2 Kings 8, and I want to read
from verse 7. And this little thought for some
of the young people has got a title, and it's called The Prophet's
Tears. So let's read. 2 Kings 8, and
verse 7. And Elisha came to Damascus,
And Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was sick, and it was told him,
saying, The man of God is come hither. And the king said unto
Hazel, Take a present in thine hand, and go meet the man of
God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, Shall I recover
of this disease? So Hazel went to meet him and
took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus,
forty camels' burden, and came and stood before him and said,
Thy son Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, hath sent me to thee, saying,
Shall I recover of this disease? The Elisha said unto him, Go
say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover Howbeit, the Lord hath
showed me that he shall surely die.' And he settled his countenance
steadfastly until he was ashamed, and the man of God wept. And
Hazel said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know
the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel. Their
strongholds wilt thou set on fire, Their young men wilt thou
slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip
up their women with child.' And Hazel said, But what? Is thy servant a dog, that he
should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The Lord
hath showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. And he departed
from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, What said Elisha
to thee? And he answered, He told me that
thou shouldst surely recover. And it came to pass on the morrow
that he took a thick cloth and dipped it in water, and spread
it on his face, so that he died, and Hazel reigned in his stead. Amen, may God bless to us this
reading from the prophet's history. It might seem strange to us that
after all that we've read about Elisha, that he should be coming
to Damascus. Is this not the people who have
very recently been attacking the children of Israel? Is this
not the king who sent his forces to arrest Elisha because Elisha
was telling the king of Israel all the plans that the king of
Syria was making? Is this not the very place where
Elisha might be most in danger? and yet he comes. I wonder why
he was going to Damascus. Certainly, as events unfolded,
we see that there was a necessity for this conversation, this interview
with Hazel. But I've got another idea, and
I can't support it at all from the word of God. but I wonder
if he was going to see Naaman. I wonder if he was going to see
that little servant, Geral. You know the Lord provides for
his people? You know that the Lord feeds
his people? Why should not Elisha feel that
he had some responsibility to those who needed to hear the
word of the Lord in Damascus also? I don't think that the
Lord sends a preacher without him having a purpose to declare
the word of God. So it may be that I'm just being
a little bit imaginative in hoping that he went to see these two
and perhaps more that were already gathering there in Damascus as
a result of the testimony of Naaman and the little servant
girl. But it would be lovely to think that they had opportunity
to fellowship together there in Damascus. And yet, if that
is a silver lining, this is a dark cloud. And this section of scripture
is perhaps one of the darkest passages that we read in the
Word of God. It explains something of the
desperate conditions of the time in which Elisha lived. We have
seen that there have been terrible events of famine, and now that
terror has been lifted. but there is the imminent prospect
of more devastation to come. You know, we are very fortunate
in our lives at this present time. We live well. We live prosperously. We live
with security and safety. And yes, there are hard times
and difficult times come into our lives. And yes, we face challenges
personally, individually, perhaps collectively to a degree. But
in the main, we have lived well and safely for a long time. It is sad if we take that for
granted and don't return thanks to God for his goodness to us. We live in days of relative peace
and security, but it has not always been so, and it will not
always be so, because there is a day of judgment coming, and
we should appreciate the peace that we have now in preparation
for the hardships that are coming to meet us. Peter, we were thinking
a few weeks ago about Peter in his epistle, and he calls on
the Lord's people to pass the time of your sojourning here
in fear, i.e., that is, in the fear of the Lord. not in a fearfulness
about what he's going to do, but rather honouring him, acknowledging
him, serving him, seeking him, seeking his help, trusting in
him, as we're enabled to do so by faith. I want to think about
each of the three men that are in this story that we've read
today, and just draw one particular point, perhaps a couple from
the testimony that we have before us. Here are three men, all having
something to say in the episode that we have before us in these
few verses. Listen to what is happening in
their lives. Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria,
was sick. Sickness reaches everywhere.
