Elisha Series

If you have a bible and you want to take it up with turn to 2 kings, chapter 6. If you if you haven't got 1, you can read it on the screen here. And we're gonna read from verse versus 8 to 23. And then Tom's gonna come and preach this story. Now, the king of Aram was at war with Israel.

After conferring with his officers, he said, I will set up my camp in such and such a place. The man of God sent word to the king of Israel. Be aware of passing that place because the Arab means are going down there. So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and time again, Elijah warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them. Tell me, which of us is on the side of the King of Israel? None of us, my Lord, the King, said 1 of his officers. But Elijah the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.

Go, find out where he is, the king ordered, so that I can send men and capture him. The report came back. He is in Dothan. Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong forced air, They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city.

Oh, no, my lord. What shall we do the servant asked? Don't be afraid. The prophet answered. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

And Elijah prayed, open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see. Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses, and chariots of fire all around Elijah. As the enemy came down towards him, Elijah prayed to the lord, strike this army with blindness, so he struck them with blindness. Elijah had asked. Elisha told them, this is not the road, and this is not the city.

Follow me and I will lead you to the man you are looking for. And he led them to Semaria. After they entered the city, Elijah said, Lord, open the eyes of these men so that they can see. Then the Lord opened their eyes, and they looked, and there they were inside some area. When the King of Israel saw them, He asked Elijah, shall I kill them, my father?

Shall I kill them? Do not kill them he answered? Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master. So he prepared a great feast for them, after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master.

So the bands from Iran stopped raiding Israel's territory. Thanks for reading that first team. And welcome from me. My name is Tom, and I'm the assistant pastor here. And this is a series as you probably know that we've been working through looking at the life of Elijah and Elijah.

And we're looking at this brilliant story today. We're actually only going to be looking at the first kind of versus 8 to 19 today or 8 to 20. Because the last bit, although definitely belongs to this story, it is also a good bridge with the next story. So we're actually gonna look at it when we come to the next passage in this series, which will be in a couple of weeks' time. It's great to see so many people here.

It's great to see children with us this morning. And I think this craft must be the most awesome craft of all. I mean, chariots and horses of fire. Is an amazing thing to be coloring in, is it? I mean, the bible is so exciting, isn't it?

The bible is so exciting. And so if you are 1 of the kids, listen out as we go through the story, when we arrive at that bit, the chariots of fire, you can use your craft to try to imagine what that what that must have been like. And on the subject of children, I think this week, although it was announced at the midweek home group. We've had the latest baby born in Cornerstone. We've had Sebastian John Kemp, has been born.

Can we get a cheer or something for that? Yep. Sebastian John Kemp has been born. We didn't we don't know any of the poundage or or anything that. I don't know whether that's been released or whether they've decided to violate the tradition of not releasing that information to us.

So if you're watching at home a very many congratulations to you both. And let's pray together as we look at God's word. Father, we do thank you for the safe arrival of Sebastian. We thank you for watching over Him and Rahina We thank you that they are home now. And we just continue to pray for them as they adjust, that you would help them lord to find the time and to get the rest that they need.

We thank you for this new little life. We pray, father that you would continue to watch over him. That you would protect him, that you would look after him physically, that you would grow him in strength And we do pray for all the very practical things like his feeding and sleeping and just pray that you would give great help to fill in Rahina and to him. And Lord, As with all these other babies, we do want him to grow up to be a man of God, a man who loves you, a man who sees spiritual realities and who believes them and who takes his stand upon your word. And we pray for our time together this morning.

We thank you for this great story. And, Lord, we come to you and many of us will have concerns and fears. That can just cloud us from hearing your word. And we pray that you would speak to us. Open our eyes this morning as you did for this servant and help us to see things as they really are.

And we ask it in Jesus' name. Ah, man. Oh, man. Well, verse 16 is such a wonderful encouragement, isn't it? And it's 1 of those verses which can just be lifted out of its immediate context and applied to Christians at every stage of history.

Those who are with us, don't be afraid the prophet answered. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And that is something that we always need to hear, isn't it? I was reading a little commentary on this passage by an American pastor and commentator called Brian Chapel, and he says that oftentimes our fear and our anxiety is the result of spiritual blindness.

Oftentimes our fear and our anxiety are the result of spiritual blindness. If you think about your anxieties, the things that make you anxious, the things that you are afraid of, the things that keep you up at night, How many of them are either caused by or complicated by spiritual blindness? I don't mean in a sense of we're unconverted, that sort of spiritual blindness, but just because we're not seeing things as they really are. You think of the fear of man, either the fear of man that we have in person or the obsession with what other people might think of our Instagram account or other social media account. Is that not a sort of blindness?

