A Day of Good Tidings

2 Kings 6:24-25 sets up the story for us. “Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.” (2 Kings 6:24–25, ESV).

King Ben-hadad has called out his entire army to go after one man. That man’s name is Elisha. He is a prophet in Israel who was mentored by one of Israel’s greatest prophets — the prophet Elijah. Now Elisha is on his own and his prophecies are giving Ben-hadad fits. As the King of Syria, Ben-hadad is regularly send large armed raiding parties into Israel, but every time he does those forays are stymied by King Jehoram of Israel who knows exactly where the Syrians are going to attack. He know because of Elisha.

2 Kings 6:8-14

So Ben-hadad plans sends a strike-force to the City of Dothan to capture Elisha. During the night the surround the city. Early in the morning, Elisha’s servant goes out for his “morning constitutional” and low-and-behold the city is surrounded. He finds Elisha and laments, “ ... “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”” (2 Kings 6:15, ESV). Elisha prays for the eyes of his servant to be opened. “He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” 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. 18 And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:16–18, ESV) Elisha then leads eleven miles down to the City of Samaria where he asks God to open their eyes. Elisha commands King Jehoram to wine and dine them and send them home to their master, Ben-hadad. And for a while Ben-hadad behaves himself.

He does not behave himself for long, however, “Afterward Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.” (2 Kings 6:24–25, ESV). All of this ... and for one man!

It is difficult for us in our day to imagine the riggers of being under siege, although we are catching a glimpse of it with the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. At least 3,500 residents have been killed. 140,000 have escaped. The Russian Army had essentially kidnaped thousands of other from the city and transported them to Russia. The 170,000 who remain in the city are without water, electricity, heat, and food and people are beginning to starve. The Russian Army is attempting to reduce the city to rubble. (And to be honest, I’m glad there is an eternal judgment on such evil). In our text, King Ben-hadad of Syria had come against the King of Israel at the fortress city of Samaria with a mighty army. But instead of wasting his troops on a direct frontal attack, like the Russians at Mariupol, Ben-hadad played the waiting game. He sealed the city off, threw up siege works, and began to wait for nature to take its course. The people are afraid. Food soon becomes scarce. So scarce, in fact, that according to 2 Kings 6:28-29 some people even resorted to cannibalism — killing and eating their own small children. Death stalks the city.

God, however, is about to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that the Samaritans can ask or think, and God will reveal His abundance through the most unlikely of people.

I. 1st, THIS STORY PICTURES MEN AND THEIR NEED

1. man’s greatest need is for the miraculous provision that God gives to all those who call upon the name of His son

A. THIS STORY REPRESENTS A MICROCOSM OF OUR SOCIETY

1. the conditions in Samaria are a reflection of the fears men experience today

a. the Samaritans were living in peace and prosperity when suddenly a cloud of dust appears on the horizon

1) that cloud represents looming doom and destruction

b. before this they were going about their daily routine ... buying, selling, making a living, raising their families

1) suddenly their lives are changed forever

2) they will soon be stalked by anxiety, and fear; frustration and want

c. they are powerless to take control of their situation

2. like the citizens of Samaria, western culture has been lulled into a false sense of security, seemingly protected by the walls of prosperity we have erected around us

a. like the Samaritans men make their plans

b. like the Samaritans men dream their dreams

c. like the Samaritans men are attempting to earn their fortunes

d. like the Samaritans suddenly, with little or no warning, life begins to unravel and men feel like they are besieged by forces outside their control

3. the greatest enemy men face is death

a. it haunts him and makes him cower in the shadows

b. Jesus saw death as mankind’s greatest enemy

ILLUS. At the death of his friend Lazarus, twice the Apostle John tells us that Jesus was deeply moved. The word literally means to snort like a mad horse. Emotionally, Jesus grieved for his friend. But as the Giver of Life, Jesus was angry at death. At his resurrection he’s going to put death on notice — the time is coming when death will die!

