How can you be quiet? ?

2 Kings 7:1-11

How can you be quiet?

2 Kings 7:1-11, Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ ” 2 So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” 3 Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.” 5 And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. 6 For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they

said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” 7 Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives. 8 And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it.

9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” 10 So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.” 11 And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.

Syria had problem with Israel. They wanted to capture the nation of Israel. Ben Hadad, king of Syria, makes plan. God gave the plan of the enemy to Israel through His prophet Elisha.

King of Syria thought there was someone who was leaking the information but did not realise that it was God who was giving all the information. Inside information!

Isaiah 54:17, No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord. Syria besiege Samaria. Old days the city was protected by Walls around the city. Siege was done by closing the city wall around. No one can go in or come out. Supplies cut off. Economy fails. No resources to sustain themselves. Famine comes to the city. Samaria becomes so bad that they were eating anything and everything. A Donkey’s head was sold for ⁸ shekels. Worst was that they were even cooking their babies and eating.

King of Samaria was forced to hear a dispute came between two women who cooked one women baby and they ate and the other refused give her baby, but she hid it. King tore his royal robe. A sign of mourning. Regal cloth underneath sack cloth.

2 Kings 6:30, Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes; and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body. People in the church they may look fine outside but inside they may be going through so much of difficulty. May be someone is smiling but deep down in their there is a cry for help! Leader taking it to God.

But the perspective of the problem was wrong. Do not blame God. God did tell them to repent and come to Him.

2 Chronicles 7:14, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Elisha was speaking to the elders talked about king and his messenger while they walked in. V 1, Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ ” Tomorrow! Just ²⁴ hours is enough for God. Turn around by God. Omnipotent God.

Isaiah 43:13, Indeed before the day was, I am He; And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?”

Daniel 4:35, All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done?”

God + You is the majority!

Luke 1:37, For with God nothing will be impossible.” King of Samaria did not believe the word of the Lord. V 2, So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” You will see with your eyes, but you will not part of it!

God will perform His miracles whether the leader or you believe that or not! It is not on your faith but on the part of God. V 3, Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?

4 Lepers.

1. Leprosy was an inward disease

Even though you saw leprosy on the outside of the body, the real cause of the disease was lying beneath the surface. The

sores and other problems were symptoms of the disease, but the cause ran deeper still. Sin is precisely the same. We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. The root of sin runs deep. Sin proceeds from a sinful heart.

Matthew 15:19-20, For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

2. Leprosy was a loathsome disease

It could be felt. It came with uncomfortable numbness, aches, and unhealing wounds. Many of the wounds that the leper would have were the result of the numbness the disease produced. Once the sense of pain was gone, the lepers could be cutting or burning their flesh without even knowing it.

Likewise, sin stupefies us and then when our conscience is numb, it wounds. It had a terrible odour. The aroma would drive others away, but the infected person could not escape it, and at other times didn’t even notice it. Lepers didn’t even like the smell of each other, much like when two sinners get together. The sins of

the other often repulse them even though their own sin is just as rancid.

3. Leprosy was a separating disease

Leprosy put you outside of the camp for quarantine, but not only did it separate loved ones, like sin can destroy relationships, but it also separated the infected person from the presence of God. They were considered ceremonially unclean, which meant they were unable to go to the temple to worship, and the temple was where God manifested His presence.

Sin does the same. It puts us at enmity with God, severing our relationship with Him and leads to our destruction.

4. The leprous person could not cure themselves

During biblical times, there was no natural remedy, no exercise program or diets, and there were no topical ointments that could touch the depths of the disease. This lack of a cure, however, did not mean that people were not cleansed of the disease.

Miriam only had the disease for a short time on her hand, and God healed Naaman by having him wash seven times in the Jordan. What is impossible with men, is possible with God.

5. Jesus can heal the leper

Matthew 8, Jesus touches the is astounding because if anyone else had encounter a leper, they would have become unclean. Jesus, however, touches the leper, and the opposite happens, the leper becomes clean. We are sinners deserving judgment, and God being a just God must punish sin. If God were to let sin go unpunished, it would mean that He Himself would be unjust, so how could God justify sinners without himself being tainted?

