Applying Grace (Part C)

Elijah behaved more like the coming Christ, probably than any of the others in his grace, although Joseph would give him a run for it. But he's just so gracious, this man. God just has his servant doing what he wants him to do. Verse 23. Then he prepared a great feast for them. And after they ate and drank, he sent them away, and they went to their master.

So the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of 2 Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this book. Today, Pastor Rick will continue teaching through 2 Kings Chapter 6 with his message called, Applying Grace. So Elijah's word is going to affect the vision of his servant in this case. Later, he's going to affect the vision of his enemies.

He's a busy guy. I started to entitle this, The Busy Prophet, but it sounded just, you know, not appropriate for a man of such stature. Anyway, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elijah. Well, fire is often associated with the divine presence, with God being present, and it is so here. But there can be no movement against God's people without God knowing it.

It's not possible. It never goes unnoticed. Whatever problems you face or have faced or will face, God, it's noticed by him. The enemy could not see the chariots of fire. I wonder what would have happened if Elijah had prayed, Lord, let the enemy see the chariots. Well, they probably all would have just been petrified, and that would have ended the story, and we'd be closing in prayer.

But there's more to come, and there's a reason why, I think. But coming back to this point, God caring, Matthew 10 29, are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin, and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will. And then he goes on to say how you are worth more than a sparrow. Sparrows are not worth much to men, but men are worth a lot to God.

They're worth blood, his blood. Remember, Jesus is God the Son. Fire, the emblem of that which purges and that which empowers fuel. Revelation 19 14, and the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. There's coming a time when we will be the army of God, and the armies in heaven. There's a lot of people going to be in heaven. And brought us away, wide as the gate that leads to destruction, there are many that go in by it. But straight as the way, narrow as the gate, and there are few relative to how many get lost, but still, a lot of people will be saved and in heaven.

That certainly would include other spiritual beings in that Revelation 19 verse, verse 18 now of 2 Kings chapter 6. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh and said, strike this people I pray with blindness, and he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. So God listened to his prophet and struck them with this blindness here.

There's a lot going on. They should first of all be very glad this is not Elisha. He would not have called for blindness, but lightning would have been bad. Anyway, Elisha's demeanor with the enemy is one of grace. Instead of lightning, he calls for delusions.

This is not I don't believe. The blindness, the complete darkness of the sight. I do believe he creates a delusion for them.

And I'll open this up a little bit. One is the Hebrew word for blindness here is only used here and in Genesis 19, the Sodomites surround the house and they're smitten with blindness and they keep groping and it's just like they can never find the door because if this were actual blindness, they all would have been panic stricken at least here. Exodus 23, 27, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. So God, and he points this out in other places in scripture, God is not the author of confusion for his people, not for the enemy. He will author confusion on the enemy and that is brought up in scripture.

Well, you know, 2 Thessalonians, because they did not believe in the truth but had love for the lie, I will give them strong delusion. And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. Again, had they lost their sight, they would have been preoccupied with that.

And these men are going to march 12 miles and it's likely a thousand men, at least 200. So if they were blind, it's just the story falls apart. They are placed under delusion, not catching what is going on. As I mentioned, this rare word for blindness, looking at the root Hebrew word suggests to be dazzled, to just, you know, sort of mesmerized. There could have been a hazy sight involved also but they're not alarmed.

The men are like, wait a minute, I can't see anything. That would have come out of the story had he smitten them with that form of blindness. And it is, the Bible talks about, you know, Satan blinding people. Well, they have their sight still, they're spiritually blind.

So let's develop this. Now if you're one of those that are insisting that they're, you know, he took their sight away, you create more questions than you do satisfy, than you can satisfy them. Verse 19, and it's not faithlessness. Please don't think that it's, you know, but the Bible says they're blind. No, you're blind.

And if you're not, you're going to be in a minute. So anyway, Elijah said to them, this is not the way, nor is this a city. Follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. But he led them to Samaria. Not some area, but Samaria.

I try to make that pronounced a little bit more because of our English. But anyway, he says follow me, which they could not do if they were blind. It would be like, where are you? Acts chapter 26, because I believe all of this. I mentioned I'd get back to this. I believe every single word. I step into the pulpit every single time with full intention to preach God's word with full belief. And don't worry, I have room for doubt other times when I get up here. Acts 26, that does not mean there's a double split personality or a falter in faith.

It means there's fights that go on. But back to this, Acts 26 verse 27, Paul speaking to the king, King Agrippa and the Roman governor, he says, King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe. I mean, you've got to love Paul, man. He's right up in that guy's face. He says, I know you say you believe in the prophets.

I'm calling you out on it. Well, Acts chapter 27, when the ship is sinking and Paul, he decides, you know, he now is going to tell the men what the plan of escape is. He says, therefore take heart, Acts 27 verse 25, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.

And I believe that. I believe as much as what I know about heaven will be just as it was told me. The emerald throne and all that, but they're going to be so much more. As the queen of Sheba said, the half of which has not been told. Ultimately, he is, the prophet, is going to bring them to himself when he removes the veil. But remember I said, the target is the king. And he says, I'm going to take you to the man you want.

