The Miracle of Salvation  by Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh

   "Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from your neighbors--empty
vessels; do not gather just a few." (II Ki. 4:3)

   There was a widow in Israel. She had two sons and no means of
support. To stay alive she had borrowed heavily, but the day of
reckoning had come. The debt must be paid.

   She cried out to Elisha, the Lord's prophet: "The creditor is coming
to take my two sons to be his slaves."

   The prophet asked, "What do you have in the house?"

   All she had was a small jar of olive oil. The prophet sent her out
to borrow vessels from her neighbors; as many empty containers as she
and her sons could find. Then she was to close her door and pour oil
from the small jar into the pitchers, the pots, and the jars she and
her sons had collected.

   She did this and, marvelous to say, the oil flowed from her one
small jar until every container had been filled to the brim. When she
reported this to the prophet he told her to sell the oil. It would
bring enough money to pay off her debt and support her for a long time
to come.

   It was a miracle; a miracle of deliverance. Can you imagine how this
woman felt in the desperation of her poverty? She had lost her husband
already and now she thought she would lose her sons. Nothing short of a
miracle could have changed her situation. Now she was saved. She must
have felt a deep sense of gratitude to the Lord. Could she ever from
this time forward doubt the Lord's ability to provide for her needs?

   This miraculous increase of the oil as the widow poured it into the
borrowed containers was accomplished by Divine power. It happened as
described. Could not He who made the olive tree create its oil as well?
And so God saved the widow woman.

   But there is another reason for this miracle: to demonstrate the
Divine power that is working for us today.

   Who was this widow? A woman in Israel in the days of Elisha the
prophet, but it is also you and me. Yes, we are widows like this
impoverished woman and the miracle that saved her can save us.

   Let me explain. Every miracle of scripture is a parable of the
Lord's intervention in our life. The Lord fed the hungry multitudes. He
feeds our spiritual hunger. The Lord healed the sick. He heals our
spiritual sickness. Have you been blind? Blind to your own
shortcomings? Blind to your duty and responsibility in life? Blind to
the beauty of God's order? Have you been lame? Lame in your efforts to
serve the neighbor? Lame in living up to your commitments? Paralyzed in
your efforts to stand up for what is right?

   What is the meaning of the miracle of the widow's oil? How are we
like this widow?

   There is something about us, particularly about our religious life,
that parallels the life of a widow. A widow's life is incomplete.
Something is missing. The widow has no husband. She has lost the
benefit of his love and companionship; his wisdom and judgment; perhaps
his income and thus the wherewithal to live a full life.

   How is our life incomplete? Remember the teaching of the Lord's
great commandments? Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.... You
shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22: 37, 39). We must learn
to love the Lord heart, soul, and mind. Suppose the love is in our
heart, but the ideas of our mind are confused? And how often is our
love of the neighbor "mindless, " misguided, perhaps. Ineffectual.

   Our life is incomplete--widow-like--when heart and mind fail to
operate together. There are two things to consider: the love and the
expression of the love. A full or complete religious life exists when
we have the love of God in our hearts and are able to put it into
practical expression. What if we desire to serve and lack the ability?
Think of a well-meaning child who wants to cook a meal but hasn't the
slightest idea how to go about it. Think how you feel when you want to
comfort a distraught friend but are just as confused as the friend. We
want to serve but we don't know how. We want to serve but we don't have
the ability. That's widowhood.

   Jesus said, "I am the Way..." "Follow Me." Here is a clue to the
meaning of this miracle as it applies to our own life. Who shows us the
way to put spiritual love into practice? The Lord shows us. He saves us
from the sorrow and bankruptcy of an unfulfilled life. He demonstrates
Divine love in act. He gives us the truth we need to live a good life.
He has told us to love the neighbor and He has taught us how. "Cease to
do evil, learn to do well," said Isaiah the prophet. Yet how can we
learn to do well unless someone teaches us?

