To fulfill the task of protecting us the angels fight against the devil and all our enemies, and carry out God’s vengeance. - John Calvin(1)
In Billy Graham’s book Angels: God’s Secret Agents, there is the story of a missionary named John Paton who was stationed along with his wife in the New Hebrides Islands. One night they were surrounded by hostile natives who were intent on killing the Patons and burning the station. Paton and his wife prayed through the night in hopes that God would deliver them. When dawn arrived the natives were gone.
One year later when the tribal chief was led to Christ, Paton asked him why they did not attack. The chief was very surprised by Paton’s question. He asked, “Who were all those men you had with you there?” Although Paton didn’t know of any other men, the chief stated he was afraid to attack because he had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments that encircled the mission station with their swords drawn. Billy Graham asks, “Could it be that God sent a legion of angels to protect His servants, whose lives were being endangered?”(2)
God’s Word this evening will portray an account very similar to this one, and what I hope we will discover is that there is an unseen war that is taking place around us at all times, and the devil is working hard against those who serve and obey the Lord. The main thing that I want us to see is how we should respond to the attacks of the devil, thus the title of our sermon is “Responding to Spiritual Attacks.”
Hearing and Obeying God (vv. 8-10)
8 Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.” 9 And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.” 10 Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice.
We read here of how the Lord was watching out for his people Israel, for as the Syrian king was planning on the location in which to attack Israel, the Lord spoke to “the man of God” here, who was Elisha, and He warned him of the location of the Syrian camp. In obedience to the revelation from God, Elisha then informed the king of Israel so that Israel would not be caught off guard or ambushed. The Israelite king then deployed a soldier in that area to check out the situation, and when he relayed back the information that Elisha’s report was true, Israel did not go that way.
We learn here that the Lord speaks to us, and He expects us to respond to Him in obedience. The Israelite king was obedient not to go the way in which Elisha had warned him, and Elisha was obedient as well, for he chose to speak to the king of Israel after God’s revelation was given. The Lord does speak. God will speak to our hearts in our prayer time; He will speak to us through the Scripture; He will speak through circumstances; and He will speak to us through His people, the church. When God speaks, we have a choice to be obedient or disobedient, and hopefully we will all respond in obedience to what He asks. This is what I encourage you to do – whenever the Lord speaks, step out in faith and do exactly what He asks!
The Enemy Will Attack (vv. 11-14)
11 Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?” 12 And one of his servants 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.” 13 So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.” 14 Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
The king of Syria was perplexed as to how the Israelites were avoiding his attacks, and he asked if there were a spy among his own royal court and soldiers. One of the servants replied that there was not a spy among them, but that Elisha the prophet was warning Israel of his planned attacks. After he found out what Elisha was doing, he sent some soldiers to go and find him. The king did not send just a few soldiers either; he sent “a great army there” (v. 14).
Remember, Elisha warned Israel about Syria’s planned attacks because he was being obedient to what God asked of him, and as a result, he was the one targeted for attack. If we are disobedient to the Lord, then we will be out of His will, and whenever we are out of God’s will then we won’t have much of an impact for the kingdom. Whenever we are not doing much for the Lord, then we are not a threat to the Enemy, and he will likely leave us alone. However, if we respond in faith and obedience to what God asks of us, we will begin to see God work in our life in a mighty way; and when that happens we become a threat to Satan, and thus a target for his attacks. So, I want to caution you that when we respond in obedience to God, the Enemy will attack; nevertheless, we must be obedient!
Allow me to briefly review an important concept in spiritual warfare. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, “Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Timothy 3:7 says that we should be careful lest we “fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” Satan really does try to attack us and devour us. So, how does he attack? He attacks us in our mind. In 1 Peter 1:13, we are told, “Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind,” and in Romans 12:2, Paul advised us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
The battle is in our mind because it is not a physical battle, but a spiritual one, and that is why it is called spiritual warfare. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 informs us, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [of the flesh] but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments [which deals with the reasoning in the mind] and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge [or what is in the mind] of God, bringing every thought [again dealing with the mind] into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” We must remember that there is an unseen war going on around us all of the time, and it is a spiritual war. Even when people come against us, such as we will see with Elisha, there is still something taking place on the spiritual level.
God’s Got Our Back (vv. 15-17)
15 And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” 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.
For me, these verses are the highlight of the passage! We see here that when the Syrian army surrounded Elisha’s place, that his servant became very afraid and cried out, “What shall we do?” And Elijah replied, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha prayed that the eyes of his servant would be open to all that was going on around him in the spiritual realm, and when he looked upon the mountain he saw an accumulation of numerous horses and chariots of fire! Wow! That’s enough to give you chills!
