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Alright, well if you would go ahead and open up your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter number 6. 2 Kings chapter number 6. Alright, 2 Kings chapter number 6. Well if you remember last week we had Pastor Aaron Thompson here preaching for us, so it's been two weeks since we've been in the book of 2 Kings. But we left off obviously in chapter number 5 a couple weeks ago where we talked about Naaman the Syrian. If you guys remember we proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Naaman the Syrian got saved. We pulled some great applications from that. But towards the end of the story there, one of the servants to Elisha wound up getting greedy. And what happened is the leprosy, because remember Naaman was a leper, the leprosy that was on Naaman went to Gehazi. So that's kind of where we left off last week with that unfortunate incident happening. Now today we're going to pick it up in chapter number 6, and we're probably only going to make it to about verse 23, and then we'll cover the rest next week just because the severity of the last part of this chapter is definitely something that's going to take some time to get through. But we'll cover that, like I said, next week. Now the title of the sermon this evening is The Iron Did Swim. The Iron Did Swim. So what we're going to do is we're going to read the first seven verses. We're going to go through some comments on that, and then we're going to take a little bit of a deeper dive into these first seven verses and kind of break down some similarities that I see between these first seven verses and 2 Kings chapter number 2. Okay, so we're going to do a little bit of, well, we're going to do a lot of back and forth flipping tonight. So let's go ahead and start this off here. If you would look down at verse number 1, 2 Kings chapter number 6, and the Bible says this, The sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, so this is like, again, right after you read about the leprosy from Naaman cleaving to Gehazi. It's just and. Okay, so life goes on. Okay, he messed up. He did what he did. But the mission still continues. So verse 1, And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too straight for us. Now you notice that word there, straight. Okay, s-t-r-a-i-t. That corresponds with the word narrow. So basically what these guys are saying is, Hey Elisha, you know this building we have, it's too small. Okay, we need a bigger space. Nothing wrong with that. Right, they want to upgrade their building. And so they make a request to Elisha. Look at verse 2. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a being. And let us make us a place there where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. Okay, so you see what's going on here. They need a bigger building. They need a bigger place to congregate and to learn and study the word of God. And Elisha at first resists, but then he comes back and says, Okay, I will go with you. And again, we're going to come back and talk about this in great detail. But look at verse 4. So he went with them, and when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water, and he cried and said, Alas, master, for it was borrowed. We're just going to stop right there for a second. So if you would go to Exodus chapter 22. Keep something here. We're going to come right back. But go to Exodus chapter number 22. So these guys are doing the work. They're trying to get enough lumber to where they can build another building, a bigger place to accommodate their size. And what happens here is a mistake has happened. Okay, they're cutting down. They're felling trees, and this ax head falls into the water. Okay, and you see the intense of this young prophet here, the intense request or scream or cry out. You see the severity of this to Elijah. He's like, Alas, master, for it was borrowed. What's the big deal about that? Well, remember, they didn't live in today's day and age. They're not going to go to Lowe's or Home Depot and just pick up another ax head. It took a lot of time, resources, energy, and material to even make something like that back then. There weren't these assembly lines like we have today, so it was a very big deal. But here's another reason why this is such a big deal. And just real quickly, look at verse 14. Look at what the law says. Remember, these guys are prophets. They understand the law. They study the law. Verse 14 says this, And if a man borrow ought of his neighbor, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof, being not with it, he shall surely make it good. And of course, let's just read verse 15. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good. If it be an hired thing, it came for his hire. So what the Bible is saying there is if you borrow something from someone else, and let's say it's an animal and you need that for whatever purpose, okay, and it dies, you're responsible for that. You need to pay that back. However, if the owner was there and it was kind of this combined effort, then the owner would be the one to go ahead and replace that or take ownership for that. And so verse 14, though, very clear. It was borrowed. So what this guy is probably thinking, and you can go back to 2 Kings chapter 6. And so the reason why this is important is because now automatically because of this mistake, he's in debt. He's going to have to make this right. He's going to have to do whatever it takes to get this back to the person whom he