turn with me, if you would, for a short time this morning, as the Lord may enable us, to 2 Kings chapter 6. 2 Kings chapter 6, and if we can look at the words in verse 17, And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. Open his eyes that he may see. We want to spend a short time this morning continuing our study of the Kings of the Old Testament. We started that study some time ago, and it's going through 2 Kings. For those who perhaps were not here throughout these sermons, we're dealing at a time when Israel as a nation is divided in two. After King Solomon, you have the division of the nation. Rehoboam, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, the king of the 10 tribes to the north. And from then on, the two were divided. You have the 10 tribes to the north with different kings. You have Judah to the south with different kings. Many of the kings in the south in Judah were good kings. And they carried on the line of David, basically. And it was from Judah the Messiah should come. So that was important that that line be kept because the Messiah, that's the promise God has given. In the north, that line disappears. There are different families in the 10 tribes to the north. And ultimately, by the time you come to here, Ahab has already been on the throne. Ahab and Jezebel. Jezebel, before that, Israel departed from worshipping Jehovah. In that, they worshipped idols. They were worshipping the true God, but they were worshipping him through idols, idolatry. With the introduction of Ahab and Jezebel, Jezebel introduced not just idolatry, but the worship of false gods, Baal. It's a big step, you see, that's been taken by Israel in the north. But Ahab's son turns from that and rejects Baal, casts them all out, but he still worships the idolatry of Jeroboam. Doesn't change. So that's the picture. And we are today looking at how Syria, bin Haddad, comes and attacks Israel in the north. The one thing that is important here is that God is faithful in all his promises. God is faithful to his promises. Israel is unfaithful, but God is faithful. He maintains the thrown in Judah right down. And what you find in the Old Testament, I believe, is the outward temporal picture of what will ultimately be spiritual in the New Testament. You have Israel and Judah, Judah and Israel in the south, representing what will ultimately be the church in the New Testament. It goes from, let's just take a quick look at the line that's taken. It goes from Noah after the flood and the promises that were given to Noah's sons. Shem, Ham, and Japheth. If you go back to Noah, he has three sons. And Noah woke from his wine. He had been drunken and committed sin with his daughters. But when he was drunken, it was Ham that woke him up, and he went off and told his brothers, Shem and Japheth. They shouldn't have done that. We don't spread the sin of our brother just for the sake of it. See, if you can, if you have something to cover it with, then you cover it. But he didn't. He went and blurted it out to Shem and Japheth. So what does it say? Noah awoke and he said, cursed be Ham. Ham is the Canaanites. Servant of servants shall be he unto his brethren. The Canaanites would be servants. Many of the churches and not so much, some of the churches in Europe justified slavery because of that. you know, that they would be slaves. That's not what it's speaking about at all here, nothing to do with that. In fact, slavery as it was, was contrary to Scripture. Israel could never and were never allowed to take slaves the way America took slaves. That was contrary to the law in Israel. But that's an aside. When it says here, Canaan will be a servant of servants, Canaan would occupy the land of Canaan as a servant. but it wasn't his land. That land would be taken from him. He would only be a servant until Israel, the son, came along and took the land. So Canaan would be a servant of servants. Shem, on the other hand, blessed be the Lord God of Shem. Shem are the Semitic. That's where you get Semitic from, Shem. They're Shemite, Semitic. They would be blessed. Israel would be blessed. Hebrew is a Semitic language. Shemite, Shemite. They would be blessed. And Japheth, who are basically the rest, the Gentiles, they would occupy and dwell in the tents of Shem. Ultimately, they would come in and dwell in the tents of Shem. Where Israel was to begin with, Ultimately, the Gentiles would come in and dwell, as we do today. We dwell in the tents of shame. We are the true Israelites of God. So, you have that promise there. Then you come to the promise that's given to Abraham, a family. And that promise is given to Abraham that, in the east shall all the families of the earth be blessed. That's a promise that's given to Abraham and his seed. You notice that seed there. What are we seeing here? We're seeing a division. And that division in this world is seen in the portion of Scripture that we are reading today in 2 Kings chapter 6, because you have the Syrians coming down against Israel and besieging Israel, making war against God's people. It always is now, it always is. The world makes war against God's people. And you know that that's the case, because when you go back to Genesis 3, the Pro-Evangelium, the first gospel, in Genesis chapter 3, the seed of the woman, there will be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. It's a mutual enmity that is there, and it will always be there. because one is light and the other is darkness. One is righteous, the other is unrighteous. It's the one great division that