Open your Bibles if you would
to 2nd Kings. 2nd Kings chapter 6. 2nd Kings
chapter 6. In this passage that we look
at today, great comfort is found for the people of God as it sets
forth in a very clear way the fact of how the believer in Christ
is kept by God and that no weapon that is formed against them shall
prosper. Now we know that in this world
the enemies of Christ are everywhere. And we know that from our Master's
own words, that they hate Him. And we should
not marvel that they hate us. Scripture declares, if the world
hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. These
are the words of our Savior. If you were of the world, the
world would love His own. But because you are not of the
world, but I have chosen you, God has chosen us, out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I
said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If
they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they
have kept My saying, they will keep yours also. But all these
things will they do unto you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that
sent Me." John 15 verses 18 to 21. So we see and hear from the words
of the Master that the enmity that the world has towards us
is really directed at Christ, beloved. It's really directed at Christ.
He says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before
it hated you. They cannot get to Christ our
King, beloved. They can't get to Him. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father. He finished the work of our salvation. He's enthroned in glory, so they
persecute the people of God. Well, we're here on this earth. Let's read verses 8 to 10 of
2 Kings chapter 6. Then the king of Syria warred
against Israel and took counsel with his servants, saying, In
such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent
unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such
a place, for thither the Syrians are come down. And the king of
Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned
him of, and saved himself there not once nor twice. So the king
of Syria proclaimed war against the king of Israel, and took
counsel with his generals, And now they had encamped in a place
and they were waiting an ambush. They wanted to ambush the king
of Israel. They were waiting for him to
pass by unawares and then they would fall upon him and they
would destroy him. And we see then that the man
of God, Elijah, warned the king of Israel. And we see the king
delivered from his foes. Delivered from his foes. So we see the king of serious
plans thwarted by the prophet Elijah, but really we know that
his plans are thwarted by our Almighty God. Have you ever thought of how
many times Our great God has delivered us from our spiritual
foes, from people who would come up against us. I've seen it time and time and
time again in my life. It's incredible, but there's
a lot of times that I probably haven't seen it either. Countless amount of times. How
many times has the Lord restrained us from sin? Have you ever thought
of that? How many times would we have,
in our natural state, went headlong into sin? And He's restrained
us by His grace. I don't think we're ever going
to be able to count the numbers of those times. But He has, beloved. He restrains His people by His
grace. When you contemplate these great
truths, it'll make you shout for joy. Because left to ourselves,
we just go headlong right into it. But He watches over His people,
beloved. He protects us. He restrains
us. Oh, give praise for the matchless
grace of God, which we have received in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not only is it saving grace, it's restraining grace
and it's keeping grace. Oh, it's wonderful. There are numberless times when
we are unaware, unconscious of our Lord delivering us from our
spiritual foes. But never forget that our Lord
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change. He does not change. And He delivers
us, beloved, time and time and time again. And oftentimes we
are totally unaware. But there's times when we're
made aware, isn't there? There's times when we're made
aware. Oh, yeah. There's times when we're made
aware. And we give Him all the glory and honor and praise. And it's all by His power and
might that we're delivered. And He gives us grace and strength
during times of struggle, trials and tribulations, doesn't He?
All through our lives. Let's read verses 11 to 14 where
we see that next that the king of Syria cannot get his hands
on the king of Israel, so he turns his attention to the king's
servant, Elijah. Elijah. who is a man of God,
and what a picture we have here of our spiritual enemies, they
cannot get their hands on our king, so they turn their attention
on God's people. Those who are here on earth. Verse 11, therefore the heart
of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing, and
he called his servants and said unto them, will you not show
me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants
said, None, my lord, O king, but Elijah, the prophet that
is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou
speakest in thy bedchamber. And he said, Go and spy where
he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying,
Behold, he is in Dothraen. Therefore sent he thither horses
and chariots and a great host, sent his army. And they came
by night and passed the city about. Note in verse 11 we see
revealed one of the traits of unbelief and it's suspicion.
