Please turn in your Bibles this morning to the Book of Kings, 2 Kings, chapter 6. 2 Kings, chapter 6, that's on page 361 in most of the Pew Bibles, perhaps on 274. 2 Kings, chapter 6, we'll be taking up the text at verse 8 this morning. Now, I may be dating myself just a little bit here to ask the question, if you remember the magic eye pictures that came out back in the 90s. You remember walking through the shopping mall and have a group of people gathered around this picture. Lots of colors and patterns and they're all staring at it. Trying to see the hidden image inside. Do you remember those? Do you remember the frustration of standing there and staring and the guy over here says, Oh, I see it. I don't see anything. It's a kind of blindness, you see, to see, but not really see. And in our text this morning, we have a story in which men are seen, but not really seen. They're blind in various ways. And through this story, we're invited to see it in our mind's eye through eyes of faith. But they could not. to see what eyes of faith alone can see. First, in verses 8 through 17, that the Lord powerfully protects his people. And second, in verses 8 through 23, that the Lord mercifully mediates for his enemies. And as we look into these things, we will consider them from the particular perspective of Elisha, who is the man of God on the scene and the agent of God in the doing of these things. But also Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Son of God, to whom Elisha points. Yahweh saves. Jesus saves. Follow along as we hear from God's word this morning, 2 Kings chapter 6, verses 8 through 23. Hear now the word of God. Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, I will set up my camp in such and such a place. The man of God sent word to the king of Israel, beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there. So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. And time and again, Elisha warned the king so that he was on his guard in such places. This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel? None of us, my lord, the king, said one of his officers. But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom. Go find out where he is, the king ordered, so I can send men and capture him. The report came back, he is in Dothan. Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots that surrounded the city. Oh my Lord, what shall we do? the servant asked. Don't be afraid, the prophet answered. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed, Oh Lord, open his eyes so he may see. Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. As the enemy came down toward Elisha, Elisha prayed to the Lord, Strike these people with blindness. So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. Elisha told them, This is not the road, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for. And he led them to Samaria. After they entered the city, Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they looked, and there they were inside Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them? Do not kill them, he answered. Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword and bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink, and then go back to their master. So he prepared a great feast for them. And after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away. and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory. Here ends the reading of God's word. Another story, another episode from the ministry of Elisha to the people of Israel. The northern kingdom sinfully rebelling against their God and yet still bearing his name. And as we consider the story this morning, the first thing that we're going to see is that the Lord powerfully protects his people. In verses 8 through 12, we read how the Lord powerfully protected Israel against the attacks of Aram through his anointed, the prophet Elisha. And our story begins where there is still a formal but uneasy peace between Aram and Israel. As we considered in chapter 5, it was formal. It allowed Naaman to go and to be healed of his leprosy. And at the same time, there were border raids taking place by the forces of Aram. And it's clear from that text and also from our own that the king of Miriam was preparing to break this truth. He was preparing to go to war. And he was trying to establish a secret base camp inside the borders of Israel from which to launch his attack. And so he made plans and he wanted to set it up in such and such a place. And you know, when he went there, Israel was there. And he set it up in such and such a place and he went there and Israel was there. He got very angry because Israel was every place he wanted to go. And he was so angry that he interrogated his officers. He called in the generals. Someone was tipping off the king of Israel. Someone with top security clearance had loose lips and he was going to find out who it was. He was enraged. We're not told who the king suspected, but we have to, if we remember the story in line that we've read here we have to think that Naaman was on the short list. He'd just come back from Israel. He'd gone over there a leper. He'd come back healed. Maybe he had some sympathy for Israel. Maybe he was the culprit. We don't know. And we don't know which servant spoke up to tell him the truth but it might just as well have been Naaman in that case as well because he had had personal experience with Elisha who had known his heart. And so in verse 12 we read that one of the officers responded, and it may well have been Naaman, none of us, my lord and king, but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel. He tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom. He knows everything. He knows all your