there is in this world. There are many different societies, so many different countries, so many different creeds, but ultimately, there is only one big distinction that takes place in this world, and that is the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, the enmity that there is. And that enmity comes out throughout the whole of the Old Testament, where the devil seeks to kill the Messiah to come. He seeks to extinguish God's people. And my friend, that's true today. That's equally true today. The world hates Jesus Christ. Do not be deceived. The world may make a big thing of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ in some festival, but at the end of the day, they don't even know half of who Jesus Christ is. And it's pagan. That's all it is. because they don't know Jesus Christ. They don't know him. You present them with Jesus Christ and they will say, I will not have this man to reign over me. I put in before them the claims of Jesus Christ and they turn from it. And that is seen here in 2 Kings when Syria comes down against God's people. The Syrians, are seeking to extinguish and to bring into subjection Israel and ultimately Judah. And that's there right from the beginning, that distinction. The seed of the woman, the seed of the serpent. Abraham is given and Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Distinctions are made between Shem who is blessed Canaanites, who would be servants only, living in that land until the time when Shem, the children of Israel, would come and take that land from them because they're only servants. God made them a servant. And then Japheth, the Gentiles, would come and dwell in the tents of Shem. And you've got Abraham, a family. And in that family, you have a promise that's given to Abraham and to his seed, not to the seed of anyone else, simply to Abraham and his seed, that his seed would be greatly blessed, and that seed is Christ. Paul says that. The seed there is Christ. Abraham, his seed would be blessed. You then find as well, not only that Abraham is blessed, but after that, David is blessed, and his seed. the seed would be a king, and that seed again is Christ. So it's all pointing to the coming of Jesus Christ, and it's spiritual in the New Testament. What takes place in the Old Testament is but an outward picture of ultimately what will take place in the New Testament. Babylon is a mighty force in the Old Testament. Babylon is a spiritual force in the New Testament. Israel is a nation. Abram is a family. Israel is a nation. And now in Christ, a kingdom. But it's a spiritual kingdom. Does that not what Jesus says to the woman at the well? When she comes to this woman's games, It says that when the Messiah comes, Jesus says to you, you don't know who you worship. We, at least in Jerusalem, know who we worship. But the day will come when those who worship God will worship God because they know him in truth. Not like you, you don't know him. And they won't worship the way they are in Jerusalem. In the outward, they will worship spiritually. So that those who worship God will worship him in spirit. and in truth. So the New Testament, we worship in spirit and in truth. You don't need to go to Jerusalem. You don't need to go to a temple with a shekinah and with a priesthood and all the rest of it. You don't need to go to a wailing well, a wailing wall and put in prayers into the wall. You don't do that. Because those who worship God will worship Him in spirit and in truth. So what do we learn then? from this portion of Scripture, taking it that it is but a picture outwardly of what will take place spiritually in the New Testament. Well, we see, first and foremost, the antagonism of Syria. Ben-Hadad, Ben-Hadad comes up against Israel. He wars against God's people. In fact, that's what the church is in the midst of today. It's in a war. It's in a war against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Your soul is in a warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil. You hear a young child in the congregation. Do you want me to tell you something? The devil wants that child. He wants you. You have a warfare against the world, not against Ben-Hadad. He's just there in the Old Testament as a picture of what's going on in this world, that great division that there is in the world between God's people and the world. And how does Syria, how does Israel, it's wonderful when you see it, because Bin Hadad, the Syrians, come down, and they start to encamp right on the borders of Israel. And they would go here, and every time they went there, the Israelites seemed to know where they were. So they shifted over here. And then they moved there, and the Israelites knew they were there as well. And every time he did that, they knew. And he couldn't understand this. How was it that Israel was going to succeed against such a mighty army as the Syrians? Well, there was the answer. It was Elisha who was able to tell the king of Israel exactly what the king of Syria was doing. Whenever the king of Syria moved here, it's as though Israel knew all about it. And they did. They knew all about it because Elisha, the prophet, told the king of Israel. Isn't that wonderful? But what's that a picture of? Elisha, the prophet, If you go back to this time, and we say it often, what are these times telling you? Well, you see the king of Israel is a godless king. King of Judah is not godless, but he's got his faults. Then you've got the king of Syria. What you're looking for is a king that you can put your trust in. And who is