The king of Israel thinks because his plans were thwarted that
there must be a spy in his midst. Look what he says. Will you not
show me which of us is for the king of Israel? He thinks there
must be a spy in their midst. One who's for the king of Israel. And he's totally unaware that
it's God Almighty who has thwarted his evil plan against the King
of Israel. He's totally unaware. The King of Syria, not being
able to fall upon and destroy the King of Israel, now sets
his sights upon the Prophet of God, Elisha. Thinking that he
might secure him with chariots and horses, he's expecting to
take him captive by sending a mighty army. by sending a mighty army,
a mighty host. And what folly it is for man
to fight against those who are God's people. What folly it is. What folly there is. They will
find out quickly that they're not fighting against the people
of God. They're fighting against he who is the most high. And He always, always, always
protects His people. Always. And we will see the mad attempts
of the king of Syria to take the prophet. This sets forth
the bitterness of the carnal mind against God and against
His servants. In all ages, beloved, there's
nothing new under the sun. Man has not changed. Natural man still hates God,
even if they might not say, well, I hate God. But in their actions,
and in their thoughts, and in the sinfulness of who we are
in our natural state, they're shaking their fists at God Almighty. And man has not changed. It's
still the same today. Look at verse 12, and one of
his servants said, none, my lord, O king, but Elijah the prophet
that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words thou
speakest in thy bedchamber. So we see that the accusation
is against his own people. The king of Syria, again, thinks
that there's a spy amongst his myths, but one of his servants
says, no! Thou speakest in thy bedchamber. Well, who knows everything? To who is every one of our thoughts
laid bare? That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? Even as believers. To who is every one of our thoughts
laid bare? To who is every one of the intentions
of our heart laid bare? God knew what he said in his
bedchamber. God revealed that to Elisha. God knows the thoughts, the intent,
of what's in the heart of every man. Saved and lost. Nothing, absolutely nothing is
hid from our great God. Nothing. He knows all things. He knows our thoughts. He knows
our words before they're even on our tongue. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
4, verses 12 and 13. Hebrews 4, verses 12 and 13. Our great God knew the thoughts
and intents of the king of Syria while he was awake, while he
was in his bedchamber, he knew all his thoughts while he was
dreaming, and while he was awake. Everything was laid bare before
the Lord, and everything still is laid bare before the Lord. And Elijah was made aware of
the intent of the king of Syria by God, and the king of Syria's
plan was thwarted. Look at this in Hebrews 4, verses
12-13. For the word of God, the scriptures,
is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the divining asunder the soul and spirit. It cuts
where nothing else can cut. And of the joints in the marrow,
and is a discerner of what? The thoughts and intents of the
hearts. Everything's laid bare before
our great God. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight. Nothing escapes his eye. Nothing. But all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. He is absolutely
sovereign. This is the God of the Bible.
That's the God of the Bible. And so it's he who thwarted the
plans of the king of Syria. It's he who did that. He revealed the intent of the
king of Syria to Elijah. And Elijah therefore warned the
king of Israel. And the king of Syria's plans
were thwarted. But the king of Syria didn't have a clue. He
was an unbeliever. He thought there's a spy. Well,
there must be a spy in the midst. Oh my. What folly when a man thinks
that he can battle God. Oh my. Now, it's not comfortable
for even we who are believers to think that nothing about us
is hid from God, because we know we're still sinners. But what great comfort for the
believer in Christ. Here comes the balm of Gilead.
What comfort for the believer in Christ, though, to know that
all our sins and thought, word, and deed are washed in the precious
blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we say as
a result of that? Praise His mighty name. Praise
His mighty name. What a Savior. What a Savior
we have. Now let's read verses 13 and
14 again and we'll see that the king sends his armies and they've
surrounded the city of Dathran for one man. For one man. For
one man. The king in his blind rage believes
if he can destroy Elijah then he will put an end to the people
of God. look it says in verse 13 and 14, and he said, Go and
spy where he is that I may send and fetch him. And it was told
him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothran. Therefore sent he thither
horses and chariots and the great host, and they came by night
and compassed the city about. So now take note, the Syrian
army has come and surrounded the whole city. They've surrounded
the whole city. Under the cover of darkness they
did this, under the cloak of darkness. They've come and surrounded
the whole city. And it's all at the command of
the king of Syria. The king of Syria can't kill
the king of Israel, so now he seeks to kill the messenger.
