“The War Between Good and Evil!” by Pastor George Gnade

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: II Kings 6:24 - 7:20 July 9, 2023

Intro: 1. In Gen. 3:15, God told the serpent, who represent-ed the devil: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, and He shall crush your head but you will bruise His heal.”

a. This prophecy was made by God after Adam and Eve sinned, just before they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. It set the stage for the rest of history.

b. All wars and human problems go back to the original problem, when mankind rejected what God said in favor of Satan’s alternatives.

2. But God would eventually send the Lord Jesus to rescue us. Satan would bruise Him when He died on the cross, but through His death, the penalty for our sins was paid.

a. What looked like the defeat of good was actually the defeat of evil. The spiritual battle between good and evil would continue to the end of history when Jesus will come again. In the end, Satan and evil will be crushed once and for all.

b. We have all heard the saying: “You can win a battle, but lose the war.” Satan appears to win many battles, but God uses these battles to further defeat him and spread the gospel. I call it a repeating cyle.

3. In Matt. 24:4-14, Jesus explains how it always begins with (1.) false teachings that contradict His Word, just like in the garden. Jesus calls these teachers false prophets.

a. As evil grows and seems to take over, (2.)wars break out, and famines and earthquakes and all kinds of natural disasters occur. This includes plagues like “covid” that affected our whole world recently.

b. In the midst of all that, (3.) God’s people who be-lieve His Word and have faith in Him are often persecuted and sometimes even killed.

c. But the worse the world gets, (4.) the more people know in their heart that they need Jesus and the gospel of His forgiveness. So this cycle repeats itself many times and will continue to do so until the whole world has a chance to be saved. That is when Jesus will come again.

A. Consider how this applies to our study of Elijah and Elisha.

1. The first king of the northern kingdom of Israel was Jeroboam. To keep God’s people from worshiping in Jerusalem, he set up altars in major cities so they would worship in those places instead. He created his own priesthood who presented the people’s sacrifices to God, but none of this was done in accord with God’s Word.

a. This determined the fate of the nation many years later. Many kings came and went but they “did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which caused Israel to sin” (II Kings 10:31).

b. The truth is that sin always grows unless it is stopped. That is true of individuals and nations.

2. In the days of King Ahab, this spiritual crisis came to a head. By that time, they were worshiping Baal and other false gods in accordance with the culture of that day. That is why God sent Elijah followed by Elisha. He was giving His people a chance to get right with Him. At least 7,000 responded to Elijah and more responded to Elisha.

a. But true to the cycle, this is when persecution also comes. Ahab killed many of God’s prophets and tried to kill Elijah. In our passage today, one of the next kings of Israel threatened to kill Elisha ( II Kings 6:31). The world always blames God for their problems; and instead of turning from their sins, they often turn on God’s people.

b. Aram had surrounded Samaria and the people were starving to death. But when the king came to Elisha, Elisha promised him the whole problem would be solved the next day. Humanly speaking, this was impossible, but when we turn to God in faith, it is amazing what God will do.

3. Lepers who needed food decided to die at the hands of the enemy rather than die of starvation. But they found nothing but empty tents and signs that the enemy had fled during the night. Suddenly there was enough food for all!

4. God in His mercy did a miracle. The enemy heard “horses and chariots” approaching them, causing them to flee in fear. But God Himself caused them to hear His “horses and chariots.”

a. This is one of the themes that repeats itself in the story of Elisha! Having God on their side was better than having horses and chariots of their own. God will fight for His people and save them, if only they will turn to Him.

b. In Rom. 8:31, Paul wrote: “If God is for us, who can stand against us?” Independence Day always reminds me how God has fought for us many times in answer to our prayers. Now, as our country turns away for Him and His Word, everything is falling apart.

5. In fact, the whole world is turning against Christians and what we believe. And the whole world is falling apart.

That is why I believe Jesus could come again soon.

a. This could just be another cycle like I have described in this message.

b. But the scope of the problem is now so large, involving Christians everywhere, that I believe the time is at hand for Jesus to take us up to be with Him.

B. The stories about Elisha reveal how God was and is in control of the events of history.

1. In II Kings 8:7-13, we learn how Hazael was sent to ask Elisha if his king, Ben-Hadad, would recover from an illness. Elisha said to tell him he would, but God had revealed to Elisha that the king would die!

a. Then he started to cry. He told Hazael that he would be the next king and he knew the horrible things he would do to his people.

b. The king would have gotten better, but Hazael killed him and then reigned in his stead.

2. In II Kings 9:1-13, Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said: “Take this flask of oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. When you get there, look for Jehu… Get him away from his companions and take him to an inner room… Pour the oil on his head and declare: ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run!”

3. God had chosen Jehu to destroy all the descendants of wicked king Ahab as well as his wife Jezebel. God did not want anyone related to him to ever rule on the throne of Israel again.

a. This was to buy Israel a little more time before they would be taken into captivity by the Assyrians.

b. In plain words, they had one more cycle of grace to go before they would literally be removed from their land. Today we call them the lost ten tribes.

4. After that, only the nation of Judah remained from whom the Christ would eventually come.

In conclusion: 1. We must never forget that God knows and controls everything that happens in history. In plain words, everything will and does work together for good.

2. Nations rise and fall, but God is not thrown off by evil or good. It is all part of His plan. As it says in II Thes. 1:3-7. “All this is evidence that God’s judgments are right, and you will be county worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering. God is just; He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you, and give relief to you who are suf-fering. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels… to be glorified… by those who believe.” Amen! So let it be.