secrets. Well, the king of Aram has certainly seen the king of Israel as his opponent. Now he sees Elisha as his opponent, and yet he still does not see that the Lord God of Israel is his opponent. And we see in verses 13 through 16, in him in particular, but in all the players here except for Elisha, that there's spiritual blindness all around. The king of Aram is certainly spiritually blind. Even though Elisha knows all of his secrets, he's foiled every one of his plans, he still lays out this plan to send a large army to Dothan and to capture him. It's laughable on the face of it, isn't it? It's even more laughable when you think and remember that Dothan sat on the top of a high hill that overlooked the entire valley through which his army would have to march. He would see him coming. He didn't even need secret knowledge. And yet he made his plans to go and capture Elisha. He did anticipate resistance, however, because every one of his former plans had been foiled, so he sent a large force, horses and chariots and a powerful army. He sent in the heavy artillery, I suspect because he expected Israel to be there to give him a fight. But he was blind to the fact that the way would lay open for him. There would be no resistance because his attack would, in fact, be his own entrapment. He's blind to the fact that in attacking the Lord's anointed, in attacking Elisha, the prophet, he is attacking the prophet's Lord, the God of Israel. And we have to ask with David in Psalm 2, why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed. And the one enthroned in heaven laughs and he scoffs at them. The king of Aram is spiritually blind. He has no idea what he's up against. And although it's not the main point of our text, we can surmise that the king of Israel is also spiritually blind. He has enjoyed great personal and political benefit from Elisha giving him all the secrets of the king of Aram. He's been granted safety and security and victory. But even so, he never repented from worshipping falsely at Bethel and Dan. He never turned away from that. And it appears from verse 15 by the surprise on the servant of Elisha's face that he didn't send any troops this time. Every other time he sent troops. This time he didn't send troops. So then in verse 15 we read that when the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the next morning, lo and behold, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. A rude awakening, to be sure, that drives him to terror. Oh my Lord, what shall we do, he asked, as he ran back and told Elisha of the trouble outside. And here we see that the servant of Elisha was also spiritually blind. He was afraid of what he saw with his natural eyes. And he had forgotten what he knew through faith. And we know how that is, don't we, in life. To be overwhelmed by what we can see and touch. Forgetting what we know from the Word of God. It's at this point in the story that we must realize that the Lord's powerful protection is not visible to the naked eye. It is only visible and revealed to eyes of faith. He reveals it in His Word. i could give you countless examples i'll give you two the psalmist declares in psalm 91 i will say of the lord he is my refuge and my strength my god in whom i trust that's how we were called to worship this morning be reminded of that fact that god reveals to us in his word and that can be seen through the eyes of faith he says in david in psalm 34 the angel of the lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. That is the truth. But it cannot be seen with the naked eye and the prophet's servant doesn't see it and he despairs. But Elisha, Elisha has eyes of faith. And with those eyes he knows the truth and by virtue of his office he's able to see the reality of which the word speaks. And he says to his servant in verse 16, Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And then he prayed for the comfort and the assurance of his servant. He prayed that the Lord would open his eyes and let him see this reality. A miraculous revelation to be sure. One confined to this moment in history is not one for us to ask for today that the Lord would show us his fiery chariots. It's enough that it's in his word. And in verse 17, what the servant sees, we are to see with our own eyes of faith that indeed the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. The Lord was with his anointed and he was with his people and there was no reason to fear. As David says in Psalm 56, the servant could cry, In God whose word I praise, In the Lord whose word I praise, in God I trust, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord powerfully protects his people. But the people of God are no longer restricted to a plot of ground in the Middle East to be opposed by the kingdoms of the world, as we see in this story. Jesus Christ, the anointed of God, to whom Elisha only pointed, has purchased for God men from every tribe and nation and people and tongue. And he's gathered them together into the church. And he, Jesus Christ, continues to powerfully protect the saints against the attacks of our enemies, the world, our own sinful nature, and the devil. his powerful protection is unseen to the naked eye but can be seen with eyes of faith alone and again it's in his written word where he reveals what he is about where he reveals what he is up to where he reveals the protection that he gives his people and in that word he testifies of the word incarnate Jesus Christ our Lord our powerful protector and in his word we clearly see that although these enemies of ours continue to assail us day after day hour after hour the Lord himself protects us and overcomes their strategies Paul reminds us in Galatians chapter 5 that the sinful nature the sinful nature