Now he seeks to kill the messenger. And he's taken his great host
and he's surrounded the city. He's surrounded the city. And
in verse 15, next we see that Elijah's servant, unaware of
the situation, is going about his day. He's going about his,
he don't have no idea, he's going about to do his stuff, whatever
he does every day probably. He's in for a shock, isn't he? He's in for a shock, beloved.
And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, verse
15, and gone forth, behold, and hosts come past the city with
horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him,
alas, my master, how shall we do? Oh my. He runs to his master and he
cries, what shall we do? How are we going to get out of
this mess? That's basically what he's saying.
Oh, my. To him, it was impossible. He's
looking at this whole host. Could you imagine that? This
whole army's circled the whole city, and they're probably riding
around in their chariots, more than likely, or they're just
sitting there. But these guys, they're fully arrayed in battle
gear. They're ready to go. And at the
king's command, they would go in and destroy the city, wouldn't
they? Oh, but there's more to the story. There's more to what
we're going to look at here. And we see here that the servant,
even though he was around the spiritual man, a prophet of God,
and he saw many things, we'll see what he didn't see. What
he didn't see. Look at Elijah's answer to his
servant in verse 16. He just calmly tells him, he
just calmly answers his servant, that there are more with us than
against them. And he answered, fear not, for
they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Imagine the surprise of the servant,
because all he could see was this army around the city. That's
all he could see. So imagine his surprise at the
words of Elijah. What? Could you imagine seeing
him? He'd be like, what? There's more for us than there
are for them? All I see is this army. All I see is this army before
me. Imagine again the surprise of
the servant. He was looking at the physical,
beloved. He was looking at the physical,
and Elijah was speaking of the spiritual. Oh my. Because we know the truth
of the scriptures, if God before us. Who can be against us? If God before us, they may kill
the body, right? But they can't take the soul,
can they? If God before us, who can be against us, beloved? There are some among us here
who hear the gospel and yet they do not see Christ. But our prayer
is that God will open your eyes. that God would open your eyes
to behold Christ, to behold our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that you would hear his voice through the word of
God. That's our desire, that you would hear the word of God
preached and proclaimed not as man's words, but as God's words,
but as God's words. Oh, and that the Holy Spirit
would regenerate you and reveal Christ to you. Turn, if you would,
to Matthew, chapter 13. Matthew, chapter 13. We'll read
verses 13 to 15. And then we'll go back to 2 Kings. Matthew, chapter 13, verses 13
to 15. Therefore speak I to them in
parables, because they seeing, see not. In hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and
ye shall not understand. In seeing ye shall see, and shall
not perceive. For this people's heart is wax
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. And their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart,
and should be converted, that I shall heal them. Now go back to 2 Kings 6 and
look at verse 17. Here we see the prayer of Elijah. And the name of this message
is a prayer for opened eyes. We pray that God would open your
eyes, beloved. Or if you don't know Christ,
He's opened our eyes, who are the people of God, but we pray
if you don't know Christ that He'd open your eyes. And even
we as believers, we pray that our eyes would be opened up more
to see the wondrous things of Christ. To see His almighty power
at work. As He reveals Himself more and
more to us in Scripture. Look at verse 17, and Eliza prayed
and said, Lord, I pray that you open his eyes. Open his eyes,
that he may see. Oh, what a prayer. And this is
a prayer that God's people, we pray for our family and our friends
and people that we meet. Oh, Lord, open their eyes that
they may see. Open their eyes that they 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 Elijah. So we see here in our text then
the circumstance before us, the king of Syria was after the prophet
Elijah. And let us remember that we have
an adversary, beloved. We have an adversary who is the
enemy of our souls, seeks to destroy us, but the believer is encamped
and shielded round about by our great God. It is He who keeps
us and holds us in His everlasting arms and protects us. Now take note again that Elijah
reckons His servant's natural sight is no sight at all. In contrast to true sight, being
that which sees the invisible and trusts our great God, who
we cannot see with our physical eyes, but we see Him with the eyes
of faith, don't we? We behold Him with the eyes of faith. Turn,
if you would, to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 look at verses
24 to 29. By faith Moses when he was come
to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach
of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he
had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Some say that
Moses may have been in line to become Pharaoh. By faith he forsook Egypt. not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured to see him who
is invisible." Look at that. Through faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. By faith they passed through
the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians, a saying to do,
were drowned. Then look at verses 1 The three
of the same chapter. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen.
