A GOSPEL PICTURE IN A DARK DAY
[p. 319] A GOSPEL PICTURE IN A DARK DAY
I do not desire to say much as to the details related in this scripture, and I take up this passage in it (verses 8 - 23) as giving a striking picture of the grace of God. The ministry of Elisha differs from that of Elijah in that it is for the most part a ministry of grace. It corresponds to the Lord’s ministry, which was in contrast to that of John the baptist. The object of Elijah’s ministry was to recall the people to their allegiance to Jehovah. The ministry of Elijah failed in that respect, but God’s claim was maintained, and then the ministry of Elisha comes in, which was the grace of God in the helplessness and ruin of Israel. Elisha had a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, that is the portion of a first-born.
Things were very dark in Israel at this time. It was the reign of Jehoram and immediately after Ahab. The previous chapter shews us what was the darkness of Israel at this moment, as the Lord says in Luke 4, “many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian”. Israel did not get the benefit of the light, but Naaman the Syrian got it. I only speak of that to point out the state of things when this circumstance occurred.
I want first to call your attention to this fact, the testimony of God was in Israel, but the light was not with Israel; the light was with the prophet. You have in a day of confusion to distinguish between the vessel of testimony and the light, and when such is the case the protection of God is with the light. The king of Israel got the benefit of the light, though the light was not with him.
The king of Syria was opposed to God’s testimony and to Elisha. He was sore distressed because the king [p. 320] of Israel was continually made aware of his whereabouts. He thought that there was a traitor amongst his servants, but they explain to him that there was not, but the light was with the prophet in Israel. The king of Israel had not the light, but he had the benefit of it. Thus at the present time christendom, though it has not as a whole got the light, gains the benefit of the light. If it were not for the light of God and that light being maintained, I wonder where christendom would be; it would quickly become apostate. Though they have not the light they get the benefit of the light, and they are protected and may be affected by the light. You may say there is very little value to be attached to any little company that have the light. I think there is more importance to be attached to it than people think. I have no doubt that christendom gets the benefit and, in a sense, the protection of the light. There is the holding to the truth of God, and that is an immense benefit even to those who have not got the light.
The next point is, the protection of God is with the light. Look at verses 13 - 17. “Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 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”. If your eyes have been opened like the servant of Elisha, you will see that the protection of God is with the light — the care of God is there. To refer for a moment to the seven churches,
[p. 321] Revelation 2 and 3. Where do you think the Lord’s interest was in these churches? No doubt His eye was on them all, but I think the interest of the Lord was in Philadelphia where there was little strength, but He could say to them, “Thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”. The shelter of the Lord and His protection were there. So here, the place where Elisha was protected. The chariots and horses of fire were not around the king of Israel, but they were round about Elisha.
We might have good reason to fear any little bit of light being extinguished were it not for divine protection; but my conviction is, that if the light is there, God will take care of the light to the end. I do not believe that His protection will be around assumption, or anything of that sort, but where the truth is held in lowliness God will not fail of His protection. I cannot tell you where the light may be at any future moment. Supposing that we have the light with us today, there is no saying where it may be another day, but wherever the light may be, the protection of God will be about the light. There was no fellowship in Israel in that day — save in evil, none for good; Elisha was a solitary man, but the protection of God was around that man. I think in this day God has given us the light, however small the appreciation of it may be, and He gives us also the privilege of fellowship; and as the light of God was bound up with that solitary man, and the protection of it, so now the protection of God will be round about the light, and those who are identified with it.
