OK, we'll grab your Bibles. Meet me in Second Kings chapter
6. Second Kings chapter 6 and verse
8 is where we want to place our fingers.
Second Kings 6 verse 8. Let us just begin reading right
away. Once when the king of Syria was
warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants,
saying, At such and such a place shall be my camp.
But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, Beware that
you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down
there. And the king of Israel sent to
the place about which the man of God told him.
Thus he used to warn him so that he saved himself there more than
once or twice. And the mind of the king of
Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing.
And he called his servants and said to them, Will you not show
me who of us is for the king of Israel?
And one of his servants said, None, my Lord, O king.
But Elijah the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel
the words that you speak in your bedroom.
And he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize
him. It was told him, Behold, he is
in Dothan. Lord, we ask.
As we've already prayed, but we pray again that you would guide
us through this study and that there will be a special
empowerment behind it. We need Your help.
We dare not assume that we can open Your word and expound it
and preach it and hear it, thinking that we will be
fruitful apart from Your spirits.
Helm. So we ask that you would make
this an impactful time, and that we would see Christ, and that we
would receive your wisdom, and that we would walk out of here
that much closer to Him and that much clearer in our
understanding of who He is. Although we long for you to help
us, and we need you and we committed in the name of your
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
It would be a mistake to interpret this passage in
isolation, and the reason why I say that is because this is not
the first time that the Syrians have been mentioned in
connection to Elisha's ministry. Do you recall the last time that
we engaged with the Syrians when it came to Elisha's story?
Anybody know you can answer? If you do know the answer, you
got to say a little bit louder because I'm a little bit
elevated and you're a little bit far if you're answering from the
back. Naman the Syrian in Second Kings
chapter 5. And so this is not our
introduction to the Syrians interacting with this mighty man
of God. And is understanding that
background helpful to approaching this text?
Absolutely. You're saying why read verse
eight once more. Once when the king of Syria was
warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants,
saying at such and such a place shall be my camp.
What you and I discover in the opening verse of our study is
the profound ingratitude and the disregard of the King of Syria
towards the people of Israel and more importantly, the God of
Israel. Why?
Because this follows Naaman the Syrian, who was the general of
the army, who was healed miraculously and returned back
to Syria as a new man. And we have to remember that the
king of Syria was well aware of Naaman's condition and how he
was helped by the God of Israel. Remember, it was Naaman who
approached the king of Syria asking him permission to go to
Israel to receive aid. And the king of Syria himself
wrote a letter and gave it to the king of Israel, saying
receive Naaman my servant and help him.
So how do we tie this together? Well, evidently the King of
Syria was not too concerned about Naaman's healing and how
that should change his perspective on the God of
Israel. There was no lasting impression,
if there was any impression at all.
Right here in verse 8 we learned that he's ready to go to war.
Disappointing, yes. Shocking.
It shouldn't be because this is not unique to the King of Syria
throughout the Old Testament. Do we not see it in the Gospel
accounts? Is it not there in present day
experiences? Do we not have stories of this
where people have tasted of the mercy of God, have been even
bathed by His grace, and still are willing to war against Him,
to be cold towards him, indifferent towards him?
There are various degrees to which a man can harden his
heart. And I was reflecting on the king
of Syria the other night, and I was reminded of a passage that
describes one of the severest forms of stubbornness a person
can. Reach.
It's interesting because this word in the Hebrews only found
in two places in all the Old Testament.
It's found in Zechariah 712 as the prophet was reflecting on
the stubbornness of the people, of the people of God.
We're told there in Zechariah 712, they made their hearts
diamond hard, lest they should hear the law and the words that
the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former
prophets. Therefore, great anger came from
the Lord of hosts. They made their hearts not hard,
diamond hard. I was reflecting on that.
Why would the word diamond be used?
Until I looked into it and realized that diamonds are one
of the most hard material natural stones in our world.
So out of all the things that God could have used as an
adjective to describe the condition of the heart of the
people of God at this time, He says their hearts are not just
rock hard, diamond hard. And who's responsible for that
kind of state? It was the people.
It says they made their hearts diamond hard.
They have allowed themselves to persistent rejection and
resistance to God's Word, God's power, God's mercy, to the point
where it was virtually impenetrable.
And so do not underestimate how a man or a woman's heart can
become so stiff and calloused to the things of God, despite what
the Lord does for them. That's something that we see
over and over in our Old Testament study, what man is
capable of in their rejection of God and their denial of God.
But despite the strategic and heartless plots of the enemies
of Israel, the people of God were a step ahead.
Why? Because we learned that Elijah
was granted supernatural discernment from God.
And it's quite humorous when you actually think about it, because
Elisha becomes the greatest intelligent agency for any
nation in all of world history, single handedly.