that is ours from Adam desires what is contrary to the spirit of God as we know from Romans 7 there's an internal battle going on between our sinful human nature and the Spirit of God so that we despair sometimes and even though we can know who we are the saints of God and we can know to whom we belong Jesus Christ our Lord we continue to struggle with our sinful nature that would have us love ourselves more than God and love ourselves more than our neighbor an ongoing struggle, to be sure, the very essence of the Christian life. And if all we do is look with the eyes of the flesh to see our own struggles, all we can do is see failure and despair. Therefore, Paul reminds us to look outside of ourselves when he says that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with his passions and desires. Look to Christ, Paul says. Yes, in your sinful nature you're weak, but Christ, he is strong. And in him, your sinful nature has been crucified. It's dead. And instead, you enjoy the life of Christ himself and who by his spirit is at work in you to will, to want to, and to act, to do that which is pleasing to him, That which is according to His Spirit. That which is according to His Word. That is the protection that the Lord provides His people against our own sinful nature. And it's true, whether we see it or not. It's true, and we can see it with eyes of faith. Jesus told us in John chapter 15 that the world will hate us because it first hated Him. And we should not be surprised that the world opposes us. We should not be surprised that even though we are no longer of this world and that we live in this world, the world opposes us. It seeks to destroy us and it seeks to distract us. And the more we're conformed to Christ in what we believe, the more we conform our thinking to the mind of Christ we find in His Word, the more we conform our lives to the call of holiness he sets before us there, the more the world will oppose us. The more we'll challenge our motives and our sanity for not thinking and speaking and acting the way they do. And they will revile us for standing out from the crowd and showing selflessness and self-restraint instead of selfishness and dissipation. But again, if we look only to ourselves in this battle against the world, we will feel weighed down by the pressures that it brings to bear. We will feel dispersed by the distractions that it sets before us. Therefore, Jesus himself calls us to look outside of ourselves again, to look to him. For he reassures us in John chapter 16, In this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world. And John says in his first letter, he also says, he reminds us, that the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Our Lord powerfully protects his people against the onslaught of this world. And Peter reminds us in 1 Peter chapter 5 that our enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He's looking for you. Resist him, Peter says. How? Standing firm in the faith. Standing firm in what God has told you in His Word. Standing firm on the promises of the Gospel. Standing firm, not in your own strength, but in the strength of Christ. But weak as we are, the devil can have us reduced to the moment of trial, to be consumed by the pressures that he bears, to be lost in our perspective of who we are and who we belong to. And at that moment when our vision gets so narrowed to that day or to that hour or even to that moment where we just don't think we can bear anymore. We must look outside of ourselves. We must gain perspective and strength and remember what God is doing, what we said to each of these people that came into membership this morning. We reminded them that the God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To him be the power forever and ever. Satan would have you forget that your strength is not your own. Your strength is that of Christ to whom you belong and it's eternal and it's powerful. The Lord powerfully protects his people and like the servant of Elisha with eyes of faith, we are to see these things and be assured and comforted in the certain knowledge that the Lord powerfully protects his own. He's promised to be with us always to the very end of the age. If God is for us, who can be against us? Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. And that's enough. But there's more to the story. Because we need to consider one more thing. That as we turn our attention to the second half of the story, we see that not only does the Lord powerfully protect his people, but he also mercifully mediates for his enemies. In verse 17, the stage is set for a great battle. The king of Aram and his, he's not there, but his horses and chariots and his forces on one hand, and the horses and chariots of heaven on the other. And there's a face-off. And in verse 18, the forces of Aram advance against Elisha, blind to the invisible and invincible force of heaven that stands before him. And with the host of heaven at his disposal, Elisha prayed. And he prayed for the Lord to strike them. But not in the way we might expect. He prays for the Lord to strike them, not with death, but with blindness. How dark this blindness was, we don't know. But it seems to me it was less than total and utter blackness, which would lead to terror and running, as we've seen in many examples, when the Lord overtakes his enemies. But someplace short of that, but at the same time confused. They didn't see rightly. They didn't understand properly. So that when Elisha approached them, they didn't recognize him. And they didn't recognize the city. And they believed him and they obeyed him when he said in verse 19, This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me and I'll lead you to the man you're looking for. He