Introduction :
This morning’s message will be from 2 Kings chapter 6 if you would like to go ahead and find the passage in your bibles. The book of 2 Kings is actually just the second half of the book of Kings. Back in the time of scrolls you had a limit to how long your writings could be, and so some of the longer books in the Old Testament had to be broken up into multiple parts.
If you have been keeping up with our Bible reading plan then you know that we have been recently visiting the Kings of Israel as well as the lives of the prophets Elijah and Elisha.
If I were to try to summarize the main message of the book of Kings it would be “Allegiance.”
To whom to do pledge your allegiance, and will you be faithful to that pledge.
The kings who we see highlighted in 1 and 2 Kings can be lumped into two categories.
Either…
A) the king “did what was evil in the LORD’s sight” (3:2) or …
B) the king “did what was right in the LORD’s sight” (14:3)…
That may seem sort of black and white, but when it comes to God there are not a whole lot of gray areas. God is the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and our lives are either seeking to live in conformity to His will, or we are living contrary to His will. The lives of the kings of Israel and Judah, in a way, reflect the kind of choices we make every day.
Likewise, we see many instances where the nation of Israel itself was going through great spiritual and moral decay. It’s a stark reminder that, while we know the long arm of history is bright, we are not guaranteed continual prosperity and righteousness from one generation to another. But regardless of whether or not we would consider the current day bright or dark, or the current generation as righteous or unrighteous, our calling as believers remains the same.
We keep our highest allegiance to the Lord and we seek to live faithful lives in the times we have been given.
Today’s message will highlight a powerful reminder that God is faithful to those who are faithful to heed His commands and follow Him in faith.
God Protects His People From the Enemies Snares (2 Kings 6:8-12):
8 When the king of Aram was waging war against Israel, he conferred with his servants, “My camp will be at such and such a place.” 9 But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful passing by this place, for the Arameans are going down there.” 10 Consequently, the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had told him about. The man of God repeatedly warned the king, so the king would be on his guard.
11 The king of Aram was enraged because of this matter, and he called his servants and demanded of them, “Tell me, which one of us is for the king of Israel?” 12 One of his servants said, “No one, my lord the king. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in your bedroom.”
– 2 Kings 6:8-12 (CSB)
“The King of Aram was at war with Israel.” (v. 8)
The King of Aram (or Syria), Ben-Hadad, was once again at war with Israel. This took place during the reign of King Joram of Israel, a time in which the nation was plagued with sporadic instability. You see, Joram was the son of King Ahab and the daughter of Queen Jezebel, both considered to be among the worst royals to ever rule the nation. Joram took the throne after the death of his father and the death of his older brother, Ahaziah, who had no son. We don’t get a lot of information about King Joram, but the few accounts we do get are mostly negative. He was nowhere near as wicked as his father or mother, and we get some indications that he tried to undo some of his father’s mistakes (removing the pillars of Baal), but it is also said that he often did what was displeasing to the Lord.
All that to say, the nation had just left one of its worst reigns and was in desperate need for revival, but Joram was not the man for the job. The King of Aram seemed to know this and decided that, during this time of instability, it would be an ideal time to gain some territory.
When God’s people are not unified it gives the enemies a chance to gain a foothold. As Jesus himself said:
“Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.”
– Matthew 12:25 (CSB)
We are called to be shining example to the world, but it is so easy to become so focused on infighting or pushing one’s own agenda that we cease to be the body of Christ and instead become a house divided against itself. This was true in the Old Testament, it was true in the New Testament, and it is true now.
Israel was not immune to disunity. At the time of this account Israel was divided between the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and even within Israel we see there was infighting and attempts to schism and break away.
We also know from the apostle’s letters in the New Testament that the early church was just as susceptible to distractions, infighting, disunity, and division. They were at their best when “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer” (Acts 2:42), and focused on their mission to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything [Christ] had commanded [them] (Matthew 28:18-20). But just like Israel before them, the church of the past and the church of today often loses its focus and opens itself up to the enemies assault.
Just as King Joram in the 9th century, we need to heed the words of the Lord and be on guard.