You have one man who didn't send any spies, who was in his own
abode and received downloads from God, knowing exactly the
next move that the Syrians would make, and he would tell it to
the king of Israel. And they evaded their enemies
over and over and over again. And it's no wonder that near
Elijah's death, we've seen this more than once in our study of
Second Kings, where he is referred to as the Chariots and
the horsemen of Israel. The Chariots of Israel were
ascribed as a title to this man Why?
Because he was the true defense of the nation, his connection
with God. As a conduit of God, He was able
to truly lead the people and protect the people.
At this moment not only reflects God's omniscience, it also
serves as a megaphone for His mercy.
Why? Because who the King of Israel
was at this time and the apostate condition of the nation
of Israel. They were spiritually sick and
their leadership didn't help. Them by any means.
Does anybody remember who the king of Israel is at this point?
Go to 2nd Kings 31. You get your answer.
In Second Kings Three one we read and the 18th year of
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Jeho Ram, the son of Ahab became king
over Israel and Samaria, and he reigned 12 years.
Jeho Ram, the son of Ahab. True, he was not as evil as his
parents, but he was a compromiser.
He worshipped idols. Be that as it may, God did not
completely abandoned his people. That's what you see here, that
the Lord was still willing to offer guidance and warnings, and
through that He was extending in steadfast invitation for the
people to be reconciled to Him over and over and over again.
And this might shock us, but Joe R.E.M. at this point responds
favorably. He actually does the right
thing. So the word of the Lord comes to
him. Don't go there and he doesn't do
it. And we're told there that he
doesn't do that just once or twice, but numerous times.
So Jahrem, he's not the best king.
He's actually one of the worst kings.
That being said, he's still offering us some wisdom in our
walk with the Lord at this at this point, this juncture.
In what way? The main thing I want you to
take away from this man is how his obedience was consistent.
So he saved himself there more than once or twice.
Elisha's warnings were numerous, which required the King of
Israel to trust him every single time.
Understand this, it wouldn't be enough for the King of Israel to
obey 10 times and on the 11th time to have his own way.
It would require him to submit and trust every single time.
And if he didn't, he would put himself in extreme danger.
And I think here there is some wisdom for our walk with Christ.
If you and I want to see God's favor and protection remain in
our lives, then it would be good to view a single act of
disobedience as a deadly threat. A single act of disobedience as
a deadly threat. Listen, if you want to be
serious about holiness and the rewards of holiness, may I say
something to you? You cannot convince yourself
that you can even nibble for a moment on one transgression or
stray away in a season of sin unscathed.
That would be no less foolish than Jeho Ram momentarily
ignoring Elijah's directions. You would think that the king of
Israel would be a fool to obey 7 times and on the eighth time to
depend on his own wisdom to not trust the word of the Lord.
And you and I are called to that same standard of dependency on
God's Word, that in every place, with any person at any time, I'm
going to trust God's Word. I'm not going to open myself to
anything that can put me in danger.
If you and I cease sin that way, we would know greater rewards.
On the path of steadfast obedience is where we find the
treasures of God's blessing and favor and continual shielding.
Yeah, praise God for his grace. That when we do slip and when we
fall, when we're convinced to do otherwise.
But I'm talking about premeditated foolishness.
Of knowing what God's Word has to say about the matter and to
just go the other way. I see the king of Israel here
obeying, and as long as he obeyed, he was safe.
And it's no different for you and I.
So this is what's so moving about this scene.
Verse 10. The king of Israel sent to the
place about which the man of God told him.
Thus he used to warn him so that he was saved there more than
once or twice. Verse 11.
And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled
because of this thing. And he called the servants and
said to them, will you not show me who of us is for the king of
Israel? So look, this is beyond
coincidence now. Once, OK, Twice, OK, three
times. We're not told them the total
amount of times. But it was enough for the the
king of Syria to be like, something's up here.
We got a rat. There is a spy here.
So he called in and all the services, which of you here is
an informant? Here's what's so funny, verse
12. And one of his servants said
unnamed, right? An inferior individual said,
none, my Lord, O king. But Elisha the prophet who is in
Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your
bedroom. Haven't you?
And I seen this consistently in our study of Second Kings, where
you have a servant who has greater spiritual perception
than somebody who was in a high and lofty position.
Didn't we see that in Second Kings chapter 5, where it was a
slave girl from Israel who was kidnapped from our home that
told Naaman the Syrian, I know somebody who can help you with
your leprosy. Was it not a servant of one of
the kings? When the coalition of kings,
including the king of Judah and Israel, went out to fight
against the Moabites and they were wandering in the
wilderness, they got lost. It was a servant who said, I
know where we can find Elijah and he can help us.