led them to Samaria. Twelve miles marched through the mountains. The enemy of Israel, the enemy of Elisha, the enemy of the Lord deserved the wrath of God. They deserved to die that day. But even so, judgment and destruction was delayed at least for the moment. and Elisha led them to Samaria to the king of Israel who was, after all, the one they had been trying to get. Our text doesn't tell us but I had to imagine what it would be like for the king of Israel to be in his parapets and seeing across the plain or across the hills there the army of Aram, horses and chariots and a great number coming towards the city. Alarms were sounded, I'm sure and the gates were closed and soldiers took their places on the walls to defend the city. And with adrenaline rushing and hearts pounding, they poised for battle. And then what did they see? They see Elisha. Elisha leading this unsuspecting and blinded force of Aram like sheep to what would certainly be a slaughter. And so they opened the gates and the forces of Aram were swallowed into the city. And once they were there, surrounded by the strength of Israel, Elisha asked the Lord to open their eyes to see. They would understand that the tables had been turned. The would-be captors were now the captives. Those who had surrounded Elisha were now surrounded by the strength of Israel. They had sown the wind and they were facing the whirlwind. And the king of Israel was pumped up and he was ready to finish him off. I can imagine the bows were drawn and the sabers were cleared. And yet, in an uncharacteristic way, he turned to Elisha and he asked for permission. And I have to believe it's because he had delivered this army right to his doorstep. He couldn't not ask permission. And so he asked, shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them? We half expect him to say yes. But he had not prayed for their death at Dothan. and instead of seeing them dead now, he prays for mercy. He steps between the king of Israel and the troops of Aram. He mediates mercy for them. As the anointed of the Lord God, he intervened to save the enemies of the Lord. And in verse 22, we hear Elisha say, Do not kill them. Would you kill men you have captured with your own sword and bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master. Astounding. Astounding. Elisha not only restrained the eager hand of the king of Israel to slay these men, but he also convinced him to feed them. to prepare a banquet for them in the presence of their enemies. An act that would establish a covenant of peace between them. Elisha brokered a peace deal. And therefore, we read in verse 23, after the king of Israel had done all these things, the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory. They backed off. They pulled away. Now we know from the text that follows, didn't last for very long, but it did establish the peace once again. So by mercifully mediating, first between Aram and the Lord at Dothan, and then between Aram and the king of Israel, Elisha transformed Aram from a predator into a prey, into a partner in peace. Merciful. And through that, the Lord God in his perfect wisdom and providence showed Aram mercy that day. The Lord showed them mercy. He spared them from certain death, but he spared them for a purpose. This is where we need to remember when we read stories out of the Bible, we need to know the bigger story. Aram was a particular instrument of choice for God to chastise Israel. Israel was sinning grievously against their God. And Aram was an instrument in the hand of God to chastise them. We read in 2 Kings chapter 13, Aram's restored, life goes on, we're going to consider these in the weeks and months ahead, but in chapter 13 we see that the Lord's anger burned against Israel and for a long time he kept them under the power of the king of Aram until nothing was left of the army of Israel. It was an agent to punish and discipline his wayward children. But the mercy of the Lord showed them that day did not last forever, because once their purpose was fulfilled, the Lord punished them with the justice that their sins deserved. We read in Amos chapter 1 that the prophet prophesied, this is what the Lord says, For three sins of Damascus, that's the capital of Aram, for three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. I will break down the gate, And the people of Aram will go into exile in Kerr. And we read that prophecy fulfilled in 2 Kings chapter 16, verse 9. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying the people captive to Kerr. The Lord showed mercy. He mercifully mediated for his enemies. And he did so for his own good purposes. He did so because it was his good pleasure. And this points us again forward and outside of this historical context to recognize that the enemies of God have never been limited to the nations that oppose the kingdom of Israel. The world and fallen human nature and the devil have continually opposed God and his anointed, but their opposition was never so strong as during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Mark tells us that when Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit and announced to be the Son of God at his baptism, immediately the Spirit ushered him into the desert where he engaged the battle of the ages. And there he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights to discipline his human nature. And there he engaged Satan and overcame him with the word of God. And John describes the coming of Jesus into the world as light coming into darkness and he says the darkness has not overcome it. When Jesus came in the flesh, the world, human nature, and the devil opposed him. And they opposed him throughout his life. But it reached a fever pitch at the Garden of