Unlike the miracles of Elijah, which were primarily concerned with destruction and death, those of Elisha were focused on healing and life. As Pink notes in the introduction, “Far more miracles were wrought by him or were granted in answer to his prayers than any other of the Old Testament prophets. In fact the narrative of his history consists of little else than a record of supernatural acts and events...by means of drastic interpositions, by awe-inspiring displays of His power, by supernatural manifestations of His justice and mercy alike, God forced even the skeptical to recognize His existence and subscribe to His supremacy.” Join master teacher A. W. Pink in studying Elisha's call, his testings, and each of his 17 miracles.
The widespread circulation of his writings after his death made him one of the most influential evangelical authors in the second half of the twentieth century.
—Iain H. Murrary
A. W. Pink (1886-1952) a native of Nottingham, England, whose life as a pastor and writer was spent in a variety of locations in the British Isles, the United States, and Australia. As a young man he turned away from the Christian faith of his parents and became an adherent of the theosophical cult; but then he experienced an evangelical conversion and crossed the Atlantic in 1910, at the age of 24, to become a student at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. After only six weeks, however, he left to take up a pastoral ministry. It was during the years that followed that he found his way to a strictly Calvinistic position in theology. He was soon wielding a quite prolific pen. As one whose life was devoted to the study and exposition of the Scriptures, he became the author of numerous books which the Banner of Truth Trust has been assiduously reprinting in recent times. No doubt his chief monument is the paper Studies in the Scriptures which he produced monthly and regularly for a period of thirty years from the beginning of 1922 until his death in 1952.
“Observe how that here, as everywhere, God took the initiative. Elisha was not seeking Him, but the Lord through Elijah sought him out. Elisha was not found in his study but in the field, not with a book in his hand, but at the plow. As one of the Puritans said when commenting thereon, ‘God seeth not as man seeth, neither does He choose men because they are fit, but He fits them because He hath chosen them.’” (Pages 16–17)
“The character of Elisha’s mission and ministry was in thorough keeping with Israel’s condition at that time. The very fact that these miracles were needed indicates the state into which Israel had fallen. Idolatry had held sway for so long that the true and living God was no longer known by the nation. Here and there were individuals who believed in the Lord, but the masses were worshipers of idols.” (Pages 6–7)
“There was the proof that though Elijah was not present, the God of Elijah was! There” (Page 35)
“Testing always follows the bestowment of a divine gift.” (Page 34)
“If then a sinner inquires of God’s servant the way of recovery, what is the first and fundamental thing which needs to be told him? That self-will and self-pleasing must cease; that he must submit himself to the will of God. And that is only another way of saying that he must be converted, for ‘conversion’ is a turning round, a right about-face. And in order for conversion, repentance is the essential requisite (Acts 3:19). And in its final analysis, ‘repentance’ is taking sides with God against myself, judging myself, condemning myself, bowing my will to His.” (Page 136)