B. MEN CRINGE BEFORE AN ENEMY THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DEFEATED

1. the Samaritans were huddled together in an agony of fear before an army already defeated

a. they are waiting for an attack that would never come from an army that has already fled

2. similarly, the lost man of our day is stalked by fear and anxiety not knowing that victory and power and liberty has been provided by God, Himself

a. in the death of Christ we see the death of death

C. MEN ARE BLIND TO GOD’S PROVISION OF PLENTY

1. here were the Samaritans, starving within the walls of their city

a. outside were stockpiles of food from a mighty, God-vanquished army, just theirs for the taking

2. lost men everywhere are suffering from a spiritual famine while heavenly abundance is waiting for them

“ “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” (Isaiah 55:1–3, ESV)

II. 2ND, THIS STORY PICTURES GOD AND HIS PROVISION

1. our God is not selfish with His grace

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19, ESV)

2. this story teaches us two important truths about God’s provision for us

A. GOD OFTEN PROVIDES IN SUCH A WAY SO THAT HIS HAND PRINT OF GRACE IS CLEARLY SEEN

1. in 2 Kings 7:1 Elisha foretells of God’s abundance that will soon be available

“For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” 7 So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.” (2 Kings 7:6–7, ESV)

ILLUS. It’s interesting that ancient Syrian history actually records this incident, albeit they put a different spin to it. Their chroniclers write that rats chewed through the ropes which tethered the horses in the Syrian camp causing them to stamped. That, in turn, caused panic in the Syrian camp which led them to flee in terror.

a. sounds like a cover-up to me —even in the ancient world the powers that be put their own “spin” on bad news

2. God delights in using the simple and unobtrusive things around us to reveal His power and glory

a. He used a mule to show Balaam his error

b. He used a gourd to reveal to Jonah his poor attitude toward the Ninevehites

c. He used a teenager with a slingshot to defeat Israel’s most notorious threat

3. did God use rats to terrorize the Syrians?

a. who knows for sure, but the fled, and it happened in such a way that God was the only explanation

B. GOD TAKES THE MOST UNUSUAL INSTRUMENTS AND USES THEM IN THE MOST POWERFUL AND REDEMPTIVE WAYS

“Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.” 5 So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there.” (2 Kings 7:3–5, ESV)

1. in this story, God is going to use some of the most despised people in that culture to bring good news to the people of Samaria

a. these men are caught in something of a ‘no-man’s land’

1) their not allowed in the city, and if they go into the city, “we shall die there”

2) they don’t want to go to the Syrian camp either because the soldiers will more than likely kill them

3) the Syrian camp is the lesser of two evils so that’s where they decide to go

b. the lepers will be unusual instruments of God to bring good news to the people

2. In the New Testament, Jesus Is Also an Unusual Instrument of God

a. he grows up in obscurity in the back-water community of Nazareth (can anything good come out of Nazareth?)

b. at the age of thirty he begins a public ministry of teaching and healing, and in eighteen months shoots to rock-star status in Israel

1) his name is on everyone’s lips

c. but by the end of his ministry, the crowds that shout hosanna will be shouting crucify him

3. this itinerant rabbi will be Israel’s Messiah and the Savior of the world — he is the provision that everyone needs to find

III. 3rd, THIS STORY PICTURES CHRISTIANS AND THEIR DUTY

1. I’ve always found it interesting as to whom God used in the discovery of these provisions — the lepers

a. the lepers didn’t discover God’s provision because they were more deserving

b. the lepers discovered God’s provision because they were move desperate

2. it is the spiritually desperate person who usually finds the grace of God

a. this is one of the reasons why Jesus told his disciples that “it’s easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle than to enter the kingdom of God”

1) the rich are usually not “desperate”

3. if you are a Christian this evening, God’s saving grace has been bestowed on you, not because you were more deserving than other sinners, but because at some point you were just more desperate for God than other sinners

a. like the lepers, we must stand a little bit in awe at what we have discovered because we really didn’t expect to find the provision we did

A. WE MUST NOT BE SELFISH WITH WHAT WE HAVE DISCOVERED

1. there is a time to feast upon the riches of God’s grace

2. there is also a time to go forth and tell others what we have discovered

B. DISCOVERERS OF GOD’S PROVISION NEED TO SHARE THE GOOD TIDINGS

“Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household. 10 So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.” (2 Kings 7:9–10, KJV)

Our community is filled with those who find themselves besieged by life. They are living in anxiety and fear and frustration not knowing that the enemy has been defeated, and had fled, and that God has provided all that they need it they will only step out in faith, and go beyond the wall of fear that keeps them from discovering what God has for them. The challenge this evening is for us is to go forth and bearers of good tidings.

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