is seeking some kind of global dominance. But this arrow is significant in a particular sense. It represents victory in a battle against Aram. Now Israel had experience more than one battle against Aram in the past and so we can see that Joash should have understood the significance of what he was doing. Through striking the ground with an arrow he was securing the victory with Israel’s battle at Aphek, which is east of the sea of Galilee. However, Elisha did not say that the Arameans would be destroyed at Aphek. They would simply be defeated but that battle would start a process that would ultimately have ended up in the destruction of the Arameans. This said, Elisha then tells the king to take the arrows and strike the ground. But the king strikes the ground three times and then stops. Thus, Elisha is angry because the king has limited Israel’s victory over the Arameans to three battles. But they would not now be able to destroy the Arameans. The victory on the real battlefield depended on his obedience to God’s word off the battlefield. We have been talking about being ready for the mark of the beast and anti-christ while doing revelation; that is if we are here. Our victory is dependant on our obedience. Joash wanted to defeat the Arameans but when Elisha told him that striking the arrows into the ground was going to secure the victory he was half hearted. We would all like to be victorious over the beast to our death. But if we are not defeating the antichrist things in our own life, then what will we do when we face the ultimate one. We are to hate even the garment stained by sin. But often we can accommodate sinful thoughts and the flesh in our own lives and expect to hate everything that the Antichrist stands for when he comes on the scene. Joash was to have the same vehemence against the Arameans in shooting the arrows as he was on the battlefield. So we too are supposed to hate what is antichrist now as much as we will hate the person of antichrist when he comes. But Elisha dies. Israel for the time being was still in a period of grace which would last for about 82 years.

The last story concerns the resurrection of a man who touches Elisha’s dead body. It is obviously a foreshadowing of Christ’s death bringing us life. Elisha means ‘God is salvation’. But what is not obvious is the parallel that we see with what will happen prophetically with Israel. There is no doubt that the invasions of the Moabites here is a foretaste of the judgment to come under the Assyrians. We saw that the revolt of the Moabites was a judgment because of Ahab as after Ahab died, Moab rebelled. David was Israel’s greatest king and Ahab was Israel’s worst. Isn’t it interesting therefore that the victory that King David won in subjugating the Moabites in 2 Samuel 8: 2 was undone in the judgment against Ahab’s house? Despite this judgment there is still promise of restoration. This narrative is coupled with the summary of Hazael oppressing Israel but Joash recovering cities from Hazael’s son, Ben-Hadad. There is always the threat of judgment looming, and judgment will come. But because of the grace of God there is always the promise of resurrection and restoration. Think of this in terms of Jer 31: 31 – 34. Jeremiah made this prophecy around the time of the Assyrian invasion. The Northern kingdom had ceased and there was no house of Israel. What was left of Israel became Samaritan with the remnant intermarrying with foreigners. And the Samaritans became even more divorced from the people of God during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah where they opposed the building of the temple. At the time of Jesus the Samaritans and Jews hated each other.

The house of Israel was dead. Not only were Israel cut off from the source of salvation but their Jewish counterparts were also rejected when they rejected the Messiah. Romans 11: 11 – 15 & v 25 – 26. Thus after all these judgments that God has caused His people to go through, God will restore their fortunes, bring them into the New Covenant and bring them back as if they were getting life from the dead. There are two applications of the New Covenant. The spiritual application and the national application. The spiritual is a foretaste of the national. We experience the spiritual and we are not bound to Mosaic Law because of that. But the national one will firstly bring salvation to the Jew but will then enable them to keep the Mosaic law, which was previously impossible for them to do. But this covenant was inaugurated with the blood of the Messiah. It is because of His death that people may enter this covenant. And so when Israel come back to life, as it were; when they have their fortunes restored it is because they have been touched by the death of their Messiah, and His death will bring them life.