that? Christ is to come. He's the only king you can put your trust in. You need a priest. You've got a priesthood down in Israel, in Jerusalem. But that priesthood becomes totally corrupted. What are you needing? You're needing a priest that you can put your trust in. That priest is Jesus Christ. And you need a prophet, don't you? Elisha here, Elisha here is able to tell what everything that the king of Syria was doing. and let it be known to his people. And my friend, we have a wonderful prophet today, haven't we? The greatest prophet of all, Jesus Christ. He knows exactly your enemy. He knows exactly how he will behave. He knows exactly what he wants and where he is. You need to come to this. This prophet, Elisha, is pointing you forward to the greatest prophet of all, the one into whose hands all power in heaven and earth has been given. It reminds you of Jesus Christ, the great prophet, that when you put your trust in Jesus Christ, then there's nothing that the devil can do. He may fool you. But he never fools Jesus Christ. He never fools Jesus Christ. He never does. Think of when Jesus was in, and it's showing you in many respects the blindness that there is in Syria and in the world. Because as soon as the king of Syria discovers that it's Elisha, he says, go and bring him here. Go and get him and bring him back before me. Here's a man. The prophet who's able to tell Israel every single move that the Syrian king is doing, and yet the Syrian king is so stupid as to think that he can go down and capture him. That's the stupidity of the world, isn't it? Psalm 2 brings that out for you. Listen, Psalm 2 that we sung together brings that out. So very, why rage the heathen in vain things? Why do the people mind? Kings of the earth do set themselves, and princes are combined, to plot against the Lord and his anointed, saying thus, let us asunder, break their bands, and cast their cords from us. He that's in heaven's sits shall laugh. The Lord shall score them all. Here's this king that thinks that he can go and capture Elisha, and he'll do that. That's just foolishness. This king is fighting against God. This king is fighting against God's prophet. And that's what happens today, isn't it? The world out there thinks that it can raise its fist against God. How foolish that is, isn't it? That's just stupidity. To think that you can raise your fist and that you're going to conquer God. He that sits in heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall scorn them all. How stupid it is. That's absolute stupidity. For the atheists, the humanists, the people out there that think that there's no God, or if there is a God, we can defeat God. That's just stupidity. And so it is with the king of Syria. He thinks he can go down and capture, he can capture Elisha and bring him back. How foolish that is. So, we then find that he sends down horses and chariots, a great host, and they came by night and compassed the city about. The servant of Elisha has now got fear. He's frightened. Elisha now has another servant. He has a servant. And the man of God was risen early and gone forth. Behold, a host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. Horses and chariots. Alas, my master, how shall we do? That's fear, isn't it? When you see the hosts of the Syrians, if you were there and saw the hosts of the Syrians, would you not be afraid? Horses and chariots surrounding the city outnumbered in a way that you could hardly imagine. And you can have some sympathy with the servant in some respects. When he sees it, he says to Elisha, what are we going to do? What does Elisha do? What do you do when you're afraid? What should you do when you're afraid? Elisha turns in prayer. And Elisha prayed, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes. Open his eyes. You know, when we're afraid, what we need to do is come to the Lord and say, Lord, open my eyes. Open my eyes. I have spiritual enemies, and they are mighty spiritual enemies. I cannot overcome the enemies that I am confronting just now. They are so mighty. The devil's army is so great. What do you do? Come and pray. Come and pray. And it's amazing, you know, Elisha says to him, fear not, don't fear, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. This servant had to realize that God's armies were far greater than the devil's army. The devil may have chariots and horsemen, but God's armies are 10,000 times 10,000. We are told in the New Testament, even the angels of God are there and they do service for God's church. How often do we think that God delivers His people? And you don't even know it. You don't even know it. You can have one up on a hill overlooking God's people, Balaam, and being encouraged to curse God, to curse God's people. And he says, how can I curse Him? God is not cursed. And they're down there, they don't even know it's going on. Israel is down in the valley. They don't even know this is going on. And God protects his people. And they don't even know that they are being protected. How often in this past week, this past month, this past year, in the years since you've become a Christian, And yes, even years before you even became a Christian, I often go to the thief on the cross, how that thief on the cross was protected all his days until the very last hours of his life. Why was he kept? Why was he protected? Because he had to meet Jesus Christ before he entered into glory. He would never be killed. because God would see to it that before he died, he would be dying on a cross, and he would behold Jesus