Those who are with us are more than …
2 Kings 6:8-17 Now when the king of Aram was waging war against Israel, he would make plans with his officials, saying, “My camp will be at such and such a place.” 9But the man of God would send a message to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful when you pass this place because the Arameans are going down there.” 10So the king of Israel would send scouts to the place that the man of God had pointed out. So the man of God warned him, and he was kept safe—and not just once or twice.11The king of Aram was enraged because of this. He summoned his officials and said to them, “Won't you tell me who of us is for the king of Israel?” 12One of his officials said, “No, my lord the king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words which you speak in your bedroom.” 13Then he said, “Go and see where he is. Then I'll send men and capture him.” He was told, “Dothan is where he is.” 14So he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They came at night and surrounded the city.
15When the man of God's servant got up early and went out, there were soldiers, horses, and chariots surrounding the city. So his attendant said to Elisha, “Oh no, my lord! What will we do?” 16He answered, “Don't be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, open his eyes so that he can see.” Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire, all around Elisha.
Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ. Amen (Revelation 12:20).
The spy was sharing all the king’s pillow-talk!
At least, that’s what King Ben-Hadad II of Aram thought. The king of Aram kept trying to set up ambushes to trap the Israelite army. He was telling his Aramean officers, “I’ll set up my camp in such and such a place” (2 Kings 6:8). But then the Israelite king would receive a message to avoid such and such a place.
The King of Aram was ticked! He gathered all his Aramean officers together and challenged them, “Which one of you is a spy for the King of Israel?!” One of Aramean officers bravely announced, “There’s no spy, O King. It’s Elisha the prophet, who tells the king of Israel what you say in your bedroom” (2 Kings 6:12).
When the King of Aram learned that Elisha was giving away his secrets, he told his officers, “Go, find out where he is so I can send men to capture him” (2 Kings 6:13). The king was told that Elisha was in the little town of Dothan. So, the King of Aram sent his army of horses and chariots to surround the city during the night.
The Aramean officers were talking with each other as played cards by torchlight. They spoke in low voices. One said, “This is a little overkill, don’t you think?” “Yeah,” another replied, “A whole army to arrest one little prophet?” Another said, “This is going to be over fast!”
How right they were! This was going to be over fast! But they were the ones who were outmanned! That’s because their fight was not against the Lord’s prophet, but with the Lord himself!
The next morning as the sun came up, the servant of Elisha opened the curtains on the windows of the prophet’s house. He rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he saw. He ran to get binoculars. He still couldn’t believe what he saw. He ran to get Elisha. The servant cried out, “Look at that sea of spears and the countless chariots! What will we do” (2 Kings 6:15)?
Elisha calmly replied, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so that he can see” (2 Kings 6:17). The Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the hills were ablaze! The whole countryside was filled with fiery horses, pulling fiery chariots, driven by fiery angels.
“Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). How awesome of a statement is that?!
We can so easily be like Elisha’s servant. We see the events and situations of life with our eyes, and everything looks overwhelming. We’re afraid! Elisha’s servant saw all those Aramean horses and chariots and he thought the worst.
We have an unseen enemy with seemingly unlimited power. Satan is a seven-headed dragon. He has his demonic allies. St. John describes the titanic war between the hosts of heaven and the hosts of hell: “There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down-- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Revelation 12:7-9).
The Lord kicked Satan out of heaven. God called upon St. Michael and his fellow angels to be his enforcers. The devil became a trespasser on God’s property, and the holy angels were the military force who made sure he left.
The great news for us is that St. Michael and his angelic army are more powerful than Satan and his angelic allies. The bad news for us is that that spiritual war in the heavenly realms has been brought to earth. “[The dragon] was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. … Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:9, 12).
Satan is ticked! He is filled with furious rage against God. He knows he has a limited time before Judgment Day ends all his wicked activity forever. So, he is busy – attacking ferociously like a dragon. We see Satan attacking us in our nation in so many ways.
We might see this battle as we focus on the upcoming elections. But we so often get caught up in discussions of right vs. left or Republican vs. Democrat or conservative vs. liberal. Those labels are so silly. A better way to view everything and discuss everything is based on what is godly vs. demonic. What is God’s will and what is Satan’s will. What glorifies Christ’s kingdom and what elevates Satan’s kingdom.
We so often wrongly believe that things like politics, government, entertainment, culture, athletics, etc. – are all neutral. But there is no neutral ground in this world. Christ is the King of kings (Revelation 17:14). Satan is the ruler of this world (John 14:30). Everything is claimed by Satan and then counter-claimed by Christ and then counter-counter-claimed by Satan. That’s why St. Paul observes, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Every battle we Christians fight in this world is ultimately a spiritual battle.