Like you can't ignore that. It's a constant thing that
appears in our study, reminding you and I that to be lowly in
the natural but rich in the spiritual is a greater advantage
than those who are noble in this life but are deficient in the
soul. Who cares about what people
achieve in this life if they're bankrupt spiritually be rich
towards God. I was reading now in my in my
own personal reading of Luke and Luke chapter 12 with that man in
that parable boasted about expanding his homes and retiring
early and relaxing. And God calls that man a fool.
Anybody is a fool who invests so much in this life but is
bankrupt towards God. And that's why he said such as a
man who is not rich towards God, it's possible to be rich in this
life, but to be poor in the spirit.
I'm not interested in that. I want to be rich towards him no
matter what it costs me in this life.
But you know what I thought when I was reflecting on this?
How did the Syrian servant know about Elijah in this way?
How now? We're not told, but I have an
inclination to believe that it had to do something with name in
the Syrian. This is just speculation, but I
think it's a safe one that when name in return.
Remember he returned with a plan to not be ashamed of his
devotion to Yahweh. He would make an altar, it would
be public. He was not afraid to declare
that his allegiance would be to the true God.
And I wonder if the servant heard the.
Testimony of name in the Syrian and I made an impression on him
enough for him to be familiar with the man of God and what God
was able to do through a man. It's just a wonderful reminder
of what our testimonies can do. So he says, listen, the prophet,
he hears your conversation in your own bedroom.
Now you would think that would humble somebody, right?
You would think that would cause him to say, I must know which
God is able to give this kind of ability to His people.
What do you see? Verse 13?
And he said, go and see where he is, that I may send and seize
him. It was told him, behold, he is
in Dauphin. Hold on to that.
Remember we talked about this in previous studies that when a
place appears, the name of a town or city or region appears
in your Bibles. To not disregard it to nothing
is just a historical footnote. No, look at it and consider it.
Meditate on it. So I remember stumbling upon
this Dothan years ago and thought to myself, that's not a
familiar place in the Bible. Now, we're not going to explore
this now. We're going to come back to in a
moment. We have to continue and you'll
see why. But I just want to remind you of
that discipline. Don't skip over names.
Don't skip over cities and towns and you'll see why This is just
going to be another example of why the discipline of seeking
deeper things in the word of God will reward you greatly.
But let's come to verse 15. When the servant of the man of
God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army
with horses and Chariots was all around the city.
And the servant said, Alas, my master, what shall we?
Do, he said. Do not be afraid, for those who
are with us are more than those who are with them.
So you have two men here. We have the servant of the man
of God. That can't be Gehazi.
Why? Because he's an outcast now.
He's crippled and riddled with leprosy.
So this is someone who replaced him, at least temporarily.
We have the. Servant of the man of God, and
we have Elijah with him. And I want you to realize that
they were both standing in the same geographical location.
They were both both facing the same threat.
And you can even argue that Elisha was experiencing a
greater danger than the servant because they were coming after
him. And lastly, they both serve the
same God, but there was one main difference and it was a very
important difference. They had totally different
outlooks, totally different perspectives.
Totally different revelations that were set before their
vision. The same surprise, the same
challenge, the same difficulty, but two different viewpoints
that cause them to interpret the situation so.
Differently, and I want to say it's the same for Christians
today, that you can have two Christian college students at
the same school with the same temptations and the same crowd,
one succumbing to the pulls of the world and another
overcoming. Why?
Because they have two different understandings.
You can have married couples, and if you do counseling with
married couples long enough, you'll realize that their
problems are not very unique. The strains are very similar and
yet you can have some parties who are willing to in faith and
trust in God's wisdom. Achieve reconciliation while
others crumble. You can have two very wealthy
Christians unusually successful in this life.
One is able to live for eternity and not make mammon their God,
and the other can be completely ensnared to the point of
spiritual destruction. Why?
Because of an understanding. And not just an understanding,
but a willingness to frame your outlook with that understanding.
You have the servant of God looking at the same thing, and
you have the man of God looking at the same thing, two different
conclusions. And the servant of God was
visibly fearful, panicked. His eyes were widened as he woke
up early that day, ready to do his chores and his duties as an
assistant to the prophet. And he looks out and he hears
the distant rumblings and an unusual scene of the hills being
littered with Chariots, perhaps even at sometimes hearing the
chants for Elijah's name and learning very quickly.
We're outnumbered here. And so he panics.
And what's so moving is right away we get a a striking
contrast with the man of God who is calm with an other worldly
kind of tranquility when he looks at the servant of God says
don't be. Afraid.
I mean, it's impossible to read Elijah's response with any other
kind of tone. Don't be afraid.
There are more with us than those that are before us.
Now I'm thinking, and I'm looking at this, wondering, how
was this man able? You can't fake this.
