1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word this morning is
taken from 2 Kings 6:8-23, (READ TEXT), it’s entitled, “More are with Us…” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
The successor to Elijah, a prophet
named Elisha, had a problem at the beginning of his ministry. His predecessor,
Elijah, had cut a mighty commanding figure for the Lord. Elijah spoke out so
boldly! The Lord had done such great miracles through him! He turned out to be
a very hard act to follow, as it were.
3.
On the day Elijah was taken into
heaven alive—one of only two people in Scripture who didn’t die—other prophets
ran up to Elisha. They didn’t want to talk about him. Rather, they wanted to
ask about Elijah. They kept saying, “Do you know that today the Lord will
take your master from over you?” After the Lord took Elijah into heaven in
a fiery chariot, some of these same prophets went to Elisha and suggested
forming a search party, in case the chariot had simply taken Elijah out of
sight and dropped him off somewhere. Maybe Elijah was gone, but their interest
in him had not waned. Elijah still caught the imagination of many faithful
people and fired their aspirations. The Lord had taken Elijah to heaven and
thus off the scene, though, among other things, so that Elisha could get on
with his assigned work.
4.
People at the time would have had
difficulty believing this, but in so many ways Elisha turned out even better
than Elijah. On the day Elijah was taken up, Elisha asked for a double portion
of Elijah’s spirit. The Lord granted it. Eventually the Lord did twice as many
miracles through Elisha as he had done through Elijah. This was the greatest
collection of personal miracles—miracles done one-on-one or in a small group—
anywhere in the Old Testament. Not only were Elisha’s miracles more numerous
than Elijah’s, his miracles were also better. While the miracles of both
prophets contained elements of blessing and curse, in Elijah’s miracles, curse
had been more prominent. On the other hand, blessing stood out in Elisha’s
miracles.
5.
In our text from 2 Kings 6, the king of Syria
grew frustrated that the king of Israel seemed to know about top secret Syrian
military maneuvers. The Syrian king began wondering whether a spy had
infiltrated his innermost circle, but he learned that in Israel the king needed
no spy. He had Elisha, a mighty prophet who could report the most closely-
guarded secrets. The Syrian king determined to get this prophet, so he sent his
army after Elisha under cover of darkness. When day broke, Elisha’s servant
came running to warn of the danger. There was no place to hide. He and Elisha
were surrounded. No problem, replied Elisha. “Those who are with us are more
than those who are with them,” he told his servant. When the servant looked
a second time, the Lord opened his eyes to see the heavenly army of angels surrounding
Elisha, with fiery horses and chariots.
6.
Still
today, the battle is on for the hearts and minds of men. It’s not fought with
conventional weapons of war. The dangers we can see are often quite scary, but
there is much more than meets the eye. A
few years ago, a lot of money was spent
trying to convince the electorate of one state to approve a gambling casino for
a small community with a sluggish economy. Who do you suppose paid for all
these ads? Not the economically-distressed community! There certainly was more
than met the eye in this case, especially considering that the casino would
devote itself to increasing greed and convincing people to try to get something
for comparatively nothing. On the whole, the gambling industry tempts people to
take the money they could use for constructive purposes and throw it away. There
is more than meets the eye, that’s for sure. As St. Paul put it, “We do not
wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Solomon in Proverbs 13:11-13 (NLT) says, “11 Wealth
from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows
over time. 12 Hope
deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.”
7.
The community and the casino form
only one example. The battle for the hearts and minds of men is on in every
aspect of life: social, economic, intellectual, moral, ethical. These are all
arenas for spiritual struggle! Luther wrote in the Large Catechism, “If you
could see how many knives, darts, and arrows are every moment aimed at you
[Ephesians 6:16], you would be glad to come to the Sacrament as often as
possible.”1 If what we see in this wicked world seems scary, consider the
forces that go unseen. 1 Large Catechism V 82 (Concordia, 440).
8.
But, as Elisha’s servant learned
when his eyes were opened, there are more of us than there are of them. Today,
open your eyes of faith and see what God has on your side. He has a mighty army of angels, doing his
bidding and surrounding you with protection. Even in heavenly terms, such a
force comes at a cost. This one was paid for with the holy, precious blood and
the innocent suffering and death of Christ, who is God himself. He has the
power to make any of Elisha’s miracles look puny by comparison, and he has
packed into his Word the very divine power that raised Christ from the dead. He
comes to you now with this same Word, to fight for you.
9.
