Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!
For the past few Sundays, our themes have been centered on Jesus teaching His people many things and doing miracles in their midst. He showed them His shepherd’s heart in caring for them and having compassion on them. Last Sunday He miraculously fed the 5000 with the loaves and fish, showing us the theme that God’ provides an abundance for His people, smack dab in the middle of nothingness. The next few Sundays will build on these themes further as we get into the Lord’s Supper. But today, we have a theme that sets it all up for us. It is about God’s powerful presence with His people. Smack dab in the middle of difficult times, He shows His people that He is right there. And His powerful presence comforts us and drives out fear. That’s the name of the game today.
We will get started with our awesome Old Testament reading. Picture it. Israel. Around 560 BC. The age of the Kings was upon God’s people. David. Solomon. And all the others who followed afterwards. Basically you have politicians running amok and the prophets of God telling them to wise up and repent! Roughly 1500 years later and has anything really changed?! Not one iota! The politicians still steal your money and make life worse! Over and over again it’s the same thing. The Kings would forsake the Lord and lead their people down the path of idolatry and iniquity. And, God would send His prophets to preach against their numbskullery and hopefully bring about repentance!
Today we get a glimpse of this with Elisha the prophet. He was the right hand man of the prophet Elijah, so much so that he got a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. For 50 years Elisha worked for the Lord as His prophet and messenger. He proclaimed the message faithfully. He worked supernatural signs and wonders. Even after he died the miracles continued. A dead soldier was thrown into the grave where Elisha’s bodily remains were and that soldier miraculously came back to life! (2 Kings 13:20-21).
In our reading we heard about another miracle. The setting was war time. The nation of Syria was warring against Israel. And somehow, top secret military plans were being leaked. The nation of Israel seemed to know what Syria was doing in advance. The King quickly went on a mole hunt to try and flush out the traitor! But there wasn’t a turncoat in the Syrian King’s court. Rather, it was the “man of God (who) sent word to the King of Israel” (2Kings 6:9). Elisha was given the insider knowledge from the Lord. Several times this went on until finally, the King of Syria had enough. It was time to cut the head off this slithery snake prophet of Israel!
The command is given and the spies go out. They scour the area and find that Elisha is hanging out in Dothan. The keen Bible student will remember the Dothan detail and what happened there. If you recall, this was the place where Joseph was thrown into the pit by his brothers and sold into slavery and then hauled off to Egypt! Not a good turn of events! So when the King learns this news, “he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city” (2Kings 6:14). The subtle tactics are over! An incredibly huge calvary and army is sent to kill one man! This is an epic battle scene, straight out of Lord of the Rings! When the morning light dawned, Elisha’s servant goes and looks out and see’s this massive military force that has them completely surrounded! He says “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” (2Kings 6:15).
Is it time to panic yet?! Is it time to freak out and yell and scream?! Is it time to curse God for not preventing this calamity!? Is it time to start blaming other people!? Who can we threaten!? Maybe we can do the opposite. Maybe we can bury our heads in the sand, give it the old Ostrich maneuver! Maybe this gigantic army will just go away!…
None of these approaches are going to work. Nothing is going to change the fact that an enormous strike force has got you surrounded. Nothing is going to reverse the terminal diagnosis. There is no magic wand to wave and get rid of our problems. The enemies surround us. Sin. Satan. Temptation. Guilt. Shame. Consequences for actions. Disease. Disaster. Loss.
While Elisha’s servant is in full on panic and freak out mode, staring down at this valley of the shadow of death, what does Elisha do? He raises his eyes up the mountains from where His help comes (Psalm 121). He calmly says “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” (16-17). Say what? Elisha, we are completely surrounded by a massive military force! There is literally no way out of this! It is YOU, Elisha who cannot see the obvious! But the man of God calmly prays. For he knows and trusts that only the Lord can open eyes to see the truth. Just like nobody saw the good that God was working when Joseph’s brother’s sold him into slavery in this very spot, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the massive problems that life places right before our very eyes. But the promise from God is clear. Do not be afraid. Trust me. Believe. “So 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” (17).
The Lord sent a miraculously bigger army! A fiery, heavenly host to overwhelm the evil onslaught! Myriads and myriads of Angels. Psalm 68:17 says “The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them.” This too is our reality as God’s Baptized and forgiven people. No matter how enormous or how overwhelming the problems that we face in life are, the Lord is present with us, just as He was with Elisha. He truly is Emmanuel. The Lord protects and surrounds us with His grace and mercy in Christ our Lord. Hebrews 12 reminds us of this too in telling us that we are surrounded by so great a “cloud of witnesses” (12:1). This means that the problems we face, we don’t face alone. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” Psalm 46:1 says. And this is what matters. This is what we trust and believe in the face of overwhelming circumstances. This is the heavenly perspective that God’s promises and His word assure us.
Now we would expect that this heavenly army would have absolutely trounced the Syrian forces in a grand display of power and might, worthy of some kind of Hollywood blockbuster movie! But there was not one drop of blood shed. Instead, the miracles kept coming. You can read the rest of the story in 2 Kings 6:18-23. But suffice it to say that prayer will open our eyes to the heavenly reality that surrounds us. God is with us, just as He promises. He invites us to His table to be fed and filled with His presence. His word of promise fills our ears and our hearts with joy. His cross and resurrection guarantee us a heavenly reality. This is why Elisha is so inspiring for us. When all around us we see problems and difficulties, Elisha sees the Lord’s army and His comforting and powerful presence. May our eyes be opened to see this same reality that surrounds us by the great grace of our Lord Jesus. Amen!
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