Let us turn to this portion that
we've just read in the second book of Kings, here in chapter
6, and directing you to the words that we have in verses 16 and
17. As the prophet Elisha addresses
his young servants, He answered, Fear not, for they that be with
us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed
and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. It was truly a remarkable ministry
that Elisha exercised. It was a ministry that was full
of miracle, and we see it in this chapter of course. The iron
floating there in the opening verses, and the fact that when
the king of Syria was against Israel, the prophet is able to
tell the king of Israel everything that the king of Syria thinks
and so to warn the Israelites of any danger they might fall
into and then we have this remarkable incident that's recorded from
verse 13 following that the king of Syria because of the trouble
that comes through the knowledge that Elisha has of him determines
to send a great army and they come to Dotha, the place where
Elisha is with his servant and when the servant sees this tremendous
host encompassing the city He says to his master, alas, how
shall we do? And then we have the answer that
is found here in verses 16 and 17. As I said, it's a remarkable
ministry. It follows immediately, of course,
after the ministry of Elijah. And we see previously how Elijah
had asked that he might receive a double portion of Elijah's
spirit back in the second chapter where Elijah departs. Elijah doesn't die. He is like
Enoch, translated from earth to heaven, taken up. by the angels
of God and there in that second chapter at verse 9 Elijah says
unto Elisha ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken
away from thee and Elisha said I pray thee let a double portion
of thy spirit be upon me And he said, Thou hast asked a hard
thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me
when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee. But if
not, it shall not be so. And then we're told how Elisha
is taken up. There appeared a chariot of fire,
and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder. And Elijah
goes up in a whirlwind. And Elisha says, my father, my
father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And
he swore him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes
and rent them in two pieces. And he took up also the mantle
of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the
bank of Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him and smote the waters and said, where is
the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten
the waters, they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went
over. He is blessed then with a double
portion of that great prophet Elijah. And here we see how again
he comes and he asks of God. He'd asked that double portion.
He'd received it. And here in the verses that we've
read as a text, we find him praying and praying for this young man,
his servant. Verse 17, Elisha prayed and said,
Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord
opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold,
the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about
Elisha. He prays in for the gift of sight
to be granted to this young man. And the theme I really want to
take up is that, the prayer for spiritual sight. The prayer for
spiritual sight. And to see that it is both the
work of God and it comes by the Word of God. Spiritual sight. First of all, it is the work
of God. And surely in that he makes this
prayer, the Prophet is simply acknowledging that fact. That
it is only the Lord who can do such a thing. Elisha prayed and
said, Lord I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. Now there is, in the context
here, a relationship in some ways between physical sight and
spiritual sight. There's certainly reference to
physical sight. There's a miracle that follows, isn't there,
at verse 18 and the following verses. When they come down, Elisha prays
again concerning the Syrians who are surrounding the city.
Smite these people, he prays. Smite these people, I pray thee,
with blindness. And he smote them with blindness
according to the word of Elisha. And then Elisha leads them away
from Dothan and takes them to Samaria, the great capital city
there in Israel. brings them into the midst of
the city, and then prays again. In verse 20, Lord, open the eyes
of these men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes,
and they saw them. Behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. He prays to God as one who is
able to blind the people, and then able to restore sight to
the people. That's physical sight. We see
the same, don't we, in the New Testament, in the experience
of the Apostle Paul, when Saul, the self-righteous Pharisee and
the arch-persecutor of Christian believers, he's gone to Damascus
and the Lord appears to him and he's blinded. there at the beginning
of Acts 9 and he has to be taken by the hand as a blind man and
led into the city of Damascus and he goes to the street called
Straight and then Ananias, one of the Lord's faithful disciples
is sent to restore his sight. It was physical blindness that
came upon that man's soul and when his eyes were opened His
natural sight restored to Him, He was a changed man. And of
course, we know how the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, throughout
His earthly ministry, amongst other miracles, He would give
sight to those who were physically blind. We have the record of
Bartimaeus, the blind beggar who cries out, Jesus, Thou Son
of David, have mercy upon me. And the Lord asks what he would
have him do, and he wants his eyes to be, or his sight to be
restored, to receive seeing eyes as it were. And the Lord does
more than that. He says to him, Thy faith hath
saved thee. Thy faith hath saved thee. And
then again we have the record in John 9 of the man born blind. blind from his birth and Christ
tells him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam having put clay
upon his eyes he sends him to the pool of Siloam and he washes
and he comes back with his sight restored the disciples they think
the man must have committed some sin or his parents that he was
born with that affliction that he couldn't see. But the Lord
says neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but that the
works of God may be evident in him. The Lord performs a remarkable
miracle, unknown that a man born blind should receive his sight.