Verses 19, 23. Now what I want to shew you from this passage is, that when you have got the light of God, you have a very deep sense of grace; it is only where the light of God is, that there is a true sense of grace. It is only one who has got the light of God who can really evangelise, for the more light I have the more sense of divine grace I have. Here we have a very beautiful picture of grace. The Syrians were the opponents of God’s testimony; the first thing is they are made completely weak. They are smitten with blindness according to the prayer of Elisha. I do not know that you could have a greater picture of weakness and helplessness than in a company of blind men. Elisha prays for it, but he did not ask for judgment on them, but that they might be completely weak — and that in a strange country. That was no enviable position. I have seen blind men in a city getting along pretty well with the help of a stick and the kerbstone, but I do not expect there was much in the way of kerbstones in Samaria. The next thing is, they are conducted to Samaria, the very place their heart was set on reaching; and what then? What did they meet? An enemy? Nothing of the kind. They met with grace. The king of Israel did not rise to God’s grace; he said “Shall I smite them?” The prophet says, ‘Why, you would not treat your captive enemy in that way’. “Set bread and water before them”. That is a beautiful picture of grace.
And I will give an antitype of it. I think you get this in Saul. Saul was not going to Samaria, but to Damascus, the city of these very Syrians, and on the way he was struck with blindness; he was made completely weak. It was not judgment, but God struck him with weakness, and he was brought to Damascus — the place to which he in his maddened rage was bent on going. He never expected to arrive there weak; he expected to be there strong in authority to carry out his mission of persecution; but God had other thoughts for Saul, and to that end He makes him utterly weak. God can make a strong man weak. I could give you other instances besides Saul. The thief on the cross was made weak. The Philippian jailor was made weak, and as we have seen, Saul was going to Damascus “breathing out threatenings and slaughter”. Think of the expression! He had to be led by the hand and brought to the place where he purposed to go. What a humiliating position, to be led by the hand!
[p. 323] When Saul reaches Damascus what does he find? Not retribution; the disciples were a bit afraid of him at first, but Ananias comes to him, and instead of reproaching him sets before him the ministration of “bread and water”. Saul became acquainted with two things in Damascus, the grace of God in forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Bread in Scripture is, I think, emblematic of grace, and Saul had grace ministered to him and the refreshment of the Spirit.
Then, as we read in verse 23, “the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel”. So we have in Acts, “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea”. The persecution ceased.
Now think for a moment of the Syrians when they went back to their master, do you not think they must have been altered men? Had they not a tale to tell — an experience of grace — the experience of what we might call a converted man? They could have said, We came to the man of God but we were struck blind — made completely weak, and then he led us to Samaria. And when we got to Samaria we did not meet with retribution but were met with a great store of provision. It is a beautiful picture of the grace of God, who has His own purpose in making men weak. He brings them to the very place they would go to, but He brings them there broken down; they are “born again”; they have collapsed, and thus are prepared for what God has to give them, and they have “bread and water” set before them.
One word more about the grace of God. The grace of God brings salvation, but then there is another thing. When it has brought salvation, it teaches you. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared ... teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world”. People think when they have got the knowledge of salvation that grace has done its work; but then there is the teaching of grace, that is, the proper [p. 324] moral effect of grace in the heart, and its effect is, that you deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and your course is changed. It is not a legal man who does this, but one in the sense of divine grace. That was the effect on Saul; he did not go back to his master; I can understand the Syrians being sent back to their master, like the Lord saying to the demoniac, “Go home to thy friends”, but in the case of Saul, the Lord had other work for him to do; so he did not go back at once to his masters, the Jews, but testified in Damascus what God had done for him — two things, he had a great experience of the grace of God, and he had received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
I have great delight in the incidents of Elisha’s life, for I see the same principles reappearing through the Scriptures. There is never any alteration in the principles of God’s grace; and what has come out now in the gospel was ever in God’s heart. What could judgment have done for Israel? Nothing could help them but grace.
The light was a protection for Israel, though as a nation they had not got it; but the shelter of God was around the one who had the light, and so will it ever be. I have confidence that God will not fail to protect those who have the light, even in a providential way. But then you may be sure of this — the more light you have from God the more sense you have of what is in the heart of God for man; and the more effectual you will thus be in the ministry of grace. Perhaps it may be permitted to us to see what Israel did, namely, those who oppose made weak, and brought to the place they wanted to reach; but not to silence the truth, but to receive “bread and water”.
May God give us to know more of the greatness of His grace ourselves, that thus we may be better fitted as instruments for the communication of it.