“Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.”
Joash was filled with fear. During the reign of his father, Jehoahaz, Israel had been oppressed by Hazael, king of Syria. So great was this oppression that of the once magnificent cavalry force of the chosen people there remained but fifty horsemen and ten chariots.
And now Elisha, the one who for so long had, as it were, stood between earth and heaven,—the one to whom the leaders of Israel were wont to look for counsel in times of dire peril and need,—was about to die. Well might Joash tremble. Where was another man, living near to the throne of grace, to whom God could impart precious light to lead Israel out of her affliction and her woe? Elisha’s voice would soon be hushed in death—what next? As Joash tried to scan the future, it looked like a dark abyss.
From his dying bed the aged prophet spoke once more. And God, through him, gave a lesson good for all time, and valuable to all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, Christians or pagans.
“And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite to the ground [Young’s translation]. And he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.”
The lesson is a simple one. God puts an “arrow of deliverance” into the hand of man. It may be an arrow of deliverance from sin, or from the king of Syria, or from the enemies of the truth, or from denominational or individual debts, or from any evil thing in the wide world—God has arrows of deliverance from them all.
What are these arrows? God’s quiver is full of them. They are many and varied. An arrow of deliverance may be prayer; it may be confession; it may be love; it may be faith; it may be selling all that we have, and giving to the Lord’s cause; it may be consecration of our service to the Lord. There are legions of arrows with the Almighty.
But now the lesson. When God puts an arrow of deliverance into our hands, we are to smite “to the earth” the thing which the arrow is given us to destroy. To begin the work, and to stay our hand before the work is actually and absolutely finished, is to incur the displeasure of God. This was what Joash did. And it was because of this that he incurred the displeasure of Elisha and Elisha’s Lord.
Just now God is calling upon His people to come to the relief of our schools. These institutions are struggling under intolerable loads of debt. For the relief of these schools God has put an arrow of deliverance into our hands. That arrow is the book, “Christ’s Object Lessons.”
The relief work began in the autumn and winter of 1900. Every Seventh-day Adventist Conference in America took hold of the work. Every Conference did something, and some did much. I presume that every minister has sold some books, and some have sold many books. Undoubtedly it is also safe to say that the great majority of the rank and file of our brethren and sisters have sold one or more books. Some, of course, have done nothing at all. Poor idlers in the Master’s vineyard! my heart goes out toward them in tender love, sympathy, and pity. They little know what precious experiences of Christian ministry they are missing. Nevertheless the numbers of this last class are small.
The charge which God now makes against Conferences, ministers, and people is not that we have done nothing, but that we have sold nowhere nearly as many of these books as we should. We have188smitten our school debts partially. Here many Conferences, many ministers, and many church members have halted. We have smitten these debts to the amount of less than one hundred thousand dollars. If we stop at this point, God’s frown will be upon us.
The message to the Laodiceans is applicable in this matter: “And unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.”
Had our hearts been glowing with the flames of loyalty and love for the institutions of God’s own planting, the whole three hundred thousand copies of “Christ’s Object Lessons” would have been sold long ago, and the song of jubilee would have rung to earth’s remotest bounds.
On the other hand, had our hearts been cold, nothing at all would have been done. “Lukewarm” is the word which describes our attitude toward this work. If we remain in this condition, God will spew us out of His mouth. This is true of Conferences, ministers, and people. A few Conferences have done nobly, and God has smiled upon their efforts. Iowa and Nebraska worked hard the first season. Just now Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas are putting forth heroic efforts. Books are being sold, and debts are being paid.
But many Conferences have done but little, and are now doing nothing, or next to nothing. Brethren, in all humility of heart, I say, Let us remember Joash. Let us not smite thrice, and stay our hand, but let us earnestly, rapidly, and vigorously keep on smiting these debts to the earth until the day is won, and financial freedom is the glad lot of our schools.
“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem. . . . Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money.” “And the Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of His arm.”