He's just an obstacle. Their short-term mission was to abduct the prophet, to apprehend him. The original mission, which is still in force, is to conquer the king of Israel and Elijah is merely that obstacle hindering them from achieving that objective. So when he says, I will take you to the man you seek, there's no lie. He's getting right to the point.

You really want the king and I'm going to take you to him. They, of course, think that he's saying Elijah, that him. But that's on them. That's not his responsibility. He's getting to the nitty-gritty, we would say. He's getting to the point of the whole thing. Verse 20, so it was when he had come to Samaria that Elijah said, Yahweh opened the eyes of these men that they may see. And Yahweh opened their eyes and they saw and there they were inside Samaria.

Too late. So there's this confusion, this delude. They're going, they're following along and they're just not saying to themselves, wait a minute. He's leading us into the enemy's camp. That has been paused and now he has unpaused it. When they were marching, I'm sure the soldiers were saying that we're close enough to hear Elijah, why does he keep snickering?

If it was me, I would have been laughing all the way. Anyway, no, I would not. This is grace. This is the prophet. Just watch this unfold. Verse 21, now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elijah, my father, shall I kill them?

Shall I kill them? You can hear that impetuous, that, what's the word I want? Anyway, he is impetuous.

His emotions go ahead of his thoughts. Jehoram, the king. And so he says, can I kill him?

Can I kill him? He's like, he wants permission on one hand and he expresses this desire to go savage. Evidently, Elijah sent a message ahead, a messenger to alert the king, to activate the troops, to be ready for this. Otherwise, he just would have come into Samaria and there would have been no problem. But when he calls the prophet my father, well it's short lived. Again, he is just in the moment, this king. He is not going to stay there. Later on, he's going to want to kill the prophet. So Jehoram is, he is just excited.

And thus the repeated question. When things are going his way, my father, when things are not going his way, let's kill him. When they're faced with starvation, we get to verse 32. Shall I kill them? Shall I kill them? Admirable that he did ask, verse 22, because he didn't know what to do. But he answered, you shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.

Mercy is the characteristic of Elisha. He's saying, don't kill the guys, you don't kill a prisoner of war, that's just murder. You feed them, give them drinking water. They just marched 12 miles in a state of confusion.

And now, you can imagine what they were thinking when they realized, uh oh, we are surrounded. So, set food and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master. More grace, Proverbs 25. If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat.

If he is thirsty, give him water to drink. So, for so you will heap coals of fire on his head that, and the Lord will reward you. And the Lord will reward you. You can't always do that. You can't always kill people with kindness.

Sometimes you just, they won't allow it. But there are times that this is what is required. Not retaliation.

It was the end of that. Retaliate, retaliate doesn't work. Romans 12, Paul echoing this. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And that's, this is illustrated for us. We're seeing it happen here in this story. Now, if these men had drawn, drew their swords, then it would not, it would have been a different story. But they did not.

They, they were just, their fate was in the hands of Israel at this point. You know, it is a fascinating thing that Isaiah wrote more about the coming Christ than any of the Old Testament writers. Joseph perhaps illustrates more, but Isaiah wrote more. Elijah behaved more like the coming Christ, probably than any of the others in his grace.

Although Joseph would give him a run for it. But he's just so gracious, this man. God just has his servant doing what he wants him to do. Verse 23. Then he prepared a great feast for them, and after they ate and drank, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel.

Now again, presumably this is Jehoram. This, just speaking about his impetuous ways, he tells him give them bread and water. Well, he makes a feast for them.

It's just like, man, he just runs hot. There's no middle with this guy. God's letters into the wilderness to kill us, you know, just nothing in between. It says that the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land.

Well, that creates a problem for us. Because they will, in the next section, attack Israel with this great army instead of just a large army. Well, with all the army instead of a great army. Either this is out of chronological order, and it happens after the events in chapter, in verses 24 forward, or the raids did stop. The king of Syria said, okay, this isn't working. This kindness he's killing us with, I'm just going to attack the whole thing. I can't have my troops go in there and get this kindness shown to them.

They won't want to attack Israel. So it's all about war now, and I think that's where it is. So it's either out of chronological order, or the raids stopped and the war escalated.

No more little sorties into the land, but full-blown war. And that's how it reads. So I'm going to go with the way it reads, verse 24. You say, why do they write this way? I think it was hard to find paper to rewrite. Rewrite the whole thing? I can't.

I don't have any more parchment. Or anyway, verse 24. And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. So there it is. After this, this is what's taking place.

And I think that paragraph belongs next to the preceding paragraph, and not earlier at the floating axe episode. So the raids, they ceased, but the invasion begins, and it will continue into chapter 7. The larger army now is coming into the land. Samaria is a naturally fortified city. It would require a lot more troops to take them.

Verse 25. And there was a great famine in Samaria, and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver and one-fourth of a cab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver. Well, the siege creates starvation. That's the whole purpose of the siege, is to spare your men blood, your men's blood, no violence for your side.

