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Floating Iron by James May
2 Kings 6:1-7
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copyrighted and may be used or preached freely May )od richly bless
you as you read these &ords I
is my sincere desire that all &ho read them may be enriched
*ll scriptures +uoted in these sermons are copieand +uoted from the
*uthori,ed King James ersion of the "oly .ible
/astor James May
0*!I3) I43
!onight I &ant to relate to you one of the strangest% and in
reality% one of the least mentioned miracles of theld !estament I
ha(e been in /entecostal churches for o(er 5 years no& but I
cannot remember more than
(ery fe& times that this incident &as referred to in a
message behind the pulpit /erhaps its because% on the
surface% this miracle doesn't seem to ha(e much meaning for our
modern society
I must admit that I ha(e read this story a number of times and I
ha(e ne(er been led to minister on the subeuntil no& It seems
that the "oly )host has opened my eyes to see ust a little of
&hat this story has to say t
us right no& !he "oly .ible is truly the li(ing &ord of
*lmighty )od and there are times &hen &e are ready trecei(e
&hat it has to say and other times &hen the meaning ust
simply e(ades us
It's not that )od hides "is &ord or ma8es it a secret in any
fashion for it is "is perfect &ill that &e 8no& and
understand "is $ord !he problem is that &e are not
al&ays spiritually a&a8e and our heart and mind is
notfocused enough to grasp &hat is being taught to us 9(en
&hen &e do grasp it% there is so much more that
remains some&hat obscure and &e can learn multiple
lessons from e(ery passage each time &e read it
#o &hy do &e read passages from the ld !estament
any&ay $hat do things that happened &ith Israel and
the /rophets from thousands of years ago ha(e to do &ith us
right here and right no&
1 ;orinthians 1:6%
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sinned and accepted gifts from 3amaan after 9lisha had refused
to be paid for the miracle of healing of lepros
.ecause of his sin% )eha,i &as udged and the leprosy the
3amaan had lost &as then transmitted to him "erecei(ed the
sentence of death from leprosy and &ent from the presence of
9lisha to li(e out his remaining da
in separation from the presence of the prophet and from the
presence of the ord
!hen% immediately after the miracle of the floating a=e head%
&e see that Israel is attac8ed by the #yrian Kingand the battle
for Israel's sur(i(al as a nation is oined and the incident
&ith the a=e is left for us to read abou
#o &hy did )od perform such a miracle that seems so out of
place
$hy did )od choose to allo& an iron a=e head to float in a
supernatural sho& of "is po&er o(er something thseems to us
as tri(iality in the loss of an a=e head in the Jordan 4i(er
If you are going to get the clear picture of &hat this
miracle &as all about &e must start &ill )eha,i>
)eha,i represents the sin that is found in the heart of e(ery
man !here is not one of us here today &ho can s
that &e ha(e not been guilty of the same sin that )eha,i
committed !hat sin &as bound up in three things th
.ible calls in 1 John 2:16%
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!here &e sit% dead in sin% co(ered by despair% dro&ning
in a sea of hopelessness% &eighed do&n so that &e cado
nothing but sin8 deeper and deeper into the depths of sin 0rom the
standpoint of human ability &e are los
fore(er .ut than8 )od% the miracle &or8ing po&er of )od
has already formulated a miracle of deli(erance foreach of us
$hat caused the iron a=e to float to the surface !here are three
theories that are most pre(alent in my
reading !he first t&o are spurious to say the least !he only
feasible e=planation is that the po&er of )odsupernaturally
ga(e that iron the ability to float $hether )od made it lighter
than &ater by changing its
molecular structure% or caused a po&erful up&ard current
to lift it% or &hate(er is immaterial !he fact is that belie(e
that )od performed a miracle and allo&ed it to float to the top
of the &ater
In case you are interested here are the other t&o theories
that I read about
1A 9lisha cast the Bstic8C or the handle of the a=e into the
&ater li8e a lance and it &ent do&n hard% stuc8
fast
into the hole in the a=e head% then floated the iron head to the
top of the &ater
"o& many belie(e that theory If you do% I thin8 that it had
to be ust as great a miracle that the handle &as
able to penetrate the current of the ri(er &ater to the
bottom of the ri(er and hit the bottom &ith sufficientforce to
penetrate the silt at the bottom% find the in(isible iron head and
hit the opening in perfect alignment
$o&% &hat an aim and an arm 9lisha must ha(e had if that
really happened
3o& only that but that handle must ha(e been (ery large to
gi(e the a=e and iron head enough buoyancy to
float I don't 8no& about you but I'(e ne(er dropped any
&ooden handled tool in the &ater and &atched it flo
because the metal head al&ays drags the &ooden handle to
the bottom &ith it
2A !he second theory gi(en is that the &ooden handle
&ent do&n &ith sufficient force and turbulence that
it
carried a tremendous amount of air bubbles that e(entually
follo&ed the handle all the &ay to the bottom
andsomeho& got under the iron a=e head and floated it to the
top as the air rose bac8 to the surface
3o& there's a theory &e can li(e &ith% right $ell%
it &ould ta8e a lot more faith in &ooden handles and
air
bubbles% plus the changing of a multitude of la&s of nature
for such a thing to happen considering the amounof air it &ould
ta8e to lift an iron obect that displaced (ery little &ater to
aid in the process It certainly &ould
not ha(e been a hollo& piece of iron or it &ould ha(e
done a poor ob in cutting do&n the hardened &ood of
ttrees
#ome people &ill try to e=plain e(erything )od does &ith
natural reasons Man refuses to gi(e )od the glory fanything "e
does
Iron should ne(er float but it did because )od is not only the
creator of the la&s of nature including gra(ity%physics and any
other natural la& that you can name% but "e can re(erse or
change those la&s any time "e
desires to in order to accomplish "is &ill
!he iron a=e head may seem so insignificant to us no& but I
&ant you to 8no& that )od cares for theinsignificant things
in your life too If "e cares enough to count the hair on your head
I belie(e "e cares abou
e(ery aspect of your life>
#o &hat is the message that )od is trying to gi(e to us
through this miracle of the floating a=e head !he stic
cast into the &ater represents the &ooden tree that
&as made into the ;ross of ;hrist !he ;ross of ;hrist th
is cast into the &aters% or gi(en into the seas of lost
humanity !hen the po&er of the ;ross &ill lift the
lost%hea(y iron of our sin-sic8 soul from the depths of the
sea>
!he ;ross of ;hrist and the shed blood of the amb &ill lift
us out of the miry clay and brings ne& hope and a
ne& life to all &ho &ill hear $e are raised from the
depths of sin into a ne& light% a ne& day and gi(en
eternalife !hen &e are put bac8 onto the handle by allo&ing
the "oly #pirit to lead us into &or8ing in the Kingdom
)od once again
i8e the prophet &ho lost the a=e head% &e are unable to
pay the price to buy bac8 our sal(ation !here is noman &ho has
the ability to reach do&n and lift us It has to be done by the
po&er of )od through faith in Jesu
shed blood