I mean, when I shade the truth, to avoid looking bad in front of someone else. Is that not a sort of spiritual blindness? I'm blind to God. And I'm not realizing that actually only his assessment of me really matters. I'm not realizing that he loves truth and hates falsehood.

I'm blind to myself in that situation. I'm not realizing that I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in My old ego and pride have been crucified, and I need to live to a new self. I'm blind to that person. I'm not treating them as someone who I should love and serve with the truth, but rather someone I should manipulate to my own end. I'm blind to Satan and his lies, not realizing that I'm being fueled and encouraged by the great liar to lie in order to save myself.

Often times our fear and our anxiety are the result of spiritual, blindness. And that is where this story provides such encouragement for us. And so if you feel yourself as I do to have been described in that introduction, then keep listening because this story is full of encouragement. This is where we have some common ground with Elijah's servant. That was his experience.

He was afraid because he didn't see things as they really were until the servant of the Lord prayed for him. And reality came to life. Verse 16, don't be afraid the prophet answered, those who are with us are more than those who are with them and Elijah prayed, open his eyes, Lord. So that he may see, so that he may see. And the prayer for us this morning is that as we work through this passage, God would open our eyes so that we see spiritual realities as they really are.

That we would have the same experience that he had. And the first point this morning is this. Hopefully, it'll come up on the screen. Let me just turn my clicker on. That would help.

There they are. So cool. The Lord knows everything. The Lord knows everything, and that's in verses 8 to 14. Now as you can see, the bigger picture in verse 8, we've got the king of Aram or the king of Syria, who is waging war with Israel.

And many people think that the events here in 2 kings are not strictly chronological, In other words, they're not necessarily in date, in date order. So it's hard to know when exactly this event took place, and it's quite hard to even know who's some of the characters are. I mean, we're not told who the king of Syria or the king of Aram is. Most people think it was a chap called Ben Hadad, the second, because we're gonna meet him in a few weeks time. We don't know exactly who the king of Israel was.

I think it was probably Jehovah. We don't know who the servant was. In fact, every character in this story is anonymous, apart from Elijah, the man of God. But if we do assume that these events in chapter 6 took place after the events in chapter 5, it is quite breathtaking, isn't it? Because in chapter 5, you might remember a man called Neiman, who was the commander in chief of the army of Syria, He had gone to Israel and received healing there, then had been a let letter sent to the king.

He had been allowed come into Israel's territory, he had bathed himself in the Jordan, he had been healed, and he had returned home. And so therefore, this is a staggering way to repay Israel for that grace, isn't it? It's really quite breathtaking after having your commander in chief healed in Israel to then decide to wage war against them. So the king of Syria is despising the grace that he has received from God at the hands of Israel. Now, what is Elijah doing?

Well, Elijah in this story is doing something a little bit different. In the past few weeks, we've seen him doing things like coaching young prophets, performing some some sort of strange miracles We've seen him do feeding miracles in order to provide for the Lord's people. But here, he's doing something a little bit different and he's helping his sovereign. He's helping his king. Now, why would he do that?

Do you think? Why would he do that? Because our experience of the kings of Israel so far has not been positive. They are apostate, they have walked away from the living God, They have encouraged idol worship throughout the land. Why would Elijah want to help them?

Well, it could be a number of reasons. He could still feel a sense of loyalty to his sovereign, to his king. He might be doing it for the sake of the remnant, you know, that the faithful who remain in the land He may be doing it for the for the greater good in that sense. It's hard to really know why he's doing this, but we do know how he's helping. Is amazing, isn't it?

The king of Syria is trying to wage war on Israel, And he is coming up with all these battle plans, crafty battle plans, which he thinks is gonna undo them. But time and time again, he is undone because the Lord reveals to Elijah exactly what his plans are, elisha goes and tells the king and so the king avoids all the possible traps that are being laid for him. You can imagine how frustrating that must have been. For the king of the king of Syria. I mean, if don't know if you're, you know, whatever game you play whether it's Fortnite or Minecraft or chess Any competitive game where your opponent knows all of your next moves is pretty annoying, isn't it?

You're not likely to ever win when the person you're up against, and knows exactly what you're gonna do and and when. And not only would it have been frustrating for him, It would have been quite unsettling. Because remember, these pagan kings were not used to God who actually knew what was going on. God who could see things, gods who knew stuff, gods who paid an active role. Most of their gods were off fighting their own strange wars, and didn't really know or care what went on.