Gethsemane, that threshold to the cross, that last stand. to challenge Jesus and his commitment to pursue the will of his Father. And there we see the weight of the world upon his shoulders. The weakness of his human nature and the cunning of the devil marshaled against him. In Matthew chapter 26, beginning in verse 42, we read that when one of Jesus' companions took out the sword to protect Jesus from arrest, to take matters into his own hands, to turn Jesus from his mission. Jesus rebuked him and said, Put your sword away. Do you think I cannot call on my Father and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then will the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way? Don't you know that I have the forces of heaven at my disposal? but I'm here to do the will of my father and he had prayed before this episode he had prayed in the garden and when he prayed he did not pray that the legions of angels would be at his side to take out the enemies of God rather he prayed that his father's will be done and that his father smite him instead not with blindness but with death utterly pouring out the fullness of his wrath against sin upon Jesus Christ. See, by his life and his death and his resurrection, Jesus was mercifully mediating for his enemies. And unlike Elisha, that mediation cost him his life. He restrained the ready and able hand of God from striking us, his enemies, with his wrath. And so Paul writes in Romans chapter 5, beginning in verse 6, you see, at just the right time, while we were still powerless, while we were still like the Arameans in the middle of Samaria, surrounded by bow and sword, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And since we have now been justified by His blood, not our blood, His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him? For if when we were God's enemies we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, having had peace established with God, shall we be saved through His life? Jesus Christ secured for us, his enemies, a covenant of peace with God the Father. And he's prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies, his enemies. And surely, as David says in Psalm 23, goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Lord mercifully mediates for his enemies. And as we consider this story this morning, not only from the historical perspective of what happened through Elisha on that day, but as we consider ourselves in the light of the gospel and the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, those who have eyes of faith, who do believe that Jesus has done this for them, can have great assurance from this text that the Lord powerfully protects you he powerfully protects his church and that the Lord mercifully mediates for you even though he did it once and for all on the cross he continues to intercede for you before his father in heaven extending you his mercy forever but if you don't have those eyes of faith the story is a warning it's a warning that you do not enjoy the protection of God and that you remain his enemy that awaits the release of his judgment. You see, Jesus Christ's merciful mediation is sufficient for all, but it's effective only for those, but for every one of those who will call out to him to save. Elisha's mediation granted mercy that was for a season. It's long expired. But Jesus' mediation grants mercy that lasts forever. But the offer of that mercy is for a limited time only. This is the warning. The offer of mercy through Christ's mediation will end and the day and the hour of that ending we do not know, but on that day Christ will return with his angels, with the forces of heaven, and he will come with his robe dipped in blood and he will come as a warring judge to wage war on his enemies and to judge the unrepentant. And the offer of mercy will be off the table. When that day will be, we cannot know. But Peter reminds us in 2 Peter chapter 3 that the Lord is not slow, as some count slowness. He is patient. He's patient with you. Not wanting anyone to perish, but wanting everyone to repent and come to Christ. But the day of the Lord will come and it will come like a thief. And all that we can know is that today, right now, is the day of salvation. Kiss the Son while he may be found. Repent of your sins and trust in Christ alone that he will have taken the punishment that God has in store for the rebellious and he's taken it to himself in your place to secure a covenant of peace for you with God. Today is the day of salvation. Don't squander it. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we come before you at the close of this, your word. Thankful that through eyes of faith we can see that indeed the Lord Jesus Christ is our powerful protector. And He is so because He has mercifully mediated for us. That He has taken us from being your enemies and He has made us your children, heirs of the promise, heirs of every spiritual blessing in Christ. And as we do so, Lord, and our assurance is bolstered and our faith is strengthened and we are encouraged for our walk, At the same time, Father, we know that there are many that are even dear and near to us that have not yet cried out to Christ to save them from your warring judgment in the end. And Lord, we pray for them. We pray that by your Spirit you would move them to see, like you moved the eyes of the servant of Elisha, to see the truth that they are in peril. And that they stand condemned already unless they repent and believe in Jesus Christ. And we pray for them that you would have your way with them and that we would be able to rejoice with them, Father, to know that they have taken Christ's name upon their lips and believed on him in their hearts. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.