Lausanne Free Church
"...believing all things which are written..."
See the truth and live: Elisha and the Syrian army
We live in days when as Christians we not only know we are in the minority but we feel in the minority. We see all around us increasing ungodliness. We see God's standards trampled upon. We see and hear the apparent triumph of atheism and materialism on our TV and radio every day. But we are not unique in living in such times. At many times in history, in fact at most times in history, those who have faithfully followed God have been in the minority and felt under attack. Jesus said as much when he told us in the Sermon on the Mount that many are on the broad way and few are on the narrow way.
It was such a time when Elisha was alive. There were only a few who had remained faithful to God. Yet, as we will see, this was not a time to be despondent. We must take comfort from who God is. He is sovereign. He is reigning. He who is for us is greater than those against us. It may not seem so to you, but if your eyes are opened you will be able to see it.
There is also great encouragement in this passage for those who are not Christians. You may think there is no hope for you. You have sinned too much and for too long. But God is gracious even to his enemies. It may not seem so to you, but if your eyes are opened you shall see it.
We have four points this morning:
1) God knows
2) God protects
3) God humbles
4) God spares
1) God knows
The King of Syria had a problem! He had invaded Israel. He secretly moved from place to place trying to catch the Israelite army by surprise, so he could defeat them. (2 Kings 6 v 8) BUT every time he moved--so did the Israelite king! He concluded “I must have a spy in my camp” (v. 11). One of his servants tells him the truth (v. 12) “Elisha tells the words that you speak in your bedroom”. In one sense there was a spy - the spy was God! God told Elisha what the Syrian king was thinking of doing and Elisha told the king of Israel. You see, God knows everything. He hears every word spoken not just by this king but by you and me. Look at Psalm 139: vv 1 to 7. “Where can I go from you?” The answer is "nowhere". CCTV cameras may make you nervous, but God has a camera on every corner, in every room, in every mind. Think about yesterday. What did you do and say and think? God remembers it all and knows it all. Are we ready to meet such a God, who knows everything? Sometimes as Christians we forget a very important truth. We too will be judged: We too will stand before the Lord Jesus. Our salvation will not be in doubt. We will be one of the sheep rather than one of the goats, but we will still be judged: 2 Corinthians 5: 9-10.
Is it our aim in this life to be “well pleasing to him”? What does that mean? There is a film called 'Groundhog Day'. In it a man has to relive the same day again and again. So he starts to learn the piano. At his first lesson he is not very good. But with each passing lesson (on the same day) he gets better and better. He listens to this teacher, he practices, until eventually he becomes very accomplished. Finally he plays in a public. In the crowd the proud teacher says “That is my student”. Obviously he is well pleasing to her because he has been a good and diligent student. He could now play almost as well as she could. This is what the Christian life should be like. We are studying in the school of Christ. Our aim? To be a bit more like our Lord each day, to learn from our mistakes, to listen to our teacher (the Holy Spirit, through the Word read and preached). That is the way to be “well pleasing” to him.
The king of Syria just does not learn though. He is determined to deal with this Elisha so he sends a whole armoured division to capture him (vv13 to 14). A whole army against one man! What a daft thing for the king of Syria to do! He knew and believed that God was telling Elisha everything about his plan. Did the king not realise that God could tell Elisha about this latest plan to send an army to capture Elisha? Did the Syrian king not realise that God could protect Elisha? We can also take comfort from the fact that God knows all the plans of those who may plot against us, against the cause of Christ. Think of the words of Psalm 2: 'Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? He who sits in heaven shall laugh' We may not know the future, but our God does. Here is our confidence. Life is like a book. God is the author so, unlike us, he knows what is going to happen on the next page.
2) God protects
So a whole Syrian army comes out against one man! How sometimes the world hates Christians. How they rage for no good reason. Jesus warns us that this will happen (John 15: 18 to 20). Sometimes the hatred is seen in small ways, such as name-calling. Former friends may shun us. Sometimes the hatred is seen in discrimination - we may not get a job, or not be promoted. Sometimes the hatred may be seen in physical persecution - arrest, jail, even murder. Here are some reports of persecution which have been in the news in this past month:
IRAQ. A young Christian teenage boy, aged only 14, is crucified by Moslem extremists.