Age comes upon everyone. And the medicine, even for a
king at that time, was relatively primitive. And he was anxious
for his life and for his well-being. So he heard that Elisha had come
to Damascus for whatever reason he came. and he sends a gift
to Elisha and he shows him reverence as he sends his servant Hazel
in order to ask if he would recover. And I think it's interesting
to notice here with the King Ben-Hadad of Syria that he doesn't
ask Elisha to pray to God for him. He doesn't ask God for help. Rather, he is asking simply,
will I be healed? In fact, he was approaching Elisha
almost as if he was a fortune teller. Here was the man of God
come to the very doorstep of the king of Syria. Here was an
opportunity to hear the word of God, to receive the prophet
of God, to hear the gospel, if you like. And all he was doing
was thinking that religion was like fortune telling. Let us not use religion as any
kind of superstitious defense against bad things happening
to us. That's how the world uses God. That's how the world uses religion. We are called to have faith,
not hypocrisy, when it comes to dealing with God. We believe
in a living God who helps his people, who comes to his people,
who comforts his people, who sustains and heals, who blesses. who deals with his people out
of love and compassion and affection for our needs. And Ben-Hadad
knew nothing of that God. And Ben-Hadad died in ignorance
of the truth. There was the prophet amongst
the people. And Ben-Hadad is in hell today
because he would not listen to the man of God. Hazel is another
character that is here in this passage. And what a terrible
man he was. What a terrible man he was. He was deceitful. He was disloyal. He was evil and cruel, he was
violent, and he was self-righteous to boot. This is a picture of
a man in whom Satan has free course. And yet we discover that
Hazel was also a tool in God's hands in order to accomplish
his purpose. Hazel did what he did gladly,
but in doing so, he did what God desired would be done in
the accomplishment of his judgment purposes upon Israel. Even a
man's sin serves God's purpose. In verse 11, we read that Elisha
was speaking to Hazel. Hazel had come on behalf of Ben-Hadad. And here in verse 11, we read
these words. And he, that is Elisha, settled
his countenance steadfastly. What does that mean? It means
that Elisha looked right in to Hazel's eyes. He looked him right
in the face. He looked him right in the eye.
This was a solemn, serious meeting. He looked at him until Hazel
became ashamed. I think that's a very significant
little phrase there. Hazel knew what kind of man he
was. He knew how ambitious he was.
He knew what he wanted out of life. And here the prophet knew what
kind of man he was. He looked straight into his face,
he looked straight into his eyes until Hazel felt ashamed because
he knew that Elisha was looking right into his heart. And he knew what Elisha saw there. Even a man like Hazel had a conscience
about the wickedness that he was doing. Do you know that that
was Hazel's warning? That was the warning of the gospel. That was the warning of the man
of God as he came to speak to Hazel. And let me tell you something,
you who are younger and you who are older, if your conscience
bothers you about something, Stop. Just stop. Desist. Don't go there. Don't do that. Hazel's conscience
bothered him in the presence of the man of God, in the light
of the gospel. There, in that moment, his conscience
bothered him and he was ashamed, but his moment passed. And from
then on in, Hazel immediately went downhill. because what we
discover is sinning becomes easier the more that you do it. So if
your conscience bothers you, stop doing what you're doing.
Hazel went back to his master and he told him a lie. The next
day he killed him on his bed and he took his crown and he
took his power and he took his place. What can we say about
Elisha in this story? Elisha has proved himself even
by his very presence in Damascus to be a man of courage, a man
of boldness. and a man of integrity, honesty. He was a faithful servant of
God and he went where the Lord directed him to do the work that
he was directed to do. This prophecy concerning Hazel
had been a prophecy long given. It was given to Elijah before
Elijah died and it was passed on to Elisha to fulfil. And now Elisha was fulfilling
the direct statement of God to this man, Hazel. He challenged
Hazel. He confronted Hazel. He confronted
him with a cruel destruction that would flow from Hazel's
ambition. Elisha knew God, and God told
Elisha what Hazel would do. And God would not hold Hazel
guiltless. The wages of his sin would certainly
follow. And we have this promise that
God knows all things and he will avenge his people. He says in
the word of God, vengeance is mine, I will repay. Be not deceived, Hazel, God is
not mocked. But Elisha's tears were genuine
tears. He saw the distress that would
be brought against the people of God. He saw the wanton brutality
stretching out for years to come. Before his eyes in that moment,
in a vision, Sin consumes all before it and
it is insatiable. And except the Lord should come,
except the Lord should prevent, then this world would just deteriorate
more and more in the wickedness of our age. The Bible says the
heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked. Perhaps we can take from Elisha's
response here to these circumstances that we as the people of God
though we are given to see what will happen and the judgment
that is coming upon this world, nevertheless ought to have a
heart of pity towards those who are heading to a lost eternity
and to the destruction that sin will necessarily bring. A heart
of pity for the suffering of the weak, sympathy for their
plight, God forbid that I ever find myself saying, well, they
deserved it. If I hear of somebody going to
hell, I need to think to myself, there but for the grace of God
go I. We all deserve it. It's grace
from God that makes the difference. That's why this place is so important. That's why this message is so
important. That's why you as a congregation
are so important because this is a message that we need to
take to a dying, suffering world. The Lord has placed us here in
Great Falls, not in Seattle, not in Philadelphia, not in California,
not anywhere else, because he has a work for us to do here. Elisha had to go to Damascus
and we have been placed here to take this word, to take this
message to the people here. Let us have a sense of sympathy
and empathy and pity for them. They are blindly going to a lost
eternity and this is the only word, this is the only way that
they will be saved. There will be no end to sin in
this world. There will be no end to suffering
in this world until the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and wraps
everything up But we trust that we may never become hardened
to the effects of sin in the lives of the poor and the blind
and the needy creatures amongst whom we live and serve our Lord. Amen.