Satan snickers as citizens segregate themselves into various groups based on their skin color or economic status or political affiliation. Satan screams with delight when the Bible is banned in public schools, but pornography is put on the library shelves. Satan snorts with glee as Christians attack each other instead of uniting forces against his demonic doctrines.
Satan may have been kicked out of heaven, but he is alive and well here on earth, in our nation, in our homes, always pursuing the offspring of Christ’s Church. Satan’s end game – whether it is a full-frontal attack, or slight irritations, or appearing as an angel of light – is the same. His single, solitary goal is to distract the citizens of this world from Jesus Christ and the salvation he won on the cross and out of the grave.
Satan is a furious dragon who works to steal you and your children away from the Good Shepherd. He wants to devour you like a lion consuming his prey. His ploys may send a shiver down your back to terrify you or send a tingle up your leg to seduce you.
We have an unseen enemy with seemingly unlimited power. So, we can become terrified like Elisha’s servant. … But don’t forget. Even in the darkest moments, God’s people have an unseen army with God’s definitely unlimited power behind them. God is never surprised. His will will be done. We pray that God opens our eyes. So that we can see that those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
Who are those who are with us? God has promised that St. Michael and his angelic army are fighting for us in the spiritual realms. We are in a war. There is a spiritual fight for every soul. As Christians, we are in the middle, caught between heaven and hell here on earth. But that’s why this festival of St. Michael and All Angels is so important. It reminds us that Satan and his demons have been conquered – not with gold or silver, or moneybags or knapsacks, not with guns or tanks or even flaming swords. “[The angels] conquered [the dragon] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:20).
Satan has fallen. He has been struck down by a lamb on a stick – Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God on a cross. Dragons should easily defeat lambs, but not when the Lamb is the Son of God! The wounds of the Lamb mortally wounded the dragon.
The ancient serpent hung from Eden’s tree and set a trap for Adam and Eve. All of humanity has fallen into that trap. To release humanity from Satan’s trap, the Son of God became flesh to set a trap of his own. Entering the dragon’s domain and seeking to plunder his lair, the Son of God made himself bait. The old evil foe saw the Son of God made man and coveted Christ more than any other trophy he had won. Lucifer wanted to throw Christ down from heaven’s throne and regain his angelic place in heaven. So, Satan stirred the Romans’ bloodlust. He deceived the Jewish priests with power. He seduced the people with mob justice. He sought the death of the Lamb.
Satan took the bait. The Lamb was sacrificed. The Son of God was crucified and in one short day, in a matter of hours, all that the dragon had worked millennia for, came crashing down around him. Satan became the loser! Jesus, the murder victim, was the Victor! The head of the ancient serpent was crushed (Genesis 3:15)! All dominion, power, and authority was wrenched out of Satan’s hands and put into the nail-scarred hands of the Christ (1 Corinthians 15:24)! In one moment, as Christ breathed his last, the gates of Hades were slammed shut and the gates of heaven were thrown wide open! In a split second, Satan fell like lightning from heaven (Luke 10:17).
The war is over. But Satan is not going away without a fight. He and his demons are still battling. They are going to tempt, tease, and torment you. They will try to lead you to despair, doubt, and depression.
Jesus has given you mighty allies for these battles – his angelic army. The Old Testament often calls God “Yahweh Saboat” – “The Lord of Armies” (1 Samuel 1:11). God designed the powerful and wise angels to serve his Christians on the spiritual killing fields versus the Enemy who is rugged and relentless.
My mom used to collect angels. They were often friendly, feminine angels or little chubby-cheeked cherubs. That’s not the way the Bible describes real angels. You don’t really want to be “touched by an angel” like the 90s TV series or walk around with an angel on “Highway to Heaven” like the 80s series. Angels are fearsome warriors They are combat veterans.
The angels are fiery six-winged seraphim. They are battle-tested two-winged cherubim. They are fiery chariots and horses. They are our guardian angels who will guard us in all our ways so that our foot will not strike against a stone (Psalm 91:11-12).
The angels protected God’s people by shutting the mouths of lions, walking in a fiery furnace, slaying 185,000 of God’s enemies, and busting God’s apostles out of prison. They minister to God’s people as they did to Jesus in the wilderness and Gethsemane. St. Michael, the archangel – God’s five-star general – commands his angel army. Ten thousand times ten thousand angels will protect God’s people, fight the last great battle against the forces of Satan, and gather God’s saints and take them to heaven.
We cannot always see the danger or the Dragon or the demons lurking around us. We cannot always see the protection the angels provide us. Let us pray that the Lord opens our eyes to see and believe in the innumerable angels Christ has sent to serve and protect us.
Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Amen.
Jesus assures us, “Nothing will ever harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been written in heaven” (John 10:19-20).