“The man of God repeatedly warned the king, so the king would be on his guard… The king of Aram was enraged.” (v10-11)
What gave King Joram of Israel success against King Ben-Hadad of Aram/Syria, had nothing to do with Joram’s capability as a leader. God revealed to Elisha (the Man of God) what the enemy planned to do, and King Joram heeded God’s warnings. Joram was king of Israel, but in this moment, he showed enough wisdom to humble himself and submit to the Lord’s direction.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter would later remind the church that we have enemies, not just in the physical world, but also in the spiritual sense. Like Joram, victory for the Christian does not come through our power, but through being alert and faithful to God.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world. The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. To him be dominion forever. Amen.” – 1 Peter 5:6-11 (CSB)
We have an enemy who wants to ensnare us, devour us, and bring us low… but we have a God who is more than capable of exposing the enemies traps and who equips us with all that we need to overcome. But we must be willing to listen and obey.
This inability to ensnare Israel infuriated and enraged the King of Aram. None of his attacks were working. The King of Aram’s servant says that it was as if Elisha were “in your bedroom” which is a way of saying he seems to know your most private thoughts. Nothing is hidden from the Lord. Nothing comes as a shock to our God. So why not heed His words and His warnings as we go throughout our days. Think of the needless troubles and heartaches we could have avoided. As Peter reminds us, there is sufferings enough in this life, why add to it needlessly?
I want to be the kind of Christian that leads the devil to rage! I want the enemies of the Lord to groan because all their plots and schemes are in vain? I want that to be true of me and of you, of all of us. But it won’t come from us. Our success or our failure depends on our allegiance, and to the extent that we are willing to trust, to believe, and to obey.
As the Psalmist wrote:
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand,
and the rulers conspire together
against the LORD and his Anointed One…
… [But] The one enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord ridicules them.
– Psalm 2:1-2,4
Now it should be said that before this moment King Ben-Hadad of Aram had seemingly no qualms with Elisha, but once Elisha began to interfere with his plans, then the wicked King set his sights on Elisha himself.
Which brings up two truths that I think are very important for us as Christians in the modern world..
- Our enemies won’t waste time on those who are not a threat.
- Opposition is sometimes a mark of success.
God Is Doing More Than We Think (13-17):
13 So the king said, “Go and see where he is, so I can send men to capture him.” When he was told, “Elisha is in Dothan,” 14 he sent horses, chariots, and a massive army there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up early and went out, he discovered an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”
16 Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes and let him see.” So the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
– 2 Kings 6:13-17 (CSB)
Like many people today, King Ben-Hadad of Aram seemingly had no problem with Elisha up until Elisha got in the way of what he wanted to do.
In my experience people love “Jesus friend of sinners”, up until he tells them “now go and sin no more.” It is fine for me to worship a loving God, but the moment God starts interfering with our plans we suddenly have a problem.
Tell a wealthy man that God has blessed him with much wealth and he will probably agree. Tell the same man that he is accountable to God for his wealth and how he will use it, and suddenly there will be much room for disagreement.
Tell a young person that sexual intimacy is a wonderful gift from God, and they will probably have no issue with that. Tell them that God gets to decide what is the right and the wrong forms of sexual expression and you will probably get pushback.
Tell a powerful person, like King Ben-Hadad or King Joram, that God in his divine sovereignty chose to put them in positions of power and influence in the world then you will gain their favor, but tell them that all kings and powers are under the rule and reign of God, and that they are not free to use their power or influence in ways that do not honor the Lord and you may find yourself silenced.
We are told that once King Ben-Hadad learned that Elisha (the man of God) was messing up his plans for conquest, he targeted the prophet and set out to destroy him.
“He sent chariots and a strong force…”
Chariots were the tanks of the ancient world. In warfare they were a mobile platform from which to shoot volleys of arrows to soften up enemy infantry. If the chariot came to a standstill, javelins could be used for throwing or thrusting. Chariots also served as arms for flanking or pursuing. They were hard to hit and even harder to escape from. Because of this, chariots became symbols of power in the ancient world.
In verse 15 we read that Elisha’s servant awoke early one morning in Dothan to find the city surrounded by chariots and enemy soldiers. This would have been a terrifying sight, and meant that this army must have approached the city at night to prevent Elisha from seeing them and escaping the city. It is understandable why he might cry out: “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”
Elisha’s response to his servant’s fear is beautiful. “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.”