Jesus did it by bearing the justice and wrath that sin deserved when the Father sent the Son and died upon the cross. For those who have faith in Jesus, their sins can be forgiven because their just punishment was placed upon Christ. God will judge every sin, and His wrath will either be poured out on the sinner or upon Christ in their place. This substitution is why God can be both just and the justifier of sinners.

So, these lepers were outcast. Casted out of the city walls. Present position they will die since inside the walls people are killing the babies and eating. V 4, If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now

therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.” God uses the social outcast of these 4 lepers to bring the salvation. God will use anyone to make His turn around.

4 lepers are talking to themselves. Choose good believers who will encourage you not to the ones who will take you away from God.

Go back

Not possible. Do not look back.

Luke 17:32, Remember Lot’s wife.

Genesis 19:23-26, The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 So He [e]overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Don’t look back. The Israelites always had the problem they were not able to let go off their past life in Egypt. God could take them out of Egypt but not Egypt out of them. You may be thinking and wishing what you have not enough on your job, family, ministry etc.,

Go forward

Involves risk! Exercise some faith. There we may die! Any case we are dying. God created our body to go forward not backward. Look at your face, feet, body everything pointing forward. V 5, And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there.

No enemy at all! God had chased them away.

How?

V 6-7, For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!” 7 Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives.

4 lepers walking!

What did the Syrian army hear? Noise of chariots. Noise Horses. Noise of great army. When you are with God nothing becomes impossible!

Hebrews 13:5, Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So exactly when the Lepers marched, God and His angelic Army marched with them. This was no coincidence!

When the Lepers marched in response to His Word, then God’s Army marched with them, and Victory was assured!

When you ARISE and MARCH your March of Faith, you do not march alone - God and His Army will march with you, and the enemy will have no choice, but to ARISE and FLEE in terror! The Lepers were not incidental. They were vital to the outcome. That is why they are central to the story.

Their actions released God’s Power and made all the difference. If they had not acted, God’s Power would not have been released to bring His Word to pass. The stories of the Bible are not just interesting one-off stories.

They are given to teach us principles of how God generally works in our lives. In this story, God worked first by giving His Word (through Elisha), but only when God’s people (the 4 Lepers) acted upon it, could His Power be released to bring that Word to pass.

Most of Israel were waiting on God to do something, but He was waiting on them to believe His Word, and then act upon it as being true. Heaven’s Army was waiting upon Israel’s Army to march in faith. Fortunately, God found 4 Lepers who would act on His Word, and so He was able to work through them to bring His Word to pass (into manifestation).

God needs us to rise out of passivity and act on the Word, and march in faith against the problem (enemy). Only when we move forward, acting on His word, can He move with us and confirm His Word. All God needed was for these men to make their march in faith to fulfil His Word of Deliverance and Victory.

They were weak, but God supplied the power, but He needed their obedience. God works through our faith and obedience. We must act out our faith in order to enjoy the blessing of fulfilment. God declares to us that He has set us free in Christ from all bondage, curse, and oppression. Now we must believe that Word and by faith walk free. Only then we will see (experience) that freedom and victory!

The 4 Lepers had just one word from God - but we have the whole WORD of God to March on. If they could do it, so can we! Those who marched in faith were the first to enjoy the blessings and they had the first pick of them.

V 8, And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it.

Ate and drank. Collected silver, gold, and clothing.

Psalms 68:12, “Kings of armies flee, they flee, And she who remains at home divides the spoil. V 9, Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right.

This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household.” Conscience bricks them!

Isaiah 52:7, How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

God blessed me and how could I be quiet?

God blessed you how could you be quiet?

Are you being a channel of blessing to others? V 10-11, So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound—only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.” 11 And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.

Jesus commanded us to proclaim the Gospel.

What are you doing?

Psalms 68:11, The Lord gave the word; Great was the company of those who proclaimed it: You were leper Jesus touched you and healed you. You were a sinner but received the forgiveness and crowned with eternal life then how could you be quiet?