|The Four Lepers and Symbolism |
As I read this story from the Old Testament in 2 Kings 6:15 all the way through chapter 7, I asked the Lord if He would reveal to me the meaning and the mystery of the passage. Sure enough the Lord is good. He started showing me the symbolism of all the players in this picture that God drew for us.
These stories in the Bible are like looking at the Word of God with a microscope. You really have to take a close look. Some people reading this know the story and some do not. To be brief one morning the whole Syrian army was facing Elisha.
The Prophet believed that there was more power in God than an army. I think it very interesting that a whole army was trying to surround a man of God. The Devil is relentless.
He prayed and chariots of heaven became visible to His servant. God gave him affirmation in his trouble.
God still does this in our lives today. Elisha faced his enemy (the Syrians) and prayed. The Syrians became blind. He lead them into prayer before God so they would be able to see and their eyes were opened. A person of God will always pray for his or her enemies to see spiritually. A desire for them to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ is more important than revenge.
When their eyes were opened of course there was panic. When Elisha was asked if they should be killed he said feed the Syrians and send them home.
It is amazing how hard the human heart can become. A little time elapsed between the goodness of God and the plot so they thought about this long and HARD. This to me speaks of man's free will. Give God glory or obey the Devil.
Their strategy was to cut off food supplies from Israel and starve them and then conquer them. For a while it did work but they did not factor in the power of God. A person or group that rejects God never really cares about the Word of God. They care about their selfish ambitions. It is interesting that God waited until Israel was desperate.
To make a long story short Jezebel and her son were going to kill Elisha. This was the perfect excuse to kill a man of God. Jezebel's son changed his mind out of fear (smart move) and Elisha prophesied that there would be an overabundance of food the next day.
The high court officer said he did not believe so I will go on to explain what he symbolizes in the story. The four lepers were so hungry that they risked their lives to go into the Syrian camp to be killed or get food.
Nobody was in the Syrian camp. They ate food, told the gatekeeper, Israel sent a small group to check the situation out and it proved to be true.The masses of Israel rushed through the gates to eat the food in the Syrian camp. Israel went on to chase the army but the Syrians thought they were being attacked by thousands of soldiers, horses and chariots. What happened was God made it look like they were being attacked so in panic they ran.
When they went into the Syrian camp they knew that they would either be killed or mercy would be bestowed upon them. This is very important. Notice they had to go into the camp by faith and faith alone. They could not walk into the village, flash their badges and say "You owe us three meals because we are the 4 lepers."
It was impossible for the 4 lepers to keep this great news to themselves. This represents the good news of the gospel through Jesus Christ. How can we keep this to ourselves?
In her life she tried to kill many people of God. She looked for excuses and weakness to kill anybody that was associated with the true Creator of the Universe. She sent an order to kill Elisha the Prophet of God when the people of Israel were starving. Jezebel was in a very exclusive category. Very rarely can anyone talk to a king or queen that is bent on destroying the people of God because of their own hatred. Both love and hate are powerful emotions but with hate you have to keep feeding it over and over.
The Syrian army represented a group that rejected God but as you will soon see they were in a different category. I believe Jezebel was even more evil than the Syrian army. She was in one of those rare classes of evil in a world all to her own.
He represents the average person that hears the Word of God but rejects it. He or she does not want to hurt anybody but eventually it is inevitable that this particular individual will get trampled on because even though he was a good law abiding citizen that tried his best to enforce the law, he rejected the Word of God. By doing that he was in essence saying I don't want anything to do with God but also placed himself under the judgment of God.
I would say this person symbolizes a person trying to get to Heaven on their own merit. Usually it is very difficult for this person to be humble because after all they are obeying the law. They do not usually want to hear about God's grace and mercy because they generally speaking struggle with pride. Anybody that reads the Epistles of the New Testament would understand that this is impossible because James 2:10 states, "For whosever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."
When a group hears a foreign message usually there is skepticism at first.That is exactly what happened. A small group investigated the validity of this salvation and inheritance. They did not want to just hear the word of God but wanted to see the power behind it." For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the Salvation of everyone who believes"..., Romans 1:16.
Israel knew their plight. They were starving. This was manifested in them but they had to be shown. "Because that which may be known is manifest in them; for God hath shown it unto them." Romans 1:19. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain and that is what this salvation/inheritance is all about in Jesus Christ.
What happened to them? In the end they were befuddled, confused and ran away in fear making it almost impossible for them to receive and accept the truth of God. This group represents a Babylonian system of sin that has rejected God. It is very difficult for a person in this system to step out of Babylon and desire the truth of the word of God. It is the rare individual in this group that comes to know Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior and Lord.
If you are an unbeliever Jesus said..."I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. John 14:6. Jesus Christ offers mankind the Good News of the Gospel by simply accepting Him into your heart as your personal Savior and Lord." For God so loved the World, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.