#167: Enemy Territory?
Then Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, “The man of God has come here.” And the king said to Hazael, “Take a present in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the Lord by him, saying, ‘Shall I recover from this disease?’
II Kings 8:7-8 NKJV
Last week when reading the Bible at an abortion mill a man got out of his car, grabbed a gun, and pointed it my way. He then concealed it in his pants and cursed God and His Word as he walked around the parking lot. This mill and its customers are certainly not friends of the gospel. And yet, the Word of God goes out there and often those who come in cursing Christ leave having heard something of the Lord and His glory.
Enemy territory is not unusual territory for Christians. The whole world lies in wickedness and is opposed to God and His Word (I John 5:19). This world of darkness is exactly where the Savior went when He was incarnate and born of the virgin just as He promised (Isaiah 7:14). Most of the world did not receive the Savior but despised Him, rejected Him, and eventually killed Him. However, Jesus the God man has all power in heaven and on earth – laying down His life He then took it from the grave on the third day and rose from the dead. With Christ’s coming the greatest Kingdom was established:“His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). Jesus sits as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the light of His truth is shining into every dark territory of the enemy and cannot be stopped.
With such a great King, it should be no surprise for us that God’s prophets in the Old Testament occasionally left the borders of Israel and brought the glorious gospel of the Savior to come to nations that were previously in darkness (i.e. Elisha, Daniel, and Jonah).
In one of the last recorded events of Elisha’s long prophetic ministry, we find him not in Israel, but in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Damascus was the seat of power and hometown of King Ben-Hadad. Ben-Hadad was the king whose army killed Ahab in battle and nearly killed Jehoshaphat. It was the same king who sent a whole army to capture Elisha at Dothan and surrounded and starved Samaria until it was relieved by the work of the Lord. The city of Israel’s enemy was precisely the city where Elisha went with the Word of God. Ben-Hadad spent much of his life hunting Elisha, but near his death he sent a present and inquired of the Lord.
The many headquarters of evil in the world around us should not scare the Christian. If God be for us who can possibly be against us? Certainly not any man or institution. Let us be fearless as Elisha in going into enemy territory for the sake of Christ and His glorious gospel knowing that if a host should encamp against us, our hearts should not fear; if war should rise against us, in this will we be confident: The King has come, the King is ruling, the King is conquering and saving, the King is coming again!
Trust in the Lord, dear saints, and with confidence go to all nations proclaiming the good news that at Christmas, a Savior came into the world, and His name is called Jesus for He will save His people from their sins!
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