Of Axes and Angels

Paul wrote to the Ephesians believers and he gives them the armor that they are to wear. Each piece is detailed and the words strike a full armor of a person who is now ready to do battle. You don't get to the end of that passage where a believer is now equipped and ready to stand against the wiles or the methods of the devil and he's then told, now make sure your guardian angel is there.

No. After you are ready and dressed, it says now praying with all prayer and supplication to the Spirit, capital S. Connection with the Holy Spirit. How much do you know about angels? We know from God's Word that angels are real. We know that they are spirit beings who work to accomplish God's will. And sometimes in the Bible, God would allow people to actually see angels. We've come to an account in our series on Elisha where that happens. A mountain was full of angels and what Elisha described as chariots of fire. God opened his spiritual eyes and allowed him to see it. What are some things we should know about angels and our relationship with them?

We'll explore that today. This is Wisdom for the Heart and today's message is called, Of Axes and Angels. I invite you back to our series in the books of Kings and Chronicles, pages in your Bible that I hope are now permanently unstuck. 2 Kings chapter 6.

We're going to observe some of Elisha's last recorded acts as we near the end of our study of this man's biography. And so let's immediately go to that passage in chapter 6 verse 1 of 2 Kings. Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, Behold now the place before you where we are living is too limited for us.

Please let us go to the Jordan and each of us take from there a beam and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live. So he said, Go. Then one said, Please be willing to go with your servants.

And he answered, I shall go. Now before we go further, I don't want you to miss the wonderful implication of their need. The sons of the prophets had outgrown their space. That meant their work was prospering.

There were young men applying for the ministry. It was only a few chapters earlier where we saw the prophets hiding in caves for fear of their life from Queen Jezebel. Now Elisha is a welcome figure in the courts of the new king and the sons of the prophets are flourishing and as a result their space is somewhat cramped. Let's go on to verse 4.

So Elisha went with them and when they came to the Jordan they cut down trees. But as one was felling a beam the axe head fell into the water and he cried out and said, Alas my master for it was borrowed. You need to understand that this was no small matter for this young prophet. To us it's the loss of an axe head we can run down to our helpful hardware man and replace the situation. To this man it was a very big deal.

Why? Well the text tells us for starters in verse 5 that he borrowed the axe. The word borrowed is in the Hebrew a word that we could easily render begged. That creates an impression then that this young son of the prophet went to a neighbor or some man that he knew who had this piece of equipment and he asked him, Can I borrow your axe?

I'm going with the other sons of the prophets. We're going to cut down some trees. And the first response was no. He came back a little later and maybe rephrased it and he asked again, No. Somewhere along the line he began to beg, Please won't you let me use that? I want to join my comrades in building a bigger space for the prophets.

Please won't you? And finally implied reluctantly he said, All right. Probably added the words guard it with your life. And so he took it and when it began cutting down trees and joining his crew in doing so. Now we also need to slip back into this culture and understand that an iron axe head was in that day state of the art equipment. It was the latest.

It was the best. It was expensive. And losing this that he had begged until he received it would mean that he this poor son of a prophet would never ever hope to be able to come up with the resources to replace this axe head. Then the man of God said in verse 6, Where did it fall? And when he showed him the place, Elisha cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float.

Now periodically for recreation I'll read a liberal scholar. And they suggested that the stick that Elisha put into the water was really held by his hand and he simply fell through the water and stuck that stick through the hole in the axe head and lifted it up for the son of the prophet to retrieve it. That's good. So God included this account in the Bible just so we'd know Elisha was coordinated enough to snag the axe head with a stick and lift it to the surface.

I don't believe so. The iron the text says floated. The stick was merely the symbol visible of what Elisha was wanting God to do with the iron to float like that stick. And like that piece of wood, God miraculously maybe by dispatching an unseen angel to lift that to the surface or maybe miraculously reversing the properties of iron.

We don't know, but we know it was a miracle. It floated. It came to the surface. Verse 7, And he said, Take it up for yourself.

