The Land is Beautiful, But the Water is Bad
Bible passage: 2 Kings 2:19-22
“19. The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive." 20. "Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." So they brought it to him. 21. Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.'”
I once saw an article that said, ‘Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa, is dying.’ Although it has a beautiful natural scenery and abundant water, the water is polluted due to pollutants discharged from factories and farmland, so fish are not able to survive as many as before and are dying.
A similar story appears in today’s scripture. This happened when the prophet Elisha became Elijah's successor and was staying in Jericho. One day, people from Jericho came to visit and complained, “This area has beautiful scenery and good grounds, but the water is polluted and many people are suffering.” Verse 19 of today’s scripture says, “Then the people of the city said to Elisha, “Behold now, the situation of this city is pleasant, as our lord sees; but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.”” Jericho, located at the northern end of the Dead Sea, was an oasis with abundant water. There was a river flowing from the Judean mountains, so there were many trees such as palm trees and fig trees, making it a beautiful place and a good place to live.
However, although the water was abundant, the water was polluted, so the soil falls before it is ripe, the trees did not bear fruit, and the grains did not produce any crops. When I read and meditated on the Bible verse saying, ‘The land is beautiful, but the water is bad,’ I was inspired that it was a phrase that represents today’s times. This is an era in which science and technology have developed unprecedentedly in history. We are living with the benefits of a variety of new technologies.
If you want to call to Korea from here, you can do it for free with just a cell phone. You can call for free not only in Korea but anywhere in the world. Artificial intelligence has developed and innovation in digital tools has made the world truly convenient to live in. But there are also side effects. It is said that in exchange for gaining digital tools, we are losing our humanity. Biotechnology has developed, but ethical issues related to human cloning have emerged and a trend of disregard for life has emerged.
With the development of computers and smartphones, there are numerous side effects such as cybercrime, invasion of privacy, malicious comments, slander, pornography, risk of sexual corruption, increase in various mental diseases such as depression and anxiety disorders, and disappearance of ethics, morality, and humanity. All these are spreading. If we were to put this era in one word, it could be defined as a world where ‘the land is good, but the water is bad, not good, ’ just as today’s scripture says. The development of science and technology has made the world more convenient and the world has improved, but the side effects, like polluted water, are degrading humanity and leading us down the path of sin and corruption.
So, the Bible refers to this era as ‘the evil days’ as written in Ephesians 5:16. Let us look at how the prophet Elisha solved the problem of the city of Jericho, where 'the situation of the city was good, but the water was bad', and as we live in this era, I hope that we, like the prophet Elisha, can gain the wisdom and ability to change and repair a world with poor water. Elisha first asked for double the spiritual power. Elijah, who was active during the reign of King Ahab, which was Israel's darkest spiritual era, handed over the position of prophet to Elisha after fulfilling his mission well in 2 Kings 2:9 and asked his successor Elisha a final question. “Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” And Elisha replied, “Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.””
“Tell me, what can I do for you” does not mean that you will be given anything you ask for, but rather that you ask for what is most worthy before God. God also asked this question to King Solomon, who offered a thousand burnt offerings. In 1 Kings 3:5, He said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” In reply, King Solomon asked for a wise heart that would be able to distinguish between good and evil and govern his people well. Because Solomon sought something after God's heart, we find in 1 Kings 3 that the LORD gave wisdom and understanding heart to Solomon. Elisha also had to ask for something that was pleasing to God, but what did he ask for? In the second half of verse 9, Elisha said, “Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.”
Elisha asked for twice the ‘spiritual power’ of his teacher Elijah. When people were spiritually devastated, spirits of darkness were rampant, and the people were suffering from disaster and poverty, what was most necessary to fulfill the mission of a prophet was ‘spiritual ability.’ Even so, asking for twice as much spiritual power as a teacher is a bit embarrassing and in some ways seems a bit excessive. However, his teacher Elijah did not disapprove of this, and God also considered it appropriate and gave Elisha double the spiritual power. In Hebrews 13:7, He tells us to imitate ‘the faith of the servants of the Lord.’ It says, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” Apostle Paul told us to imitate him in Philippians 3:17 by saying, “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” Therefore, like Elisha, we must seek double the faith and double the spiritual power.
