The power of Elisha to make the lost axe swim in water gives us a picture of how the Christian can overcome the power of sin through “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)). Those who have turned to the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins often struggle to overcome the root of sin in themselves and seek deliverance in their own power. When one of the sons of the prophets lost the axe he was using, he turned to Elisha for help instead of probing the waters of the Jordan River to find it on his own.
This Place Is Too Strait
The sons of the prophets felt that their dwelling-place was “too strait” for them and set about to make a larger place. This is an example of the feelings of one who seeks to control himself by legality. So often the restraints of legality confine the soul by control rather than relying on the power of grace. This is the condition of the man in Romans 7 when he says, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (vss. 22-23). By nature man likes trying to keep the law of God, but there is a basic root cause that prevents him from doing so. His sinful nature wars against the desires of his mind and drags him down. This condition prevents him from obtaining the objective — deliverance from sin.
“Alas, Master! for It Was Borrowed”
One of the sons of the prophets was laboring with borrowed material. While laboring to enlarge a dwelling-place, his axe head fell into the river. For him, it was more serious because it was borrowed. We are not told why he did not have his own axe, but his present condition gives a clue of previous failure. He was using it to work, but needed to return it to its owner. Now he could do neither. After his failure in hewing wood, he did the right thing in turning to Elisha rather than trying to recover it himself. How often we forget to turn from ourselves to the Lord when we have failed. We need a man like Elisha who has power.
“Where Fell It?”
The man of God did not say, “Why weren’t you more careful?” or, “What made you do it?” Such questions take for granted that there still might be power within to avoid such a mistake. The issue wasn’t concerning what he had done, but, “Where was he?” God asked Adam the same question: “Where art thou?” The answer is, “Fallen in sin.”
The man of God asked him, “Where fell it?” This directs us to the bottom of the river — the place of death. The man could not go there to recover it. But the place must be identified before Elisha can remedy his situation. Once the place was identified, Elisha cuts down a stick and casts it in that place. This reminds us how the Lord Jesus had to go down into death to satisfy God’s requirements concerning sin. “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:33For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3)). Christ must die that we obtain a life that can walk pleasing to God.
In Deuteronomy 19:55As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: (Deuteronomy 19:5) there is an interesting provision regarding the axe. “When a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live.” We must recognize that our actions made it necessary for someone to give their life lest we remain under condemnation forever. The Lord Jesus has done this, and a city of refuge has been provided into which we can flee and escape the avenger. The Lord Jesus is not only our substitute, but also our place of refuge.
“the Iron Did Swim”
After the stick sank into the water, “the iron did swim.” It had a life or power over the waters of death. The natural law of gravity makes iron sink in water. But at Elisha’s word a new law is introduced, and the iron swam. This is a figure of the law of life and the power of liberty of the Spirit. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)). The stick being cast into the water resulted in the iron swimming, overcoming the natural law of gravity. The Spirit of God after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus gives the believer a new life that is free from the law of sin and death. This new life cannot sin nor is subject to death. It gives freedom to act according to righteousness, “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
“Take It up to Thee”
Elisha gave the word, “Take it up to thee,” indicating he was to take control of his axe, which before he was unable to do. Now he was enabled to work for God. It says that he put out his hand and took it. In order for us to labor for God, we must realize our own utter ruined condition in the flesh. Only then can we realize full deliverance from sin through the Spirit of God in us. “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” “The Spirit is life because of righteousness. . . . If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:9-139But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:9‑13)). We owe service to Him for what He has done for us. May we then take up the work the Lord has given us to do, with a realization of our new life in the Spirit.
D. C. Buchanan