BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS. 2 Kings 8:7-15 June 19, 2016

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1 BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS 2 Kings 8:7-15 June 19, 2016 There is a very popular children s movie entitled Pollyanna. Produced in 1960, it starred Haley Mills as the title character. The movie is based on a 1913 novel by Eleanor porter. A lovely young girl named Pollyanna comes to live with her (grumpy) aunt, who the false stereotype of a puritan. The aunt is supposedly a devoutly religious woman, who is also quite wealthy. She therefore tends to influence the pastor of the church. His sermons are of the fire and brimstone type, intended to keep the congregation well aware of the wrath of God toward sin and sinners. One day Pollyanna comes across the pastor rehearsing his upcoming sermon out in an open field (where else can you go and practice shouting?). He is working hard to produce the gestures and intonations of prophetic rage which will enable him to properly chastise the congregation on Sunday. Pollyanna tells this pastor that her father was also a preacher, but that he determined to preach only the happy texts of the Bible. This way, he and all of his hearers came away feeling so much better. The pastor decided to take Pollyanna s advice, and eventually everyone lives happily ever after. I must tell you that if a pastor determined to preach only the happy texts, he would not preach the text for this lesson. In 2 Kings 8:7-15, the prophet Elisha is in Syria, where he meets Hazael, the servant of the ailing king of Syria. The news Elisha tells this servant is so terrible that it brings the prophet to tears. It's not a happy text at all. It announces the reign over Hazael in Syria - a reign of terror for Israel. Rev. Bob Deffinbaugh, The first part of chapter 8 is good news - the restoration of a woman's property. The emphasis is on God, the giver of life! But in verse 7 the narrative shifts suddenly with different characters, a different locale, and a different emphasis. Ironically, a connecting feature between these two scenes is that the Hebrew word hāyāh (restore) is found 4 times in these few verses as well. But the focus is entirely different. The first scene was about good news; the second is about bad news. The first scene highlighted our God as the bringer of life! This second scene reveals Him as the bringer of death. Now Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick. And when it was told him, The man of God has come here, the king said to Hazael, Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, saying, Shall I recover from this sickness? So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, all kinds of goods of Damascus, forty camels' loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, Your son Ben-hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, Shall I recover from this sickness? And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, You shall certainly recover, but the LORD has shown me that he shall certainly die. And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept. And Hazael said,

2 Why does my lord weep? He answered, Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women. And Hazael said, What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing? Elisha answered, The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria. Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, What did Elisha say to you? And he answered, He told me that you would certainly recover. But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place. We get the feeling that this world is upside down - with terrorism so close to home, and our traditional Judeo-Christian values being attacked regularly here in America. But a faithful follower of the true and living God could have said the same thing back in 850 B.C. According to 2 Kings chapter 1, the king of Israel was seriously ill. Instead of turning to the God of Israel, he sent messengers to consult Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. Elijah rebuked him for that and told him he'd die. Yet here in chapter 8, when the king of Syria was seriously ill, he sent a messenger to the prophet Elisha to consult the God of Israel. What's wrong with this picture? The king of Syria is acting like a good Jew, and the king of Israel is acting like a pagan. Keep in mind that Ben-Hadad suffered two crushing, devastating battles to Israel, through divine intervention and prophetic revelation. In chapter 6, we saw how God informed Elisha of the king of Syria s battle plans, which Elisha passed on to the king of Israel. Ben-Hadad was repeatedly defeated and humiliated by Israel, thanks to Elisha. The king of Syria was so angry that he sent a large army to capture him, but that mission failed as well. So, what prompted Ben Hadad to inquire of Elisha about his health? Maybe it's because when men are desperate, they seek counsel from every possible source, even from their adversaries. Or maybe Ben-Hadad had taken note of what God was doing for Israel and he had to learn the hard way that it doesn t pay to oppose the God of Israel. We know this king had been very closely associated with Naaman in his healing from leprosy at the command of Elisha, and in his turning to faith in the God of Israel. He'd provided the gifts that Naaman took with him to pay for his healing. He was also the one who wrote the letter to the king of Israel, asking him to see to it that his servant was healed. He'd have been the king who leaned on Naaman s arm as he worshipped his pagan gods. Perhaps Naaman openly shared his new-found faith with Ben Hadad, and when his life was at risk, he went to the only God he knew he could trust the God of Israel. That's awesome! The king of Syria sent his messenger Hazael, with abundant gifts 40 camel loads of gifts, with specific instructions to refer to him as Elisha s son, to show deference and humility. Elisha s answer perplexes some readers: Go and tell him, You will surely recover, but the LORD has revealed to me that he will surely die (v. 10). Why does Elisha send the king of Syria the message that he will recover, when he tells Hazael that the king will die? Because Ben Hadad would not die of his illness. Elisha s words were completely true, though they didn't reveal to