We too must pray, “Please give us the same faith as Apostle Paul,” and “Please give us double the faith and spiritual power that is double that of Bishop Myong- Ho Cheong.” Only then can we save this world where ‘the land is beautiful but the water is bad’. Instead of saying, “I’m embarrassed, how can I ask for something like that?” I hope that you will save this world like Elisha, who saved Jericho, which had “beautiful situation but bad water,” by asking for twice the spiritual power of Elijah. Elisha said to the people of Jericho, ‘Bring salt in a new bowl.’ 2 Kings 2:20 says, “He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.” What does this mean? Leviticus 2:13 says, “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.” In the Old Testament, salt was used during the ‘purification ceremony’ among various rituals.
Salt does not heal polluted water, but Elisha only used salt to perform a ‘purification ritual’ according to the laws established by God. It is God who heals the water. So, in verse 21 it says, “Thus says the LORD: ‘I have healed this water.’” Salt does not heal water, but God heals water, so, why bother bringing salt into a new bowl? The reason is that in order to experience the power of God, one must satisfy the necessary justice. In the Gospel of Matthew, a centurion came to Jesus and prayed for healing for his servant. When Jesus saw the centurion's faith, He said in Matthew 8:13, “Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed,” and healed the servant.
“It shall be done as you have believed” is the justice and spiritual law that allows you to experience the power of God. When the prophet Elisha told the people of Jericho to bring salt in a new bowl, obeying and bringing the salt in a new bowl shows 'responsive faith' and justice that allows one to experience the power of God. By doing so, the justice is filled. If the people of Jericho exercised their fleshly thoughts and brought sugar thinking that sugar is better than salt, or if they brought salt in old containers because they did not have new containers, they would not have received an answer. This is because not only is it not a spiritual faith that can receive an answer, but it is also not justice that can allow one to experience the power of God.
In John Chapter 9, there is a scene where God opens the eyes of a man who was blind from birth. “When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made some mud with the saliva, and applied the mud to the man’s eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” So, the man went away and washed, and came back seeing.” It seems like Jesus could just lay His hands on him and heal him, but why did He spit on the ground, apply the mud on the blind man’s eyes and then tell him to go and wash them?
It was to implant faith in the blind man. A blind person gains faith by thinking, “Ah, if I just wash away this mud, my eyes can be opened.” There was no medicinal effect in the ‘mud made with saliva’, and the mud was merely a tool to help the blind man have faith. And he was given the opportunity to show his ‘faith of obedience.’ The blind man didn’t say, “No, Jesus, I couldn’t open my eyes even though I washed my face every day. If I go and wash now, will I really see again?” 6 Instead, the blind man obeyed Jesus’ words and went to the Pool of Siloam and washed his eyes. By doing this, you can demonstrate the spiritual faith that allows you to experience the power of Jesus and fulfill the justice that allows you to receive answers. Now, at the end of July, the summer retreat will be held at our headquarter church in Seoul, Korea with the Senior Pastor.
Before the summer retreat, our church will also be conducting registration for patients due to the Senior Pastor’s Divine Healing Service during the retreat in which the works of power that transcend time and space will take place. In addition to the summer retreat, there is a Divine Healing Service once in every two months. But every time, I felt really heartbroken. Because our Nairobi Manmin Church members would have been able to receive healing for any disease if they had registered as a patient, fulfilled the justice required for healing, prepared through prayer, and showed faith, but they did not do so, so it was really unfortunate. How can we fulfill justice and demonstrate spiritual faith? First, there is the ‘Special Vowed Daniel Prayer Meeting’ led by the director of the prayer center for 21 days and to register patients and prepare for the Divine Healing Service.
This time, special prayers start on July 7th. You must attend here and pray. And you must reflect on yourself with a different mindset than usual, repent, seek to circumcise your heart, and make offerings with special sincerity. However, the people who are currently registered as patients at our church do not come to the ‘Vowed Daniel Prayer Meeting’ in the evenings, and much less, they do not come to the Friday All-night service on the same day the Divine Healing Service is conducted, so how can they receive healing? How can you receive answers since you do not fulfill the justice of receiving answers, do not show spiritual faith, and do not prepare with all your sincerity through actions to receive healing? When the prophet Elisha told the people of Jericho to bring salt in new vessels, if they did not bring salt, if they brought sugar instead of salt, or if they brought salt but in old vessels instead of new vessels, they would not have been fulfilling justice, neither would it be spiritual faith.
Because it is not faith, no matter how prophetic Elisha is, he could not heal bad water with good water. Elisha went to the ‘source of water’ with salt in a new bowl. The first half of Verse 21 in the scripture says, “He went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it. ” The word ‘spring’ of water is ‘motsa’ in the original Hebrew, meaning ‘the place where spring water begins or the outlet from which spring water comes out.’ There is a book titled ‘upstream’. ‘Upstream’ means upper reaches of a river.
