The Response To The Good News
2 Kings 7:12-16
Introduction:
We have all had opportunities in our life to respond to bad news when we have heard it. It may have been the death of a loved one or friend. It may be some terrible news account, like the shootings of those little Amish girls on Monday AM. We are shocked at how cruel and senseless people really are in this world. Our response to bad news is often a gasp, a cry, a heaviness of the heart. It is a response that we never forget as long as we live.On the other hand, our response to good news is totally different. There is joy coursing through our veins. There is a smile on our face. There is gladness on our lips. There is a jig in our step.
For several Wednesday evenings we have been studying from this seventh chapter of 2 Kings concerning the famine that was taking place in the city of Samaria and how that famine would be broken. Elisha had told the king and others that within 24 hours, the starvation would end because flour and barley would be sold at very cheap prices because there will be so much of it. One man voiced his disbelief about such a thing happening and we learned that he was trampled to death by the hungry crowds as they ran from the city to get the food. Last week we took a closer look at the four lepers and how they found the Syrian army camp abandoned and a great surplus of food and wealth left behind. We finished out study last week finding these four fellows back outside the walls of Samaria telling their story and that the king needed to hear about this windfall.
This evening we are going to see how this wonderful news was responded to, and I believe we can glean some truths about how people respond to better good news than what the people of Samaria heard - the gospel. We will also learn how unbelief can smother the blessing of God in our own life.
I. The Suspicion Of The Good News -- 7:12
A. A distrust of man
1. Keep in mind that the four lepers had crept away from Samaria to go to the Syrian camp when it was twilight. They have spent time at the Syrian camp eating and burying treasures before coming to their senses and returning with the good news.
2. It would appear that the king has gone to bed and possibly was roused from his sleep to be told what the lepers have shared.
3. His first response is that this is a trick of the Syrians to destroy them. There was plenty of evidence from history that just such a plan could be in the works. In fact, the Israelites used just such a plan to defeat the city of Ai during the early days of the conquest (Joshua 8:3-19). From the writings of Herodotus: Queen Tomyris of the Massagetai and the Defeat of the Persians under Cyrus comes this account that sounds similar to what King Jehoram thought he was up against.
Cyrus, having advanced a day's march from the river, did as Croesus had advised him, and, leaving the worthless portion of his army in the camp, drew off with his good troops towards the river. Soon afterwards, a detachment of the Massagetai, one-third of their entire army, led by Spargapises, son of the queen Tomyris, coming up, fell upon the body which had been left behind by Cyrus, and on their resistance put them to the sword. Then, seeing the banquet prepared, they sat down and began to feast. When they had eaten and drunk their fill, and were now sunk in sleep, the Persians under Cyrus arrived, slaughtered a great multitude, and made even a larger number prisoners. Among these last was Spargapises himself.
When Tomyris heard what had befallen her son and her army, she sent a herald to Cyrus, who thus addressed the conqueror: "You bloodthirsty Cyrus, pride not yourself on this poor success: it was the grape-juice---which, when you drink it, makes you so mad, and as you swallow it down brings up to your lips such bold and wicked words---it was this poison by which you ensnared my child, and so overcame him, not in fair open fight. Now hear what I advise, and be sure I advise you for your good. Restore my son to me and get you from the land unharmed, triumphant over a third part of the host of the Massagetai. Refuse, and I swear by the sun, the sovereign lord of the Massagetai, bloodthirsty as you are, I will give you your fill of blood."
To the words of this message Cyrus paid no manner of regard. As for Spargapises, the son of the queen, when the wine went off, and he saw the extent of his calamity, he made request to Cyrus to release him from his bonds; then, when his prayer was granted, and the fetters were taken from his limbs, as soon as his hands were free, he destroyed himself.
4. There is a good reason to distrust the Syrian king. Benhadad’s soldiers had been fed and cared for by King Jehoram at the insistence of Elisha and then he turned around and besieged the city of Samaria. He was not a man to be trusted.
5. But Jehoram himself seemed to be a man with a moody and changeable disposition. Often a suspicious, distrustful disposition will often outwit itself, as we will see in this instance. Some people are not willing to trust anything that is told them. That could be because they have been lied to so many times. We cannot be simpletons and believe everything that we are told, but an attitude of distrust in everything is very harmful to the person and everyone around them.
B. A distrust of God
1. Not only did King Jehoram have a distrust of man, he must have had a distrust of God and what God had told him through the prophet Elisha. Had his attitude to God’s promise been one of faith, he would at once have recognized that this which had been told him was its fulfillment. Elisha had said there would be an abundance of food to buy within 24 hours. The lepers come and say that there is an abundance of food and wealth over in the Syrian’s camp and nobody is there. From our perspective you would think he could at least put two and two together and see that God was certainly doing what He said He would do. His attitude of unbelief tinged all his thoughts and reflections.
