Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 8 February, 2026
“Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone,
a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” (Isa. 28:16)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Jews and Gentiles United in Christ (4)
The New Humanity [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3
Text: Ephesians 2:15
I. What It Is
II. How It Is Brought About
III. What It Results In
Psalms: 117:1-2; 10:13-18; 22:26-31; 18:43-50
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Are All Men Saved By Christ? [youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 1:6-18; 15:1-5
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 7
I. The Terrible Arguments for It
II. The Irrefutable Arguments Against It
III. The Catechism’s Explanation of It
Psalms: 1:1-6; 11:1-7; 49:14-20; 17:10-15
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast: www.cprc.co.uk/live-streaming
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Ephesians 2:15: “The unity of this new body is an absolute unity. I use the term advisedly. There is no such thing as a Jewish section of the Christian church. There is no such thing as a Gentile section of the Christian church. And there never will be. The old has been done away with. The Lord Jesus Christ himself put it like this once and forever in a most important statement from this standpoint, Matthew 21 verse 43. Addressing the Jews he said, ‘Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.’ That new nation is the church. The Jews as such have ceased to be the special people of God. There is a new nation. And there will never be a Jewish section in the church in a different position from the Gentile section. All that is finished. That is the statement of the Lord himself. You remember how the apostle Peter says the same thing in I Peter 2:9 and to: ‘Ye,’ he says (using of the church, consisting of Jew and Gentiles, the very words that God spoke to the nation of Israel just before the giving of the law), ‘Ye (the church) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.’ That is the new nation. And it is not a mixture of Jew and Gentile, but a new man; Jew finished, Gentile finished, a new creature. There is no more, says Paul, Jew nor Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, male nor female. Thank God, all that is finished, there is but one new man, in Christ Jesus” (God’s Way of Reconciliation, pp. 279-280).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Monday night catechism classes:
5:00 PM: Felicity & Sophie (Juniors NT)
5:45 PM: Grace, Jonas, Liam & Sammy (Beginners NT)
6:30 PM: Eleanora, Hannah, Jorja, Penelope & Xander (Seniors NT)
7:15 PM: Jason, Maisie & Sebastian (Heidelberg Catechism – Book 2)
8:00 PM: Abbie, Jack, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Essentials)
Tuesday Bible study will meet this week at 11 AM to continue our study of “The Existence of God,” considering especially texts from Romans.
Marina Mawhinney’s funeral is at 11:30 AM at McCosh Funeral Directors, Shankill Road, Belfast. The burial will be at Roselawn Cemetery at 1 PM. Refreshments will be at La Mon Hotel afterwards.
The Belgic Confession class will not meet this Wednesday evening because of the funeral.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Haak is entitled “The Faithful Witness: Our Limitations” (Ephesians 4:17).
Offerings: £1,870. Donations: £250 (England), £100 (Co. Antrim).
Translation Additions: 3 Polish and 13 Urdu.
Miracles Performed by Elisha (3)
Brian D. Dykstra
II Kings 4
Earlier in our study of II Kings 4 we treated the miracles of the poured-out oil and the birth and subsequent raising from the dead of the Shunamite woman’s son. There are two miracles left in this chapter; the healing of the pottage and feeding of the 100 sons-of-the-prophets.
Verse 38 opens this section of II Kings 4 by stating, “Elisha came again to Gilgal.” There are several Gilgals mentioned in Scripture. The word “Gilgal” means circle, possibly a circle of stones built for the purpose of defence. This stone wall could be tall and thick to protect a large city, or it could be merely three-feet tall to protect a field or pasture. Commentators agree that this is not the Gilgal near Jericho where Joshua led Israel across the Jordan River, nor the Gilgal in Ephraim about ten miles from the Mediterranean shore, so they suggest a lesser-known Gilgal located seven miles north of Bethel near the border between Ephraim and Benjamin.
Verse 38 continues, “There was a dearth in the land”; dearth in the land which God declared flows with milk and honey. God speaks, and it is so. When God calls for light, there is light. Where God calls for faith, there is faith, even in hearts which were dead in sin. The reason there is a dearth is not to be found in weather patterns or poor farming practices, nor is it to be found in God failing to keep His Word. The reason is the righteous judgment of God. He can change that which was fruitful into barrenness. Remember, Ahab’s dynasty still ruled over Israel as the wicked Jehoram, Ahab’s son, occupied the throne. God would not send rain to show idolaters the foolishness of refusing to turn to God. As for God’s elect, those who had fallen into idolatry would be brought to repentance, while those who had remained faithful would learn to wait patiently for God.