What the author argues in this book is that when a problem arises, your life and organization can change depending on whether you fundamentally solve the problem upstream or rush to prevent it downstream. The cause of the problem lies upstream, so we should not waste time dwelling on minor problems downstream. Solving only what is revealed downstream without finding the cause upstream is only a short-term measure and is not effective. There is something as follows in the book; Listen while imagining. ‘A man went on a picnic by the river with his friend. He was enjoying a picnic down the river, when a child fell into the river and floated away. The two immediately jumped in and rescued the child from the water. But then another child floats up.
More and more children are falling into the water and floating away, to the point where it is difficult for two people to save them. At this time, one of the friends gave up trying to save the children and went out of the water. So, he shouts urgently, “Where are you going other than rescuing?” Then his friend says: “I will go upstream and catch the person who throws the children into the water. I think that will solve this problem. ’ While some people just keep rescuing children floating downstream, wise people go upstream and catch those who throw children into the water, fundamentally solving the problem. What choice will you make? Should we go upstream and fundamentally solve the problem? Or will we repeat problems downstream that cannot be fundamentally resolved? Elisha is now going to the source of the problem and throwing salt. Instead of throwing salt downstream, he throws it upstream. If he throw it downstream, the water will be instantly healed, but if the water flows away, that's it. Why?
The water upstream has not been healed, so polluted water will continue to flow. We can see Jesus as we watch Elisha go to the source of water and solve a fundamental problem. Jesus is the one who heals the root of illness. In Chapter 5 of the Gospel of Mark, there is a woman who suffered from bleeding for twelve years and received treatment from many doctors, but there was no relief for her. She would have benefited only if the root of the disease was treated, but worldly medicine only treats the surface, not the root, so even after 12 years of treatment, there was little benefit to her. However, Jesus heals her at the root as indicated in Mark 5:29 which says, “Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.” So, what is the source of human life? Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, For from it flow the springs of life.” It is said that the heart is the source of life. That is why Jesus treats people’s hearts well.
He tells us that all evil in humans comes from the heart, because the source of man is the heart, and He tells us to heal the heart. Mark 7:18-20 says, [18-19] And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, [20] And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. In a word, it means that human good and evil come from the heart, and success and failure depend on one's heart. Therefore, humans must manage their hearts well. Are you feeling uneasy about something? Is something not going well in your interpersonal relationships? Why is my relationship with my family so strained? Why is my relationship with other believers not working out like this? Why am I not this happy at work? If these problems are occurring, if you are looking for the source of all these problems, you must look for them in your heart, where the relationship with God is out of sync. Even if someone envies me, hates me, or slanders me to make things difficult for me, I will not break down. I won't fall.
Why? This is because the source of the problem is not outside, but within my heart. 10 If I remain the things in my heart, such as greed, debauchery, malice, and deception in my heart, and neglect them, then I can be ruined. However, I am not ruined just because people outside hate me and slander me or because the external environment makes me difficult. Because it is not the source. The Babylonian officials, who were jealous of Daniel's success as Prime Minister of Babylon, framed Daniel's prayers three times a day as treason against the king and imprisoned him in the lion's den. Despite this, Daniel's heart did not waver at all and his faith in God did not waver. Since everything comes from the heart, Daniel, who kept his heart firm, was able to overcome without suffering any harm even in the face of external people's slander and external evil environments. The enemy devil attacks our hearts. It is said that the enemy devils had a meeting to take away happiness and hide it from humans so that they could not be happy. They asked themselves, “Where should we hide happiness so that humans cannot find it?”
The tall devil made the first suggestion. “Let’s hide it deep in the sea. Then they won’t be able to find it.” The devil captain said, “Humans are wise and go all the way to the bottom of the sea to find everything. That is not a good idea.” This time the short devil spoke, “Let us hide ourselves on the highest mountain.” The devil captain spoke again, “That doesn’t work either. Humans are persistent and will climb the highest mountain to find it.” Then it is said that the little devil made the last suggestion saying, “Let us hide it deep in the human heart.” So, it is said that this brilliant idea was adopted. Happiness is not on the top of a mountain or in the blue sea, but in our hearts. Religious life, family life and church life can be fun and happy if you pray, obey, love and serve one another. Because the key to happiness lies in our hearts. Just as the prophet Elisha went upstream of the river and threw salt into the water source, and thus solving the root of the problem, we too must make our heart, the source of our life, a new vessel, not an old vessel, and sprinkle salt on our heart to sanctify it. I hope you will achieve this.