What he saw were “those who are with us” or the servants of God; the angels. They saw chariots of fire as well. Psalm 68:17 reveals, “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels” (KJV). We read in Hebrews 1:7 and Psalm 104:4 that the Lord “makes His angels spirits and . . . a flame of fire,” and then 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 tells us that when Christ returns He will be “revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire.” The Lord has warrior angels in His charge, for we read in Psalm 78:49 that “He cast on them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, by sending angels of destruction among them,” and in Psalm 91:11 we read of the Lord’s angels, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”
There is an unseen war around us at all times in the spiritual realm, and just as the Lord sends His angels to guard over us and help with the fight, the Enemy has his angels as well. In Isaiah 14:12-15 we read of how Lucifer tried to exalt himself above the Lord and how God kicked him out of heaven, along with his angels. The account is told in Revelation 12:7-9. Allow me to share these verses: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Jude 6 says, “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day,” and then in 2 Peter 2:4 we are told, “God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness . . .” The devil has his own legion of angels, called demons, and the Scripture tells us that even Satan “transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
I said earlier that Satan comes against us in the battlefield of the mind, and that even when other people come against us, there is still something taking place on the spiritual level. Satan will try to work against our minds to deceive us into sin, but he can also work in the minds of others and persuade them to harm us and come against us. When Satan can’t discourage us in our own mind from doing the Lord’s will, and then we step out in faith and follow God in obedience, the devil will use his angels, or demons, to get other people to come against us. If he can’t defeat us internally, he will come at us externally through others.
Ephesians 6:11 tells us to put on the armor of God in order to stand against the “schemes” of the devil, but if you look down at the very next verse in the passage, at verse 12, we are told, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Flesh and blood – or people – will try to come against us, but let’s not get caught up in focusing on the exterior or the flesh of others, but let’s realize that the real battle is within, and it’s a spiritual battle. Satan is warring in the minds of other people.
Whenever Satan comes against us, whether it is in our own minds or through other people, let us not be afraid, for if we continue in what is right and honorable in the sight of God, nothing shall withstand us. 1 Peter 3:13 says, “And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?” We also read in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” We are also informed in Romans 8:37-39, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The angles of Satan, the principalities and powers, and the demons cannot cause us to fall so long as we are saved through Jesus Christ and keep our focus on Him. Remember, 1 John 4:4 says, “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (KJV), meaning that greater is Jesus who lives in our heart, than Satan who is of this world, and who tries to deceive us into sin. Once again we should recall Psalm 91:11: “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” Let’s remember that God’s got our back!
God Reveals His Power (vv. 18-20)
18 So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19 Now Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria. 20 So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria!
Whenever we hear from God, step out in obedience to His will, and trust Him to see us through, the Lord will reveal His mighty hand and power! Elisha was doing God’s will here; therefore the Lord answered his prayer to strike these people with blindness. First of all we need to make note of how Elisha did spiritual battle through prayer. In Ephesians chapter 6, which is our passage on spiritual warfare, verse 18 shows us the most important weapon. It states, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Prayer is a vital component in the armor of God.
In 1 John 5:14-15 we are told, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” As long as we walk in obedience to God’s commands and His will, and ask according to His will, the Lord will fight for us! In 1 John 3:22, we are informed that, “whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”
Love Your Enemies (vv. 21-23)
21 Now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” 22 But he answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.” 23 Then he prepared a great feast for them; and after they ate and drank, he sent them away and they went to their master. So the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel.
We see here that Elisha spared the lives of the Syrian soldiers, and that he even gave them food and water and released them from captivity. I just quoted from 1 John 3:22 and we discovered that if we ask according to God’s will and keep His commandments, that we will have whatever we ask, or God will indeed fight for us; but I only read the first half of the verse. There’s actually something in this verse that applies to how Elisha spared these soldiers, and how he apparently treated them with compassion.
Listen as I read all of 1 John 3:22: “Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” We are told that God’s will is to know Jesus Christ and to love one another. John says that if we know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord that we are going to love people, for in 1 John 4:7-8 he declares, “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
What I desire to point our here is that God will fight for us and vindicate us, but we must place it all in His hands. We place it in His hands as we love others. We should never try to take matters into our own hands and punish the people who come against us to hinder the work of the Lord. If we truly understand that we are not wrestling with flesh and blood when people come against us, then we will have compassion towards those who seek our harm, knowing they can’t help themselves. If we ever expect these people to change, then we must demonstrate love. We must love them, and then we must serve them as Elisha fed and served these soldiers. If we love them, then they will possibly open their hearts to receive the Bread of Life, which is Jesus Christ, and the bread of the Word of God. It is up to us to feed people and then make it a point to set them free!
Time of Reflection
I want to conclude our message by once again reminding us that there is an unseen war going on all around us, even at this very moment. The battle is within the mind and heart, and right now Satan is deceiving someone into believing they are okay in life and that they don’t need Jesus for anything.
The devil is probably telling you that you are a good person, and that you are sure to go to heaven when you die because you are good. I am here to inform you that no one is good enough to enter heaven, and no one can do anything to earn his way into heaven. We read in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” We are not able to work enough or be good enough to get into heaven.
We can only get into heaven by having faith. You might be asking, “Faith in what?” The answer is faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9 tells us, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
NOTES
(1) John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 1 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2006), pp. 166-167.
(2) Billy Graham, Angels: God’s Secret Agents (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975), p. 3.