How was this man able to respond with such a serenity, A serenity
that was able to not just help him, but help others?
And I'll tell you this, it was because of revelation that he
possessed that was able to stabilize his heart.
I was looking at Elijah earlier today and his posture was a
clear reflection of one of the greatest practical promises that
you can find in the Old Testament, Isaiah 26, verse
three. You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you. Now, if you read that carefully,
you'll learn that this is. A verse that is outlining an
equation. Man has a responsibility, and
that contingency will determine God's reward.
You keep him in perfect peace. Who's the one who grants this
peace? God?
You keep it. And it's not just any ordinary
peace. It's a perfect peace now.
Either the Bible is exaggerating or God's word is true and every
man be a liar. You keep them in perfect peace.
What does perfect peace means? It means that it is a peace that
is accessible and applicable to any situation that you can draw
from this peace. You can experience this, this
stability anywhere, anytime, before anyone for anything.
The best quality of peace God is willing to grant upon this for
those whose mind is stayed on you.
So here's how you understand this.
Unbroken peace from God is granted to those who have
unbroken meditation on God. Unbroken peace from God can only
be achieved through unbroken meditation on the Lord.
Elisha saw something. Elisha lived in a reality that
the servant hasn't yet arrived to and that's OK because he's
learning, he's growing, and he had the right teacher in his
life. So here's the thing, you have to
understand what you believe will ultimately determine how you
behave. And I, and I can't again help
but look at a verse like Isaiah 26 three and feel the
responsibility of feeding. My mind and my heart, the truths
of who God is. And not just checking off a box,
saying I read my Bible this morning, but living with that
meditation, singing about those truths, discussing it with
people who actually have a relationship with God.
And you can't have a relationship with God if you
don't have a relationship with the word of God.
Impossible, Impossible. People who have a low view of
the Bible have a low view of God.
No matter what what else they say.
This is the means by which we get to know God, not through
your experiences, as wonderful as experiences are, it's
primarily through His Word. And through His Word will you
know experiences and one of those experiences, a perfect
peace through unbroken meditation on Him.
You stop thinking about the Lord and including Him beyond just a
little bit of time in the morning or at night.
You make more room for things to invade and to live there that
shouldn't be living there. And so here's Elijah
demonstrating, I believe, what it means to live with that lens
of who God is, what He's able to do, who I am in him.
And he's about to teach this young servant what that looks
like. But you know, you can't move on
without considering more inspiring traits from this
prophet. Because here's what I've learned
about Elijah in our past few weeks.
And so many of these scenes where he interacts with people
and performs miracles, he does it in a spirit of compassion,
rich compassion. So he doesn't look at the
servant, right? We don't know how long he was
enrolled in this program, but he surely knew about Elijah long
enough to actually consider it to begin with or to be hired by
Elijah. But you don't see the man of
God. Look at him saying, hey, what's
wrong with you man? Now, you haven't learned
already. You haven't seen things already.
You haven't heard who I am. He doesn't do any of that.
He patiently instructs him. He gently guides him.
Now, there are times where rebuke is necessary.
You know how I know that? Because.
Jesus did it. So there's some people who
think, I mean, there's some people who think that you should
never correct, you should never confront that.
What Bible are you reading? With all due respect, Jesus,
even with his closest disciples who failed to learn things that
he told them over and over again, received from time to
time stern rebuke. But that's not applicable here
because you have this young new assistant who's just starting
out. And Elijah shows each of us.
Who might be a little bit more spiritually mature than another
person to be patient, to be kind.
And there are, there are a lot of people I know who are very
spiritually knowledgeable and have a grasp on things that
don't necessarily demonstrate that.
And Elijah here is a rebuke to us to be patient and listen.
His tenderness and care is not just sown in how he speaks to
the servant. Listen very carefully.
It's shown in how he speaks to God about the servant being
patient, understanding, willingness to teach to those
who are willingness to learn is one thing.
But I'm telling you now that Elijah teaches us that love for
our brethren is also shown in how we speak to God on their
behalf. Notice what he does verse 17.
Then Elisha prayed and said, O Lord, please open his eyes that
he may see. So the Lord opened the eyes of
the young man and he saw. And behold, the mountain was
full of horses and Chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Here's how I'm convicted by this Lord, I don't just see with
Elisha. I see it with the Apostle Paul,
with virtually every church that he engaged and interacted with.
He didn't just instruct him. He didn't just teach him.
He prayed for them over and over again.
And Lord, help me come to the place where I love my fellow
brother and sister enough, where I'm willing to bring their needs
and their weaknesses before your throne.
And it's not just a quick thought that Elisha offers up.
It's not just a duty that he fulfills.
You can sense the earnestness. Look at the language.