borrowed it, okay, which is going to detract from the mission, detract from the building, detract from everything that they have going on. And so that is the reason for the concern of this young man. Now look at verse number 6. It says, and the man of God said, where fell it? Notice the calm response. Like, well, where'd it fall? Okay, he's not the one that is freaking out. He's not the one that is out of control. He just asks a simple question. Where fell it? And he showed him the place, and he cut down a stick and cast it in thither, and the iron did swim. Okay, now kind of like we talked about this morning, how there's, you know, people are always trying to explain these things away, you know? And it is just, this is the same thing. I'm not even going to get into it, but there are people that are, well, you know, what the guy probably did, if anything, is he actually cut down this certain piece of wood and attached a magnet to it and fished it out. That's the only, you know, that's ridiculous. This is a miracle, okay? Just like this morning, Jesus walking on the water, Peter walking on the water, this is a miracle, okay? So, and again, why does the Bible leave these clues in here? You know, the stick, the water, what's the deal? Well, part of the reason, if you remember back in Exodus, we're not going to take the time to go there, but if you were to read through Exodus chapter 15 when God has already led the children of Israel out of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, obviously he leads them right into immediate trials, okay? Things are a little bit difficult. There's a lack of food, lack of water. You know, they're literally having, God's trying to teach them to walk by faith, not by sight, okay? And they're like, hey, we're thirsty, what's going on? Well, they get to this certain place where they see water, they get there, they realize the water's bitter. Okay, so they start murmuring against Moses. What does he do? Takes down a branch, takes down some wood, throws it in the water. After God tells them to do that, the water becomes drinkable, all is well, okay? Kind of a similar thing here. And you just notice that as you study the Bible, as you read the Bible. There's a lot of similarities between different stories, and this is just edification for us, okay? It's how we can rightly divide the word of truth. It's for us to be able to connect the dots and to see God's hand in all of these stories and to finally solidify the fact this is a miracle, just like Exodus 15 was a miracle. This is a miracle as well, okay? So again, it's just something that bugs me when people want to explain these away. Well, it was probably a magnet. You know, my mind is like, why don't you just deny the whole thing? Just cut the whole thing. Just say, I don't believe any of it, none of it happened. You know, because that's, okay, I'm out. You know, I'm gone. But it's like, no, they want to sit here, they want to throw these weird ideas out there, and it's just frustrating, you know? Because here's the thing. You know, you wind up talking to somebody and they will have heard that explanation and they'll be confused. They'll be like, I kind of agree with that, but I'm not sure. Now guess what? Now it's our job to start unraveling that and it's just more work for us, right? And it's just frustrating. So let me just leave that out there and get that off my chest. Verse seven, okay? Therefore said he, take it up to thee, and he put out his hand and took it. And so obviously, what do you see here? You see the unrecoverable, okay? So the theme for today obviously is the laws of the universe, okay? The laws of the universe being superseded by God, right? People aren't supposed to be able to walk on water, but we saw Jesus do it because he's God. We saw Peter do it because God said he could do it. And what do you see here? Iron swimming. Iron's not supposed to swim, okay? This has never happened before, but here we're reading about it. Here this actually took place. God caused through Elijah the prophet this process to happen in the way that it did to be assigned to the nation of Israel and those who would read thereafter that God had his hand in this, okay? So hopefully that makes sense. But obviously what you see here is you see the unrecoverable being recovered, okay? And so you know that this is obviously a picture of salvation, okay? Because guess what? This guy was in debt. He called upon the man of God, okay, who represents the word of God. And the word of God makes it possible for that debt to go away. It was a very easy thing. Elijah obviously having that great connection with God, having a double portion of Elijah's spirit on him, throws the stick down into the water, okay? And again, the reason why I believe that happened, because it's kind of a weird thing if you read it isolated. If you read these things apart from the rest of the Bible, I can see why it's like, why the stick, okay? But when you understand that this similar thing has happened before, it starts to click, right? It starts to make sense. It's God's signature. That's what it is. It's God's signature. He's endorsing this. He's signing this. He's letting you know this really happened. This is me, okay? So it's a comforting thing. And obviously, through Elijah representing the word of God, this guy being in debt, now guess what? The iron's swimming. He's not having to do anything other than take it, right? What do we have to do to be saved? The work's already been done. We just have to