The Lord God is able to do these remarkable things and to give
sight to blind men. We have it in the New Testament
but we have it also here in the Old Testament in the ministry
of Elisha. But we know that miracles are
but signs. Certainly when we come to the
ministry of Christ they are all signs. Christ's principle ministry
It was a spiritual ministry. He comes to save from the bondage
of sin and to save from the blindness of sin. He comes to open the
blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison and
then that sit in darkness out of the prison house. That's the
ministry of Christ. It's a spiritual ministry. It's
to give spiritual eyes to those who were blind. And when the
Lord commences His ministry, remember in the synagogue there
in Nazareth, as we have it recorded in Luke 4, and the minister in
the synagogue gives him the book of the prophet Isaiah, he reads
those words from chapter 61, and says that those very scriptures
are being fulfilled, how he came to perform great miracles, but
he comes principally to proclaim the great message of salvation. And it's interesting that when
we read that ninth chapter of John we see at the end how that
the Lord does more for that man who was born blind than to give
him physical sight. Surely the Lord there clearly
gives to him spiritual sight. It's quite remarkable what we
are told at the end when they cast the man out of the synagogue
the Lord Jesus is the one who goes and finds him and asks him,
does thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said,
who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said
unto him, thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh
with them. And he said, Lord, I believe.
and he worshipped him. He's not only one who now has
natural sights, but he sees who this man is, Jesus of Nazareth.
He's none other than the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and
he worships him. He has spiritual eyes. Oh, this
is the great work that the Lord came to do. I must work the works
of him that sent me, he says, while it is day. the night cometh
when no man can work and those words are uttered of course earlier
in that ninth chapter to give sight that is spiritual is the
work of God that is the work that the Lord is doing and only
the Lord can do it in a sense we see in scripture that faith
is sight we have to look unto Jesus the author and finisher
of our faith And it's not looking with the natural eye, it's an
exercise of faith, to look to Him. Strangely, in looking to
Him, He is then the author of our faith, the finisher of our
faith. Look unto me, He says, and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there
is none else. Well, this is the work of God,
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Faith is the work of God. It's
faith of the operation of God. And here we see the place of
prayer with regards to such spiritual seeing. Elisha prayed and said,
Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. Only the Lord
can do it. The Lord opened the eyes of the
young man and he saw. Only the Lord can give sight
to those who are spiritually blind and that of course is the
situation with regards to each and every one of us as we come
into this world. It's interesting when Moses makes
his prayer to the Lord God back in Exodus 33 Moses brought the children of
Israel to Mount Sinai. They'd received the Ten Commandments.
He was there in the mount receiving further instructions. But he
was away 40 days and they wonder what's become of him and Aaron
makes a golden calf. We're all familiar with what
happens. Sadly they descend into awful
idolatry. And he comes down from the mount.
God would disinherit these people. The tables are broken there at
the foot of the mount. The covenant is broken. And God would disown them. And would take of Moses and make
a nation. But Moses stands in the breach
and prays. And then he makes that prayer.
I beseech thee, he says, show me thy glory. or if we would
see anything of God, it must be shown us. I beseech thee, show me. Literally,
the Hebrew is, I beseech thee, cause me to see. Cause me to
see thy glory. It is God's work. And we know
how God had appeared to Moses in an extraordinary manner. in
Exodus chapter 3. What was it that Moses saw? He
didn't see God with his physical eye. He saw the burning bush. He saw that. This bush that was
burning and yet was not consumed. That was something physical.