Just starve out the other side. Well, God said this would happen. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. He warned Israel, you turn from me, and he itemizes it. He lays it out.

These things will happen. The extreme survival measures taken by the residents of Samaria forced them to eat things that they would not eat, the donkey's head. The dove droppings were probably used for fuel, because after a while you run out of wood.

You can't go outside the city to harvest anything. He could have even used it for salt as one commentator. How would he know that?

Anyway, where am I? So they're paying these exorbitant prices for things usually that's discarded because they're in a state of desperation, setting it up for what's coming. Josephus talks about the measurements. Do you really want to hear the shekel?

We don't have time. You can use a good Bible reference and go just crazy trying to get somebody to agree what the standards of measure are for each incident. Verse 26, Then the king of Israel was passing by on the wall. A woman cried out to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If Yahweh does not help you, where can I find help for you?

From the threshing floor or from the winepress? In other words, I can't help you. We have no food.

I can't do anything. Verse 28, Then the king said to her, What is troubling you? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. Verse 29, So he boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, Give your son that we may eat him, but she has hidden her son. Oh, what a crime. How dare she hide her son? These people are out of their mind with the devil.

There's nothing in this. This is really happening, and it's just not in ancient history. There are other cases like this, not just the Jews and the Bible.

There's other cases. Jeremiah talks about this happening from Nebuchadnezzar's siege against Jerusalem. Josephus talks about it happening when Titus comes along and besieges Jerusalem in 70 AD after the resurrection.

This is not just here. The king never saw this coming. Hara must have rushed over him in an instant, but predicted by God, Deuteronomy 28. We don't have time for me to read the verses that lay it all out. This means, this action, by these actions, these women eating their children, this means that demon possession has set in. In their desperation, rather than suffer, they cave in.

They collapse, utter collapse. Everything decent is lost in their rejection of Yahweh. This is the accumulation of decades of being fake with their approach to God, with their idolatry. And so now God allows Satan to have his way with the people because he has given them over to their cravings. And Paul talks about this, God turning people, in Romans chapter 1, giving them the delusion, turning them over to their lusts. They were beyond regret, they were beyond revulsion, they were beyond Hara at this point. And you can only get like this when Satan is turning the knobs and pulling the cords.

Darkness had become their light. If they were going to survive, they were going to have to eat somebody. Humans, originally made in the image of God, are never supposed to eat one another.

When someone says, we'd like to have you for dinner, clarify it. Anyway, we have to move on. Lamentation 4.10, there you'll find Jeremiah lamenting over this practice then. Verse 30, Now it happened when the king heard the words of the women, that he tore his clothes, and he passed by on the wall, and the people looked, and underneath he had sackcloth on his body. Well, he cared for the kingdom, he just didn't care for Yahweh's kingdom. And he has this remorse, the godly sorrow produces repentance, but he doesn't have godly sorrow.

He has human sorrow, and that's it, as far as he goes. He's being a leader of men, but he's not being a subject of God. And I'm rushing through this a little bit, but the hidden sackcloth, yeah, men can have great horror at what people do to each other without ever turning to the truth of God. Verse 31, Then he said, God do so to me, and more also if the head of Elijah, the son of Shaphat, remains on him today.

Well, he's not going to get Elijah's head, and he's not going to have his head taken off either, so that was just a big, he's just blaming God for his evil, and he's just a blowhard at this point. Verse 32, But Elijah was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him, and the king sent a man ahead of him. But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head?

There's the gift of knowledge again. Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him fast at the door. It's not the sound of his master's feet behind him. So Elijah said, the son of a murderer, Ahab was his father, was Jehoram's father, and if it is Jehoram, and Ahab, of course, murdered Naboth, or his vineyard, and others, and so Elijah, he doesn't lose sight of who this guy is. He's trying to help the king. He's been working with the king. He's told the king, you've got to wait this one out, because your idolatry has messed up everything, and that will come in the next verse. Verse 33, and while he was still talking with them, there was the messenger coming down to him, and then the king said, Surely this calamity is from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer? So he comes, and Elijah, who has the town elders there, coming to hear from him, as Ezekiel did often, he says, Hold the door. Don't let the messenger inside.

Hold him at the door. His king is right behind him, and I'll deal with the king, and that's what happens. And so the narrative goes right to the king, and the king says to Elijah, Surely this calamity is from Yahweh, and Elijah says, Surprise!

Oh, you're the only one that doesn't know that? And the king then says, Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer? Which presupposes that Elijah told him, You've got to wait this one out. God will deal with this, and he will in chapter 7.

But he's extracting so that everybody can see from beneath the surface the hearts of the king and the people alike, and God is saying, You mess with idolatry, you're opening yourself up to demons. Thanks for joining us for today's edition on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We trust that what you've heard today in the book of 2 Kings has been something to remember. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series, go to crossreferenceradio.com. Once more, that's crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. Our time is about up, but we hope you'll tune in again next time as we continue on in the book of 2 Kings. We look forward to that time with you, so make a note in your calendar to join Pastor Rick as he teaches from the Bible right here on Cross-Reference Radio.