Opening illustration: In the New York City subway, two youths robbed a well-dressed man who appeared to be asleep in his seat. Suddenly the whole car came alive! The victim turned out to be a decoy, and the passengers who jumped up from their seats were police officers. With lightning speed they converged on the young pair and made the arrest. These officers were “unseen” at first, but they provided ample security for riders on that subway car.
We get a similar picture of protection in 2 Kings 6. In a manner more dramatic than what happened on that subway, Elisha’s servant saw why his master could be so confident in the face of what seemed to be impending disaster. We read that when “the Lord opened the eyes of the young man,” he saw an amazing sight (v.17). God had arrayed an invisible army “of horses and chariots of fire” all around Elisha, ready to protect the Israelites from the Syrian army.
As God’s children, we can trust Him to defend us as we do His will. Even when the battle seems too great and it appears that we face defeat, we must still trust the Lord. We can be encouraged by remembering Elisha’s message to his servant: “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (v.16). We are not alone! (Our Daily Bread, M R De Haan II)
Let us turn to 2 Kings 6 in God’s Word and catch up with this impossible story of God’s power …
Introduction: To believe the impossible one must first see the invisible – the lesson Elisha taught his servant. The text involves war between Israel and Syria, and the prophet Elisha’s informing his people of the enemy’s tactics through prophetic insight. Here is the lesson: Prayer is the key to discerning our adversary’s stratagems. Further, the key to dispelling Elisha’s servant’s panic was his vision being opened to see the invisible. Note these crucial words: “Elisha prayed!” Elisha did not ask God simply to show the servant another miracle; he asked for his servant to see another dimension. The answer came immediately: “Then 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.” (v. 17) Seeing into the invisible (spiritual realm) is a key to victorious praying – discerning spiritual issues from God’s perspective rather than man’s, seeing the Adversary’s attack plan, and perceiving God’s angelic strike-force.
How is the power of God manifested in our lives?
1. Operating the Prophetic gift (vs. 8-13)
The Syrian king’s way of warfare was not by a regular continued invasion, but by dashes across the border on undefended places; and time after time he found himself out in his calculations, and troops enough to beat him off massed where he meant to strike. No wonder that he suspected treachery. The prompt answer of his servants implies that Elisha’s intervention was well known by them, and measures the reputation in which he stood. Let no one suppose that thwarting Syria was an unworthy use of a supernatural gift. The preservation of Israel and the revelation of God were worthy ends, and all that is accessory to a worthy end is worthy. It is foolish to call anything a trifle which serves a great purpose.
The king of Israel had learned to obey the prophet, and his people and their enemies had learned that Elisha was a prophet. That was much. He had no great revelations of the deep things of God to give to his generation or to posterity, but he gave directions as to practical life which bore on the wellbeing of the state; and that office was not less divinely conferred. It is a good thing when God’s servants are not afraid to make their voices heard in politics, and a safeguard for a nation when their counsels are taken. The quiet prophet was more to Israel than an army.
We live in a fallen world. There is evil on every side. There is sickness and temptation and sorrow. Tragedy and loss sometimes strikes. Problems with personal relationships, economic difficulties and personal failure all stand at our door. Finally, death comes to all.
Today, the shrouded (invisible) enemy commander is not Ben-hadad, but Satan. The spears and darts come in the form of temptations and trials. He means to take us captive. Paul mentions some who had already been captured, and their need to be taught and encouraged to repent; "and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." (2 Timothy 2:26). In fact today he has deceived the world by making it believe that he doesn’t exist.
It is when the child of God, aware of God's presence in his or her life, faces down the adversary that his or her light shines the brightest (1 Peter 4:14-16; 2:12). God is glorified and the disciple is strengthened. There is assurance and peace even in the midst of evil. We need to dedicate ourselves to making the most of every situation to live godly knowing our Lord will give the victory (Ephesians 5:15-17; Philippians 1:12-13). It’s time to don your armor! (Ephesians 6:10-12).
Note: In fact Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:1 “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” And in 1 Corinthians 14:39 “Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues.” Are you using your prophetic gifts in order to see the manifested power of God in your life and in the lives of people around you?
2. Presence of Adversary (vs. 14-15)
The ‘great host’ sent to capture Elisha shows the terror which he had inspired, and the importance attached to getting possession of him. It is, too, an odd instance of the inconsistency of godless men, in that it never occurs to the Syrian king that Elisha, who knew all his schemes, might know this one too, or that horses and chariots were of little use against a man who had Heaven to back him. Dothan lay on an isolated hill in a wide plain, and could easily be surrounded. A night-march offered the chance of a surprise, which seems to have been prevented by the unusually early rising of Elisha’s servant, the young successor of Gehazi. Apparently he had gone out of the little city before he discovered the besiegers, and then rushed back in terror. Note the strongly contrasted pictures of the lad and his master,—the one representing the despair of sense, the other the confidence of faith. The lad’s passionate exclamation was most natural, and fear darkening to bewildered helplessness is reasonable to men who only see the material and visible dangers and enemies that beset every life. The wonder is, not that we should sometimes be afraid, but that we should ever be free from fear, if we look only at visible facts. Worse foes ring us round than those whose armor glittered in the morning sunshine at Dothan, and we are as helpless to cope with them as that frightened youth was. Any man who calmly reflects on the possibilities and certainties of his life will find abundant reason for a sinking heart. So much that is dreadful and sad may come, and so much must come, that the boldest may well shrink, and the most resourceful cry ‘Alas! How shall we do?’ It is not courage, but blindness, which enables godless men to front life so unconcernedly.
