Must I See the King Leave Heaven?

Introduction

Must I see. Must I see the king leave heaven? And it is not without the realm of possibility that the king could leave heaven even today. Will you be prepared if he does so? I want to begin this morning with an old testament story of the days of the prophet Elisha. As I was thinking about the thoughts I was about to present this morning, I thought about the fact that this story is unique to all history. There’s never been another like this one. Elisha is whispering the secrets of the rival king of Syria or Aram. He is whispering the plans of that king into the ears of the king of Israel. And so every plan in opposition to Israel is being thwarted because Elisha is revealing the king’s secrets.

This is a very unfair advantage. That God is providing his people versus Syria. And his servants are saying is enraged. We’t know how they got wind of this or how they knew this. They said, no, there’s no traitor among us. The problem is this prophet who is telling the king of Israel your plans that you’re going to do this or that. And so this is what I mean about it being unique in history. So let’s go right to the source of the problem. Instead of going to the capital of Israel and fighting there, the king of Arab sends his armies to Dothan and the house of the prophet. That’s extraordinary. And so as they come by dawn to the house of Elisha’s servant looks out and says, There’s an army out there.

Alas, my master, what shall we do? Fear, no doubt. And Elisha says in verse 16, do not fear. For those who are with us are more than those who are with them. If only we possessed a similar confidence. Then Elisha prayed and said, Oh Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. This is the point where I wish I had been that servant. For whom Elisha prayed. And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw. And that’s the goal of our lesson this morning. And he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Bye to fear. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, Strike this people with blindness, I pray. So he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. That’s not where the story ends. These now blinded soldiers are led into the city of Samaria. And when they receive their sight, it’s like, oops, how did we get here? We’re in trouble. And the king, apparently Jehoram at this time, says, Master, what should we do with them? Should we kill them? And he says, No. Feed and provide water for them. And so the king has a great feast for this marauding band, Assyrians, his enemies, and then sends them home. Boy, did they have a story to tell. And the marauding bands never again came against Israel, according to verse 23.

O Lord, open our eyes.

And when you want to convey a single concept, you need to make it clear. So here it is. I said, sometimes you say, here it is.

We are bombarded by the carnal and the visible and the material every day of our lives. It is why we have those boxes in our house called televisions. It is why we have these electronic devices that we stare at continually and run into things and run into people because we are so enamored with the scene, with the visual. I have one goal today, and if I accomplish it will be a success. We need to take the physical blinders off and see and peer into the spiritual realm that is just as real and sure as all that we see materially. I’m here to enhance your vision of the spiritual realm in light of the constant bombardment of the visible.

1. Must I Be in Heaven With Him?

Must I be in heaven with him just to know the Lord is reigning? I’ve got to tell you, I’ve never seen it. I’ve never laid eyes on it. The closest I come to it is our study in the book of Revelation in chapter 4 and in chapter 7. The great throne of God and those who attend to his throne. But I’ve never seen it with my eyes, but I know that the Lord reigns in heaven. Is it necessary that I see it with my eyes to believe it with all of my being? Must I be in heaven with him just to know that the Lord is reigning? Must I see his acts of power just to know that he is with me? Is that what it’s going to take for you?

So I want to speak to you for a moment about undaunted confidence in the Lord and in his word. Abundant confidence in the unseen realities. Would you describe your competence as only so? Sort of some days. Or would your confidence be better described as undaunted, unyielding confidence, sureness, abundant competence in those realities? Must I see? Will it require some kind of visual confirmation? More and more people are expressing the need to see in order to believe. Unless I see a miracle with my own eyes. Unless I see some clear act of God in my own time, in my own circumstances, only then will I believe. And while the Bible is replete with miracles, like we read about in 2 Kings chapter 6, like the floating axe head of the previous chapter in chapter 5, and the healing of Naaman, the leper in chapter 5.

2. Believing in God as Creator

Actually, the float, the axe head floating is chapter 6, the beginning of chapter. But chapter 5, the healing of Naaman. There are miracles all throughout the Bible story, but even then I would suggest that’s not the norm. That not everybody everywhere in all time saw these miraculous events. So in visual confirmation is necessary. I want to suggest to you that’s a lot of what fuels evolutionary thinking in our time. I’ve mentioned this to you before. It’s the problem of naturalism. That because you rule out any idea of the supernatural, then everything must be the result of what is natural or natural processes. It all came into being by itself. Believing in God as creator requires acknowledgement of his reality and his amazing power. My favorite verse on this is Psalm 147, 4 and 5.

