The story in 2 Kings 6:4-7 teaches us that God cares for the smallest details of our lives. He was interested in helping the man find the axe head that was borrowed and that was lost in the water, and He is interested in and cares about us today, even the seemingly insignificant things in our lives. God was interested the other day when I lost my car keys, and when I stopped in my tracks and prayed to Him I soon found them.
But this is not the main lesson of this passage, and if we stopped here we would miss the point!
In 2 Kings 6:4-7, God somehow enabled the "stick" or the "wood" to have magnet-like qualities, so as to draw the axe head to the surface where it could be rescued and returned to its owner. We could say about this story, that that which was sunk and lost was found and raised. And God used a stick, a piece of wood, to do the drawing.
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” John 12:32-33
As we prepare to study the subject of the cross of Jesus Christ, it is important to know that God works through this cross drawing people to Christ, saving them from their sins, cleansing them by His blood, and transforming them to live by His grace. We who were sunk and lost in sin are found and raised by the power of the cross.
A small company in the early days of gold mining in South Africa sank shaft after shaft in different locations, finding only a small amount of gold in each shaft. Ultimately, the prospectors discovered that all they needed to have done was to go deeper in the first shaft for, as they did so, they found gold in abundance. Roy Hession writes that he has found this to be true in the spiritual life also. "I testify that although I have tried all sorts of different shafts, hoping for greater results in my life, Christ has now become the end of all my searching. Revival for me has meant coming back to the place where I first began, and I intend to stay there. Tell me not of any other way. I need to go deeper at His cross - much deeper." 2,000 Bible Illustrations (e-sword)
Now we understand why Paul decided to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and why He proclaimed the cross at every opportunity, boasted in the cross, and worshipped at the cross.
My friend, it is my aim and purpose to "go deeper at His cross - much deeper" in this study. I hope you will come with me, and that we will enjoy the "gold in abundance" that is found at the foot of the cross.
Question 8. What are your final thoughts about today's lesson?
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Jen writes, "I love that last illustration of going deeper at the cross. Especially in regards to my weight journey. I lost the weight when I first did The Lords Table.... but it wasn’t the study ... it was because I was focused on Jesus’ work on the cross. When I got distracted, I put the weight back on and thought “again it didn’t work”. The problem wasn’t “it” or anything else I was trying... the solution is that I need to go back to where I originally sought (and found) victory!!! AT THE CROSS!!! I am excited to “dig deeper” and allow Jesus to draw me closer to Him!!!"
Mark writes, "I was intrigued by the closeness of texts between the cross and the power of God. I had not noticed this before. Everything is centered upon the cross, everything for our salvation. But seeing it in the word like that was new. I ask myself, ‘What is in the cross that draws?’ Ultimately, it is the coming together at one point of all God’s plans for redemption, and so at the cross, God’s glory is best revealed. We wonder how, why, what motivated the cross, and it comes back to the glory of God. Such is His glory that He would plan the cross of Jesus Christ. What greater thing could one study! Thanks for this intro - my mind is stirred and my heart, too."