Dramatic Moments in Scripture: Elisha and the Chariots of Fire

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your circumstances?

You ever had those days that things just did not go the way that you intended for them to go? Days when though you had planned for things to be one way, they were just always another. Sometimes in life we have our minds made up, we're going in this direction, but then something happens, something's thrown into the mix that changes all of our best laid plans. Well, that's what happened to Eric Little. He had been training for years to run in the Olympics, the 1924 Olympics.

He had set a British record in the 100-yard dash, 9.7 seconds, a record that would stand for 35 years in Britain. And he was on his way to the Olympics in an effort to capture the gold in the 100-yard dash. But then all of his plans were upset. learned to his dismay that the qualifying heats in the 1924 Olympics in Paris, France, the qualifying heats for the 100-yard dash were to be held on Sunday. And Eric Little, being a man of conviction about Christian faith, a man of conviction about the Sabbath being kept holy unto the Lord, determined that he could not run in the 100-yard dash.

And so he announced shortly before the Paris Olympics he would not run. The papers lambasted him. The Scottish people, the people whom he was there to represent primarily because he was a Scot, were outraged that their great Olympic runner would not run in the race for which he had been sent to the Olympics. traitor by some. The newspaper articles were very, very much against Eric Little's position because they thought he was hanging on to a trifle. So all of his best laid plans were suddenly upset.

There was a slot open in the 400 meter race, a slot for a race for which he had not trained. but Eric Little was permitted to run in this other race and no one gave him a chance. But I'll tell you the rest of the story in just a minute. Our story today takes us to a city, a city called Dothan. And if you have your Bibles, turn to 2 Kings 6 and let's just read a few verses together.

2 Kings 6.

Let's start at verse 8.

Verse 8. Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, camp in such and such a place. The man of God, that's Elisha, 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. 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. The city is the city of Dothan. It's about 66 miles north of the city of Jerusalem. And it is here that the prophet Elisha was staying when the king of Aram sent his forces to surround the city in an effort to capture Elisha. Dothan is a real place.

that was excavated by Joseph Free from 1953 to 1964. There are many ruins at this site. This is an aerial view of Dothan where they have uncovered ancient ruins from this ancient fortified city. You can barely tell here, but the city is actually on a mound on a tall hill. The hill is about 200 feet above the surrounding plain, and you can see sort of the terraces down to the plain below.

and this is where the city of Dothan was located. It's the place where Elisha was. This is a view from the plain and this is actually up on top of the hill. It's about a 10-acre area covered by this fortified city on top of this ancient hill. Real place.

Excavations prove its real existence. And we see where Elisha was located. There was a war at the time. The war was between the king of Aram and the king of Israel. The king of Aram was the king over the area that we now know as Syria and Lebanon.

Some translations refer to him as the king of Syria because that's the area covered. His name, we believe, was Ben-Hadad II. And he was at war with the king of Israel, the northern king called, whose name was Joram. Joram. Joram was the son of Ahab and Jezebel.

was an evil king the tenth king of Israel Israel is now a divided kingdom the northern kingdom is Israel the southern kingdom is Judah but Joram rules over the northern kingdom in the days of Elisha and in the days of this war with the king of Aram and he is fortunate that he has in his employ, so to speak, the prophet named Elisha. Elisha means my God saves. Elisha was a farmer who succeeded the prophet Elijah as God's prophet to Israel. Elisha is one of the great non-writing prophets. He didn't write any books of the Bible, but he is one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. If you read the book of 2 Kings, there is a whole series of miracles in 2 Kings in which Elisha is involved. And those miracles affirm God's power and that Elisha is truly the prophet of God. And in our story today, Elisha is Israel's secret weapon. He repeatedly warns the king of Israel when the Arameans are about to ambush them. The king of Aram will make plans. He will set up an ambush, but Elisha sends the word to the king of Israel, King Joram, and he says, hey, the Arameans are going to ambush you at this place. Be careful. And the king of Israel is thus able to avoid being ambushed by the Arameans. And it happens so often that the Aramean king says, I must have a traitor in my camp.

So he calls together all of his officers, and he asks of his officers, Who is the traitor? Something is happening here that allows Israel to always know what I am doing. But then one of his officers tells the king, No, king, it's not that you have a traitor. It's that Israel has a secret weapon, and his name is Elisha. Now how did one of the officers of Aram know about this secret weapon, Elisha?

