(2 Kings 6:8-23)

After healing the man born blind, Jesus said, “I have come into this world for judgment, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”  In saying that, he was playing a variation on a theme which appears in a number of places in Scripture—the section often called “Second Isaiah,” chapters 40-55, is one prominent example—but nowhere more importantly than in two psalms, 115 and 135.  These are, I believe, the key for us in understanding the language of blindness and sight in the word of God.  Listen—this is Psalm 115:2-11.

Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak;
eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear;
noses, but cannot smell.
They have hands, but cannot feel;
feet, but cannot walk;
nor can they make a sound with their throats.
Those who make them become like them,
and so do all who trust in them.

O house of Israel, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.

Do you see?  We become like what we worship.  Idolatry produces spiritual blindness.  This is what Jesus is on about:  simply by being who and what he was, he revealed the truth of people’s hearts as they either drew near to him or clung hard to their idols.  We don’t think of the Pharisees as idolaters, but they were; their religion—and their place in it—was their idol, and they unhesitatingly chose it over God, and so they were blinded to what was happening right in front of them.

That same reality underlies the story of Elisha and the Syrian army and God’s most remarkable act of deliverance.  Please open your Bibles to 2 Kings 6, and let’s walk through that passage this morning; we’ll be looking at verses 8-23.  Read more→