NIGERIA. A Christian teacher clubbed to death. Students killed her for allegedly 'desecrating' the Quran.
ETHIOPIA. An Ethiopian evangelist named Tedase is beaten to death by militant Muslims on 26 March as he and two young women were doing street evangelism.
I read this only yesterday in the newspaper “20 minutes”:
TURKEY. Three Christian had their throats cut for selling Bibles in a Christian bookshop.
Friends, do not be surprised if you suffer persecution for the Lord.
Now Elisha's servant was terrified when he saw the army (v. 15). Who would not be? “Alas, my master, what shall we do”? he says. But the servant has forgotten the great arithmetic that applies for Christians: One Christian plus God = more than a match for whatever the world throws at him or her! Look at Elisha's reply: (2 Kings 6:16). Elisha asks the Lord to open the servant's eyes so he could see the host of the Lord (v17). There is little doubt that this was the elect angels. What a comfort! How small the Syrian army must have now seemed compared with the host of heaven. “Do not fear”, for actually there is nothing to fear! God DOES protect his people.
You see there are always two parts to reality. The part we see and the part that is hidden from us. As Christians we must look beyond the physical reality to see the spiritual reality. We may never see it literally but we can see it with the eye of faith. Psalm 34:7 says 'The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him and delivers them' As Matthew Henry observes: 'God makes use of the attendance of good spirits for the protection of his people from malice and power of evil spirits; and the holy angels do us more good every day that we are aware of'. Does this mean that we can pray for angels to protect us? No, the Bible never says that. Rather we should pray to God the controller of angels for protection. It is up to the Lord how he answers our prayer!
Does this mean we will always escape persecution? No. Jesus plainly told us that we will be persecuted. In fact for many, persecution may lead to a martyr's death.What does it mean then to say that God protects us? What help is it to us? I think there are three answers. God may well protect us from much persecution. Who knows how often God has intervened without us realising it? How often has the host of heaven helped us? We simply don't know. When we are persecuted we must remember that God is still in control. He will give us the grace and strength that we need. He will never leave us. No Christian is ever alone in the cell. We are immortal until our work is done. God will not allow us to be killed unless he had decided that our pilgrimage on earth is over. God is in control, not the persecutor. God will sustain us through that trial even if it leads to death. Therefore we need not lose heart. We must never live our lives as though the seen world is all there is.
Friends do you feel surrounded by the enemies of the Lord? Then pray to the Lord of hosts, ask him that you may have the same confidence as Elisha did. Remember that those who are for us are more than those who are against us. “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us”
3) God humbles
There is a TV programme in England called "A Question of Sport". During part of it they show some sporting action and then stop the camera at a crucial moment and ask the panel "What happens next?". Of course it is always something unexpected. The tennis racket breaks or the goal post falls down. Now think about what is happening at Dothan. Here is this great Syrian army. Here is the Lord's army. What happens next? A great battle? Read v.18: Elisha prayed “strike the people with...blindness”. Quite amazing! The crack army of troops are blinded. The word here does not mean physical blindness but mental blindness--they did not realise what they were doing or where they were going! Read v. 19: Elisha now comes and speaks to the Syrian army. The soldiers do not recognise the very man that they have come to capture. He tells them “You have come to the wrong place. Follow me.” ...and they believe him. Read v 20: So Elisha leads the Syrian army into their enemy's capital and they were captured without a fight. Now their mental eyes were opened. They realised they were trapped. There is no battle, no fight, no bloodshed, but the whole Syrian army is defeated. God's enemies are putty in his hand.
What a warning for those who are outside God's kingdom, for those who are still in rebellion against God. All God's enemies will ultimately be defeated, they will be humbled, even, as in this case, they may be made to look foolish. There is no point in fighting against God. He is all powerful. God will humble the proud. God will humble the atheist. God will humble the false teacher. Christian friends: Take comfort from this in the trials we face in the world. That boss at work who sneers at our faith; he will be caught and judged by God unless he repents. That so called friend who has turned his back on you and now runs down your character since you became a Christian; he will face his maker one day. The politician who introduces laws that are contrary to the Scriptures; he will have to give an account to the ultimate king. All of the ungodly will one day bow the knee to your Lord and Master. The cause of Christ will be vindicated. The tables will be turned. Look at what John tells us will happen before the Lord Jesus returns at the end of the world: Look at Revelation 20:7 to 9.