Well one way they may have known is that one of the officers of the king of Aram was a guy named Naaman. And if you go and read in 2 Kings chapter 5, you will see that Naaman was the commander of the army of Aram. And Naaman had leprosy at one time. and he wanted to be cured of that leprosy and he was told there's only one way that you have a chance of being cured so Naaman the commander of this army of Aram goes to Elisha the prophet and Elisha tells him go wash in the river Jordan seven times and you will be healed and he ultimately does that and is healed so Naaman now in the army of Aram probably remembers this guy Elisha is a guy with God's power. He must be the one who is able to warn the Israelis every time the Arameans are getting ready to attack. So the king of Aram says, find out where Elisha is. The report comes back. Elisha is in the city of Dothan. So the king of Aram sends his troops and his horses and his chariots and they surround the hill on which Elisha sits where he is in the city of Dothan and then the story continues go back to second king six with me starting at verse 15 when the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. Oh my Lord, what shall we do? The servant asked, you ever said that?

Oh my Lord, what shall we do? I love that. The servant asked, the prophet answered, don't be afraid. The prophet answered, those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed, O Lord, open his eyes so he may see. Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he looked and saw the, it should be hill, it should be singular, it is not plural. The hill, in the Hebrew text, it's a singular word. The hill full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

the servant an unnamed servant awakes in the morning he's terrified as he sees the army of a ram surrounding the hill where the city of dothan is located oh my lord what shall we do he's asked elisha's response is do not be afraid there are more with us than are with them and i always have a picture of what the servant did at that point and i always have this picture in my mind the servant looks at elisha and he goes one he points at himself he goes two and then he looks out at all the horses and chariots and all the soldiers of a ram and he says this guy is losing it elisha it's two against the whole army what are you talking about we haven't got a chance we are going to be overwhelmed. Elisha knows what he's thinking. And he says, oh Lord, open his eyes and let him see. And he opens his eyes and the picture is that between the army of Aram and Elisha, there is an army of the Lord surrounding Elisha prepared for battle, horses and chariots of fire. Fire representing the presence of God.

Fire representing His consuming power. Fire letting them know that this army of the Lord cannot be defeated. What a scene. What a scene. Between the army of Aram and Elisha, an unconquerable army of the living God.

the hero in the story is god and his army in the scriptures one title for our lord is lord sabaoth or yahweh sabaoth which means lord of host and the host over which he is lord can mean the stars in the sky the starry host it can mean the physical armies of israel he's the Lord of the physical armies of Israel. But he is also Lord of hosts in the sense that he is the Lord of the heavenly armies, the heavenly legions. And that's the sense in which we would think of him as the Lord of hosts here with a heavenly army surrounding his prophet Elisha. The rest of the story is that the Arameans suffer a sort of blindness, a blindness not that they can't see anything but they don't recognize Elisha as he comes out and leads the army of Aram to capture but the story is one of the most dramatic stories I think in scripture and it has a lot of lessons to teach us so here are my lessons for life so here we go lessons for life from this story of Elisha and the chariots of fire sounds like a great title for a movie. Lesson number one, the Bible is no fairy tale. It teaches us about real places, real people, and real events. Those who do not hold to the authority of scripture would argue, well, this is just a made-up fairy tale. But time and again, we see scripture in its details being affirmed.

We can't confirm every detail of Scripture, but over and over through archaeological discoveries, we see the details of Scripture being affirmed in many, many, many respects. We know there was a real Dothan. We have ancient writings that refer to Elisha. So when you read these stories, don't just dismiss them as children's stories that are fairy tales. These are real stories about real places and real events.

If you believe in a living God who holds all power and authority, what happened here is real and can be real. It's when you deny the reality of a living God who holds all power that you then would deny this story. But if you affirm the living power of God, this is a story which you can affirm as being a real story. Lesson number two, be prepared. We will face difficult circumstances and difficult situations in this life.

Is that not true? Looking around this group, we're all old enough now to be disabused of the idea that life will always be easy, that there will be no difficulty. All of us at some point or another will face difficulty. All of us at some point or another will face some disaster. All of us at some point will face some disease, possibly.

All of us at some point will experience death or the death of someone we love. We are going to face difficult situations and difficult circumstances in life. Even though we're God's children, we are not immune from those. Just as the servant of Elisha faced circumstances that terrified him, we face circumstances in life that can easily, if we allow them, terrify us. But here's my third lesson.

When we encounter difficulty, let us not be afraid. For God is with us. my message to us today is that we need not fear now i want to distinguish something here i don't mean that as we look at circumstances that we look forward to pain i don't mean that as we face circumstances that we think they're going that they will be easy i'm going to admit the reality that we will face things in life that will hurt we will face things in life that will be difficult we will face things in life that sometimes we feel like may even overwhelm us but what i'm saying to you is this we do not need to be afraid as we face these difficult circumstances we do not need to be people who live in fear

instead we can be people who because of god's power and because he is with us we can face these circumstances without fear time and again the scriptures press us to not be afraid god said to Abraham do not be afraid Abraham for I am your shield and your great reward when Moses and the people were surrounded by the armies of Pharaoh God speaks through Moses to the people and says do not be afraid stand firm and you will see the deliverance of the Lord and the psalmist says