Oh Lord, please, that's sincerity, that's longing.
And so I want to lovingly challenge all of us to re
examine our love for people, not just with our practical deeds,
which I think is very important, but also in our willingness to
pray. Pray for them.
And what a valuable lesson for leaders, including parents,
because Elisha reminds us here that there are certain levels of
transformation that can only be achieved when we pray for
people. I'm not sure exactly how verse
16 led to verse 17, but it makes me wonder that after Elisha
telling him not to be afraid, that he didn't necessarily get
the reaction he was hoping for. Do not be afraid.
Verse 16, right? And then we don't know what
happens with a young man, but look at verse 17.
Then Elijah prayed and said, so I wonder if Elijah still saw
this man visibly disturbed. And so he lifts his eyes to
heaven, says, Lord, can you help him?
Can you open his eyes? So may we also learn to reserve
our energy that after trying to convince and seeing people
convicted even to no avail, to come to God on their behalf
instead a preacher who's not alive.
Most of my favorite ministers are no longer alive.
But this man said it's one thing.
It's 1 honor to speak to men on behalf of God.
It's a whole other honor to speak to God on behalf of men,
and Elijah here shows us that. Not that we have a a permission
to cop out from dealing with people or matters directly, but
to have this understanding that apart from God intervening,
apart from God moving apart from God enabling, apart from God's
hand on someone's mind or heart. We won't see what we want to
see. Here's a wonderful model.
I'm I'm speaking to you and we have we have the reason to
believe here that maybe nothing was achieved in that.
Now let me speak to God for you and ask the God what?
Open your eyes and God is willing to answer that prayer.
Look at Paul's prayers very carefully, specifically in
Ephesians 1, where he asked that the eyes of the hearts of the
Ephesians may be opened. So we have permission to pray
those kind of prayers. It's a prayer that's prayed
every Friday and every Sunday before anybody gets behind this
pulpit, open the eyes of the people.
Men can only go so far with other men, but when men connects
with God, all miracles can take. Place Now what does the servant
see after Elijah prays? Read it again with me in verse
17. The latter portion, the
mountain, was full of horses and Chariots of fire all around
Elijah. Now in the past when I read this
part, I usually imagined that when the eyes of this young man
were open to the spiritual realm.
And this is a good reminder for each of us that there is a realm
that parallels this world, right?
There are things happening beyond our senses, beyond our
immediate understanding behind the scenes, 24/7, right?
And we're seeing that here. We're just getting a glimpse a
little. Window into that world.
But this is how I always imagined that when the eyes of
this young man were opened, he he looked out and he saw the
hills covered. The surrounding mountains
littered, enveloping the city, standing in the, you know, this
translucent kind of army standing in the midst of the
Syrians and outnumbering them. But it's more glorious than
that. It wasn't just this young man
looking under the distance and seeing a canopy of soldiers
covering the enemies of Israel. These horses and Chariots of
fire. We're not surrounding the city.
They were surrounding Elisha. Did you see that?
Look again. The mountain was full of horses
and Chariots of fire all around. Not Dauphin Elijah.
So imagine this. You have this sea of angelic
beings orbiting around the man of God and extending outward to
the hills. That's what he saw.
So it wasn't wow, Look out there.
It was whoa, whoa, whoa. Right here.
And what was it I saw? Horses and Chariots of fire.
Have we seen those for the first time here or have we seen them
before? We've seen them before when God
dispatched the same kind of beings to transport Elijah into
heaven. And So what do we see here?
There's a lesson here. There's a principle here that
the horses and Chariots of fire that protected Elijah from death
as he's being translated into heaven.
Are the same ones who are now protecting Elisha from
potentially being killed. And this is a consistent
support, underscoring a principle that God's protection
extends to his chosen servants, ensuring their safety every
moment, every single moment. And so you see Elisha receiving
the similar kind of divine intervention.
But I want to show you how it wasn't just limited to these two
amazing prophets of God. So where was this miracle taking
place? The name Dauphin Dauphin.
And I look at that and, and I remember this is years ago
looking at that, saying, why have I not seen this place
before? And I'm, I'm not saying every
single region that's mentioned, you're going to arrive to these
kind of conclusions, but this is the case here.
There's only one other place in all of the Old Testament where
Dothan is brought up. Now I'm not going to.
Mention it right away. I'm going to give you a chance
to answer without looking at your Bibles.
Even if you do, it would take a while, I think.
Does anybody know where Dothan is mentioned in the Hebrew
Scriptures? Wow, that was quick.
Did everybody know that was Genesis?
Good, Wonderful. Yes, Genesis, but we're
specifically in Genesis. OK, Wow, I was.
Expecting a little bit more of a delay there, let's turn there.
Genesis 37. The only other.