If we saw that which we hope for, it's no longer hope. Because
we're looking at it. But we hope one day to see our
Lord, right? And we will, face to face. We
have a hope within us now that we didn't have before in our
natural state. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders
obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God. We understand that
now. We've had that revealed to us
that Christ has spoke this world into existence. And we believe
it. We believe it, don't we? We take God at his word. We didn't before, but now we
do. So that the things which were seen were not made of the
things which do appear. Look at that. So the things which
were seen were made of things which do, were not made of things
which do appear. Our great God spoke all this
into existence. Now we can't see him, can we?
But by faith we do, we trust and rest in him. Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
We just trust our Lord. We trust our Lord. Now those
who have a natural sight of religion, they wish the church well, they
lend a hand when needed, and they see enough to perceive that
they're in great danger from a great enemy, but yet seeing,
they see not. They don't see. They're like
this young servant. And we see the prayer of God's
people in verse 17, for those we know, for those who sit under
the sound of the gospel and have no eyes to see Christ. We pray that they would see the
enemy of their souls in his many disguises. He goes around like
a roaring lion. He's like a serpent, he's very
subtle. In his ministers, As preachers, they appear as the
angel of light. What do they do? They tell people what you
gotta do. Oh my. You gotta do this or you
gotta do that to be saved. Do not be deceived, beloved,
by them and by the pleasures of the world, the riches of this
world, the lying tongue, which tells you this, too. You got
lots of time. You got lots of time. Wait until
tomorrow, they say. Well, what happens if tomorrow
never comes? The scriptures declare, behold,
now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
Right now. In our prayer, We who are the
born again people of God, our prayer, if you do not know Christ,
is that God would open your eyes. Oh, that he open your eyes and
that you behold he who is the one who holds all things visible
and invisible, all by the word of his power. Oh, that's our
prayer. Let's read verse 17 again. And
Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that
he may see. Open his eyes, Lord. 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. Again, we pray, Lord, open the
eyes of your lost sheep. Open the eyes of your lost sheep
to see that you, Lord, are the only way of salvation. that's only through Thee, Lord. Open their eyes. Open the eyes
of your lost sheep that they may see that You, Lord, are the
only appointed Savior of sinners. There's no other way. No other
way. And there's no seeing Christ
but by His own light. And we who are born again of
the Spirit of God, we behold He who is the light. The Lord
Jesus Christ. We look to Him, don't we? We
look to Him alone for our salvation. And we pray, sinner friend, that
God would open your eyes. That God would open your eyes
to see Christ. Just as He's done for us. That
you would see your desperate need for Him, just as He's done
for we who are the people of God. And it takes spiritual eyes to
see spiritual truth, doesn't it? Carnal man, look at things carnally. Before anyone can grasp, see,
understand spiritual things, they must be born again. They
must be. And only God can give you sight
to see Christ. This is what every believer testifies.
It's God that gave me sight. It's God that gave me faith to
behold Christ. And Him alone. So we see in our text, in verse
17, that Elijah prays that his servant's eyes would be opened.
Again, this is not speaking to natural eyes. Because he's already
with his natural eyes seeing this great hoax that's against
them. No, this is speaking of the eyes
of faith and of his mind. And when his eyes were opened, he saw that he and Elijah were
surrounded by an impenetrable angelic wall, chariots of fire, like those that had taken Elijah
to heaven. And the Lord opened, look at
this in the text, and the Lord opened the eyes of the young
man, and he saw, and behold, the mountains was full of horses
and chariots of fire round about Elijah. He must have almost fell
down. Could you imagine that? You see
this great host of an army encamped round about, surrounded the whole
city. And all of a sudden, your eyes are open to what Elijah
says. There's more for us. There's more for us than them.
And remember, remember this, one angel killed over 100,000
men. One. Oh my. There's more for them
than there is against them, isn't there? There's a lot more. The horses and chariots of fire
were around about Elijah, but the young man could not see them.