Can you see the parallels? A great army surrounds God's people? Yet what happens? Is there a great battle? No. There is a great defeat. Yet there is one difference. The Syrian army as we shall now see was spared, but at the end of time the enemies of the Lord will not be They will be shown no mercy. We don't take pleasure in this, but we can take comfort. In the next life our trials in this life will seem light and insignificant compared to the glories of the new Heaven and new earth. Our trials always have a purpose. Always. Do you remember the trials you had when you were learning to drive a car? All these manoeuvres to learn. Holding the steering wheel correctly, use of wing mirrors, indicators. Initially some of it might seem pointless, but in time it all fits together and makes sense. So it is with the trials and difficulties of life. It will all make sense one day. Trust God. It will be so.
4) God spares
The Israelite king cannot believe his good fortune! Here is his deadly enemy, the whole army, in his grasp. “What shall I do” he asks. “Shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” (v. 21). He had every reason to do so. They had invaded his land. They had sought to maim, rob and kill his people. This was a just war! But Elisha says no, in fact do the opposite (v.v. 22-23). The prophet to whom the Syrians intended to show no mercy, now returns not judgement but mercy. Not only did he not kill them, but also he gave them a great feast, and also set them free! What a picture of the great grace of God! We were in rebellion against God we were blinded by our sin. The Lord led us to a place where we could hear the good news, then Christ opened our eyes we saw ourselves trapped, condemned. But the Lord graciously set before us the bread and water of life, Jesus Christ. We gladly ate and drank salvation in Christ and we went away free, no longer in rebellion against God.
There are great lessons for all of us here. First let me speak to Christians. This example of grace show us how we should treat those who persecute us, or treat us badly. Think about this Syrian king. God had recently shown great kindness to him by healing Naaman, one of his commanders. Now the King of Syria repays the Lord by invading Israel. The Lord had every reason and justification for destroying the whole army. But he does not. Why?
Because God is long suffering and compassionate., not willing that any should perish. The Lord as it were turns the other cheek and returns love instead of judgement. Have you been wronged by someone? Then these verses tell us how we should react on a personal level. Look at Romans 12:17-21. This is hard, I know - to overcome evil with good. That is why the Bible points to our Lord and Saviour as the real example to follow: 1 Peter 2:21-23 “Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps…...when we was reviled, did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Are we ready to turn the other cheek? Are we ready to leave the matter with the Lord when we have plainly been wronged? Are we willing to show real, Christian, practical love even to our worst enemy? Who knows it, may win them for Christ.
Second let me speak to those of you who are not saved. Maybe there is one here today who is still outside of God's kingdom. You are in rebellion against God. Now my friend is the time to sue for peace. Now is the time to get right with God. God today has drawn you to the house of God. Maybe you don't really know why. You feel spiritually blind and lost. Now you are here you need to know that God is here today also. He has you in his grasp. Your life is in his hands. He has every right to be angry with you. He has every right to end your life and rush you to judgement and hell. But instead, on the authority of God's word, I do not speak of judgement, but of grace. God sets a meal before you; spiritual food and water. Jesus is the bread of life. Out of Jesus flows living water. Whoever eats of that food will never hunger, whoever drinks of that water shall never thirst again. God offers you forgiveness for your sins and eternal life. God offers you freedom, freedom from judgement and eternal punishment. How foolish for the Syrian army to have carried on rebelling. How ungrateful to refuse the food and water set before them. What else could they do but submit?
What of you? Will you be similarly foolish and refuse the gracious offer of life and peace from Jesus Christ? Will you turn your back on his offer of freedom from the consequences of your sins? What else can you do but submit? There is a day coming, as we have seen, when the door of grace will close. It was open as I wrote these words, it is open as I speak these words, but I have no idea how long it will be before the door closes and Lord returns. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the right time to get right with God.