If you have been keeping up with our reading you know that Elisha was a disciple of Elijah the prophet. And as I was doing my reading this week I wondered if there was a connection between this account and another passage we read, 1 Kings 19. For the sake of time, Elijah (the teacher of Elisha) had just done a mighty work for the Lord and had stood up to the Evil Queen Jezebel. This infuriated the queen and so she called for Elijah’s execution.
In fear Elijah hid in the mountains and cried out to the Lord saying, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they’re looking for me to take my life” (1 Kings 19:10).
Instead of scolding Elijah for his fears and doubts, God gives him food and tells him to rest. He tells his prophet that he is not alone, in fact there were 7000 faithful men in Israel right then including Elisha of whom we are reading about.
But even if Elijah were alone, he would never truly be alone with God.
Today I know that there are probably some in this room who feel discouraged or maybe even defeatist as we look to the future. We know the bad news. Let me tell you some good news:
- Southern Baptists sent 422 missionaries through our International Mission Board, planted 18,000 new congregations, and had no less than 144,000 professions of faith in Jesus Christ from people outside of the United States during a global pandemic!
- Since 2010, Southern Baptists have planted more than 8,200 churches all across North America. We planted 588 new churches in 2020, an increase of 36 over the previous year! This is just Southern Baptists.
- According to a Pew Research Center survey, there were more than 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, more than three times as many as the 600 million recorded in 1910.
- According to “The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion”, approximately 15.5 million people convert to Christianity annually from another religion.
- Studies estimate significantly more people have converted from Islam to Christianity in the 21st century than at any other point in Islamic history. Conversion to Christianity has also been well documented, and reports estimate that hundreds of thousands of Muslims convert to Christianity annually.
- Due to conversion, the number of Chinese Christians has increased significantly; from 4 million before 1949 to 67 million in 2010.
- Due to conversion, Christianity has grown in South Korea, from 2.0% in 1945 to 29.3% in 2010.
- Protestantism is growing in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Muslim world, and Oceania.
- According to some, Russia is another country to see a Protestant revival.
Brothers and sisters, there are more faithful followers than you realize, and you are not alone..
“Open our eyes, Lord, so that we may see…”
One of the reoccurring themes in this passage is the idea of eyes being opened or shut (blinded or seeing).
The servant of Elijah saw the Aramean armies approaching. They had chariots and were a strong force. They encircled them in the night, which means that the servant was blindsided and didn’t see this coming. He was terrified, and worldly wisdom would say he was terrified rightly so.
Our problem is that, at best we are only able to see part of the picture. We cannot always know why certain things happen or don’t happen, but when we look back at the past or ahead to the future, it is wise to look for how God’s guiding hand might be at work. At the end of the day, it always comes back to faith… but every now and then God helps us to catch a glimpse of what He is doing in the world. This is why in the New Testament Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians—“that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” (Eph 1:18).
The odds seemed stacked against Elisha, but God had an angel army ready to defend his people at a moment’s notice. And yet He brought the battle to an end without using the force of the soldiers. The enemy had superior man power and superior weapons of war, but Elisha had God’s protection. The enemy was spiritually blind to what God was doing in Elisha and the nation of Israel, and in dramatic irony they were made physically blind as well.
God Blinds The Wicked (18-20):
18 When the Arameans came against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Please strike this nation with blindness.”So he struck them with blindness, according to Elisha’s word. 19 Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you’re looking for.” And he led them to Samaria. 20 When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open these men’s eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.
One man with God is always the majority. The Lord opened up the eyes of Elisha’s servant to see that there were more forces at work in the world than what the mere human eye could see, and here the Lord blinds the opposing army so that they cannot see. The Hebrew term that is translated here as “blindness” is only used twice in the Bible. Here in this account and in Genesis 19:11 when the mob at Sodom tried to force their way into Lot’s house and “they struck the men who were at the entrance of the house, both young and old, with blindness so that they were unable to find the entrance.” Both times the term is used to describe a spectacular or miraculous act, in which an overwhelming enemy force is rendered helpless in an instant.
