2 Kings 13:15

2 Kings 13:15 says, And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows.  Elisha instructed Joash the king to take a bow and arrows.  We are instructed to put on the whole armor of God as followers of Christ today.  Verse sixteen adds, 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.  Elisha then told the king to put his hands on the bow, and Elisha put his hands over the king's hands.  God will always have His protective, guiding hand on Christians today spiritually.  Verse seventeen continues, 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.  Elisha then had the king shoot an arrow out the window to the east and said that symbolized his defeating the Syrians.  The empty cross today represents Jesus Christ defeating sin and death, but we are really to live by faith and not signs.  Verse eighteen states, And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.  Elisha then told the king to take the arrows and hit the ground with them, and he did so three times and quit.  If God instructs us to do something today, we should never just do just as little as possible but should always be overzealous in doing what God wants us to do instead.  Verse nineteen adds, 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.  Elisha told the king that he should have hit the arrows on the ground five or six times and then he would have completely destroyed Syria, but now he would only defeat them three times.  We may not always know why God is calling on us to do something, just as the king didn't know why Elisha had instructed him to hit the arrows on the ground, but it is always better to risk doing too much instead of too little.  Otherwise, we may stop before God's blessing is complete.  Verse twenty continues, And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.  Elisha then died and was buried.  Then, the next year the Moabites invaded Israel.  If we allow our faith in God to falter, we may be certain that Satan and his forces stand ready to invade our lives, and Elisha had been a great man of God who represented Him to the people of Israel.  Verse twenty-one says, And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.  While they were burying a man later, they saw a band of men coming so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb, and it touched his bones.  The man was then restored to life.  We do not have to go to the tomb of Jesus and touch any bones, because there are none there to touch, but we must allow Him to touch us with His living hand in order to be restored to life spiritually.  Verse twenty-two adds, But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.  Hazael, king of Syria, oppressed the people of Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.  As long as this world stands, there will always be people who will attempt to oppress God's people.  We will never have a complete victory in this lifetime.  Verse twenty-three continues, And the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet.  God was gracious to the people of Israel because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and did not allow them to be totally destroyed.  God is gracious to Christians today and will never allow us to be destroyed spiritually because of our faith in Jesus Christ and the new covenant that He established with us through Him.  Verse twenty-four states, So Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead.  Hazael, king of Syria, died and Benhadad his son reigned in his place.  Earthly leaders will always come and go, but our King, Jesus Christ, rules forever.  Verse twenty-five adds, And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel.  Jehoash began to recover the cities of Israel that Hazael had taken, and he defeated them three times.  Unless we put limits on God's power by a lack of faith, there is no limit to the times that we can defeat the power of evil in the world.