But Yahweh, through the prophet Elijah, knows exactly what his enemies are up to. Must have been unsettling, must have been very frustrating for this king. And so have a look at verse 11 to 12 to see how it see how it happens. I think this will come up. This enraged the king of Aram.

He summoned his officers and demanded of them. Tell me, where's the mole? Who's the mole? Which of us is on the side of the King of Israel, well none of us my Lord, the King, said 1 of his officers. But Elijah, the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.

Now we may be slightly exaggerating there, but that's the sort of thing that would have been helpful to know earlier on. It looks like he's known that for quite some time. And so he suddenly says, that's what's going on. There's no mole. This is this is how it's playing out.

And so how does the king respond? Well, he sends this enormous army in order to get Elijah, which tells us that he probably knew something about the stature of Elijah, what sort of man he was, what sort of thing he was likely to come up against. He sends a whole army just to get 1 man. And it makes sense, doesn't it? Because for as long as Elijah lives, he is hamstrung.

There is no way that he can succeed in his military dreams for as long as Elijah lives. And so you can see what he does in verse 13. Go and find out where he is the king ordered. So I can send men and capture him. The report came back.

He is in Dothan, Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. Now we're going to come back to this point a bit later on, but we're going to keep going with this story. For now, it's just enough to see that the Lord knows everything. That's what we see in verse 8 to 14.

He knows everything. Secondly, the Lord is always with us and that's in verse 15 to 17. Have a look at verse 15. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning and army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. I'll know my Lord.

What are we gonna do? And so you can sense his shock. You imagine this servant going out in the morning to get his morning paper from the news agent It's still dawn. He's going just the opening time. And as he looks around the city, he sees the place surrounded by this threatening frightening force.

And he goes and he says, oh, no my Lord. What are we gonna do? My Lord wake up. I don't know if you've seen this. What are we gonna do?

But then verse 16 to 17, this is the heart of the story, the central verse, don't be afraid the prophet answered. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elijah prayed, open his eyes, Lord so that he may see The Lord opened the servant's eyes and he looked and he saw the hills that were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Just try to imagine what that must have looked like. In kids, if you've got your craft now is the time to be looking at it to try to picture something of what they would have seen.

I don't know if you saw any of the images recently from the volcano that went off in Iceland and some of the incredible pictures that were seen at nighttime and early in the morning just looking at the I imagine that it would have looked something like this, just seeing the hills and the mountain ridges, just a light with flame and fire. And it must have been an incredible thing to see, mustn't it? That is what this servant sees. It is a truly awesome thing. I mean, the word awesome is overused, isn't it?

But this is an awesome thing to have seen. These chariots and these horse of fire all around. And notice who it is that they're surrounding, they're surrounding Elijah. They're not surrounding the army necessarily. They're surrounding Elijah.

There is this protective fire ring around the man of God. It reminds us a bit of Jesus when he was in the garden of gethsemane being arrested, and Peter tried to bring out his sword to stop it. And Jesus says to Peter and Matthew, put your sword away, do you not suppose that I could appeal to the father? And in 1 moment, 12 legions of angels would come to my help. Now he didn't choose to do that then because he was going through with his cross, but 12 legions of angels all around protecting the greater man of God.

That is what we see here. And the key thing to notice about it is that it's not just an impressive spectacle There is something more to this. As we saw at Mount Carmel all those weeks and months ago, the fire is symbolic of the presence of the Lord. The Lord has come. The Lord is here.

As we saw back in chapter 2, when Elijah is taken back a heaven in a whirlwind, he goes behind the chariots. So the chariots are also Yairway's messengers. They tell us that that Yawei's messengers and Yawei's presence is here to do his work. That is what these chariots are all about. And the point of it in 1 sense is not so much that they were on fire or that there was big numbers.

But it's that point that it was the lord who was with them. The lord was with them. Have a look at 2 Chronicles 32. This is a very similar kind of kind of verse. And this is a situation where hezekiah is being threatened by the king of Assyria, and he says this.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him. For there is a greater power with us than with him. And then he explains with him is only the arm of flesh But with us is the lord our God to help us and to fight our battles and the people gain confidence from what Hezekiah, the king of Judah said, with him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the lord our God to help us. That is the key.

And just imagine what that must have meant to the original hearers and the original readers of this book. We assume that they were probably in exile when they read it living under a pagan superpower who cared nothing for their God in a foreign land. What would this text have meant to them? Well, the very same thing, wouldn't it? That those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

That despite what it looks like now, the arm of flesh is with them but the Lord our God is still with us. To help us. And that is true for every generation of Christians, and we always need to hear it, don't we? Because the reality is without this vision, it is hard to see how we will survive our battles. None of us, I would imagine, have ever walked out the door in the morning to be confronted by a barbarian horde.