Place where Dothan is brought up.
Genesis 37 verse 16 Joseph was sent by his father to seek for
his brothers and he bumps into a man who gives him directions.
Verse 16 of Genesis 37 I am seeking my brothers.
He said tell me please where they are pastoring the flock.
And the man said, they have gone away, for I heard them say, let
us go to Dauphin. So Joseph went after his
brothers and found them at Dolphin.
By the way, this is personally one of my favorite examples of
Providence in the Old Testament. If that man had not been there
and gave him these instructions, who knows what would have become
of Joseph's future? But because that man was right
there at the right time and gave those specific instructions,
that's what turned Joseph's life around.
There are no coincidences in the will of God.
So here's this man who says, yeah, actually, I heard that
they were going to Dolphin. And do you remember what happens
when he arrives at Dolphin? The brothers take him and they
throw him into a pit, and they leave him there like a wild
animal. And it was in Dauphin where
Joseph tasted the venomous envy, the murderous jealousy of his
own relatives. So listen.
There are only two places where Dauphin is mentioned in the Old
Testament. So now, now, now, now, now, this
is where it gets exciting. I step back and I think about
Elijah and what I read about Elijah in Second King 6 and I
say, Lord, is there something here?
And surely there is, because in Dauphin.
With Elijah, it was a place where he was ambushed by the
enemy in Dothan. For Joseph, it was a place where
he was abandoned by his family. And I believe that the divine
protection that wrapped around Elijah was no less true for
Joseph when he was in Dothan hundreds of years before saying,
can you prove that? I can prove that you're still in
Genesis, right? Go to Genesis 49 and look at the
prophecy that was granted to Joseph when Jacob was ready to
go and be with his father's, Genesis 4922.
Joseph is a fruitful bow, a fruitful bow by spring.
A bow is like the main branch of a tree.
His branches run over the wall. The Archers listened to this
language. The Archers bitterly attacked
him, shot at him and harassed him severely.
Yet his bow remained unmoved. His arms were made agile by the.
Hands of the mighty one of Jacob.
From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.
So here's when I learned that the.
Truth about this place called Dothan, mentioned only twice in
all of the Old Testament, is that God is with us at all
times, in all places, through every experience.
When that experience is being betrayed by our loved ones or
being attacked by those who are enemies, the Lord is there.
He was there with Joseph. He was there for Elijah.
He is with you. Psalm 125 verse two.
You don't have to turn there, but as the mountains surround
Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth
and forever more. So why are you afraid?
You know, it's one thing to look at these things and be moved by
them when you see the connection and the promise is another thing
when you experience being outnumbered by enemies and
serving ministry long enough and you'll know a few share of
enemies. I can tell you with great
confidence, not just by the authority of the Word of God,
which is my primary way of communicating this truth, but by
way of experience that I've seen the Lord surround my life.
And I pray that he always will. And I pray that you would know
that, especially when you need that truth the most.
So what happens next? Because the miracle doesn't end
here. Verse 18.
And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to
the Lord and said, please strike this people with blindness.
So the armies of Syria came rolling down those hills at some
point like a freak tsunami ready to crash into Dothan.
And Elisha is unfazed by it. I wonder what that looked like.
And he prays again and again. This is just another humorous
thing. So in the verse preceding this
he prays for his servants eyes to be open.
And in the following verse, he prays for the eyes of thousands
of people to be blind. What are you supposed to take
from that? Here's what you're supposed to
take from that. The power of prayer, the prayer
of the righteous can open the eyes of one man and close the
eyes of 10,000. No matter who or what you pray
about, God is willing to do as long as it's according to his
will. And it shows what God is capable
of doing. He's, he's able of opening eyes
and he's able of closing eyes. So you have this army coming
against a man who had something greater than Chariots, greater
than javelins, greater than bows.
Prayer and God hurt him. And if we didn't know this
story, perhaps we would think that the next thing that Elisha
would pray for is maybe some form of humiliation or some kind
of show before he would ask those invisible Chariots and
horses to slay these enemies. But the miracle is greater than
that. So these men experienced this
temporary blindness, and I don't think it was a complete
blindness because they were able to grope their way towards this
next destination, but it was enough for them to not make
sense of what's happening or understand who's before them.
So Elijah prays that they would be struck with blindness.
And we're told here at the end of verse 18.
So we struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of
Elijah. Look at that last part in
accordance with the prayer of Elijah and what happens next?
What would you do? If you're in Elijah's position,
here's what he does. Verse 19.
And Elijah said to them, this is not the way and this is not the
city. Follow me and I will bring you
to the man whom you seek. Some people really try to get
clever and say, look at Elijah. He's supposed to be a man of God
and he's lying to the Syrians. He's not lying.
