Eyes To See

Pastor Matt Davis – Eyes To See – 2 Kings 6:8-17 Introduction 8 Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. 9 And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down. 10 And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice. 11 Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel? 12 And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. 13 And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. 14 STherefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. 15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.1 I see on Facebook every now and then a post that says “Pastor: I won’t preach long today… and then… Independent fact checkers have declared this post false.” Today, I shall say, I will not be preaching too long. But that is with a reason, for I have set aside time at the end of the message today that we will receive of the Lord’s communion. If you have your Bibles with you, turn in them with me to the sixth chapter of 2 Kings. While you are turning there, we are going to discuss today the topic of Spiritual blindness. Have you ever, throughout your life, looked round about yourself and just 1 The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Ki 6:8–17). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. wondered how you are going to get to the other side of the mess you are in? That very thing happens in todays passage. After the previous chapter, where Namaan the Syrian is healed of leprosy and Elisha’s servant receives it, Elisha get’s a new servant who comes to serve with blind eyes. Beginning in verse eight and reading through verse seventeen, let us read of our story for todays message. In several accounts, Elisha had saved the prophets physically and financially, and now, it is his job to save the king of Israel. Our passage today says that he saved Israel not once or twice, in verse ten. For an unknown and unstated reason, Syria makes war against Israel again in a guerilla style warfare, sending small raids to various cities. Each time, to the Syrians frustration, Elisha prophetically knows where they are going and warns the King of Israel, stopping the plans of the Syrians. With enough of the Syrians attacks thwarted, the Syrian king becomes suspicious that it is one in his own ranks who is allied with Israel. Demanding to know who in his ranks has committed espionage, the king is informed, “Nay, it is not us. But it is that prophet of Israel, even Elisha.” The king then orders the capture of Elisha in Dothan (which by the way, is the very city from which Joseph the patriarch is taken and sold into slavery to the band of Ishmaelites). Elisha and his spiritually blind servant wake to discover they are surrounded by the enemy and the servant, as expected of any “normal” person, is afraid. Today, let us examine four realities to the realm of the spiritual. The Natural Is Blind to The Spiritual Verses 14-16 “ITherefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. 15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 2” When the enemy surrounded Elisha and his servant, all the servant had seen is in the physical realm. He saw the horses and chariots. He’d seen the soldiers and their 2 The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Ki 6:14–15). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. weapons. The servant looked round about and thought, “there is no way we are overcoming this.” Overtaken in fear, our young servant approaches Elisha and says “what shall we do?” I can imagine this man asking Elisha in between shallow breaths as he hyperventilates. The question seems almost as if the servant is suggesting, “if we surrender, perhaps they will allow for us to live.” What the young servant failed to see, however, is the army that surrounds them round about in the spiritual realm. The first thing we should realize is that… There Are Unseen Realities Elisha replies to the young servant, “And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.3” Though the physical army indeed was great, those who are with us are greater than those who be against us. I am immediately reminded of two verses from the Bible. The first scripture is from 1 John 4:4, For He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Though our worldly enemies may seem great, surely, there is none greater than the God who spoke our world into existence. Though we may not be abl e to overcome, we trust and rely on the fact that our God who lives in us is able. The second verse I recall when reading this is from Romans 8:31, “what shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” I think this would have been an appropriate question for our young servant to have pondered. If God is for me, who could be against me? I think we too must ponder this question. How often do we begin to fear because we see only the natural? 3 The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Ki 6:16). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. Charles Spurgeon said of the matter “THE believer in Christ sees much more than any other man sees. There is a proverb which says, “Seeing is believing;” but that is not true, for there are many things that we see, which, if we are sensible persons, we shall not believe, since our eyes are very apt indeed to be deceived, and optical illusions are very common.” We live in a culture, or a world that has always been this way, that we demand to see before we shall believe. But such is not the way of God, for we should turn this phrase around and say that believing is seeing. For it is not until we trust God that we can see through the eyes of God. Before we can rely upon the one who is living in us, the One who is for us, that none can stand against, we must realize that there is a unseen reality that many, that most, do not see; and God is not limited to the reality in which we dwell and interact with. Paul wrote to us in 1 Corinthians 2:14 “14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.4” The natural man, the unsaved man, may not see the things of God, because they are foolishness to him. The foolish man says “there is no God” so how then are they to see of the things of God. The thing to be realized is that we were each there, before the moment in our life where we received our salvation. As Christ taught, we must be born of the Spirit and be given a new heart. And to the saved, we must realize that the unseen comes through eyes that are developed as our faith and relationship with God grows. As we begin more and more to place our hope, or in better terms, to stand upon, the things that are unseen by the evidence of them thereof. Elisha’s young servant had not yet the eyes to see the Spiritual around him, but Elisha had. Which is why, when the servant said, “Alas!”, Elisha replied not back with “Alas, my servant” because he was at peace in the shadow of God. It is this same Spiritual 4 The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 1 Co 2:14). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. blindness that caused the spies whom Moses sent into the promise land to say “behold, we are like grasshoppers in their sight, and we cannot stand against them.” So then, if there is a world unseen and eyes to see spiritual, where do we get the sight from? Spiritual Sight Can Be Given Only of The Lord In the first sentence of verse seventeen, we read LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.5” “And Elisha prayed, and said, Though we may be able to see the unseen. Though we may teach, and preach, and lead people to the cross, we lack the ability to give eyes to see. God alone can give you eyes to see. And so, the same with Elisha is found to be true. Though Elisha could see the spiritual, his young servant could not. Elisha then prays to God, and says, “I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” Charles Spurgeon gives great insight into God’s sovereign ability to give sight. “Why is it that God alone can open men’s eyes? It is because to open the eyes of blind souls is an act of creation. The faculty to see is gone from the fallen spirit; the eyeball has perished; the optic nerve has died out through sin. God will not merely clean the dust out of old eyes, or take cataracts away from them; but old things must pass away, and all things must become new. He gives new eyes to those who have totally lost all power of sight. The act of creating a soul anew is as much a work of God’s omnipotence as the making of a world.” Paul says to us in 1 Corinthians 2:10 “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God6” 5 The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Ki 6:17). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. 6 The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 1 Co 2:10). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. So then, spiritual sight and discernment is a gift of God, revealed to us by His Spirit. Spiritual Sight Can Come as A Result of Prayer The middle portion of verse seventeen then says of the young man; and he saw:7” “And the LORD opened the eyes Elisha, seeing the spiritual did not argue with the young servant who could not. But he prayed for the man. There will be times where pray may be all we can offer, but we can pray with confidence that our prayers are heard and answered, as we are taught in James 5:16, that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. As Elisha prayed for the young man, God responds, opening his eyes and he sees. Though God may give a person spiritual sight on His own account, God may also give spiritual sight in a response to prayer. I have heard of occasions where people prayed for a loved one to receive salvation for twenty years, to finally have God open their eyes. Though not always on our timing, we are taught that our prayers have a real affect on the Kingdom of God. We should pray constantly for our lost loved ones, but there are times that are most obvious to pray immediately, such as in the case of Elisha and his servant. When the sinner is enquiring, as this young man had with “What shall we do?” is a good time to pray immediately for the sinner. We should be ready, when they begin to enquire of us to answer them and point them to Jesus. Open Eyes Bring Rest and Satisfaction The final portion of our verse says of what the servant saw in the spiritual realm. 7 The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 2 Ki 6:17). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. “and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. “ At the start of our message, the servant could only see the physical realm and armies standing round about. But after the prayer and further response of God, the young servant sees the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire, round about Elisha. The heavenly army was there, not to protect the city, but to protect Elisha – What a comfort that must have been to the servant to see, what a cure of the doubt and fear! The young servant then was given rest of his fears and doubts, and satisfaction, he could now say, I will trust and not be afraid. The same could be true of us – there is so much of the physical we see, but we do not see the full picture. Our eyes deceive us of what is reality and what is mere perception. In the world we sojourn through, there is much to cause fear and doubt, there is much to trouble our hearts – but if we allow God to open our eyes, to show us His plan, we could have rest and satisfaction, that our God is with us. Summary Our message started today with the Syrian army, frustrated that their plans were consistently spoiled. In another attempt to overthrow the plans of God, they set after Elisha, to take him, and surround him in the city of Dothan. Elisha’s servant becomes fearful and through his story, we learned of a few truths today. We learned that there is a spiritual, an unseen reality that the natural mans eyes are not open to. We learned that Only God can open our eyes, and that often times that can come in response to the fervent prayers of righteous follows of God. We learned that when we are given eyes to see that we are blessed with rest and satisfaction from our fears and doubts. Application This great clarity that comes with spiritual eye sight centers around the cross of Christ. In the greatest gift of God, the spiritual eyes may now see the heavenly army, the chariots of fire, that went forth to conquer the invisible enemy that seeks to devour us all. The clarity given us delivers us from the fear of death and the fear of man. It gives us rest from the law, the curse, and sin. It inspires us into worship and praise, and gives us hope of the eternal victory Christ has promised to us. They eye’s of the Christian point us to the reality of the human condition and despair, and even yet, though we may see, Spurgeon gives us one more nugget of wisdom, for he teaches us… “Yet the natural man can go through the world, and not see God at all. Yea, and he will even have the effrontery to deny that God is there, and he may go further still, and say that there is no God at all. David says that such a man is a fool, but the modern name for him is “philosopher.” In David’s day, no one but fools said that there was no God; but now, those who say that there is no God claim that they are amongst the wise ones of the world. Yet, how can they see if they are blind? We need not think that any strange thing has happened, for Paul wrote, long ago, about those who lived in his day, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” They said, “We can see,” and therefore their sin and their blindness both remained.” It is only through Christ that our sins may be washed away, and the retina of our spiritual eyes given that we can see. And it is only through the Father drawing us near to Him that we can allow Christ to save us. Invitation If you are feeling that calling, if you need the spiritual clarity that gives you peace, comfort, rest, and satisfaction, then give to what you already know is right. For God is all around you! If you can let go of the darkness and long for the light, and Admit that God is Lord over all, the creator of the heavens, the earth, and life, and the author of our salvation. If you can believe that you are a sinner in need of saving, and confess that God’s ways are right, that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and your ways are offensive to God, you can begin to have spiritual clarity as well. The Bible teaches us that God loved the world, He gave His only Son that He would die on the cross, to become sin in our place, that we who believe in Him could be saved with eternal life rather than perishing. We are told that if we would trust in Him, and confess Him before men, He would confess us. So if you are weary and over burdened. If you are fearful of death, of the condition of our world, and you are overwhelmed by sin chaining your soul, let us help you today. Just begin by saying with me the first part of our closing prayer, where we will admit, believe, and confess, and then begin to follow Christ and allow Him to change you. Paul says that if you would confess Him as Lord and believe in your heart He was raised from the dead, you would be saved. ***Prayer***