As the psalmist said in Psalm 46, 1, God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, even though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. And as Isaiah the prophet spoke, he says to the people of Israel, Do not fear, says the Lord, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. All who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced. those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish for I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you don't fear I will help you when the apostle Paul was in the city of Corinth he was afraid that he couldn't do what God had called him to do there because of the opposition he was facing and the text of scripture tells us in Acts 18.9 that one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision do not be afraid keep on speaking and do not be silent louise and i had a long conversation about this notion that we can live life without being afraid

[Personal prayer concern omitted.]

and we began to talk about situations that we know people face and we ask the question can we really be people who live without fear

in our humanity we so easily are overwhelmed by fear but i want to press us a little bit here and again i'm i'm affirming that we will experience pain and difficulty and distress and those things will not be easy and nobody wants to go through those things but what i'm saying to you is as we go through those things we don't have to be afraid and in a sense fear as one writer said is unbelief parading in disguise fear says god i don't believe you can take care of me in this circumstances in this circumstance fear says i don't believe you can see me through this difficulty you know what fear does to us fear makes the wolf look bigger and more dangerous fear is something that begins to kill us and actually can kill us more than the disease itself sometimes just the fear of what might happen can paralyze us and keep us from being all god wants us to be i'm saying to us we don't have to be afraid i'm going to pick up this thought a little more in a minute but scripture keeps pressing us over and over do not be afraid for i'm with you don't be afraid I'm with you. You don't need to worry. You don't need to be anxious. Trust me. Trust me.

I will see you through. Lesson number four. There is a spiritual realm that is real, though typically unseen, through which God is working. The writer of Ephesians tells us, Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And there the writer is arguing and telling us that there is a spiritual dimension to life in which spiritually evil forces are at work.

On the other hand, there's also a spiritual dimension of life where God's forces are at work. And scripture affirms this reality that there are things we don't see that are happening in spiritual realms where the forces of evil and the forces of good are battling.

and ultimately we know the forces of God will win but there are things going on behind the scenes we can't see. We see in scripture that God at time and again will send a spiritual force to help his people. For example, in 2 Chronicles 32 when the Assyrian king is about to annihilate army the lord sends an angel who during the night annihilates 185 000 people in the assyrian army jesus when he was in the garden of gethsemane you remember the scene captured there in the passion of the christ when they come to arrest jesus and one of his disciples peter grabs a sword and whacks off the ear of malchus and jesus stops him and the text of scripture says that don't you know that I have 12 legions of angels at my command? I don't need you to fight for me. If I want you to fight, if I need somebody to fight, I can call 12 legions of angels to come and wipe out everyone who opposes me.

There is a spiritual realm,

a spiritual power

that is beyond what we can often see. that we often see God's power at work. God holds all power in His hands. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Listen to these verses of Scripture.

And this is a reason we don't need to fear. God holds all power in His hands. If He wishes to, He can deliver us from anything. There is nothing that He cannot overcome. come and I have spent too much of my life being timid when it comes to believing in the power of God I will face circumstances and the first thing I look at are the circumstances I will face a difficulty and the first thing I look at is the difficulty I face a problem in life and the first thing I do is look at the problem and that problem is just huge but you know where I don't look first I don't look to the power of the living God and I want to press us to be a people who look more to the power of God than we do to the problem that we face. Jeremiah said, I sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm.

Nothing is too hard for you. If he can make everything that exists, then he can overcome any difficulty we face in life. As Paul said in Romans, what then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? And John says, you dear children are from God and have overcome the spirit of Antichrist because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Whatever you face today, God has the power to help you overcome it or get through it. And sometimes he doesn't deliver us from the difficulty or from the pain. In his plan we go through the pain, but he delivers us through it. He will uphold us. lesson six there is nothing and no one who can overcome us without the permission of the lord of hosts so here's what i'm saying to us is this god can deliver us from whatever difficulty if he chooses to

he can see us through any difficulty if he chooses to but understand this if we fall if we suffer some difficulty if we have a problem that we must face in life nothing and no one can overcome us without the permission of the lord of hosts in other words whatever we face folks has first gone through the heart and hand of God. And if we're facing the difficulty, it's part of His plan for us. So instead of railing against God because of the difficulty we face, I think we should more often be saying, Lord, we know this didn't catch you by surprise. We know that we're going through this with your permission and as part of your plan. Help us through it.

Help us to see the purpose in it. And through it make us stronger people for you.

The scriptures tell us that not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of God.

If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn over and read those verses with me. Matthew 10, starting at verse 28. Matthew 10, 28.

where Jesus says these words, Matthew 10, 28. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. Now the context of this passage, Jesus is talking about his people being persecuted. And he says, don't be afraid.