But we're told, aren't we, in Hebrews chapter 11 that by faith
Moses endured seeing Him who is invisible. He saw Him who
is invisible. It was spiritual sight that Moses
had. And God did cause him to see
His glory. I will make all my goodness pass
before thee, it says. And he proclaims the name of
the Lord there in chapter 34 of Exodus. The Lord God merciful
and gracious. Show me thy glory. Cause me to
see thy glory. And God says I will make all
my goodness. Isn't that what God does with
us? We ask Him and He shows us His goodness. He's a good God. And He's so
good He's much better than our many sins and provocations deserve,
how patient He is with us, how long-suffering He is with us.
But it's God who gives spiritual eyes, and we cannot see these
things or understand these things except the Lord open our eyes. Open thou mine eyes that I may
see wondrous things out of the Lord. That's the prayer of David
there in Psalm 119. We come to the Word of God, and
there are wondrous things in the word of God but we don't
see them and we cannot see them unless the Lord open our eyes again when Paul writes to those
Ephesians remember how he addresses them there in the opening chapter
of verse 18 he says the eyes of your understanding being enlightened
that ye may know what is the hope of his calling He goes on
to say a lot more, but there at the beginning he's praying,
it's one of his prayers, that the eyes of their understanding
might be enlightened, that they might know the hope of his calling. Now what is that calling? That
is God's effectual call. And we are those who make profession
of faith, with those who say that we have received that efficacious
grace of God we've made an open profession of faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ and don't we need our eyes to be enlightened to
see the wonder of that that God should call us why was I made
to hear thy voice and enter whilst there's room when thousands make
a wretched choice and rather starve than come says Isaac Watts
in the hymn Why are we made to hear that voice? Why are we made
to see these things? Only the Lord can enlighten the
eyes of our understanding. Lord, remember that word that's
given to the church there in Revelation 3.18, anoint thine
eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. And we need the Spirit
to grant that eye salve. It was when the Lord put the
clay, wasn't it, upon that blind man, that man born blind in John
9, and then he goes and washes the clay away and he sees. Oh,
we need the Lord to anoint our eyes. Only the Lord can do it. How can we know anything of God
the Father? We can only know the Father through
the Son. How can we know anything of the
Son of God? We can only know the Son through
the ministry of the Father. And both the Father and the Son
work by and through that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The words that we have there in Matthew 11, 27, No man knoweth
the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him. He to whom the
Son will and it's the stronger of the two words. There are two
words there in the New Testament Greek that are translated to
will and one stronger than the other and it's a stronger one.
Neither can any man know the Father save the Son and He to
whom the Son willeth. Oh, it's a sovereign will of
God. And this is what we have here, this is what we pray for.
Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see and the Lord
open the eyes of the young man and he saw. It's the work of
God. And that's why we have to pray.
As I've said before, if we really do believe in a sovereign God,
We must be a people of prayer because we recognize that God
himself has appointed prayer as the means whereby he will
accomplish his blessed end. He's not just ordained what shall
be, but he has also appointed the way whereby his decree is
going to be fulfilled and it's by the prayers of his people.
All concerning the works of my hand, he says in Isaiah, command
ye me. He will do those things. But
He will have His people inquire of Him for those things. It's
the work of God. Secondly, it's by the words of
God that these things come to pass. When those Syrians are
blinded, in verse 18, what does it say at the end of that verse?
A short sentence at the end of verse 18? and he smote them with
blindness according to the word of Elisha. It's by the words. It's by the words. Out through that is spiritual.
Thy words is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path says
the Psalmist. The entrance of thy words giveth
light, it giveth understanding to the simple God works by and
through His words and we see it here in verse 16 when the Prophet utters
these words He speaks to the young man, doesn't he, in verse
16? In verse 17 he prays to the Lord God. But what is the word
that he gives to the young man? Fear not, for they that be with
us are more than they that be with him. That's the word of
God. But in order to see the word of God, his eyes have got
to be opened. But what is God's word? It's
God's promise amongst other things. And how precious are God's words!