3 the king all that he would have wished to know. Why? Because the time for judgment upon Israel had come. Elisha didn't reveal to Hazael how the king would die, but stared into his eyes until he could no longer look at the prophet. He must have felt that Elisha was looking deep into his soul. The secret thoughts of his heart were known to God, and to Elisha - and Hazael was deeply ashamed. Elisha's encounter with Hazael clearly foreshadows Jesus' exchange with Judas at the Last Supper. Jesus told him that He knew what he was about to do. What Judas did brought about judgment as well - for himself, but for Jesus especially. And the unimaginable judgment that fell on Jesus at the cross is actually good news for us - because it means salvation for all who believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God and only Savior of sinners. Those who believe and receive Him escape eternal judgment because Jesus bore it all! Then the demeanor of the prophet changed completely. He began to weep. Like Jesus mourning over Jerusalem, Elisha told Hazael that he knew the terrible things he'd do to the people of Israel. He'd not only prevail over Israel in battle, he'd destroy places and people with savagery. He'd burn down fortresses, kill men with the sword, smash children to bits, and rip open pregnant women. Jesus would say much the same thing about the destruction that would fall on Jerusalem from AD when the Romans laid siege. Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, If you had known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. They will demolish you you and your children within you and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God (Luke 19:41-44). Hazael returned to the ailing Ben Hadad, who eagerly asked about the prophet's answer. Hazael assured the king that he'd recover, and then he left. Hazael waited until the next day to kill the king. Maybe Hazael wanted an extra day to ponder Elisha s words and to consider his response to the situation. Regardless, the murder of the king was a premeditated act. This passage reveals once again the facet of God's righteous nature that many people resist - judgment. He is the bringer of death to many! Yet God does not take delight in the destruction of the wicked. He mingles tears with the judgment fire and brimstone. So God s ancient people experienced intense judgment. When we modern believers - God's people today - think about the idea of judgment, we have to differentiate between: 1) Jesus bearing our judgment by his atoning death 2) the discipline God administers to us for our sanctification I. Jesus bore the judgment for his people on the cross

4 The cross demonstrates both God s love for us and his judgment against sin. On the cross, God condemned sin. This is the shocking, scandalous message of the cross. Through Jesus atoning death, sin has been dealt with once and for all! Why is the believer not judged? Because Jesus took the penalty for sin on Himself. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1) The Greek word for condemnation (κατάκριμα) is literally intensive - down-judgment. Before going to the cross Jesus announced, "Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out." (John 12:31) At the cross, Satan was defeated, Christ was exalted, sin s penalty was dealt a death blow, and God s grace love and was magnified, Each time we feel condemned for our failures, God wants us to remember the cross and say, Lord Jesus, you were sentenced for this sin I committed. You bore the judgment, so God will not judge me for this sin. If you don t look to the cross, you will become defeated by sin and you ll live with a certain dread of judgment. And that expectation of judgment will cause you to doubt the goodness of our God. You must come to the place of complete assurance that all your sins are forgiven, and that you are saved eternally. II. GOD DISCIPLINES HIS CHILDREN The Bible clearly teaches that one of the ministries of our heavenly Father is the ministry of loving discipline. This discipline reflects the instructions of the Wisdom Literature. My child, don't reject the Lord's discipline, and don't be upset when He corrects you. For the Lord corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. (Prov. 3:11-12). Discipline incorporates judgment, and is an evidence of love. This is amplified in the New Testament. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives. 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:4-11) Why does God discipline Believers with judgment? To bring a wayward child back into fellowship (Ps. 32:3-5). For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

5 5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. It's part of the process by which we're brought into the experience of God s holiness (v.10). It's an expression and a proof of God s love (vs. 6, 8). It yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness (v. 11). So how does this knowledge of God s judgment shape our thinking about other people? The Bible says: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:31) Doesn t that motivate us to tell the good news so that others may escape judgment? This chapter is about good news and bad news. God's Word simply won't let us have a "Pollyanna" attitude about judgment. It is real! But the cross of Christ towers over all showing us that the bad news of sin and judgment has been averted for all who will believe and receive the gift of God s Son. The Good News of the Gospel helps us understand the bad news - the judgment of God that surely will fall. Sadly, it is bad news for countless multitudes. But is great good news for those who believe and live! Is it good news for you?