They were spiritual horses, chariots, angelic beings belonging to a
spiritual domain, beloved. They were there when he first
looked. Don't forget that, too. They were there when he first
looked. And all he saw was the Syrian host, because at that
time he didn't have eyes to see, did he? Oh my, do you see why Elijah
just calmly said there's more for us than there is against
us? And Lord, open their eyes should
be the prayer, our prayer for our lost loved ones, our friends,
our fellow men and women. Oh Lord, please open their eyes
to see you. So could you imagine the joy
and the peace that flooded this young man's soul? When he saw that great host, God gave him spiritual eyes to
behold the great angelic host which protected them. And our prayer again is like
Elijah. And take note that he did not tell the young man what
he had to do. Take note of that too. He didn't
tell the young man what he had to do. Because the young man couldn't
see, he's blind. He's blind, but he prayed that
God would open his eyes. Do you see the parallel there? Dead men can't come to Christ
unless they're made alive. Blind men can't see Christ unless
they're given eyes to see Christ. And Elijah prays that God would
open his eyes to behold the great angelic host before them. Beloved of God, we who are God's
people cannot give spiritual sight to anyone, can we? We can't. But we pray that God would open
the eyes of his lost sheep. that He would do a mighty work, that He would give them sight
to behold the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, just as He's
given us sight to behold Christ. And never forget, it's God who's
done this for us. It's God who's done this for
us. Who made you to differ? What do you have that you didn't
receive? Nothing. The only thing we can lay claim
to is our sin. Because that's ours. But the grace and mercy that
we've received in and through Christ, the faith, the repentance
before God is a gift from God. It's a gift from Him. God the Holy Spirit reveals Christ
to sinners of His own choosing. Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians
2. 1 Corinthians 2. God the Holy Spirit reveals Christ
to sinners of God's own choosing. And then He teaches us the things
of Christ. He reveals the deep things of God to us. And then
we marvel. We marvel that we know these
truths. We marvel that we've received the Spirit of God. We
marvel that Christ is our Savior. We marvel at what He's done for
us. And you know, we will not stop
marveling, even when we get to eternity. We'll be praising His
name forever, beloved. Forever. With all the blood-washed
saints of God. And do you know that we can't
even fathom what's waiting for us? Do you know that? We can't
even, in our wildest thoughts, we can't even fathom what's waiting
for us in glory. And you know what? Heaven wouldn't
be heaven without Christ, eh? And He's the one we're going
to be seeing. He's the one we're going to be enamored with our
bridegroom. With the one who loved us and
gave himself for us. Oh my, look at this in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 verses 9 to 13. But it is written, I hath not
seen, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. Now remember, Paul was caught
up in the third heaven. He couldn't even utter what he saw, could
he? Look what he pens here. I have
not seen nor heard the things nor entered into the heart of
men, the things which God have prepared for them that love him.
And we know that we love him because why? He first loved us. That's right. But God has revealed them unto
us by his spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. Everything we know about Christ
we've been taught. It's been revealed to us. For
what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man
which is in him. Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the spirit of God. It's he who teaches us these
things. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but
the spirit which is of God. that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. You must be born again. Which things also we speak, not
in words, which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost
teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Again,
it's the Holy Spirit who teaches us. So, beloved, only by God's
power can a man or woman be made to see Christ. Only by the power
of God. We're all born blind to the things
of God. Natural man thinks he can see,
saying, well, how many times have you heard this? Well, I'm
a good person. Well, if I'm comparing myself
to someone else, right? Brother Henry used to say, if
one worm's comparing himself with another worm, you can think
he looks pretty good. But you compare yourself to Christ,
oh my, he's the perfect man. We're sinners from the top of
our head to the bottom of our feet. And he's absolutely perfect,
sinless. So these folks who say, I'm a
good person, well, they don't know. I used to say that myself.
I'm not being condescending, because I used to say it all
the time. And I used to be one of them guys that would point.
There was a young guy down the road, and we would always, oh,
that guy, man, that Charlie, boy, he gets in trouble so much.
Meanwhile, we're just as bad as him. Oh, my gosh. So we who are God's people do
not speak of these things in a condescending way because we
were once blind. We were once blind. But now we
see. Now we see Christ. We were once
lost, weren't we? We were wandering around. We
didn't have a clue what we were doing and who found us, who found
us. We didn't we didn't find the
Lord. He found us. We weren't even
looking for. He found us. We were the lost
sheep. And he's the great shepherd.