receive the gift, right? And that's it, okay? Salvation's like literally supposed to be impossible, right? I mean, by most standards today, I mean, most people today think in their minds, apart from God, well, you know, my efforts have to do something for me, you know? I mean, I think that God would be pleased if he just sees that I'm, you know, at least the thought that counts or that I'm trying, but that's not the case. The fact of the matter is that every human being is in debt to God. All of us are sinners. It is impossible, just like it's impossible for iron to swim by itself, it's impossible for any man alive to save himself or to even contribute to that, okay? Just like that. I mean, it's the same thing here, the iron. It's impossible for it to swim, but yet through God's power and his mercy, he causes it to swim, the guy reaches down and he takes it up, okay? Clearly, in my mind, picturing salvation, okay? So that's the easy part. We're kind of done with that. Now, what I want to do is I want to take a little bit of a deeper dive, and if you have a problem tuning out, you might have to come back and watch this again because this might get a little intense, but I think we got it down. I think it's going to come across clearly, okay? I want to give you some reasons why I... Let me see here, how am I going to put this? I want to give you some reasons here on why I think that this is also in the Bible, aside from just basically picturing salvation. We'll go with that, okay? So one of the things that I've been doing, and again, don't take this the wrong way, okay? I read the Bible with the numbered verses, but I also read it without verses now. I do both, okay? And I'm not sitting here like, we're throwing all the Bibles and verses away. I would never do that, okay? I would never get up here and just preach a sermon with no chapters and verses because we wouldn't be able to cover as much material. You wouldn't be able to follow along as well. It'd just be a little bit more difficult. That's all I'm saying, okay? But I'm telling you, when you read it without the chapters and verses, in my mind, maybe I'm just dumb, which I'll own, I don't care. I start to see these similar patterns, if you will. It's just kind of really renewed some things, and I just want to share these points with you here that I studied, that I learned from basically reading Kings over and over again without chapters and verses. So, again, let's take a step back here and let's try to figure out why is this, what's another reason maybe why this story is in the Bible? Okay? Go to 1 Kings chapter number 17. Okay, we're gonna start there. 1 Kings chapter number 17. And then we're gonna come back, we're gonna go back and forth between 2 Kings chapter two and 2 Kings chapter number six, where we just read, okay? Now, the reason why I'm having you go back here first, 1 Kings 17, is because in verse one, this is where we get introduced to the prophet Elijah, okay? We've already spent a lot of weeks talking about him. We've read everything. We've gone over the verses. But you remember the interesting thing about how he came on the scene? He came on the scene just abruptly, just very quickly. Because remember, you're reading about Ahab and all his wickedness, all the stuff Jezebel's doing. And then literally right before Elijah comes on the scene, this guy named Hiyom, he decides, you know what? I don't know why anybody's never tried to rebuild Jericho. I'm gonna go ahead and do it, okay? And what happens to him? He gets cursed and he loses his sons, okay? Just like the Bible said. He said, why are you bringing this up? Because the children of Israel during this time, they're rejecting the father, okay? They're rejecting God, if you will. They've got their pseudo-system. They've got their false religion. They've got their false Christianity. And that's where we're gonna start here. So look at verse number one. 1 Kings 17, look at verse number one. Look at how we're introduced to Elijah, okay? It says, and Elijah the Tishbite. Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be due, nor reign these years, but according to my word. So it's just interesting here. You're just hit with Elijah. And all you're told about him is he's the Tishbite and he was of the inhabitants of Gilead. No mention of father or mother. Obviously he had both, okay? Obviously he had a mom and dad, but we don't know anything about them, okay? Now the reason why I bring that up is because God will often send prophets and he'll describe prophets or enter prophets into a story and the wording around the prophet will almost be exactly like what they're dealing with. For example, remember when we studied Hosea a couple Wednesdays ago, Hosea, I'm sorry, God called Hosea to live his life married to a harlot and to go through those things to be a teaching aid to the nation of Israel, okay? Why? Because remember God is their father. They are the children of Israel, okay? And so we see a lack of a father in Elijah's life, but he is going to become their father. He's going to literally represent God the father to this nation here. Go, if you would, to 2 Kings chapter number two, okay? 2 Kings chapter number two. And this will hopefully all make sense here in a moment. So what I want to do is I want to give you five similar facts, similar things that I found between 2 Kings chapter two with Elijah and his departure, five things that are similar between that account and the account that we just read in 2 Kings chapter