The Lord had an angel army ready to go to war in defense of Elisha and the people of Dothan, but Elisha’s prayer made it unnecessary. This was actually an act of mercy. In a few chapters later in 2 Kings 19 we see a similar account, but here the angel of the Lord does go to war for Israel against Sennacherib of Assyria and slays 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. King Ben-Hadad of Aram should count himself blessed that even in his rebellion the Lord chose to spare him and his armies.
Earlier we talked about how giving our allegiance to God requires both humility and obedience. Living a life of faith requires us to be always open to Lord’s correction and willing to follow the Lord’s commands. Either we willingly come to the Lord with humility, or we face the humiliation that results from disobedience and rebellion.
Elisha tells the invaders that “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you’re looking for.” It is hard to read this without a little sarcasm, but without much of an option the army follows Elisha on a ten-mile trip, which I imagine would have taken all day considering this was an army of confused men who cannot see very well.
Elisha leads the invading force into Samaria, where King Joram was staying. Imagine the King’s surprise when the prophet delivered the army that had been seeking his destruction to his front door. Elisha prays for their eyes to be opened and the army that had surrounded Dothan, now found themselves surrounded in Samaria.
I am reminded here of the final battle depicted in the book of Revelation 20 when Satan is “released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth to gather them for battle.” It is written that “Their number is like the sand of the sea. They will come up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city.” But at a mere word from the Lord “fire will come down from heaven and consumed them andthe devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire… and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” – Revelation 20:7-10 (CSB)
The enemy may seemingly have all the advantages in the world, but with a mere word the best laid plans of the enemy are undone forever. The King of Aram had chariots and horses, but Elisha had the power of prayer.
This, account, however, is not the last battle. And in God’s providence and mercy, the enemies of Israel are spared this day.
God Extends Mercy To His Enemies (21-23):
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Should I kill them, should I kill them, my father?”
King Joram of Israel is understandably unsure of what to do at this point. God had given his enemies into his hands, but now what? Once again King Joram in rare form humbles himself and seeks wisdom from the Lord through his prophet Elisha.
He even refers to Elisha as “my father” even thought Elisha was not his biological father. It shows that, at least in this moment, King Joram wanted to lead the people by God’s wisdom, and not his own. If he had followed the wisdom of his biological father Ahab, there would have probably been a blood bath in Samaria that day.
22 Elisha replied, “Don’t kill them. Do you kill those you have captured with your sword or your bow? Set food and water in front of them so they can eat and drink and go to their master.”
23 So he prepared a big feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The Aramean raiders did not come into Israel’s land again.
To the Aramean armies relief, Elisha instructs the king not to kill the enemies. Instead he was to “Set food and water in front of them so they can eat and drink and go to their master.” Now doing this doesn’t make a lot of worldly sense, but that is also the case of many things we are commanded to do in scripture. Loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us is not sensible by worldly standards. Forgiving others, not just seven times, but even seventy times seven times is not sensible in the eyes of the world. Giving of your limited time, and energy, and resources, to help those who will never be able to pay you back… is by all worldly wisdom a bad investment. And if what the Bible says about God is not true, then they are all correct… but brothers and sisters… the Bible is true.
Conclusion :
Maybe today we come here discouraged like Elijah on the Mountain or like Elisha’s servant in Dothan, feeling that the good in this world is so small compared to the evil and wickedness. Maybe we need to remember our allegiance to God and have faith to see that He is at work in this world in far more ways than we can imagine. His victory is assured.
Maybe today we come like the Aramean army or the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, realizing that we have been on the wrong side this whole time. We were blind, but now we see and because of that we need to repent of our sins and begin to humble ourselves before the Lord.
Maybe like King Joram we realize that God has placed us at a crucial point of decision and we are not sure how to act. The wisdom of the world says one thing but God’s Word says another. Perhaps today we just need to pray for God’s wisdom and the courage to follow even if doing so does not make sense in the moment.
Or maybe you don’t even know what to pray, you just feel like you need to open yourself up to God and you would like to talk with someone about that. If that is you I would love for you to fill out a connection card or come and find me after the service so we can talk more.
hardincrowder.com 