So he put out his hand, if you can imagine that, and he took the axe head that was floating on top of the water. Now rather quickly, the scene of chapter 6 changes from an enjoyable building project to a national crisis. For the sake of time, let me overview. And in fact earlier I had thought of doing two different studies on these, but as I studied further I realized God had put them together to make a point.

I'll try to show you why later. The Arameans are continuing their raids into the little villages of Israel, the smaller cities. You remember we studied of one Israelite girl that was taken captive as a result of one of their raids. This is becoming more than an irritation to the Israelites. This is becoming a way of life that is binding the hearts of the nation in fear, and they are needing help, perhaps implied in the help of the prophet.

They are crying to God for help. And so Elisha begins to help. The way he does it is he receives from the commander in chief information on where the Arameans are planning to attack next. He simply passes on that information. So that when the Arameans arrive, they discover to their horror that the king of Israel has already dispatched soldiers who are now waiting for them, and their raids are routed.

You can imagine being the king of Aram. In fact, let's look at his response. He thinks there's a traitor at work. Look at verse 11. Now the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this thing.

He's foiled time and time and time again. And he called his servants and said to them, will you tell me which of us is for the king of Israel? In other words, all right, who's the traitor here?

Which isn't too bright. What did he think they'd do? Confess? He asks the question. And one of his servants said in verse 12, no, my lord, okay. It's Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel. He tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.

There isn't any secret hidden. We don't know who the servant was, but I've wondered, could it have been Naaman, who had learned personally firsthand that God, the God of Israel, knew the hearts and the thoughts of every human being? Well, the king then thinks the only thing he can do is dispatch an army to capture Elisha, which is interesting to me because if Elisha knew where they were going to raid—well, you follow me here. Okay, verse 14, and he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

Now, you need to understand this is an unexpected attack. There are no—there aren't any forces within the city to defend themselves against such a strong enemy of commando troops. Elisha was the only one, really, that they wanted. I want you to observe the fact here in verse 14 that they did not attack the city.

They just surrounded it. That's an implication that we don't really want to fight you. All we want is Elisha, thinking perhaps that the inhabitants of Dothan would voluntarily surrender the prophet to them. There would be no war, no clashing of swords. They'd get the man they wanted.

Maybe that's what they wondered or they thought. Verse 15, now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, alas, my master, what shall we do?

Can you imagine the terror of this sight? Imagine being that servant. I think prayer would be the last thing on this servant's mind. In fact, right now his heart was captured by everyone but God and we'll discover that Elisha's heart is captured by no one but God.

Verse 16, so he answered, do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. I can imagine that servant looking around, really? Thinking perhaps that Elisha needed a refresher course in mathematics. Even if I exaggerate Elisha, I'm still coming up with you and me and you and me. Two.

Against an army. Elisha has a different set of mathematics that allows him, when faced with a crisis, to say there's more with us than there is with them. Here it comes in verse 17. Then Elisha prayed and said, O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw. And behold, look, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. I think it's interesting that Elisha didn't ask that he see. Where do you think Elisha learned that the sky was filled with an angelic host?

Huh? Chapter 2. When he saw his mentor, Elijah, transported to heaven via fiery chariots, the angelic host. If we had the ability, ladies and gentlemen, to see as that servant saw, to have the blinders of this dimension pulled away, we would see about us in here an angelic host whom Paul says curiously looks into what we believe. Can you imagine seeing now visible, tangible evidence of the unseen world?

Would it make a difference? Let's talk about angels for a minute. There isn't any doubt that our society today is enamored by the world of angels, that unseen spiritual world that Elisha's servant at this moment was able to see, that you and I will be able to see one day. The trouble is, ladies and gentlemen, what's going on today with regards to angels is outside the standard of God's revelation. While angels are mysterious and powerful and involved in the arrangement of God's plan and purpose in this age as well as past ages, what is being attributed to angels today is a far cry with what the Word says.

I want to break down this caution into three different statements. Number one, while angels are sent to minister for us, they do not minister in us. Only God can do that. Just because angels are from the spirit world, don't confuse their activity with the Holy Spirit. Angels do not transform souls.