six, okay, with the ax head and the sons of the prophets and so on and so forth, okay? And let's take a look at these similarities here. Now, number one, here's what's similar. And again, we'll tie it all together about the whole father-son thing here in just a moment. But let's take a look at these similarities, okay? Number one, look at what I want you to pay attention to here is this phrase, sons of the prophets. So kind of like Elijah the Tishbite just comes on the scene, right? I mean, think about this. We're in the Book of the Kings, right? It's usually like, hey, this is Ahab, the son of Omri, you know, or this is this king, the son of this king. But with a prophet here, you're not getting that. It's just, boom, he's just entered in, okay? And then it's the same thing here. Look down to verse number three. God just enters this into the Bible, the sons of the prophets. And this has been a lot of confusion for people in Christianity and they've built some pretty strange doctrines, right? Well, this is the first Bible college here that anybody could join, you know? It's just like, no, that's not what it is. These are a group of people whom obviously God has called to be prophets, whom God has given his word to, okay? They come together, they meet, they study, they pray, and they do what prophets do. But I want to show you some similarities here, okay? So both of these accounts describe the sons of the prophets. Look at verse three. It says, and the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, yeah, I know it. Hold your peace. Remember a couple weeks ago when we talked about this? Elisha is not happy that his master is leaving. He's like, yeah, I know. You don't have to keep telling me that, okay? But notice that phrase there, sons of the prophets. Now keep your finger there and just go back to where we first started over to 2 Kings chapter six, okay? And let's see here. Look at verse number one. And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha. Okay, you see that there? So both of these accounts here are highlighting this phrase in this group of people, sons of the prophets. Now number two, both take place around Jordan. So go back to 2 Kings chapter two and real quickly look at verse number six. It says, and Elijah said unto him. This is Elijah talking to Elisha. Verse six, and Elijah said unto him, Terry, I pray thee here, for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they too went on. Okay, flip back to 2 Kings chapter six and look at verse number four. So he went with them and they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. So both of these accounts take place near or in Jordan as well. Number three, okay, both of these accounts raise the prospect of prophet and sons of the prophets being separated, okay? So in chapter two, if you look around, let's do verse number seven, okay? Go back to 2 Kings chapter two, look at verse number seven. It says, and fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off, and they too stood by Jordan. So you see this in chapter two and we've talked about this, where Elijah's like, Elisha, you need to kind of go away. And he's like, I'm not leaving your side, okay? I'm not doing that, you know? Whereas the sons of the prophets are kind of like, we're going to hang back and just see what happens, okay? So there's this separation. Well, same thing in 2 Kings chapter six verses two and three. What do they request? Hey, we need to go get lumber, okay? We need to depart, we need to go get lumber and so that we can build this building which will accommodate all of us, okay? So there's a similarity there. Number four is the sons of the prophets insist on staying together in both accounts. 2 Kings chapter number two. So after Elijah is taken up to heaven by whirlwind, look over at verse, let's see, verse 15. Verse 15 and 16, look what it says. And when the sons of the prophets, which were to view at Jericho, saw him, they said, The Spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha, and they came to meet him, look at verse 16, and bowed themselves to the ground before him, look at verse 16, and they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men. Let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master. Lest prayer adventure, the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain or in some valley, and he said, Ye shall not sin. So again, we kind of were laughing about this when we went through chapter two. It's like Elijah just went up by a whirlwind into heaven and the sons of the prophets are like, well, maybe God just brought him up and set him down on a mountain. We're supposed to go find him. We're playing hide and seek, okay? Well, we know that that's not the case. But number four, notice that the sons of the prophets insist on staying with their master. Same thing, just go over to chapter six again and look at verse three. Okay, and one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants, and he answered, I will go. Okay, so it's a little bit different but kind of the same, whereas first the request is made, Hey, let us go get some lumber, and Elijah says, Go ahead, guys, you guys can go do it. And they're like, No, we want you to come with us, right? So in both stories you see the sons of the prophet want to stay with the master, and I'm not saying master like in a bad way, with their teacher, okay? The head prophet here, okay? So there's that similarity. Last one is this. Almost last one is this. You see that God's intervention here basically