Our eyes are blinded and we need to have them cleared, if not in the same manner as this lad’s, yet in an analogous way. We look so constantly at the things seen that we have no sight for the unseen. Worldliness, sin, unbelief, sense and its trifles, time and its transitoriness, blind the eyes of our mind; and we need those of sense to be closed, that these may open. The truest vision is the vision of faith. It is certain, direct, and conclusive. The world says, ‘Seeing is believing’; the gospel says, ‘Believing is seeing.’ If we would but live near to Jesus Christ, pray to Him to touch our blind eyeballs, and turn away from the dazzling unrealities which sense brings, we should find Him ‘the master-light of all our seeing,’ and be sure of the eternal, invisible things, with an assurance superior to that given by the keenest sight in the brightest sunshine. When we are blind to earth, we see earth glorified by angel presences, and fear and despair and helplessness and sorrow flee away from our tranquil hearts. If, on the other hand, we fix our gaze on earth and its trifles, there will generally be more to alarm than to encourage, and we shall do well to be afraid, if we do not see, as in such a case we shall certainly not see, the fiery wall around us, behind which God keeps His people safe.
Illustration: The presence of the Adversary (Goliath) in the life of David and Israel brings glory to God.
3. Fervent Prayer (vs. 16-17)
We also learn a good lesson from the response of Elisha to the "threat." The servant saw the odds as two versus a thousand. He forgot God in his equation. We must not do the same. We are body and spirit. There is a physical realm and there is a spiritual realm. There is more to a man than the sum total of his physical parts (Matthew 10:28). There is more to our universe than just the things we can see with our eyes (Corinthians 10:3-5; 7; 4:16-18). In Elisha's day, unseen by the physical senses was the providence of God. God is present in every situation where His child encounters the enemy.
Note, further, the sight seen by opened eyes. Elisha did not pray that the heavenly guards might come; for they were there already. Nor does it appear that he saw them; for he did not need that heightened condition of spiritual perception which appears to be meant by the opening of the eyes. And what a sight the trembling young man saw! Where he had seen only barren rock or sparse vegetation, he saw that same fiery host that had attended Elijah in his translation, now enclosing the unarmed prophet and himself within a flaming ring. The manifestation, not the presence, of the angel guards was the miracle. It was a momentary unveiling of what always was, and would be after the curtain was drawn again. I suppose that no reverent reader of Scripture can doubt the existence of angelic beings, or their office to ‘minister to the heirs of salvation.’ To us, indeed, who know Him who is the ‘Head of all principalities and powers,’ the doctrine of angelic ministration is of less importance than that of Christ’s divine help; but the latter truth does not supersede the former, though its brightness throws the other, about which we know so much less, into comparative shadow. But we may still learn from this transient disclosure of ‘the things that are,’ the permanent truth of the ever-active presence of divinely sent helps and guards, with all who trust in Him. Fervent prayer makes us fearless and opens our eyes to the spiritual realm.
Not everyone can see it, but God is there to support, protect and encourage. He will handle the situation if we will handle our faith. This does not mean an absence of suffering or even death, but it does mean absolute and final victory. God's people of faith might die, but they will live again. Every tear shall be wiped from their eyes. And, by the way, man's final enemy is death. Then there are no more battles and no more enemies to face. By faith, the war is won forever.
Illustration: The 3 + 1 men in the fiery furnace.
4. Exercise of Faith (v. 18)
The invaders sent from Ben-hadad were struck blind and led into the midst of Israel, where their sight is restored. Elisha instructs the king to feed them and send them home. This is done, and Ben-hadad becomes so terrified by the experience that he stops sending his marauding bands into Israel.
Note, Elisha is praying in faith for blindness to the enemy which contradicts his previous prayer for opening the spiritual eyes of his servant. Elisha’s dealing with the advancing host of Syria can only be rightly estimated by looking beyond the limits of the text. His object was to carry the whole army into Samaria, that they might there be won by giving them bread to eat and water to drink, and so heaping coals of fire on their head. The prophet, who was in so many points a foreshadowing of the gospel type of excellence, was the first to show the right way to conquer. Nineteen centuries of so-called Christianity have not brought ‘Christendom’ to practice Elisha’s recipe for finishing a war. It succeeded in his hands; for, after that feast and liberation of a captured army, ‘the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.’ How could they, as long as the remembrance of that kindness lasted? Pity that the same sort of treatment was not tried to-day!
The blindness which fell on the Syrians does not seem to have been total loss of sight,—for, if so, they could not have followed Elisha to Samaria, nearly fifteen miles off,—but rather an ocular affection which prevented them from recognizing what they saw. It was a supernatural impediment in any case, however far it extended. God did ‘according to the word of Elisha,’ a wonderful inversion of the ordinary formula. But that was because Elisha was doing according to the word of the Lord. The prayers which are ‘according to His will’ are the answered prayers.
They who see not the angels, see nothing clearly. There is a mist over every eye that beholds only the things of time, which prevents it from seeing these as they are, and from recognizing a prophet when he is before them. If we would rightly estimate the objects of sense, we must discern, shining through them, the far loftier and greater things of eternity.
Application: Elisha followed a course of three steps in all this. These three steps are well worth noting:
• Prayer (2 Kings 6:17) - This is the best first step in dealing with the enemy. There is more going on than just the things we see. There are chariots of fire doing battle in the spiritual realm (Revelation 6:9-11; Philippians 4:6,7)
• Faith - The second step is faith. We have not seen the throne of God, but we believe He reigns and is in control. Recall how Stephen, just before his death, was permitted to view this realm (Acts 7:56). We shall join the Lord there one day (see also Romans 10:17; Hebrews 11:1).
• Obedience - The third step is obedience. This is how we build our houses on the rock (Matthew 7:24-27). These are the steps to take for victory, eternal in Christ.
We may face situations beyond our reserves but never beyond God's resources.