But we all know what it's like to be suddenly confronted with problems that are beyond our control. And it can happen so suddenly, can't it? Elijah's servant, I reckon he went to bed fairly peacefully, with no thought that he would be surrounded by an army the next morning, the very next moment, the morning. But he was. And life is just that uncertain, isn't it?

Haven't have we isn't that not 1 thing we've learned this year? And in the past few months, how quickly calamities can come upon us, how 1 night we can go to bed and peace and wake up to a completely different situation which threatens to undo us in all kinds of ways. And not only is this to do with the sort of physical major trials, but we need this for the spiritual trials that we face. Paul says in ephesians 6 that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. This is our daily battle, to live for Jesus Christ in an evil day to fight against the world's and our own sinful nature and the devil, how are we going to survive even 1 hour?

By knowing that those who are with us are more than those who are with them. The problem is, it's very hard for us to see things as they really are, isn't it? And that is partly because of the society that we live in we live in the secular west where the only things that are real are the things that you can measure and observe and see and touch. And therefore, we live in a culture with no place for spiritual things like angels and demons and the presence of the lord with you. We live in a culture where our problems are caused by our context, not our sin.

And so if we can just fix our life, then things will be better for us because we have no place for a truth about sin or spiritual warfare. And, you know, it is very easily to be deceived into thinking like that, isn't it? We begin to live by sight and not by faith. My enemies are not real. God is not really with me.

And some of us would say, well, yeah, that is true, but let's be fair. Because if I had the same vision as Elijah's servant, I wouldn't be afraid. You know, if God would just, for 1 moment, show me a legion of angels or an army of fire, then there's no way I'd be afraid. All my problems will be put to death. I'd I'd really be going for it in that situation.

But in response to that, there is both a challenge, a challenge and an encouragement here. Because for us here in this room and listening at home, Even if we don't see the army of verse 17, we have to lean on the truth of verse 16. Even if we don't see the forces in verse 17, we must trust verse 16. That those of us who are with us are more than those who are with them. Hebrews 11 verse 1 puts it this way.

Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. See, you read Hebrews 11, Abraham and Isaac and Moses and Moses and the prophets why are they commended as heroes of the faith, not because they saw everything with their eyes, but because they trusted in the word of God and welcomed them at a distance. They lived by faith and welcomed the promises and therefore God was not ashamed to be called their God because they live by faith and not by sight. And that is something in our secular culture we need to be unafraid of and we need to emphasize.

Faith is the assurance of things not seen. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And so brother or sister friend, where are you living too much by sight and not enough by faith. That's the challenge, but there is an encouragement And it sounds like a contradiction, but it's not. There is a sense in which we have seen so much more than this servant.

Have a look at this quote from Brian Chapel again. It's a bit of a long 1, but worth focusing on. He says we might be thinking that if God would only do the same thing for us, and should show us the power of his invisible kingdom, we, too, would no longer fear or be anxious. But this is exactly what he has done. Did not the father send the son, the fulness of his kingdom and power into this world, has not the invisible God become visible in the incarnation.

Our Lord did not just peel back the curtain of his invisible kingdom. He came from it and he lived in our midst as a flesh and blood man With Jesus Christ, we see clearly the power of God's invisible kingdom in its fullness. In fact, compared with what Elijah's servants saw on that day, we have seen so much more. The challenges that we need to live by faith and not by sight. The encouragement is we have seen infinitely more than that servant did.

We have seen in the pages of the bible, Jesus Christ, who has come in the flesh and he has lived the perfect life we failed to live and he has died the death that we should have died, and he has been risen in power and his holy spirit has come to be with us, and he has promise that he will be with us always even to the end of the age. We have seen in the pages of the bible. God as a man, and he is with us. Oftentimes, our fear and anxiety are the result of spiritual blindness. The answer is to see Jesus.

If God is for us, who can be against us? The 1 who is in us is greater than the 1 who is in the world. And that is Jesus Christ. So that's the second point. That's the longest point.

The first and the third are a bit shorter. Second was the longest. The Lord knows everything. The Lord is always with us the Lord judges his enemies, verse 18 to 19. And we're going to finish by focusing on those 2 verses.

So Have a look what happens next to verse 18. As the enemy came down toward him, Elijah prayed to the Lord, strike this army with blindness. So he struck them with blindness as Elijah had asked. Elijah told them this is not the road and this is not the city, Follow me and I will lead you to the man you are looking for, and he led them to Sumeria. And so this is an exact reversal of the miracle we just saw, isn't it?