The Holy Spirit does that. The second caution, while angels are involved in spiritual work, they are never to receive worship or undue attention. If the possibility of worshipping angels sounds far-fetched to you, and maybe you think I'm being a little overdramatic in this, consider the words of Paul who wrote a warning to the Colossi or the church at Colossi when he said these words, don't tolerate people who insist that you join their obsession with angels.

For one thing, that tells us that this is not a new problem. We are never told in Scripture to ask our guardian angel anything. We're never told to pray to angels. We are never told to pray for more angels. Third caution, while the angelic order is involved in physical protection, only God can ultimately provide spiritual protection.

That involves the here and now, by the way. You go to the epistle that Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers and he gives them the armor that they are to wear. Each piece is detailed and the words strike a full armor of a person who is now ready to do battle. You don't get to the end of that passage where a believer is now equipped and ready to stand against the wiles or the methods of the devil and he's then told, now make sure your guardian angel is there.

No. After you are ready and dressed, it says, now praying with all prayer and supplication to the Spirit, connection with the Holy Spirit and with the armor of the believer allows you to stand fast. The infatuation, by the way, with angels who are supposedly ever ready to help, whomever they choose, is not true with Scripture, for Scripture tells us that angels minister positively to believers only.

Listen to these references. Hebrews 1.14 says they are ministering agents to those who have inherited eternal life. David in Psalm 34 says, the angel of the Lord encamps about those who love him to protect them from harm. Oh, Luke chapter 15 tells us that angels rejoice when an unbeliever receives Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior. Angels have dramatically delivered those who are in danger of death in Acts chapter 5 and in chapter 19 and I have read accounts, especially of missionaries on the front lines who have testified to some rather unusual deliverances by the hands of only those they could say were angelic. The truth is, when the unbelieving world finally comes into real contact with the angelic world, it will not be a pretty sight. The point is angels are never intended to draw our focus or attention away from God. It is God who illumines, it is God's Spirit who enlightens, it is God who leads, it is God who protects. He may dispatch those for the sake of the believer, but he alone deserves worship and attention.

All right, let's get back on the path. An interesting twist occurs in verse 18, the middle part. Elisha prays, strike this people with blindness, I pray. So God struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

By the way, this story is filled with eyes opening and eyes closing and eyes opening. Then Elisha said to them, this is not the way, he's speaking to this army of Arameans, nor is this the city, follow me and I will bring you to the man of whom you seek. In other words, I'll put you in touch with my earthly authority, the king. So he brought them to Samaria, the capital city. Verse 20, and it came about when they had come into Samaria that Elisha said, oh Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see. So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw and behold, look, they were in the midst of Samaria. Now imagine the enemy army that earlier surrounded Elisha so we had nowhere to run is now taken to the capital city, the gates are shut, suddenly they have their eyes opened again and they're in the middle of their ark enemy's city.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Then the king of Israel, when he saw them, said to Elisha, my father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?

Repetition implies his eagerness. Can I do it? Can I do it? Can I kill him? Elisha says, I think calm down, it's in the margin of your Hebrew Bibles.

Calm down, sir. You shall not kill them. Would you kill those you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow?

In other words, we don't execute POWs. Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master with quite a message, we might add. So he prepared a great feast for them. Imagine this, a great feast for them. And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away and they went to their master.

What happened? The marauding bands of aramands did not come into the land of Israel again. I guess not. They learned that their strategy could not win against a god so powerful as to bring blindness, as to deliver them into the nest of their enemies, nor against an enemy that could be so gracious as to feed them instead of execute them. The hero of these stories is not an angelic host.

It isn't even the prophet of God or his servant. The hero of these stories is Almighty God. By way of closing, I want to give you a couple of wonderful truths about our wonderful Lord that we can glean from this passage. And I think implied in these truths is the reason these stories were put together side by side. Number one, God not only intervenes in matters of national importance, he intervenes in matters of personal concern.

