“...the
people trampled him in the gateway, and he died” (2 Kings 7:20 NIV).
“Pains
as of a woman in childbirth come to him, but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time arrives, he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb”
(Hosea 13:13 NIV).
A
narrowing and constricting time is upon us and to the blind and unbelieving it
spells disaster rather than the birthing victory it really is. But for those whose eyes are open and who
have hearts with even a modicum of faith, the floodgates of heaven are opening
and changing everything in a sudden and bursting moment.
“Now
there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate” (2
Kings 7:3).
How
provocative is the word of God! According
to Vallowe, “Four stands for weakness found in the world and man [and] trial,
testing and experience derived from the fact that the earth is the scene of
man’s testing.” “At the entrance of the
city gate” is symbolic of the portal between life and death; “leprosy” is
representative of uncleanness and the cause of ostracizing in all its
applications to the outcast. They must
remain outside the city, and if they even approach the gates, the
gatekeepers/watchmen are to cry aloud, “Unclean! Unclean!”
Here
we are at the brink of breakthrough, either to disaster or victory, we can
hardly tell. Our faith has been battered
nearly to oblivion. Where is God?
The
guy who was “trampled...in the gateway, and ... died” was “the officer on whose
arm the king was leaning.” The king of
Israel’s obligation was to never lean on the arm of flesh, but on the expressed
will of God (as made clear by His prophets).
Elisha therefore soundly condemned this arm of flesh, this officer who
dared to doubt the word of God above his natural perception. A famine so grievous as to make the king of
Israel doubt God consumed material fruitfulness completely away and eventually
even spiritual fruitfulness by faithless choice.
Utter
unbelief causes utter spiritual blindness, depravity and insanity; these in
turn make meat of donkey heads and bread of boiled children. Cannibalistic subsistence on one’s own flesh
and blood is a manifestation of death run its course. Our weak and leprous soul can either die of
starvation or rise and take a chance in the camp of pride (where the Syrian spirit
reigns). The brink of disaster is therefore
also the brink of breakthrough.
“The
king said, ‘This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for
the Lord any longer?’ Then Elisha said, ‘Listen to the word of
the Lord’; thus says the Lord, ‘Tomorrow about this time
a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and
two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.’ The royal officer on whose hand the king was
leaning answered the man of God and said, ‘Behold, if
the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?’ Then he
said, ‘Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat of
it’” (2 Kings 6:33 NIV; 2 Kings 7:1-2 NASB).
Lepers
are social outcasts. God caused eight
leprous feet to sound like a mighty and advancing army. Eight is the number of new beginnings. Our Lord is the ultimate outcast, made
leprous and unclean outside the gate. We
are commanded to also live outside the gate.
Indeed, “Jesus … suffered outside the gate in order to
sanctify the people through his own blood.
Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach
he endured” (Hebrews 13:12-13).
The
conclusion of these four lepers contained hardly a mustard seed amount of
faith, but the incredulous “officer on whose arm the king was leaning” had
none. At the near end of this age, we
must “bear the reproach he endured” outside the confines of carnal thinking and
religious mindsets. The Lord asked if
there would be faith in the earth while the great falling away removes many
souls; I believe we are already experiencing this ancient prophecy.
But
be encouraged! Four lepers—exiles from
society (religious and secular)—with hardly a whit of faith, took down the
mighty Syrian affront. Even if the best
your heart can muster is to reason as these desperate lepers did: die here of
starvation or die at the hands of our enemy, choose wisely (as these lepers
did)! Who knows if God will magnify the
sound of your coming to make you sound mighty and unstoppable?
THE
PERIL OF UTTER UNBELIEF AT THE BRINK OF BREAKTHROUGH is likened to that unwise
baby which would rather die in the womb than face the enemy of reality. Do you have no strength? Is your faith weak and near gone? Are you about to give up the ghost?! Why not go down in battle rather than die in
the womb of your destiny.
The
brink of disaster is also the brink of miracles and victory. God’s way is like Judo, wherein the victor
vanquishes his opponent by redirecting that opponent’s force back onto himself. God does this regularly with Satan. Ominous clouds of destruction loom on the
near horizon, but wait on God beyond what seems reasonable to you, and watch those
same ominous clouds pour down blessings instead.