He left Dolphin and he's going somewhere else and he's saying,
you want me to come and follow me?
See how simple that is? People are really desperate to
try to criticize the word of God.
And where did he lead them? And he led them to Samaria.
That's the headquarters. That's where the king of Israel
is going to be. And the king of Israel is going
to get a surprise himself. Look at verse 20.
And as soon as they entered Samaria, Elijah said, O Lord,
open the eyes of these men that they may see.
So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw.
And behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
And as. As soon as the king of Israel
saw them, he said to Elijah, My father, shall I strike them
down? Shall I strike them down?
So the king doesn't even know what to do here.
And notice again, Jeremy has a problem, but he still respects
the prophet, at least at this point.
My father, that's a, that's a, that's a term of endearment.
That's a term of honor. My father, what do I do here?
The natural thing to do is to slay them, kill them.
They try to kill you over and over again.
And the king receives a rebuke. From the man of God, he
answered, You shall not strike them down.
Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your
sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them,
that they may eat and drink and go to their master.
So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten
and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master.
And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of
Israel. So Elijah here prays that they
would be blind, leads them into Samaria, prays that their eyes
would be open. And we're moved by that miracle,
right? It's very amazing.
Like whatever Elijah said, the Lord did it.
But please understand that the miracle here is beyond the
physical restoration of their sight.
The miracle here is that their eyes would be opened to the
mercy and the compassion of the God that Elijah served, not just
to see again, but to see something about the true God.
And when the Syrians realized that Elisha and the king of
Israel responded with a feast instead of a fight, they were
baffled. Think about this.
The instruction from the king of Syria was go and seize him,
right? They wanted to get Elisha and
probably kill him, probably interrogate and probably in
prison. We don't know.
How many men does it take to seize one person?
A little excessive to send an entire army, isn't it?
But I wonder if the people of Syria were aware of what God has
done on behalf of His prophets and not for them to be a little
bit cautious in the way they approach this situation.
Do you remember what happened to the people who were sent by the
king of Israel to arrest Elijah in Second Kings chapter 1?
He was there on the top of the hill and he sends captain after
captain with a band of 50 men. And all it took was one word
from Elijah and fire came down from heaven and consumed them
and turned them into ash. So I wonder if with a little
Intel that they got about Elijah and who his predecessor was,
that they were being very, very strategic here, Maybe we should
send more than five 5500. Let's send thousands so that
even if God does intervene from heaven, we'll have some kind of
a fighting chance. They don't encounter a fight.
They don't encounter fire from heaven.
They're invited to a feast. Well, let me say it this way.
There was a kind of fire that was sent in this moment.
Same. What are you talking about?
As much as Elijah here is standing out.
As. He's reflecting the mercy and
compassion of God. He is also obeying the word of
God saying what are you talking about?
I'm talking about a verse that another king wrote down that
gave instruction about situations like this.
Proverbs 25, verse 21, some more Proverbs from King Solomon and
consider these two verses and how they connected this
experience. We know these verses in the New
Testament, but they originated in the old Proverbs 2521.
If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is
thirsty, give him water to drink.
For you will heap burning coals on his head.
That's the fire I'm talking about.
For you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will
reward you. The Lord will reward you.
You know what that verse teaches, teaches many things.
One of them is if you really want to make a lasting mark on
your enemies, be strategic in your kindness.
This is really, really difficult.
This is extremely demanding and challenging.
It requires the help of the Holy Spirit to even entertain the
first step. But notice this, that to go out
of your way to act, I mean, think about this.
If you really want to apply the Bible, this is what this verse
is. Demanding of us, people who have
hurt you have sought your harm. The way God wants you to respond
is to think back and to not rehearse their harm, but to
actually plan a way to respond to them with love.
That when the opportunity arises, that you would move in
that opportunity in a way to actually melt them with mercy.
And what's the incentive here? God will reward you.
Now the the the burning coals on their head speaks of the the the
the piercing power of conviction.
Potentially them being so moved by their lack of mercy and and
response. Seeing your mercy there's
creates a clash that creates a. Cutting a pricking of the heart.
That doesn't necessarily mean that there's a promise there of
conversion or even repentance necessarily, but the incentive
is God will reward you. God will see that and he will,
He will be pleased with that. And here's what Elijah is doing.
Elijah is doing something very profound, something that we've
seen over and over with his miracles, that they would be
recorded in Holy Scripture and that generations following would
read about them. Not just seeing what God is able
to do in His power, but God's heart for the Gentiles and for
those who are outside of covenant with Him and those who
are lost and blind, not just in this physical instance, but
spiritually. And so as we're going through
the Old Testament, we're seeing more and more instances of
gospel preparation that in different periods of redemptive
history, God is making his ultimate desire known that I'm
willing to reach out beyond these borders and I'm willing to
touch a people that are not from the seat of Abraham.