You can take your pencil or pen and circle verse 5 and then draw a line down the margin toward verse 15 of chapter 6. And you'll notice they include the same exact words. They're spoken by two different men, two different situations, and yet they both cried out to Elisha, alas, my master, what shall we do? Now, while one crisis could be considered personal and petty and an accent, come on. And another issue is of national importance. If we were to vote this morning, which one would God intervene in? We'd all vote, oh, the national crisis.

Learn it here. God intervenes in concerns of national importance, but he also intervenes. He cares about matters of personal concern. Your concerns are God's concerns.

Not that you need additional proof, but you look skeptical. Would you take your Bibles and turn to 1 Peter chapter 5? You can leave that text.

We won't return until another time. 1 Peter chapter 5. Look at verse 7. Peter is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with tremendous confidence here. He says, casting all your care or anxiety upon him, for he cares for you.

The word anxiety is defined by one Greek scholar. Whatever monopolizes your heart. Isn't that good? Your cares are whatever at this moment are monopolizing your heart. You came in to this service and you sat down and maybe you let out this sigh and nobody knew why. Maybe to your own conscious mind that was just the expression of how you're feeling. Maybe this hour is the first time you've sat down quietly in a long time.

Some of you have come in and your hearts are monopolized. That is, every waking moment is consumed by this anxious thing, this crisis. And maybe you've walked in thinking, well, God, are you aware?

Are you concerned? We can learn it here. As Peter writes, God cares. Cast it on Christ. The word casting, by the way, is a rare New Testament word.

It only appears one other time in the Gospel of Luke where the disciples are going to get that young colt and they cast their garments on that colt to make a saddle for the Lord. Can you imagine the humility of God's love for you and for me? You bring whatever monopolizes your heart and you put it on my broad omnipotent shoulders and I'll carry it for you. I'm capable. Cast it on me.

I'll carry your burden. Part of our problem, and the reason we're so excited about answered prayer, whatever form it may take, is because there's an element of shock there. One of our problems is when we're involved in the personal crisis, when we're overwhelmed with those anxious thoughts, we think, oh, this is axe-head stuff. God doesn't care. He does. The second thought I want to give you is this. God not only cares about great prophets who are in danger.

Now, we would buy into that. Sure, the great prophet, God to the rescue, but he also cares about anonymous servants who are afraid. The name of this servant is never given. But can you imagine being the Lord for just a brief moment and being able to display your power? Only a few times in recorded scripture does this ever occur where someone can see the wonder of heaven, the unseen world, the angelic host, and you get to pick one person that you'll allow to see that wonderful display. Who would you pick?

I'd pick somebody from Channel 5. They need a good dose of it. And make sure the camera's rolling.

Don't miss it. Here he comes. But the one anonymous, small piece of the human puzzle with nobody else looking just because he's afraid. See, that's a wonderful truth about the God that we so often forget acts that way. Truth is in the family of God, no one is insignificant. No one is unimportant.

No one is overlooked. One more thing. I don't want you to turn back for the sake of time, but you remember when Elisha was confronted by his servant and his servant said, alas, my master, what shall we do? That Elisha did not pray for God to send help.

It was already there. He prayed that his servant would be able to simply recognize it. In other words, he prayed that his servant would be given a perspective that there is another dimension, there is another reality, there is a host of heaven that is already there.

Lord, just let him see it. Maybe that's what David meant when he wrote in Psalm 34. Our God is an ever present help in time of trouble.

Therefore, we will not be afraid. Thanks for joining us today for this broadcast of Wisdom for the Heart, featuring the Bible teaching ministry of Stephen Davey. These daily Bible messages are intended to help you understand God's Word and the implications for your life. In addition to being our daily Bible teacher, Stephen is also the pastor of the Shepherd's Church in Cary, North Carolina.

You can learn more about us if you visit our website, which is wisdomonline.org. Stephen's been teaching the Bible for 35 years and the complete archive of all those messages is online. Those are full length versions of these messages and they're available to you free of charge. In addition, you can read the manuscript of each message if you prefer.

All of those audio and manuscript files are free and you can download them or listen online. Thanks again for joining us today. We're going to continue through this series on the life of Elisha for our next few broadcasts. I hope you'll be with us for that right here on Wisdom for the Heart.