How God gives us so many fear-nots in his words. He says to the children of Israel
by Moses, Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of
God, which he will show to you today. These Egyptians that you see,
you'll see them no more. That's Exodus 14. God's going
to destroy them, of course, in the Red Sea. They're pursuing
the Israelites. They're upon the Israelites. But God says, fear ye not. Stand still. See the salvation
of God which He will show to you today. All be still. and know that I am God. That's
not fatalism. To be still is not faith. It's
faith. It's faith in God. The Lord opened
the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, it says. Here in verse 17. And how emphatic
the language is. The Lord opens his eyes and he
saw And behold, you know the strength of that word, behold,
it has the idea of the eye being fixed, something being not just
glanced at but looked into, considered, studied. He saw, here is something
wondrous to behold, something to amaze the sight, the mountain
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Oh, what the Lord does, you see,
in answers to the prayers of His people. This young man was afraid, but
here is the answer to all his fears. Fear not. Fear not. And we have, of course, so many
fear nots. You know how the book of Isaiah
is so full of these blessed fear knots, I don't know I remember
receiving something on one occasion from a man and he told me he'd
counted the number of fear knots in Isaiah and you know I can't
remember but I know there were a great number of them he gave
me the list and I don't know what I've done with that list
but there were so many fear knots and we have them for example
in chapter 41 and there at verse 10 following. Fear thou not,
for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be
as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou
shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended
with thee. They that warred against thee
shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I, the Lord thy
God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I
will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and
ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy
Redeemer. the Holy One of Israel. How well God addresses His poor
people. Worm, Jacob! Worm, Jacob! And ye few men of Israel, as
the margin says. Or what does the prophet say
to the young man? Fear not, for they that be with
us are more than they that be with them. Though we look not at the things
that are seen, but at the things which are not seen. The things
which are seen are temporal, the unseen things are the eternal
things. And we have the Word of God,
and we have that Word that is full of the promises of God.
The Good News, the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. There's God's Word of promise. And what God promises he provides. He keeps his words and he will
protect his people and they will not be destroyed.
This is what the Prophet really is telling the young man here
in the words of our text. Alas my master, how shall we
do? asked the young man, and he answered,
Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be
with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee,
open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And it reminds us in many ways
of the words of that godly king Hezekiah later in 2nd Chronicles
32. Oh godly Hezekiah knew the same
truth as the prophet and he says to his people there be strong and courageous be not afraid for they that they be more with
us and they with him, with him is an arm of flesh. He's speaking
about Sennacherib and all the Assyrians. With him is an arm
of flesh, with us is the Lord our God who will fight for us. That's the testimony of that
gracious man. Now he reassures his people,
they're not to be afraid they're not to be dismayed they're to
trust in the Lord their God again we have that twice in the 46th
time what an emphasis is made in that repetition verse 7 again
in verse 11 the Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is
our refuge, Selah all the Selah we're to stop here Certainly
it's something to do maybe with the manner of the singing of
the psalm in the worship of God in the temple of the Lord. But
Selah, it's reckoned, indicates some sort of pause. And when
we find the Selah, we should take account of what has been
said. The Lord of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. God is our refuge. and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Always not just a help or a present
help is a very present help in trouble. Again in Psalm 55, David
says, He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that
was against me. For there were many with me. Oh God can deliver us then from
all our foes. our outward foes, our inward
foes. He can deliver us from all that
torments us, all our doubting, all our fears. The Lord knows
us. This is why He gives us His promises,
exceeding great and precious. This is why He pronounces so
many fear nots. He understands us. He knows our
frying. He remembers it with us. He's
a good and He's a gracious God, and He hears and He answers our
prayers. He answered Elisha's prayer.
Or will He not answer our prayers when we come in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ? Let us be those then who would
indeed wait upon Him, be still. Not in a fatalistic way, but
be still in that way of faith, looking to the Lord and waiting
upon Him. Like the prophet, Elisha prayed
and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Amen. Continue to worship God as we
sing the hymn 622, the tune Deep Harmony, 869. Poor fearful saints,
be not dismayed, nor dread the dangers of the night. Thy God
will ever be thy aid, and put the host of hell to flight. 622, tune 869.