4. Elisha confessed, ‘It was God who healed this water, not me.’ Verse 21 says, “He went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘I have healed these waters; “I have healed these water,” is said by God. What was Elisha thinking as he went up to the source of the water with a new bowl full of salt and threw the salt into the water? Did he think about whether salt dissolves easily or not? Elisha would have cried out in his heart as he was throwing salt into the water. “O God of Elijah, where are you? God of Elijah! The God of Elijah is my God.” What makes Elisha so precious is that his response to the situation where his teacher Elijah ascended to heaven and disappeared from this earth was truly excellent.
When Elijah, who not only guided him but was also a strong supporter of the Israelites, ascended to heaven and disappeared, did Elisha say, “Prophet Elijah, what if you leave me alone and go first?” Instead of looking for Elijah, he looked for ‘Elijah’s God.’ 2 Kings 2:14 says, “He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck 12 the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.” The same goes for Joshua whose Moses was dead. The death of Moses, God's representative, was a huge and shocking loss beyond imagination for Joshua and the Israelites at that time. Moses, who parted the Red Sea and surrendered King Pharaoh, and who had such power, disappeared. The word God gives in this absurd situation is Joshua 1:5 which says, “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” This means that the God of Moses becomes the God of Joshua. The second half of Joshua 1:9 says, “the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Here, He emphasized, “your God.” When Joshua succeeded Moses and led the Israelites, he asked, “Where is the God of Moses? The God of Moses is my God.” Did he ask, “There must be Prophet Moses! Where is Prophet Moses? Why did you go first?” Rather, he sought the God of Moses. Elijah, whom he trusted and relied on, had disappeared. Moses also died and disappeared. What should we cry out for at this time? You all must have been extremely embarrassed when the Emeritus senior pastor, your shepherd, passed away and Bishop Myong-Ho Cheong also passed away. When my shepherd passed away, I too was perplexed for several days, wondering, ‘How could something like this happen?’ But what should we do? Should we say, “Shepherd, why did you go first? Where are you, shepherd?” No! 13 Rather, we should say, “Where is the God of our shepherd?
The God of the shepherd is my God.” Instead of asking, “Where are you Bishop Myong-Ho Cheong, why did you go first?” we rather ought to ask, “Where is Bishop Myong-Ho Cheong’s God? Bishop Myong-Ho Cheong’s God is my God.” Even though God is the same God, each God is different. If there are five children in a family, even if there is only one father, the children may all think of their father differently. For example, if you ask each child, “What kind of person is your father?” the eldest child may reply, “My father is strict and scary,” the second child may reply, “My father is strict, but he has a kind side,” the third child may reply, “My father is strict, but he is also kind,” the fourth child may say, “My father is strict and scary.” and the fifth child may reply, “My father is a capable and great man.” If you ask these five children, they will all express it differently depending on their relationship with their father. The same goes for God. The God of Elijah and the God of Elisha were different. The God of the shepherd, the God of Bishop Cheong, and your God are different. Therefore, just as Elisha found the God of Elijah who works with greater power in order to better fulfill his mission as Elijah's successor, we must upgrade our faith by calling on the God who works with greater power.
Let's all shout out together: “The God of Elijah is my God.” “The God of the shepherd is my God.” “The God of Bishop Cheong is my God.” As a result of Elisha doubly upgrading his faith and spiritual ability by calling on ‘Elijah’s God,’ he accomplished the following amazing things. Verses 21-22 of the scripture says, 14 [21] Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’ [22] And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.” Conclusion The water of Jericho, which was healed through Elisha at that time, still exists today as ‘Elisha’s spring water.’ <Screen Display of Current Elisha’s Spring> If the water is polluted and not good, fish die. A home shouldn't just be beautiful. The water must be good.
It should be a family full of love, encouragement, conversation, understanding, and comfort. A church shouldn't just be beautiful. The water must be good. We must become a church that loves one another, serves one another, prays, and receives answers. It should be overflowing with goodness and love. A country should not only be beautiful. The water must be good. Corruption must disappear and we must become a country that respects human rights and is full of fairness and hope. Moses changed the polluted bitter water of Marah into good water through his tearful prayers and power.
The shepherd changed sea water into sweet water with his fiery prayers and power. Like Elisha, let us seek double the spiritual power, put salt in a new bowl, and go to the ‘source of water.’ I pray in the name of the Lord that we shall become those who call on the God of Elijah and the God of the shepherd, arm yourself with fervent prayer and the Gospel of holiness, and heal the waters of your heart, heal the waters of your home, heal the waters of our church, heal the waters of your country, and heal the waters of the world. - END -
