When the disciples of Elisha were short of food, they cooked a stew with poisonous gourds. Elisha nullified the poison of the wild gourds with flour (2 Kings 4:38-41). In principle, the Lord Jesus did the same thing for His disciples. He warned them, saying, "Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Matt. 16:6-12), and He healed the disciples with Himself as the fine flour.
Many of the teachings in today's Christianity are "poisonous gourds." Some Christian books are good, but many are not pure. We have recommended certain writings by Andrew Murray, Madame Guyon, Brother Lawrence, and others. We have especially recommended Andrew Murray's masterpiece The Spirit of Christ, as well as God's Plan of Redemption by Mary E. McDonough and Life on the Highest Plane by Ruth Paxton. Among us we also have the ministry of Brother Nee. Brother Nee's ministry was rejected by the Western missionaries in his youth, but today his ministry is known by seeking Christians throughout the world. By the Lord's mercy and grace, in the last seventy years nearly all the crucial, important revelations of the Bible have been covered in Watchman Nee's ministry and my ministry. I would urge you to pay attention to these pure and healthy things and not waste your time collecting "poisonous gourds."
In 2 Kings 5 Elisha healed a case of leprosy (Luke 4:27). The Lord Jesus did the same thing in His ministry (Matt. 11:5; 8:1-4; Luke 17:11-19).
In 2 Kings 6:1-7 Elisha floated with a wooden stick an ax head that had fallen into the waters. This signifies Christ recovering with His cross, in resurrection, the power of sinners that had fallen into the death water. As sinners, we lost our "ax head," our power, but Christ has recovered this lost power in resurrection with the "wooden stick" of His cross.
In 2 Kings 2:23-24 Elisha cursed the mocking boys to be torn up by two female bears out of the woods. Those who think that the Lord Jesus did not do the same thing in principle need to read the Gospel of Matthew again. Matthew 3:12 says that the wheat will be gathered into the Lord's barn but that He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. To be sure, this burning of the chaff is a curse. Furthermore, in Matthew 12:31-32, 34 the Lord Jesus warned the Pharisees concerning an unforgivable sin, the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 23 He spoke eight woes to the scribes and Pharisees. This was His curse to them.
By all of the foregoing we can see that Elisha was a very accurate type of Christ. Elisha changed the age in type, and the Lord Jesus did the same thing in fulfillment. Today we are in the changed age, the age of the fulfillment of God's New Testament economy.