2. Though Jehoram was wrong to not believe the lepers and to not see the hand of God in what was taking place, let’s not be too hard on him - we often do the same thing. We too have God’s Word concerning His care and protection of us, and yet when something happens that changes things in our life we are quick to take our eyes off of God and His Word and lose faith. We act just like Peter did when his heart failed him for fear as he walked on the water toward Jesus.
3. We often pray for something and God answers and we are astonished and hardly believe that this is truly an answer to prayer. It all boils down to not trusting completely in God’s Word. I wonder how many times we have missed the wonderful blessings of God simply because we could not bring ourselves to believe that God was really answering our prayer or meeting that need?
4. So many in this world hang back in accepting the “good news” of the gospel of Jesus Christ and remain in their fearfulness and sinfulness. They hold onto their attitude of distrustfulness of anything religious and thus miss the most wonderful thing that could have every happened to them in this world.
II. The Substantiation Of The Good News -- 7:13-16
A. The servants’ suggestion - 7:13
1. Fortunately for the king and everyone in the city of Samaria there was another servant to the king (unlike the one at the beginning and ending of this chapter) who wisely spoke up and suggested that, at the least, this information needed to be checked out as whether it was true or false.
2. He used sound reasoning to convince his king. Though there are not many horses left in the city, send out several chariots with two horses each to find out whether this amazing story is true or not. If it is not true, and the horses and men fall into the hands of the Syrians, their end and the end of the people in the city will be the same whether they went out or not. The only way to know is to “Go and See.”
3. We find the same phrase in
John 1:46: And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. The same phrase is found four times in Revelation 6 where John is instructed to “come and see” when each of the four seals are broken. If Nathanael had not gone to meet Jesus for himself he may never have followed Him and known Him. Philip was wise to tell Nathanael to go check out Jesus for himself if he had any doubts.4. If someone expresses doubts about the things of Christ and salvation, encourage them to “come and see” for themselves by reading the Word of God with a real desire to know the truth. God will make sure they find the truth.
B. The king’s search - 7:14-15
1. From these two verses we know that the king listened to the wise counsel of his trusted servant. They found the camp as the lepers said, and even found a trail of cast off items that went on for a number of miles. They found no sign of the Syrian host, just what they left behind in their haste to get away as quickly as they could.
2. Though from a human point of view we can understand why Jehoram wanted to make sure that the Syrians were really gone, it would have shown great faith on his part, and a good testimony to his people, if he put this event together with Elisha’s prediction and stated that this was of the Lord.
3. Jesus pointed out the importance of this in
John 20:29 when speaking to Thomas: “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”4. Those who went out to search for the Syrian army should have come away with the understanding that nothing of this world’s wealth is worth dying for. These Syrian soldiers were so fearful they left everything of value behind them. There are many people in this world who hold on to things that are in truth weighing them down and causing them to stay away from the Lord. Many a Christian is afflicted with the same malady - the things of this world are more important to them than walking with the Lord faithfully. They are weighing themselves down with weights that hinder their Christian race.
5. They should get rid of those weights which hinder them. They need to do what the author of
Hebrews 12:1 says, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”6. Paul writes that the Christian needs to “put off” the “old man” in
Eph. 4:22. In Col. 3:8,9 he writes: But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; Yes, there are some things that a believer is required to “put off”, to throw aside, so that they can grow, prosper, and get ahead in their Christian walk and fellowship with their Lord.7. One more thing before going to verse 16 - these servants came back and told the king the same thing the lepers had said and finally the king allows the people to go out. I wonder how many more people died during that interval of waiting for the servants to get back to confirm what the lepers had said? I’m certain some must have died, and maybe they would not have died if they had been allowed to get some of the food that was waiting for them in the Syrian’s camp. For them delay was death. I wonder how many have gone into a Christless eternity because some Christians(s) delayed in telling them the good news?
C. The people’s spoiling - 7:16
1. It was when the people were allowed to rush out through the gate of the city of Samaria on their way in a mad dash for the Syrian camp and all the dainties awaiting them, that the unbelieving servant of the king was trampled to death. These people wanted the life-giving food that was just waiting for them in the camp. There was also wealth untold that would provide for them for some time to come.
2. It sure is sad that not too many rush out of the besieged and starving city called the “World” for the spiritual food and dainties that await them in Christ. They are literally the walking spiritual dead, but still refuse to leave their pitiful existence for the life-giving sustenance God has laid out for them in abundance. In a spiritual sense, God wants them to come out to His camp and spoil it and thus live. There is also wealth untold that Christ has promised to all those who come to Him by faith.
James 2:5 states: Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?3. When was the last time you went into the rich tents owned by Christ and took spoil of all He has left for you there? Maybe I should ask - how hungry are you for the spiritual food that God has provided? If we are hungry we will stampede to the Word of God and drink and eat long from it, otherwise we will think it a waste of time and not all that important.
Conclusion:
We have examined the responses to the good news brought to the king and city of Samaria by the four lepers. Most, when given the chance, jumped at the opportunity to stay alive. Some didn’t believe and died where they were. A few, like the king, held things up for a little while because of a measure of unbelief in God’s promises.People respond in similar ways to God’s “Good News.”