Christ. And if you look back in your life and ask yourself, how often has God kept you from yourself, from the dangers that you have been in, and he's kept you for a reason, and you've not even known it, you've not even realized it. Israel here, Elisha prays and says to this, don't you fear, Those that are with us are more than those that are against us. And if Elisha is able, the man saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. He couldn't see it. And notice in this prayer as well, it's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Because this prayer opened the eyes of this servant, and at the same time, it blinded the Syrian army. At the same time, it blinded the Syrian army. And smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. So in Elisha's prayer, the servant had his eyes open, and the Syrians had their eyes closed. And there are two things that I just want to bring out of that. First of all, If Elisha, in his prayer, is able to do this, how much more the prayer of Jesus Christ. Whoever lives to make intercession for his people, he intercedes today in glory with the Father. And if Christ then before us, who can be against us? Paul says, I can do all things. What can Paul do? Well, he can do everything that God desires of him. Every spiritual warfare, every spiritual fight that he's into, he's able to do all things. But how is he able to do it? Through Christ that strengtheneth me. He is more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. The prayer of Elisha, the prayer of Elisha, opened the eyes of this man. Tells you again, spiritual blindness, isn't it? The spiritual blindness in Syria. All the Gentile nations at this time are in darkness. The light is only to be found in Israel. In Goshen, in Egypt, there was light there, but there was darkness everywhere else. Israel come out into the wilderness and then are established in the land of Canaan. There is a small nation where there is light. There is light. That is, until Christ comes. And John tells us, doesn't he, where Jesus says, one of these great I Am's, I am the light of the world. And notice what it says, the angels say when he comes into this world, a light to lighten the Gentiles, the glory of thy people, Israel. So the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines forth from Jerusalem out into all the ends of the earth, the Gentiles. Elisha is able to save Israel by praying to God. The Lord Jesus Christ saves all his people, spiritually saves them. unto the ends of the earth. It's a spiritual kingdom. So Elisha is able to pray, but notice that he also brings blindness. When Jesus comes into this world, and whenever Jesus Christ is preached, whenever Jesus Christ is presented, It will always have one of two issues that will come from it. It will achieve one of two things. It will either bring light or it brings darkness. One of the two. Whenever Christ is preached, the light of the glory of the gospel will enter into your heart, and it will be a savor of life unto life. or it will grow in darkness and it will be a saviour of death unto death. That's what happens because God's Word, whenever it's presented, whenever it's presented, it never returns to him void. It will always accomplish something. You will never be the same whenever you come into God's house. From the time you come in to the time you go out the door, you will never be the same. It'll either be opening your eyes, and the light of the gospel will shine into your heart, and it will be a savor of life unto life, or it will be darkness, and it will be a savor of death unto death. Elisha's words and his prayer brought about sight in the eyes of this servant of his. How he must have been, how he must have, when he saw the hillside and he saw, the Lord opened his eyes and saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. How he must have wondered at that, to see what was surrounding this man. You know, you come to the New Testament, what do you see? You see, one occasion, you don't see angels and chariots. What you see in the Mount of Transfiguration around Jesus Christ, it's not just angels and chariots. It's Moses and Elijah. Moses representing the law, Elijah representing the prophets, and they all come together, and it's Christ that outshines them all. Moses and the law finding its fulfillment in Christ, Elijah and the prophets finding their fulfillment in Christ, When you see him, even the devils, they obey his voice. Such power, such authority, that even it is said that no man speak like this man. And no man did the works that this man ever did. Why? Because he is the eternal Son of God, manifest in human flesh. You look at Elijah, Elisha here, and how he must have saw the chariots and the horsemen, and he saw the Syrian army was nothing in comparison to what this man had at his disposal. My friend, when you see Christ, even death itself is swallowed up in victory, even death to Christ. submits. Even death is the last enemy. We don't hear that about Elisha or Elijah or any other prophet, but this one, the ultimate prophet. God has now spoken by his son and even death itself, the last enemy, is swallowed up in victory. Now, when the armies of the Syrians were blinded, they could do nothing. They could do nothing. This was an act of God's divine power. And it brought the armies of the Syrians to nothing. They couldn't see. They were blind. It's blindness, isn't it? Spiritual blindness in this world. It means that men fumble about. They're looking about. But when they're brought into captivity, When they're