Verse 5 says, Great is our Lord and abundant in strength. And we need to appreciate the power that God has, the limitless power at his disposal. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength. And let me tell you about his knowledge. His understanding is infinite. I tell you, I could talk about that for half an hour, and we never really get to the depths of that. I’m not going to. But his understanding is infinite. That’s how much God knows. It can’t be measured. His power and his knowledge are immeasurable. Illustrated by the previous verse. He counts all the stars and knows them all by name. I am told, I can’t confirm this. That there are 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Now that’s a number that’s really too big for me.

200 billion. Somebody give me 200 billion dollars, I’ll try to figure it out. But 200 billion, that’s a massive number. Just in the Milky Way galaxy, which some estimate to be, and I don’t know how you come up with estimates like this, 588 quadrillion miles in size. 588 quadrillion. Okay, somebody might have missed that a little bit, but it’s huge. You get the idea. And that the Milky Way galaxy that I just described is just one galaxy, and there’s space in between, and there may be as many as a trillion galaxies. How big is God? How great is his power that he is the creator of it all. And he counts all the stars, and he knows them all by name. You need visual confirmation. Then you just need to do this.

3. I Can Trust What I'm Reading

That’s what Paul says in Romans chapter 1. The design and order of our universe is visual confirmation enough. But beyond that, in regard to the events that we’re reading in Scripture, I can trust what I’m reading in 2 Kings chapter 6. You know, I don’t read 2 Kings chapter 6. Oh, that really didn’t happen. First of all, Elisha is the figment of no one’s imagination. He is a real prophet who lived in Israel. And so was Elijah, his predecessor. And they did extraordinary feats. And when I read about Elijah on caramel or the axe head floating here in chapter 6, or this account of the soldiers of Aram and what happens to them and the servant that peers into the spiritual realm, I believe those things happened with all of my being.

I don’t question it. And I don’t question it because I come to New Testament. Eye witnesses who say things like, We did not follow cleverly devised tales. We beheld the majesty of the Lord. Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1, referring to the transfiguration scene that he and James and John were there to witness. We beheld his majesty. We beheld his glory. It’s not like these tales were derived from the minds of me and James and John and others like us. We were moved by the Holy Spirit and we spoke from God. They’re not prophecies of private interpretation. And so I can look into the heavens and I can look into the Word of God and say that people like Peter and Elisha were real people.

And these events really did happen. Or else this is all a bunch of lies, and let’s just go home and get in our recliners and watch the Super Bowl. Boy, is that all there is. Does God have to prove Himself in some visible way? I mean, this confidence in God’s presence is what underlies Philippians 4. Where Paul tells the church at Philippi to rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearing spirit be made known unto all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing. But in prayer with supplication and thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. The realities of the unseen realm are all behind that instruction.

4. Must You See? Sight Doesn't Produce Faith

Must you see?

Didn’t do much for them. They saw the ten plagues. Ten miracles. Ten. I need you to see just one. They saw ten. Oh, that’s not all they saw. There was the Red Sea deliverance. Stand and see the salvation of the Lord. That wasn’t enough for them. Oh, not to mention, as you’re walking, this massive number of people are walking toward the Red Sea, there’s the cloud that leads them during the day. And oh, at night it even got better. They were led by a pillar of fire.

Sometimes even a visual confirmation doesn’t produce faith.

Is the problem that God hasn’t sufficiently revealed Himself to man or to us? Or is the problem man’s sinful heart in rebelling against God’s loving reign and provision? And that we sinfully crave self rule. So the purpose of this lesson is to take your eyes off of the physical. The benches that we’re sitting on, the building that we’re in, the people that we see, the clothing on our bodies. I guess that’s about all that’s going on in this room, the televisions, and let’s see the spirit realm. I wonder if one of the main purposes of assemblies is not just to perform acts of obedience and worship before God, but is more than anything else the idea of reigning us in so that we can think about spiritual realities.

5. Why a Faith System?

If that’s not the purpose of our fellowship. Because I gotta tell you, I see the spiritual realm more clearly on days like this than any other day. This fellowship, our assemblies together, the time that we spend in God’s word, those are what opened my eyes to these greater realities. The key to a thriving faith is an unwavering and swelling confidence and assurance. My eyes have seen your glory. Why a faith system? Why doesn’t God just roll it out like he did in other ages, like with Elisha, like with the people of Israel. Why doesn’t everybody get a miracle? Why the faith system? Apparently, he has provided sufficient evidence to cultivate our trust and confidence in him. But notice what a faith system does for us. It promotes an appreciation of who God is, as we talked about in our Bible class this morning, an understanding of who I am in comparison.

It promotes a faith system promotes humility and dependence. Jesus was very clear to Thomas about such a need. Unless I see it with my own eyes, I’ll not believe. And for some reason, the Lord condescends to the request and appears before Thomas and says, Reach hither your fingers. But he goes on to say, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. Really concluding the whole point that the author is making in verses 30 and 31. These things have written that you might believe in the name of the Son of God, and in believing have life in his name. Beyond the reliable eyewitnesses of Scripture. Even external sources corroborate the validity of this message. And I must say to you, the more I study this book, particularly in our studies in Malachi and Revelation that are ongoing right now.

Maybe it doesn’t even have to do with these two studies that I’m in right now, but I find my confidence growing by the day in the realities of this message. It’s extraordinary.

6. Blessed Are Your Eyes and Ears

Anywhere. You can search high and low in this earth, and you’re not going to find anything like this book that helps us to clearly see what we cannot see. And I want to conclude with this simple thought this morning. Blessed are your eyes and ears. Interesting discussion unfolds in Matthew 13 about the parables. Why do you speak to them in parables? I’ve always loved Jesus’ answer to that. To you, it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. And we could conclude from that, if we don’t understand what Jesus is saying, you know, I really don’t like the Pharisees because they’re a bunch of obstinate rebellious people, and so therefore, I’m not going to allow them to see it.

It’s not that Jesus wasn’t going to allow them to see it. It is that they didn’t want to see it. And because they didn’t want to see it, they didn’t see it. Because their hearts were dull. And their ears scarcely hear, and they’ve closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts in return. And I should heal them. That’s what God wants. But so often throughout Israel’s history, they were stubborn, like those people that had to die in the wilderness who are going to trust ten spies whom they could see, rather than the two spies who were telling them about the God they could not see. Hard hearts. But then he says, blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

Let me ask you this. Would you rather be Abraham or you?

Probably because they did circumcision without anesthetic.

Great promises were made to Abraham, but he didn’t see the fruition of them. We see what he wished to see. And that’s what Jesus is telling his disciples. Blessed are your eyes and ears, because you hear and see. And let me take this a step further. For those of you that had to wander through the maze of religious deception to get here. Isn’t it even more appreciated what you found? The discovery. For those of us where the truth has always been with us. It’s easy for us to take that for granted. I want to tell you if you have parents or grandparents who introduced you to the truth of the gospel from an early age. Be profusely thankful for that. Don’t see it as a curse.

My parents shove religion down my throat. We are to be grateful that it was placed in our laps. The treasures of heaven are placed in our laps, and that we don’t have to wade through the deception that grips so many. Blessed are your eyes and blessed are your ears. And sometimes I know classes can get a little bit dull. Teachers are doing the best job that they can, but you’re hearing soul-saving information that leads to immortality. Realize what you have. Exceeding great and magnificent promises are received by the righteous.

That is in the world through lust and have become partakers of the divine nature. We’re being instructed how to mold ourselves in likeness of the character of God. That’s extraordinary.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, must I see the king leave heaven to keep my hopeful yearning? Must I watch with perfect vision just to know that he’s returning. A positive affirmation. Praise the Lord. I am forgiven. And my Father up in heaven knows and hears and will be with me. Praise the Lord. As we sing this song, is it true of where you now reside? Can you say, Praise the Lord? Blessed are my eyes and ears. Praise the Lord. I know I’m forgiven. And my Father up in heaven knows and hears and will be with me. I am his child. That is our desire for you today. Let’s stand and sing.