And the great shepherd seeks his sheep, don't he? Praise God
he does, because none of us would ever come to him. Oh, but he
comes and he gets his sheep, puts them on his shoulders. Oh,
you must be born again. You must be born again. Oh, we're
lost, but he's, now we're found in Christ. We were once lost,
but now we're found. Oh my. And our prayer is, if
you do not know Christ, oh Lord, give them eyes to see me. Give
them eyes to see me. Let's go back to our text in
2 Kings verses 18 to 23. We'll read the last portion of
verses here. 18 to 23. And when they came down to him,
Elijah prayed. Now they started forward, the
army, the host started forward towards them. When they came
down to him, Elijah prayed unto the Lord and said, smite this
people, I pray thee, with blindness. He smote them, the Lord smote
them with blindness according to the word of Elijah. He smote
them with blindness. You see the power of God at work,
don't we? And Elijah said unto them, this is not the way, neither
is this the city. Follow me and I will bring you
to the man whom you seek. But he led them to Samaria. And
it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elijah
said, Lord, open the eyes of these men. See, Elijah's not
saying, well, you know, pray this prayer, and now your eyes
are opened, is he? No, he's not saying anything
like that, no. He said, Lord, open their eyes. Open their eyes
of men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes,
and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
And the king of Israel said unto Elijah, when he saw them, my
father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? And he answered,
thou shalt not smite them. Wouldst thou smite those whom
thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? So
he says, if you captured a bunch of prisoners, would you just
kill them? Set bread and water before them
that they may eat and drink and go to their master. And he prepared great provisions
for them. And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away
and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no
more into the land of Israel. Well, we see here at the end
of this verse, justice tempered with mercy, don't we? Oh my. Elijah asked the Lord
to blind the eyes of the army of Syria, and the Lord did it.
Then Elijah spoke to them. It's Elijah who spoke to them
and said, this is not the way, neither is the city. Follow me.
They're blind. They're going to follow Elijah.
They're going to follow Elijah. They did not know it was Elijah.
And he told them they were headed the wrong way. Imagine if you're
blind and you're trying to find your way around, someone says,
come on, this way. Well, you'd follow their voice, wouldn't
you? One second they can see, and now they're blind as they
can't see nothing. They can't see anything. And Elijah said, you're headed
the wrong way. He told them the man you seek is not here, but
follow me and I'll lead you to him. And Elijah took them to the midst
of the camp of Israel, and then the Lord opened their eyes, and
they saw the army of Israel, but not the heavenly host, which
had protected Elijah, because the heavenly host was not theirs
to see. The king of Israel thought that
Elijah had delivered them, that he might slay them. But he showed
respect for Elijah, he said, If he should kill this army,
who is his sworn enemy? And Elijah said, don't kill them.
Make a feast for them and send them home. Send them home. So what a gospel lesson is brought
forth here at the end of this portion of scripture. It's Jesus
who brings his enemies, his lost sheep, right? Because the scripture
says we were enemies with God in our minds. He brings us under
his power, under his power. And then He opens our eyes. And
then He opens our eyes, beloved. And we see how the Lord has surrounded
us. We are hemmed in to Christ, aren't we? We have no other way
to go. No other place to go. And what
do we do? We bow our knees, we drop our
weapons, and we proclaim the Lord is our
King. Because we're born again of the Holy Spirit of God. It's
He who's drawn us right to Him. So how graciously does the Lord
then feed his people? And what great and gracious provisions
he provides for us all while we journey through this world.
It's incredible. God's grace is truly amazing
grace. Truly amazing grace. What a Savior.
What a Savior. And it's the Lord who makes His
people willing in the day of His power. And wonders of wonders,
wonder of wonders, this man, Jesus, receiveth sinners. He receives sinners. Oh, may
God make you willing to flee to Him. And God's people say,
praise His mighty name. Praise His mighty name. Heavenly
Father, again we thank Thee for allowing us to gather together
and look into Thy Word, O Lord. O Lord, we know that You are
ever protecting Your people, watching over us, guiding us,
directing us, leading us in the way that You would desire us
to go. Help us, Lord, just to trust You. Help us not to lean
on the arm of the flesh, but help us, Lord, just to lean upon
Thee. Guide and direct us, I pray,
in Jesus' name, amen.