The Word of Jesus has the power to
save you for all eternity, but it also speaks to you about what is going on all
around you. It tells you that—despite the dangers, problems, and threats in
this world—you can feel at home here. This remains our Father’s world, and he
is for us. As Scripture says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
(Romans 8:31). Angels aside, whenever you are with the Lord, you are always in
the majority. He’s on your side on account of the crucified and risen Christ.
10.
Therefore, it is in no way throwing
in the towel and admitting defeat when we say to God, “Your will be done.”
No, for us as believers in Christ these words constitute a victory cry. God’s
good and gracious will is done among us when he “breaks and hinders every
evil counsel and will that would not let us hallow the name of God nor let His
kingdom come, such as the will of the devil, the world, and our flesh” and when
he “strengthens and keeps us steadfast in His Word and in faith until we die.”2
The battle for the hearts and minds of men is on, all right, and Christ engages
us in it every time we pray the prayer he taught. 2 Small Catechism, Third
Petition (Concordia, 334).
11.
There are more of us than there are
of them. We can have freedom from the
fearsome forces arrayed against us. As the text goes on to explain, we can also
freely show generosity to the people who would oppose us. Elisha did, knowing
that the Lord was protecting him. He went out and met the Syrian army. Elisha
prayed that the Lord would strike all these soldiers blind, which God did.
Ironic, isn’t it? The Lord had enabled the prophet’s servant to see
supernatural realities, but now he blinded the Syrian troops to natural things
right in front of them.
12.
Elisha proceeded to lead the Syrian
soldiers haplessly into the capital city of Israel, Samaria. Once they were
there, the Lord opened their eyes again. You can imagine their reaction: first
disorientation and shock, followed by recognition of where they were, and then
fear over being surrounded by their enemy. They had nowhere to go. The
Israelite king, a son of wicked King Ahab, was thrilled with this unexpected
military coup. Gleefully rubbing his hands together, he asked, “Shall I
strike them down? Shall I strike them down?”
13.
Elisha said no. These Syrians weren’t
the king’s prisoners. They were the Lord’s, for the Lord had captured them. His
prophet Elisha gave orders that they be given something to eat and sent home.
The king did just that. Once again, only the Lord could protect those who were surrounded,
and he did. See what I mean about blessing standing out more than curse in the
miracle activity of Elisha?
14.
The Lord works similarly in your
life and mine. He shows us how desperate our situation is in this world. He
exposes our vulnerability. More than that, by his law he accuses us of our sin,
solemnly pronouncing that the sinning soul shall die. His law comes to us
through the impact of events in our lives and through our own consciences as
well as by his Word. But, he does not aim to leave us in despair and death. The
prophet Isaiah called it God’s “alien work” when he terrifies. He wants
to console and quicken. The Lord kills in order to make alive. He afflicts the
comfortable so he can comfort the afflicted. As he had brought comfort to Elisha’s
frightened servant, next he gave it to the terrified Syrian army. Those who had
seen Elijah in action might have expected the prophet to tell the king, “Yes,
kill them all.” But through Elisha, the Lord showed mercy.
15.
In the New Testament an angel told
the father of John the Baptizer that his son John would go forth in
the spirit and power of Elijah in preparing the way for the coming Christ.
(See Luke 1:17.) When Jesus came, it was in the spirit of mercy. Christ came,
if you will, in the spirit of Elisha, though he is greater than Elisha. Jesus
preached the law to people, as John had done. Still, the great theme of his
work amounts to blessing, not curse. For Jesus is the promised Seed of the
woman who would roll back the curse that impended over the whole world ever
since the fall into sin. In Christ we, too, can say, “I shall not die, but I
shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD” (Psalm 118:17). We can
recount his deeds even to people who have been our spiritual opponents,
trusting all the while in the Lord and his might.
16.
The Maker of heaven and earth is
powerful beyond our imagination, of course. He commands vast angel armies, to
say nothing of his own might. There is no consolation for us in such great
divine power unless God shows us the smiling face of his blessing and his love,
as he showed it to Elisha’s servant and also to the Syrians. No one appreciates
his love and blessing for what they are unless they are seen against the black
backdrop of sin, danger, and death in this world. In Christ God has given us
sinners freedom—freedom from and freedom for. With the protection of our
mighty Lord, we have freedom from the fearsome forces, and freedom for
generosity to the people who would oppose us.
17.
Thank God that when he opened our
eyes, enemies that we once were, he did not show mercy on us for a moment and
send us back. Instead, the One who died and rose for us now stays with us,
fighting for us through his Word. With Jesus, we stay safe for all eternity. The peace of God that passes all
understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life
everlasting. Amen.
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