   We are widows when we lack the truths of religion. These truths are
not instinctive. They must be learned. In this we differ from the
animal. Animals quickly learn to live the life for which they were
created. Instinctively, they know their food, their enemies, how to
care for their offspring. We have to learn all of these things. We have
to learn each step in life in order to become mature and successful.
The world abounds with "How To" books, a testimony to our need to find
a way to live.

   Religious life is exactly the same. Love of the neighbor is not
instinctive. Living a good life does not come naturally. We have to
learn it. Just as there are successful principles of business, of child
care, of marriage, there are true principles of religious life. Without
them, something is missing from our life. We lack guidance in our
efforts to attain spirituality. We are like a widow woman who has
depended upon her husband for guidance and support in conducting her
family affairs who now must go it alone. We need help.

   Such was the case of the widow woman who cried out to the prophet of
Israel. She needed help.

   And how was she helped? The prophet gave her a responsibility. Not
the money she needed to pay her debt, but a way to take what she did
have and to build on it. What did she have?

   The widow had a little olive oil. Let us think about the olive oil
for a moment, for it is key to understanding this miracle as it applies
to our own life.

   Olive oil was a precious commodity in Israel. It had a value because
of its many uses. The oil, with its smooth golden richness and its many
uses, is symbolic of a valuable human commodity--symbolic of the love
that is a pure gift from God, hidden in our hearts. But it was bottled
up in a little jar.

   Therefore, the prophet told the woman to go out and borrow a lot of
empty containers from her neighbors. Then she poured out from her
little jar as her sons kept bringing each empty vessel to be filled.
Here was the essence of the miracle. The flow did not stop until the
last container was filled.

   And here is the miracle for each one of us. We can be enriched by
the very process that enriched the widow. The love in our hearts from
God is inexhaustible when we put it to wise use. There is no end of
love when applied to uses of life. The widow's oil symbolizes a love
that can be multiplied and increased without limit. Such is the nature
of spiritual love or good will toward others. It fills every deed of
service and every activity with its inexhaustible spirit. Take an
example: A woman bears a child and pours her love into its care. Is
that all the love she has to give? She bears a second child and loves
it as well as the first. Her love is not divided and diminished, but
multiplied. Take another example: A teacher loves to present his
subject to a class. The following year he meets another class and his
love finds new expression. He has not given it all away to the first
class. In fact, his ability to teach increases from year to year as he
becomes more skilled and gains experience in meeting the needs of the
students.

   Love is inexhaustible but it must have a means of expression or else
it will remain bottled up. The Lord offers love in unending supply, but
we must come up with the ways to use it. This is the responsibility the
Lord has given us as Christians. We must find the vessels, the
containers, that need to be filled.

   The containers we need to find are the opportunities to serve or to
be of some help to others. It is into such opportunities that we can
pour the Lord's love.

   Remember, too, that the vessels were supposed to be empty. That is,
there should be nothing in it for us. So often we do good deeds as much
for ourselves as for anyone else. We see our own advantage in it. Such
deeds are not empty, like the vessels the widow was to borrow. Instead
they are filled with thoughts of ourselves and of what we can get out
of it. What are the empty vessels? They are the good services and
responsibilities we fill for their own sake and for the sake of others
and not for the sake of our own reputation or advantage.

   How important it is to notice this little detail of the scriptural
account. The miracle would have been spoiled if the woman had used
anything but empty containers and the Lord's miraculous increase of our
love will be spoiled as soon as we seek credit for ourselves in
whatever we do. We ought not to boast of what we have done, as the
Pharisees often did, or expect rewards for our deeds, either in this
world or the next. The Lord taught us: "Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven" (Matt. 5: 16). We should do good works that men may see the
glory of God in them, not that they glorify us.