Not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of God. than sparrows now what he's not saying is this he's not saying you're not going to go through persecution and difficulty what he is saying you will never experience persecution and difficulty apart from my will and i think he's basically preparing us to suffer for him by saying you're going to go through pain and difficulty but no it's part of my will for you sometimes we don't But God works through pain and difficulty to shape us, to mold us, and to accomplish his purposes in life. I know one of the greatest moments in my life, and I don't know exactly when it occurred, but as I was coming out of the darkness after the death of Joshua, it finally dawned on me that this death of my son was not outside of God's will. This death was his will. And it was in that will that he would accomplish his purposes for me.

There was a purpose in the pain. Now it didn't make the pain go away. But it helped me to bear the pain. To know that it was not just chance occurrence. But it was something that came from the hand of God himself.

I want to tell you that the difficulties you face, the losses you face, we must recognize that ultimately, ultimately they come from the hand of God. Nothing we experience in life is outside his permissive will.

So, we don't need to be afraid because, number one, he can deliver us from it. He has that power, and it's okay to go ask him, God, take this away. But, number two, even if he does not, we don't need to be afraid. Because He's working His will. Trust Him.

As Job said, though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him. We all know at the end of the day, if we believe our faith, that we'll be okay, right? One day we'll be in glory in heaven. But I'm saying even here and now we don't need to be afraid because whatever's happening, we can trust it is from God. And we just need to cling to Him and hang on to Him and look for His purposes in it.

are you with me is this making sense am I

I believe this with all my heart because I think this is exactly what scripture teaches and I can tell you that my experience looking in hindsight many years later affirms this reality

we don't need to be afraid we live with too much fear

it stifles us, it paralyzes us. Don't let your circumstances cause you to be afraid. Stand up. Trust in the Lord. He'll see you through.

Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him. My last lesson is this. Come what may, let's trust in Him. As Victor Hugo said, have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones. And when you have finished your daily task, go to sleep and have peace knowing that God is awake.

Life's a lot easier to live if we live with that confidence and in that trust in Him. One other quote. St. Francis de Salas said this, not stand, He will bear you in His arms. Do you hear me? Do you hear me? You don't need to be afraid.

Yeah, you may perish. Yeah, you may hurt. Yeah, you may be sick. Yeah, the pain may be real. but he will bear you in his arms.

You don't need to be afraid. God needs people who will stand up and say, come what may, I will not wilt. I'm going to stand on the promises of God and in his power and I am going to see this thing through.

If we fall on the field of battle, may we fall standing courageously for him.

The race began late Friday evening in July of 1924. Eric Little drew the worst lane in the race. In the race were two other 400-meter sprinters who had at previous times held the world record in this event. Little had had about a week. He had been training for his 100-yard dash, but he had had about a week to do serious training for the 400-meter dash.

Nobody gave him a prayer.

The gun sounded, and the race began. Eric Little had this crazy running style. throw his head back almost as he was looking up and his arms would sort of flail. And if you've seen the movie Chariots of Fire, they really captured well in the movie how Eric Little would run with his head thrown back, almost not even being able to look where he was going and just throwing his arms. He was looking up.

He didn't even know where he was in the race, but as he came out of the last turn, he was in the lead. He bore down for all he was worth, crossed the finish line, won the Olympic gold medal, and set a world record in the 400-meter dash of 47.6 seconds without having specifically trained to run that race. There were chariots of fire as he came down the finish line. And they bore him across the line, helping him to overcome all the criticism, all the mean-spiritedness about his decision, and he went from difficult circumstances to the hero.

It would be about 20 years later, Eric Little would be in an internment camp, a Japanese internment camp during World War II. He had gone to China after the Olympics to serve as a missionary. In the internment camp, he was one who was sharing and giving of his food even when he had so little himself he would share with others. But in 1945, before World War II ended, Eric Little died in the Japanese internment camp, a missionary for our Lord. And as he died, if we could have pulled back the screen and seen with spiritual eyes, my guess is there were horses and chariots of fire.

taking him up to glory. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. He'll make you pass straight.

Just pray. Lord, this day we come before you acknowledging that we are often fearful people. We live timid lives, scared about events,

scared for ourselves, scared for our families, but this day Lord I pray that as a class and as individuals we will stand firmly in the reality that you hold all might and power in your hands you are the Lord Sabaoth you rule over the armies and chariots and horses of the heavenly legions and there is no power on earth that is stronger than you. And let us live with the reality that come what may, no matter how difficult it may be, you will see us through. And for this, we praise your name. Lord, be with those who are hurting in this class right now. Be with those who are experiencing grief or disease, difficult marital situations, job difficulties.

But I pray today, Lord, that all those who suffer in these circumstances will today lift their eyes heavenward and look to the one whose name is above every name and put their full confidence and trust in Him to lead to the promised land. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.