During this dearth, “the sons of the prophets were sitting before [Elisha].” These “sons” were not Elisha’s biological children. These men were Elisha’s students. They were “sons” in the way that we consider ourselves sons and daughters of the congregations which God used to proclaim the gospel to us and teach us His fear. These men gathered for formal instruction from the leading prophet of their day. Elisha did not lead a discussion about what farming methods could be implemented to produce food despite the famine. These men loved God’s Word and desired to learn how God’s Word and promises applied to them and God’s people. God still preserved His people in Israel, though the number may have been exceedingly small, and these men must know how to minister to them.
Elisha finished his instruction, and the men would enjoy a meal together. The men began preparing their meal. Verse 39 has a strange expression in it. One son-of-the-prophet gathered wild gourds, “his lap full.” This “lap full” was not an old-fashioned unit of measurement. This phrase might mean that this man had used his outer robe to carry the gourds he had found. He reached down, gathered the bottom of his robe, and held the fabric in such a way that the robe could be used as a sack. None of the men recognized these gourds, so, once shredded, they went into the pot, adding to the meal. While eating, they cried, “There is death in the pot.”
Gathering wild food was common for that time and place. However, not everything creation provides is healthy. Not all plants are digestible, and some are poisonous. This gourd was deadly, and the men soon recognized this. Commentators agree that the gourd was in the cucumber family, a colocynth. It was a wild vine, and the fruit was the colour and size of an orange. The taste was bitter, and in the old-style of writing a commentator reports the result: “Exciting the nerves, eaten freely they would occasion such a derangement of the stomach and bowels as to be followed by death.”
How many men had eaten the pottage is not known, but they recognized they had an emergency. Even though there must have been some panic among them, they knew to whom to turn for help, Elisha. Elisha does not chide them for being good theologians but bad natural scientists. Neither does Elisha declare they must now learn a hard lesson about being more careful about what they added to their pottage. He does not say that a night without dinner is the due reward for their ignorance. Elisha is the faithful representative of a God Who is merciful, even when His children are in trouble through their own ignorance or carelessness.
Elisha cast meal, flour, into the pot, “and there was no harm in the pot.” They likely had added meal to the pottage earlier to thicken it. The meal was not an antidote to the poisonous gourd. The healing was affected by God’s decree through Elisha. God’s command changes what was harmful, even deadly, to what is nutritious and beneficial. Among many blessings recorded in Psalm 132 we read this in verse 15: “I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.” This is the unchanging Father who cares for us today.
The chapter closes with a man from Baal-shalisha bringing twenty loaves of barley and full ears of corn. Baal-shalisha was in the plain of Sharon, not that far from the Gilgal we have just discussed. This man, a citizen of Israel, could not bring his offering of first fruits to the temple in Jerusalem, so he did what he could. He knew where Elisha was and would bring his offering there. Elisha shocks his servitor by commanding him to serve this food to the people. The servitor sees no way for this food to satisfy 100 men. Twenty loaves to feed 100 men does not strike us as that much of a stretch. These loaves, however, were not the three-foot long by six-inch wide variety. These loaves were more the size of an adult’s two hands cupped side-by-side. Elisha assures him, in the word of the Lord, that not only will there be enough food to feed the crowd, but they will also have extra. This was truly a miraculous provision for the people there.
We, however, might not be impressed. We know Jesus fed 5,000 men, not counting women and children, with a mere five loaves and two fish. This, indeed, is a far greater work. That is the point. Jesus is far greater than Elisha, and the feast the Son of God provides in Matthew 14 is also greater. However, what of that great heavenly feast which we enjoy today? Christ’s body, the Bread of Life, feeds an innumerable host. In the Lord’s Supper, Christ “nourishes and strengthens the spiritual life of believers when they eat Him, that is to say, when they apply and receive Him by faith in the spirit” (Belgic Confession 35). How many believers does Christ feed each Lord’s day by the preaching of the Gospel, which declares the blessing of our eating His broken body and drinking His shed blood by faith? Finally, we hope for that day when all God’s elect, an incredibly vast host, will gather in heaven for a triumphant wedding feast, where we will come to Him who has bidden us and whose pierced hands, feet, and side we, His Church and Bride, will behold in a joy which we cannot now imagine.