sets up an exchange, if you will, or a transaction between the older and the younger. For example, chapter two, Elijah goes up to heaven by a whirlwind. What happens? His mantle comes down, falls on Elisha, which basically signified that Elisha's request would be met. And remember what his request was? That he would get a double portion of Elijah's spirit on him. That was confirmed to happen. Well, in 2 Kings chapter six, Elisha calls up the axe head by throwing the stick into the water. And remember, it's not the physical stick, it's the word of God. It's the power of God that allowed that axe head or that iron to actually come up and swim. But in both accounts, okay, Elijah, who's the elder, who's the older prophet, he's taken up and you're left with Elisha, who is now the younger. He's the one left with the responsibility. 2 Kings chapter number six, you have Elisha, who is now the elder prophet. And what is he doing? It's almost like he's through that miracle of throwing the stick into the water and having the iron axe head swim up to the top. The way I see it, it's almost like transferring that power of the mantle onto the axe head, which represents a tool. So it's like he's giving the tool now to these younger guys, to these younger prophets here, okay? And so both of these accounts here, 2 Kings chapter two, 2 Kings chapter six, there's a lot of similarities. And really, they both picture a father passing on that knowledge to the children, okay? And I'm not saying that Elisha was the father of the sons of the prophets, and I'm not saying that Elisha is the father of the sons of the prophets. That's just a term to basically describe the relationship, okay? And also, don't forget, keep in mind, the nation of Israel, by and large, has rejected the father. They have rejected God and they have their own system, but God has not yet rejected them. In this time period, he's still trying to bring them back into the fold, okay? Now, before we move on, let me just read for you just four quick contrasts that I also see between these two chapters. I'm just going to read them because we've already kind of flipped enough. Number one is in 2 Kings chapter two, obviously, Elisha is the elder. 2 Kings chapter six, Elisha is the elder. Number two, 2 Kings chapter two, the elder leaves. 2 Kings chapter six, the younger, right, the sons of the prophet, they initiate the leaving, okay? Number three, in 2 Kings chapter two, Elisha does leave. He's called up to heaven. He goes. His is permanent. Whereas in 2 Kings chapter number six, the sons of the prophet, they're leaving was just temporary. It was just to get wood so that they could build this larger facility, if you will. And last but not least, number four, I wrote down, Elisha resists the sons from following him. Remember in chapter two, he's like, go over there, and Elisha's like, nope, I'm staying right here, okay? He resists them following, whereas in 2 Kings chapter six, Elisha agrees to go with the sons of the prophets to go fell trees and to gather wood, okay? Now, the reason why I bring that up is because I think that the relationship between both of these accounts is very interesting. One, because it takes place literally in the center of the king's narrative. So, from the beginning of the books of the kings all the way to the end, this is like literally the midpoint. Pretty much the midpoint here, okay? And so, what that's teaching us, it's teaching us the empowerment of giving and enabling God's word from one generation to the next, okay? So, all of that to basically say that statement there. So, we literally start with a mantle in chapter two, which is just a picture of God's spirit, which was on Elijah, going to Elisha. And then, by the time you get to chapter six, it's like that mantle gets relinquished and the power goes to a tool onto the younger generation, which is the sons of the prophets, and they get empowered. So, another reason that I think that's interesting is because, again, they've rejected God and his statutes and his commandments, but look at God's mercy during all this. God is still trying to help this nation out, okay? And you're going to see the effects of that as we continue to read the chapter, because the king of Israel, though he's a wicked king, he's evil, he does have a change in heart, okay? And we're going to get to that here in a moment. Now, I think it's interesting here that we sang song number 94 as the first song tonight, because one of the parts of that song, which is called God Leads Us Along, is that God leads his dear children along. At this point in time, the physical nation of Israel, even though the nation was divided, you had the southern kingdom of Judah, the northern kingdom of Israel, they were still God's children. They were disobedient children. I'm not saying they were all saved, but they were disobedient children, but yet the father is still trying to make himself manifest, make himself known, so that the people would accept him and come back to him and be on board with truth. So, again, a little bit of a deep dive there. Hopefully, that wasn't too confusing. Now, let's go back to 2 Kings, chapter 6, and just move on with the rest of the chapter. Alright, so after all of that, we kind of go into a different story here. Now, what we're going to take a look at here is we're going to take a look at the king of Syria and his attempt to battle the northern kingdom of Israel. And what's surprising is literally what I just mentioned, is that God actually sides with the northern kingdom of Israel, and he actually helps them, and he actually blesses them up to a certain point in this chapter. So, let's get moving here. Look at verse number 8. So, the Bible says this, 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. Now, remember, this is the same king of Syria that had his general name in the Syrian get cured of leprosy in this very nation by the prophet Elisha, okay? So, remember, he's got his own god. He's got his god, Ramon. He doesn't care about any of that stuff. And he's got this idea in his heart now. Well, you know what? Okay, now that my general is healed, I'm just going to go down there and we're going to roll these guys up and just conquer them. But God has other plans. Look at verse 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. 