The LORD is a GOD of fellowship and honors His promises. He knew about the apostasy that would creep into the church quietly and eventually culminate into the greatest fall ever since men began calling on the LORD. With such moments of Darkness, He already had planned a way of restoration to dignity and honor for the church so that Christ may have a bride. And, so she the church can walk in the latter outpour.
Exodus 15:22-27 New International Version (NIV)
The Waters of Marah and Elim
22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.[a]) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.
There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. 26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
The journey of Israel from Egypt to the promised land is symbolic of the walk of the church into the kingdom of heaven. The winds have blown, the floods have come and hit so hard the faith of the church. She has walked into the darkest hour of all time and trying so hard to be relevant when all apostasy is sweeping her off her feet.
It is in the middle of this rubble that GOD the FATHER decides enough is enough and points the church to the source of her healing, the piece of wood. Symbolically after crying to the LORD( Moses represents the priesthood) the LORD reveals to Him the cross of Jesus and when he throws it into the water there comes healing. The water now can be drunk.
The COVENANT Of Restoration Of The Healing Anointing
It is after this visitation of healing to the entire Israel community that the LORD now issues to her His promise of being a GOD that heals her. The LORD that wont allow the diseases of Egypt again to pursue her. So He points her to Obedience and swears by His name that He is the LORD, that heals.
And so in her cry for the move of GOD in the house, the church ought to begin from the point of obedience to the word of GOD because therein is embedded the promise of greater outpour.
2 Kings 2:19-22 New International Version (NIV)
Healing of the Water
19 The people 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.’” 22 And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.
Right now,ministries and churches have had a taste of bitter waters, they have tried it and it doesn't satisfy the thirst. The buildings are good, the churches in the best of cities, the ministries with steady income, in down town, everything seems to be okay, but there is death there in, the desolation therein, there is no move of GOD and so no healing.To some extent, this has pushed her to try malpractice and false miracles and false tongues and everything instead talking to the LORd about the condition of the water in this place.
The New BOWL- A Vessel Fit For The ANOINTING Of The Hour
He says,
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.’”
So we see that it starts with having a new wineskin, a new bowl not defiled, not used before. This speaks of separation from the world and the conventional methods and practices so that the Holy Spirit can start something new in the house. A new bowl also symbioses humility expected from the church because for her to posses one, shes going to do away with a lot practices she held dear and even believed in. This new bowl is one in which the LORD needs so He can construct the revival and healing that the Church has been longing for.
Matthew 9:17
Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
He says, for her to realize and fully accommodate the greatness of the works of the cross in the church , the wineskins, must be new , this is the only way the church can eat the fruit of the cross as she walks into the latter anointing. The latter anointing then is going to cause her to do away with her won programs and install the program of GOD in the house. This process of preparing anew wineskins, a new bowl that has not been used is essentially repentance and renouncing evil , restitution and the return to purity, this makes the church a vessel for noble purpose.
2 Tim 2:21
20A large house contains not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some indeed are for honorable use, but others are for common use. 21So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work.
The church that purifies herself, becomes a new bowl , a new wineskin among many vessels in the house, the large house, the body of Christ and they become fit for every good work. Good work here symbolizing the works of GOD that Christ promised she will perform when He has ascended and she has received the HOLY SPIRIT.
The SALT Of Preservation And Faithfulness
So we see Elisha put salt into the new bowl even as he carries out the instructions of the LORD to heal the waters. Then now, what then does the salt here stand for? The salt here stands for the faithfulness of the LORD to the covenant of restoration, the covenant of reviving a fallen church , the covenant of healing the backslid state of the church, the covenant of renewal of the lost.
In other words, the LORD is saying that He is faithful, that if you have fallen and return back to Him , He will anoint you again and that you can now go on in the power of GOD and in His healing.
2 chron 13:5
To demonstarte his faithfulness to the promise of installing David as king and his descendants.
5"Do you not know that the LORD God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?
To remind the church of how important sacrifice of the blood of Jesus is to her healing and that through her making of sacrifices, she should never forget to season everything with reminding Him of His faithfulness to restore.The salt of his covenant.That in her repentance ,she may alway remember that he The LORD is faithful to restore.
See Leviticus 2:13Season 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.
And finally in the book of Mathew 2:13, He then now warns the church to never despise that faithfulness and their being children of a covenant of salt. He says.
Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
He is saying now that you know, that He is a GOD that is faithful to restore, faithful to anoint again and again, FONT GO BACK to sin, otherwise you will loose the grace to be a child of the covenant because if you do, you loose the partnership in the covenant, you turn into a pillar and can not be redeemed.We see the same warning in the book of Hebrews 6:4-6, that those that despise the covenant and cross back into sin willfully have no chances of redemption and so in your being born again make sure you dont go back to sin willfully.
Hebrews 6:4-6 King James Version (KJV)
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
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