brought into captivity, this young servant, he says to him, when he saw them, my father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? He would have put them to death. And he says, no, that's not the way we are going to deal with our enemies today. Give them bread and water, deal with them in a way that If you were one of a great army, the Syrians or the Babylonians or the Assyrians or whoever it was, the Egyptians, the way you dealt with your enemy was to destroy them. Either that or if you put to death the men, you might keep the women or whatever. But this is not the way the world would see you defeating an army. He says, give them bread and water and send them on their way. You see, that's not the way that Elisha was going to defeat. You later on see the Syrians coming back. They don't learn. They don't treat Israel that way. But Israel treated them that way, and off they went. You see, it's telling us that even when you come to the New Testament, it's not by the power of the sword that you destroy your enemies. The church today does not need to do what Roman Catholicism did in the Crusades. That wasn't Christians, that was Roman Catholicism that did that. It wasn't the Christian church that did that. This was Rome seeking to impose its power and to bring men under subjection to a pope. That's nothing to do with the Christian religion. But you see, the Christian doesn't need that. Why not? because the Christian has the gospel. It's the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. You don't bring men into subjection by a physical sword. You bring them into subjection by the way you treat them and by presenting to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ does not need us today to go out into the streets of Edinburgh with a sword or anything else. You don't need that. Why? Open our eyes. Like this, Lord, open their eyes that they may see who is your king. Open their eyes that you might see the power of your king. Open our eyes that we may see Jesus Christ and see that all power in heaven and on earth has been given into his hands. My friend, do you want me to tell you something? Edinburgh today is like a cesspit. It's like a city that's given over to vanity. So much of it, even like Sodom and Gomorrah. Do you think I can change that? I can't change that. You can't change that. But my friend, in a moment of time, Jesus can change that. He can do what we can't do. He knows exactly what's going on in Edinburgh. He knows exactly the wiles of the devil. What we need to do is put on the whole arbor of God. Faith. Hope. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Christ can do what we can't do. And what we need is our eyes opened to see and to believe and to trust. And that's what Elisha is teaching us here. You don't need to trust in a sword. Give them bread and water. Treat them the way they wouldn't have treated you, and they're not going to treat you, but you treat them in a different way because you don't need... Open your eyes and look and see at the chariots. The hill is full of God's chariots. He doesn't need you to smite this enemy. You give them bread and water and send them back on their way. And he even praised that their eyes would be opened and they saw. And they must have been fearful. They must have thought, this is the end. They're surrounded by their enemies down in Samaria. And they must have thought to themselves, well, this is my last will and testament, because I'm going to be killed here. And they weren't. They were sent back where they came. And he prepared great provisions for them. And they had eaten, and they drank. It's not a wonderful example of how Jesus himself treats his enemies. You were enemies of God. You were enemies of Christ. If you are one of his today, you were an enemy. I was an enemy. We were all enemies of Christ. How did he treat you? When he came to start to deal with you, how did he treat you as an enemy? Did he slay you? Did he ask that you be put to death? No, he didn't. He prepared bread and water for you, a gospel table. You became brethren of his. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. He died for his enemies, that they would be brought, for those that are his own, that they would be brought into his family and be blessed. And if we find such mercy at the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he brings us as his enemies, and he does not mark our iniquities against us, how then ought we to deal with those who today are our enemies? You give a glass of cold water to your enemy when he thirsts, in the name of Jesus Christ. This is looking forward to the glorious time of the coming of Jesus Christ. Let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. Most gracious and ever-blessed Lord, we thank Thee for Thy Word. We thank Thee that it is looking in the Old Testament forward to the coming of the greatest prophet of all, the great prophet, priest, and king, even the Lord Jesus. We pray and ask, O Lord, that thou would bless each one of us. We thank thee that the prophet was able to... to put silence to the Syrian army, but we thank thee that Jesus Christ is able to vanquish all our enemies, all our spiritual enemies, even the sins of our own heart. We thank thee that he is the one, that even death itself is swallowed up in victory. Bless us now as we part the one from the other. Give us grace to sing our parting psalm, for we ask it all in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. We'll conclude singing again in Psalm 2, and we'll sing from verse 8. We'll sing