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. Okay? The reason why it reads like that is because the narrator, the Holy Ghost, is letting us know that this is taking place over a process of time. So understand there's a series of events here happening where God is delivering the king of Israel from the king of Syria. Why? Because God is still not yet done with them. He still wants to give them chances, still wants to attempt to help this nation out. And what you have here is the prophet Elisha actually helping the king. Now why I feel that that's interesting is because remember just a couple weeks ago, right, remember what Elisha said to the king of Israel. He said, If it wasn't for Jehoshaphat's presence, I wouldn't even talk to you. Now he's talking to him. So there's been somewhat of a shift in heart with this king to where now we see God helping him out and delivering him from the enemy who is the king of Syria. So look at verse 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 show me which of us is for the king of Israel? Okay, so this guy's like, we've got a mole. Someone in here is a rat. Okay, somebody in here is on the king of Israel's side and they're telling my plans. Who could it be? Well, look at what the servants say in verse number 12. And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king. But look at what they say here. Look at their understanding. But Elisha the prophet that is in Israel telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. Okay, so these guys understand what's going on. Now why do they understand what's going on? It doesn't explicitly say. I don't even know if I could implicitly say this, but I'll just give you my opinion. Okay, I think because of what Naaman experienced that the fame of God and the fame of Elisha and his power went through the land. Okay, and I think these servants just get it. They understand it. And often you'll see this take place in the world where the heads of companies, the heads of organizations are just so puffed up on their positions and their agenda and their goals that they miss a lot of truth. And it's often times that the people that are in the organization working will find out information before the leader does. That's usually the way it goes. And so they kind of understand. They're like, none of us are for him, but it's Elisha. Makes total sense. Okay, if Elisha through the power of God could heal Naaman and clear him up and change his complete outlook on life, get him saved, what's to say that he's not the one that's actually telling the king of Israel your plan? So they understand it perfectly and they're right. They're correct. That's exactly what's happening. God's telling Elisha to tell the king how to stay out of trouble. Okay, verse 13. So here's how the king responds. The king of Syria. 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. Okay, so they do apply the request. They do say, okay, hey, he's in Dothan. We can go get him, you know, but it's futile. What's going to happen here? It's stupid for them to think that they can contend with God. Isn't that what Job told us this morning? You know, can one in a thousand contend with God? Nobody can contend with him. Okay, but yet they're going to give it a shot. I don't know what this guy is thinking. Maybe he's thinking, well, maybe I could bribe him. Maybe I could just overpower him. Not going to happen. Look at verse 14. Therefore sent he thither horses and chariots and a great host and they came by night and encompassed the city about. So this is so serious that the king of Syria wants to make sure that he catches him off guard at night. Okay, remember these are also the same people that are like, okay, the reason why Israel beat us in battle is because their gods are the gods of the hills. Right, you remember that? A few weeks ago we talked about that. Right, this king still doesn't get it. Okay, his mind and his heart is still to his false idol, his false god, Ramon. And obviously that bozo isn't helping him out. Okay, but he's not getting the message here. He thinks he's still going to win. He's still going to be able to do what he wants. But God's got other plans. Verse 15. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city, both with horses and chariots, and his servant said unto him, alas, my master, how shall we do? So again, you can see by his cry out, alas, my master, how shall we do? In other words, he's saying, you know, basically, hey boss, how are we going to get out of this one? Okay, we're outnumbered here. It's night. We've got no army. We've got no physical help. We are doomed. That's what he's saying. Okay? And this is awesome here. Verse 16. And he answered, okay, this is Elisha the prophet. And he answered, fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Now Elisha knows the sons of the prophets well because he's going to pray for something to happen here. Okay? Because he knows that just saying that, unfortunately, in this time frame is not going to help this kid out. This kid is actually going to need to see what's really going on here. Okay? Look at verse 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. So again, you know, it's crazy how God works because this is literally what I was talking about this morning. You know, oftentimes in the Christian life, it seems like we're outnumbered. You know, you look around, there's not that many people here tonight. You know, you go out into the world through the week and you start working at your job, and you just really quickly understand my viewpoint, my worldview, is not at all popular. And it's like, is there anyone else around here that believes this? You know, is there anyone else around here with truth? We are outnumbered. You know, and it's like the world's got its armies encamping round about us, and physically we are outnumbered. Okay? Let's just get that straight. Unfortunately, the unfortunate truth, more people will go to hell than will get saved. There are, unfortunately, in today's wicked day and age, and you'll see this next week when we talk about this, there, you know we're outnumbered. You know, now this morning we weren't outnumbered with a freak show that was out here, but they are increasing. I counted them as 12. You know, and the bat kind of makes up five, because he takes up a lot of space out there, but it doesn't matter. Okay? When you count the spiritual, we are not outnumbered, and we're definitely not out-powered. That's something we've got to keep in mind. We are not out-powered by these people. Okay? They might have more in number, they might have more pull with politicians because they toe the party line, you know, whatever it is, but the fact of the matter is, God's got our back. We are the kingdom of God, the Bible says. We are the Israel of God, as say, born-again, Bible-believing Christians. And us being here, the kingdom of God is connected to the kingdom of God in heaven. Okay? The principalities and powers that are in heaven, that are in the spiritual realm, okay? They see what's going on, and the ones that didn't fall, the ones who are ministers of those who would be the heirs of eternal life, which are us, they are around us. They are ready to help and fight our battles with us. That's what the Bible teaches here, and that's exactly what's going on here. So Elijah, understanding that this young man is distraught, that he's in perils, that he doesn't get it, okay, being a father, because that's the theme for tonight, remember? The father, he's being a father figure to this guy, which this whole thing is literally a father figure to the nation of Israel, because they rejected the father, and here God is the father, and he's trying to get their attention. He's leading them along, even though they're in rebellion, and he makes this prayer that God would open up the eyes of this young prophet, and he does. What does he see? Horses and chariots of fire, okay? Imagine what a comfort that would be to you and I if God, for just 20 seconds, could open up our eyes. We could see the amount of spiritual support that's around us in the time of perils. Do you think you'd fear anymore? Do you think you'd have any more trouble? I don't think so. I think you'd be like this guy and just quiet, okay, because you don't read about him doubting anymore. He's like, oh, okay, we good, right? We're good. We got this here. Look at verse 18. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said, Smite this people, I pray thee with blindness, and he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. So, again, you know, this is very interesting here, because there's another situation where Elijah the prophet steamrolled, remember those 50s that were coming down the mountain and Elijah called a fire down from heaven on them? I might have got my prophets mixed up, but you get the point, okay? We talked about that several weeks ago. But here in this situation, he doesn't kill them. He just smites them with blindness, okay? That's it. It just makes them blind, okay? Because, remember, God is also trying to help this nation out as well, okay? They have a believer in their nation now. They have Naaman the Syrian, and I'm sure that that went farther, that his guys got saved. But, you know, I believe that that is why God has mercy on Syria at this point in time. I don't believe it was complete like Nineveh where there's just nobody around that's saved. Here, look at verse 19. It says, And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria, okay? So, remember, it's night time out, okay? And here you have the young prophet come out, and he's like, Master, come out here. Elisha, look what's going on, okay? Elisha comes out there, prays, opens up his eyes, and these guys are like, ah, those two guys, let's go get them. So they come down there, and as they're coming down to Elisha and the young prophet, Elisha prays that God would smite them with blindness. So they're like, okay, where's Elisha, okay? They can't see. So, Elisha, they don't know his voice, right? There's no YouTube back then. They don't know what he sounds like. So, he's like, I know who you're looking for. I'll lead you to him, okay? So he leads them, but he leads them to Samaria. He