So this is the deeper thing of this miracle here.
It's not. It's not just look what God can
do. Yeah, it's wonderful.
But what's the message behind the miracle?
And there are many of them, as we just learned.
And there is a gospel truth in here, is there not?
That you have these people warring against the man of God
who represents God on earth, the anointed 1 of this time, and the
warring against him, the rebelling, Though experiencing
the common graces of life, you still put up arms against this
God. And how does God respond?
He leads you to a banquet. He leads you to a feast of
forgiveness. He brings you to the foot of the
cross, and he invites you to be reconciled to him.
And look at this wonderful picture.
You have the king who says, kill them, should I kill them?
And you have an intercessor who says no, give them mercy.
And so even in this vignette, you have Christ, where though we
deserve the wrath of God, says no.
I want to extend friendship with these enemies.
I want to establish a covenant with these ones.
But just 10 seconds ago, they were willing to slice your head
up. I know.
But this is my heart. Yes, they're physically blind in
the distance, but there's a deeper blindness at play here.
And I want them to know that I'm willing to forgive them still,
no matter what their history or their record looks like.
And when you experience the mercy of God in the person of
Jesus Christ, you should have the same reaction that these men
did. What happens?
We're told at the end of our study that they never made a
raid on them again. When you truly taste of God's
mercy, you're changed. You're changed.
You're a different person. You can't go back to the things
that once positioned you to experience God's judgment.
You relinquish them, you repent of them now, and you walk
differently. Why do you walk differently?
I say this all the time to people who never heard the
gospel. I don't live the way I live.
I don't do what I do to earn God's grace.
I do it because of God's grace. I walk differently because I
tasted of His forgiveness. How could I not give myself over
to Him completely? So how many people put the cart
before the horse? So even in this do we see
something so wonderful, something that's applicable to
the spiritual world, the spiritual realm, the spiritual
realities of who we are? You sinned against God
offensively, disgustingly. And Elijah here shows us that he
leads his people not into wrath, but into fellowship, not into
judgement, but into reconciliation.
I really wonder what that feast was like.
Must have been very uncomfortable in the beginning.
I wonder if they looked over the shoulders like are they just
fattening us up before they slaughter us?
What is this trickery? No, it wasn't.
Imagine they ate together and at some point Elisha and the king
looked at him, said, we're glad that you can join us.
You can go back home. What was that walk like back
home? What was the conversations like?
See before this. The Syrians, I'm sure, discussed
how the God of Israel healed one of their generals, Naman.
And I believe that Naman wasn't a part of this expedition.
There's no way he was. So there's this murmurings that
the God of Israel healed, but what was it like when these guys
got back home? How did they explain this one?
I I wish that the story with the Syrians ended here, but we're
going to learn in the coming weeks that just like the King of
Syria, there wasn't a lasting impression.
And again, we're going to be reminded that there are those
who can genuinely experience something of the grace of Jesus
Christ. Some were not moved to begin
with, and some were temporarily moved only to return back to
their ways may never be so of us.
I hope that if you truly experienced what Christ did on
the cross, you would never go back and that you would always
remember the kindness that was extended to you while you're
enemies of God. Christ came and died for you.
This is who we are in Jesus Christ.
This is who God is. And I pray that it would move
you once more. Let's pray.
Oh please, I beg you, take the time to meditate on these
truths. I don't, I don't want to abort
this. I don't want to just speed
through it. I want us to take the time to
relish in it. So you know the praise team will
come up in a moment, but truly, truly, truly, truly reflect and
talk to the Lord. Thank Him for these truths.
Thank Him for who He is. Apply the warnings.
Rejoice in the promises of it. Lord, words can't express.
Your word is amazing. Thank You that every time we
come to it, we receive another miracle that our eyes are open
yet again and our vision is clear and her perception is more
precise. Though we thank you for this
word. It is your voice.
It's not just black ink on white pages.
It is spirit. There's power behind these words
and in these words. And we felt the force of it
tonight. And we pray that we would not be
like the Syrians in this story where we we taste of something
only to to forget and to return to all ways.
We ask, oh God, that you would change us like you changed
Jacob, that we wouldn't walk the same, that you would give us a
holy limp leaving this place. We need you to you need, we need
you to help us to live like this.
Lord, that you would etch these things in our hearts, the
tablets of our hearts, O Lord, would never forget these truths.
May you do it by your spirit. Lord, we do thank you, we honor
you, we glorify you. We can spend all night just
glorifying you for how you spoke to us through this message
tonight. Receive these songs, Lord, as we
say thank you in Jesus name, Amen.
Let's stand and sing to the Lord.
Give him glory and honor and thanks.