Transcript: Eye Opener

Eye Opener (video transcript)
By David Feddes

We're in a part of the Bible that is full of exciting stories and is a very eye-opening part of the Bible because it reveals so much about God—who he is, his ways with us, and gives us some previews of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're in a part of the Bible where Elijah and Elisha, two mighty prophets, have been very active in preaching God's message as well as in doing mighty miracles. These miracles, especially in the life of Elisha, give us a preview of what Jesus will do when he comes again—both when he comes the first time and when he comes again. Sometimes that's called a type. Before Jesus came, there were various types, pictures, or foreshadowings of who Jesus would be.

The Old Testament has predictions, you know, where it says he's going to be born in Bethlehem or he's going to be pierced. There are predictions like that, but there are also foreshadowings—people who, in some aspect of their life, are a picture of what God is going to be like when he comes to earth in the person of Jesus. There is no type that is more like Jesus in that regard than Elisha, especially in the miracles that he did. We're going to read about one of his great, eye-opening miracles, but I just want to give a quick refresher for those of you who have been in the Bible reading plan, and for those of you who haven't—or maybe Elisha is a new figure to you—to remind you of some of the things that the Bible tells us that God did through him.

Elisha picked up, literally, the mantle from Elijah. He was the successor of the prophet Elijah. When Elijah was going to leave this earth, he and Elisha walked through the Jordan River, and the water parted just as the Red Sea had years earlier for the Israelites. They walked through the Jordan River, and then Elijah was taken away by a whirlwind with horses and chariots of fire into heaven without ever dying. As he was going up, his mantle fell, and that cloak was picked up by Elisha. Elijah had divided the waters of the Jordan on the way across, and then when Elisha was coming back, he grabbed the cloak and hit the water with it, saying, "Where now is the God of Elijah?" And he was right there, because the water parted again. Elisha was picking up where Elijah had left off.

When he got back across the Jordan, he came near the city of Jericho. Jericho was the first city that had been destroyed when the Israelites originally entered Canaan, and a curse had been pronounced upon it—it had been utterly destroyed. But during the time of wicked King Ahab, the city was rebuilt. A curse still rested on that area and on those waters, and the water from the spring was no good. That was told to Elisha, and he took some salt, symbolically poured it into the water, and the spring became good. It's been good ever since, says the Bible, and it's still good to this day. Jericho is the city of palms, a city with great fresh water. He did a great miracle of healing the waters.

Then he got near the town of Bethel, where a golden calf had been set up for years, and the Israelites were worshiping it. They did not like a prophet coming near their town. So a bunch of young tufts from Bethel came out, mocking him, saying, "Blast off, baldy! Blast off, baldy!" They wanted him to go away, apparently like Elijah had. Elisha turned on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. All of a sudden, two big she-bears came out of the woods and ripped apart forty-two of those kids. Not everybody's favorite miracle, but when you trifle with God's spokesman and with God's Word, sometimes there is immediate retribution. Sometimes God, in his mercy, spares you for another day. But people took Elisha a little more seriously after that.

There was a widow—she was the widow of one of the prophets who had been learning and working with Elijah and Elisha. That prophet died, and she found herself in a fix. She owed a bunch of money, and the creditor would not let any of the debt go. He told her she had to sell her two boys as slaves to pay the debt—very cold-hearted. So she came to Elisha, and he said, "What have you got? What do you still have?" She replied, "I have one jug with some olive oil in it." Elisha said, "Well, I'll tell you what to do. Go get more jugs, more pots—get all the jars you can get your hands on. Don't get just a few; get all the ones you can find." So they did that, and then Elisha said, "Now start pouring."

They poured, and they poured, and they poured until all of those jugs were full of oil. When the last one was full, the oil stopped flowing. Elisha told her, "Now go sell all that oil, pay off that man, and live on the proceeds from the rest." It was a great miracle of God's provision for someone in desperate circumstances.

Elisha had wealthy friends, and they decided to make a little room for him for when he passed through. They had this special room, and he enjoyed it very much. After a while, Elisha said, "You people have done a lot for me. What can I do for you?" They said, "Really, nothing. We've got everything money can buy; we're doing great." But Elisha's assistant told him, "They don't have a child, and they would really like one." So Elisha said, "This time next year, you're going to be nursing a baby." She responded, "Oh man of God, don't say that. Don't get my hopes up." But she had that baby, and they rejoiced in having him.

One day, when the boy had grown up a bit, he was out working in the field with his dad and the harvesters. He got sunstroke or something, saying, "My head, my head!" Then he collapsed—he was dead. His mother went to Elisha, and Elisha came to her. He prayed for the boy, then lay on him, and as he prayed, the life of God came through Elisha and back into the boy. The boy came back to life and was restored to his parents. Just like Elijah had earlier raised a boy from death, Elisha did too.

I mentioned before that Elisha is a great type of Christ, a picture of what Jesus will do when he comes—especially in raising people from the dead.

One day, he was out with the prophets, and somebody got a little careless with the soup. You've heard the story of stone soup—where everybody throws something in, and before long, you have soup. Well, someone out there, with good intentions, grabbed a gourd that nobody recognized, chopped it up, and threw it in the soup. As they started eating, they cried out, "There's poison! There's death in the pot!" So Elisha took a little flour, chucked it in, and suddenly it was good soup.

Elisha had the power from God to perform miracle after miracle in tough situations. Once, there wasn't enough food—just a little bread for a hundred prophets. Elisha said, "Start sharing and spread it around." Sure enough, a little bread turned into plenty. Sound familiar? It was only a hundred with Elisha, but five thousand with Jesus. