My eyes were wide open in the early hours of Thursday morning and so I grabbed my Kindle from my bedside table and began to read from 2 Kings. As I read chapter 6, I began to pray for my eyes to be opened in another way: to see beyond the immediate to the ultimate.
In that chapter, Elisha is pursued by the king of Syria because the prophet had an annoying habit of upsetting the king’s supposed stealthily-planned invasion and downfall of Israel and King Jehoram. In each case, God informed Elisha of the Syrian plot, who then warned Jehoram. The result was that the capital city of Israel lived to see another day. After this repeated outcome, the Syrian king was fed up and sent troops to arrest—or worse—Elisha. Meanwhile, Elisha was doing what Elijah had done for him: mentoring the next generation of prophets.
When the entourage arrived, one of Elisha’s servants (perhaps a prophet-in-training) freaked out, for “behold, an army of horses and chariots was all around the city” (v.15). You can sense his panic as he cries out, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” to which Elisha responded, “Chill, man!” Well, not quite, but this is what he meant as he encouraged, “Do not be afraid for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” In other words, “It is the enemy, and not us, who is outnumbered.” From what follows, it appears that the servant was not convinced. After all, he apparently had good eyesight and knew what he had seen: a multitude of Syrian soldiers on swift horses; a large army pulling artillery including chariots. As far as he could see, he and his fellow citizens were soon to be toast. That he was not a “believer” in the prophet’s words is proven by Elisha’s response, “Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.’”
The Lord graciously “opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horse and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (vv.16–17). And the rest is history, as the subsequently defeated Syrians might say. Indeed, as Elisha had admonished, there was no reason to panic, at least for those who have eyes to see. And for such “open eyes” I began to pray, both for myself and for our congregation.
As we will see this Sunday morning, God willing, there is a lot more to reality than that which merely greets and meets the physical eyes. For the Christian, behind and beyond the immediate (life this side of the grave) is the ultimate (a glorified life on the other side of the grave). And we need to live like it. We need our eyes opened to behold the wonders of the new creation, which we, who are Christians, will inherit.
Like Elisha’s servant, we too often “behold” (v. 15) and focus on the immediate threats to our security and earthly well-being when we should “behold” (v. 17) and focus on the ultimate power and presence of God who is working behind the scenes for a great deliverance. Because of a wrong focus, like the servant, we live franticly and panickily rather than faithfully and fruitfully. Like the servant, we needlessly waste our energy and the best of our focus on that which in the end is no threat at all.
Many South Africans are freaking out about the future: the “what ifs” of a failed government, the “what ifs” of a strained job market for our children, the “what ifs” of a substandard education system, the “what ifs” of spiralling crime, the “what ifs” of a less than financially secure retirement.
To be sure, Christians are not blind to these “Syrian” realities that threaten our here and now wellbeing but, like Elisha, we need eyes that are wide open to a greater and ultimate parallel reality: the promises, provision, presence, purpose, and sovereign providence of our almighty triune God. Our heavenly Father is well aware of both those whom and that which seeks our harm but thankfully he has a plan to be with us through the troubles. Thanks be to God that we have his promise, secured by his Son, that he will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and we can rest in the promise, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can [mere] man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6; Psalm 118:6).
Brothers and sisters, let us pray for opened eyes to this unseen yet very real parallel world. We are not on our own. Those who are with us are far more numerous than those who are against us.
It is often said, “God and me make a majority.” Better yet, God makes a majority and thankfully he has graciously joined us to himself through his once crucified, now risen, Son who intercedes continually for us (Romans 8:31–39). Thankfully, one day he will return for us. As the Lord graciously opens our eyes to this reality, we are blessed to live like it.
Working on beholding ultimate reality,
Doug