The servant saw the invisible, the army couldn't see the visible. And so the Lord struck them, probably not with a literal blindness, but with a sort of fogginess and a confusion. Because the sense you get as you read it is they do still know where they are and what they can see, but they don't know which city to go to and where they are and they need leading so they've been struck by this blindness or this confusion. And either way, as you can see, it is a judgment miracle upon them. As they are coming down, presumably confident that with this force, They will capture Elijah once and for all.

They are struck in their going down with judgement. Blindness, and then they are delivered into Elijah's hand and he leads them off. As we were praying beforehand, Dean came up with a magnificent title for this sermon, which was the bold leading the blind. I thought that would be really good. So whoever does the website, Abri, You don't need to text me this week.

The bold leading the blind would be a good title. And that's what happens. They're delivered into his hand and he leads them off. And so what do we learn here? We learn that not only does the Lord know the plans of his enemies versus 0.1, but he brings them to nothing.

He brings them to nothing. Martin Luther wrote a bit of a marmite hymn in the sense that you either love it or you hate it about spiritual warfare and he says this in the second verse. Did we in our own strength confides trust lean on, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Dust ask who that may be, Christ Jesus, it is he.

The Lord of hosts, that means or the Lord of armies his name from age to age the same and he must win the battle. That is what we see in 2 kings. For god's people, the world is a dangerous place. There are forces which threaten to undo us all the time, both physical and spiritual, But the right man is on our side. The right man is on our side, and he must win the battle.

To wage war upon God's king and upon God's people is a losing game. Because Christ, the greater man of God has been installed as king. Christ, the greater man of God knows the plans of his enemies. Christ the greater man of God knows their futile attempts to overthrow him. Christ the greater man of God will come and terrify them in his wrath.

And this is the 1 who is with us. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. It is Christ our champion who judges and defeats his enemies. He is the 1 with us. And this is just a really important point for application.

You see in this story, why was the servants safe? Ultimately, why was the servants safe? Because he was with the man of God, and the man of God had prayed for him. And why are you and I safe? In this world which threatens to undo us, because we are with the man of God, and he has prayed for us.

It is our association with the man of God that is our confidence. Jesus Christ, who prays for us, who intercedes for us, who is with us always, he must win the battle. And so look, as we close, there are all kinds of different different battles that we will be facing here, different fears and anxieties that we have There are sudden disasters which can come and knock us sideways. There are situations which threaten us There are sins which tempt us. There are lies that we breathe in, we believe.

Tomorrow, the regulations are beginning to relax It looks like we're coming out of lockdown and people will have all kinds of fears and temptations around this time. Some might be just so afraid of coming back to normal that the answer will be to stay locked in in our own company and to retreat. Some will be so looking forward to it that they might already be planning excessive sinful behavior. Can't wait for the first work social when I'm going to drink too much. I'm already planning it.

I'm going to drink too much and I don't care. There will be all kinds of different temptations and battles we will face now and in the months to come. And so very often we think that the answer to our problems is a change in circumstance rather than an opening of our eyes. We think that what we need most is for God just to tinker with the details, fix our life situations, and then we'll be okay and sometimes that might be exactly what we need. But very often, we need open eyes.

In these situations to see that those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Let me finish with the final quote that we can use to pray. The opening of our eyes will be the silencing of our fears. In the dark, we are most apt to be frightened. The clearer sight we have of the sovereignty and the power of heaven, the less we shall fear the calamities of this Earth.

Spray together. Now would be a good time for us all to pray that whoever we are and whatever the army that we're facing looks like. That the Lord would open our eyes afresh and help us to see that he who is with us. Is more than those who are against us. What then shall we say in response to these things?

If God is for us, Who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also along with him? Graciously give us all things. Father, we thank you that you freely gave up your son for us, you did not spare him.

We thank you that he came into this world and that he gave his life for our sins on the cross. We thank you that next Friday, we will remember that moment when the son of God shouldered the weight of our sin. And we thank you that in a week's time, we will remember the moment when he rose triumphantly leaving our sin and our death behind. We thank you Jesus that as we see and read of you in the bible, we have seen infinitely more than this servant ever could have dreamed of seeing. We have seen Christ the Lord, who is with us always.

And yet, lord, we pray that you would help us, not to live just by sight but by faith in your promises. That even if we don't see the armies of fire, we would lean on the truth that you are with us. And that you are with us always. Help us lord in the various battles and sins that we all face the fears and anxieties that we all have Help us not just to think that a change of circumstances is the answer, but open our eyes that we may see you in and through those difficulties and with us always. And we ask it in Jesus' name.

Oh, man.