   Take another detail of this account: the vessels. We have said that
these are like opportunities to put love into act. They are forms of
charity, forms of service; the kindly word, the helpful hand, the wise
admonition, the patience to allow freedom for another even to make a
mistake. Opportunities for exercising deeds of spiritual benefit are
endless, but we must learn to recognize and gather them for use. Just
as the business man must learn to recognize opportunities to expand his
business and do his work profitably, so every one of us must learn to
recognize how to expand our spiritual capacity and do the right things
in life.

   Remember, we have said before that such wisdom is not instinctive to
us. Like the containers the woman gathered, our wisdom also must be
borrowed. And where do we learn wisdom? From the Word of God. And
following His teachings in the Word leads us into all spiritual wisdom.
"He will guide you into all truth, " (Jn. 16: 13). The source of wisdom
is God's Word. The more truths we acquire from it the more is our
capacity increased to be of genuine service to the neighbor.

   The lesson is clear. The love we can receive from the Lord is
limited only by our ability to find ways of putting it to use. The more
wisdom we acquire from Divine revelation, the more love can find place
in our life.

   Salvation is of the Lord but we are responsible for acquiring the
means by which salvation can be wrought. Love must find a way to be
carried from our heart to the hearts of others. If it is simply poured
out without wise direction, it will be wasted and lost. Therefore, we
must seek principles of life and follow ways of life which the Lord has
revealed as fitting expression of His love. This is our part in making
miracles happen in our life. We should study scripture and doctrine to
find the wisdom to use rightly the gifts that the Lord continually
wants to give.

   When we have done our part, the Lord will not fail to do the miracle
for us. For the Lord's love can be multiplied miraculously to fill
every useful and orderly form of life. This is the Lord's doing. It is
marvelous in our eyes.

   When the love is thus received it becomes joined to the wisdom of
life we have obtained. It is a kind of marriage. How remarkable that
where before we had been like a "widow" we are no longer bereaved! We
are widows no longer but are as the bride of the Lamb spoken of in the
Apocalypse.

   There, the joyful words are spoken: "Let us be glad and rejoice, and
give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife
has made herself ready" (Rev. 19: 7). Again, we read of a promised
blessing hidden in Isaiah's prophecy: "You shall no longer be termed
Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate.... For the
Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.... And as the
bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you"
(Isa. 62: 4, 5).

   Such a marriage, a joining together in our hearts of God's gifts of
love and wisdom, is the goal of human life. Let us take the command of
Elisha to the widow woman of Israel as a personal challenge: "Go,
borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors...." Let us
look for ways to put our religion into life and the truths that will
show us how. Then the Lord can work His miracle in our heart. Truly, we
will say "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just
and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!" (Rev. 15: 3). Amen.

   Lessons: II Ki. 4: 1-7; Matt. 25: 1-13 Heaven and Hell 522, 524

   First it will be told what the Divine mercy is. The Divine mercy is
pure mercy towards the whole human race, to save it; and it is also
unceasingly towards every man, and is never withdrawn from anyone; so
that everyone is saved who can be saved. And yet no one can be saved
except by Divine means, which means have been revealed by the Lord, in
the Word. The divine means are what are called divine truths, which
teach how man must live in order to be saved. By these truths the Lord
leads man to heaven, and by them He implants in man the life of heaven.
This the Lord does with all. But the life of heaven can be implanted in
no one unless he abstains from evil, for evil obstructs. So far,
therefore, as man abstains from evil, the Lord leads him out of pure
mercy by His Divine means, and this from infancy to the end of his life
in the world and afterwards to eternity. This is what is meant by the
Divine mercy. Hence it is clear that the mercy of the Lord is pure
mercy, but not immediate, that is, it does not look to saving all out
of mere good pleasure, however they may have lived.

   If men could be saved as a result of immediate mercy all would be
saved, even those in hell; in fact, there would be no hell, because the
Lord is Mercy itself, Love itself, and Good itself. Therefore it is
inconsistent with His Divine to say that He is able to save all
immediately and does not save them. It is known from the Word that the
Lord wills the salvation of all, and the damnation of no one.