doesn't lead them to himself. He leads them to Samaria. Now look at verse 20. And it came to pass, when they were coming to Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. So they're like, wait a second, what are we doing here? We're supposed to be in Dothan. We were sent to take Elisha captive. What are we doing here, okay? Blindness led them into captivity, okay? They are now captured. They are now in the hand of the king of Israel. Now look at his initial request here. Look at what he says here in verse 21. And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, look at this word, my father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? Look at the attitude again of this king here, okay? See, at the beginning, when you first learn about this king of Israel after Ahab's death, he's doing his own thing, okay? He's doing his own program. But now he's getting closer to the word of God. He's not quite there. I'm not saying he's like this great guy, but, and I'm not going to sit here and debate his salvation, but I mean, come on, the guy here in the Old Testament is actually willing to follow the advice of the prophet now. He's, you know, he's been rescued by him through the power of God. So he has respect for him. And instead of just doing it, instead of just saying, all right, go kill all these guys, he asks. Good thing to do, okay? So verse 21, the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, my father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? Kind of reminds me of the disciples in the New Testament, right? You know, when they say to Jesus, all right, should we call fire down from heaven like Elias did? You know what I mean? It's the same thing here. And Jesus is like, come on, man. That's not what we're here for, okay? You're getting this mission all mixed up. But look at verse 22. And he answered, thou shalt not smite them. Maybe not the answer that the king of Israel wanted to hear. However, look at what the rest of the verse says. Wouldest thou smite those whom thou has taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master. Okay? Definitely not what he wanted, but guess what? He complies and he does this. And it has an effect. Look at verse 23. And he prepared great provision for them. And when they had eaten and drunk, he set them away and they went to their master. And here it is. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. Okay? Bless them that curse you. Okay? I mean, I don't want to take the time to do this because we've already gone through the Sermon on the Mount a couple months ago. But a lot of people will say, well, those teachings of Jesus, you know, that was all new and fresh. Like that was just like new. So all this Old Testament stuff is trash. No, that's exactly what you see here. That's exactly what you see here. Elijah says, no, Joram, you're not going to kill them. Okay? No, Mr. King of Israel, you're not going to kill these people because we don't do that. We don't treat these people. We don't treat our captives like the heathen do. See, the heathen armies, they would take control of people and keep who they wanted and kill the rest. Okay? Now, sometimes Israel was called to do that in the Old Testament but that's not this time. Okay? This is a battle that came to them. They've already conquered the Promised Land. They're already in there. They're already way past that time frame to where they were allowed to do that. So now, through the word of God, Elijah's like, no, we're not going to kill them. Okay? We're actually going to feed them. We're going to basically allow the fact that we led them into captivity and let them go be a testimony to their king and see what he does with it, see how he acts. Well, apparently, when they go back to the king of Syria, he's like, okay, I guess this just isn't going to work. Okay? And we're going to leave Israel alone. So at the end of the day, and again, we're not done with the chapter. It changes gears and gets into something, like I said, that we're going to take some time to really cover. But at this point in time here, okay, you see God's mercy not only on the nation of Israel by revealing himself as their father, but he's also revealing his mercy to a heathen nation, which, again, just nails down the fact that God is not a respecter of persons, that in the Old Testament, it just wasn't, you know, all about the Hebrew, because that's what we're led to believe today. Everything in the Old Testament is just for the Jew. Right? Just all Jew, Jew, Jew, Hebrew, Hebrew, Hebrew. It's like, no, God has mercy on these other nations. God could have told the king of Israel, wipe them all out. And he would have been right to do so, because they were the ones intruding. But what does he do? He spares them. And my opinion is, I believe he spared them, because they still had people that were receptive to the gospel, like Naaman the Syrian, and the guys that were with him, who saw that miracle transpire and heard Elisha preach. So I believe that is why God had mercy on Syria, but it is going to change. And God is going to allow Syria to then come in and conquer and do things, and basically turn the nation upside down. And that is what we're going to get into next week. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for these great truths. I just pray that this would resonate with us and that you would help us to teach these things to others. Pray you bless the fellowship after the service. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.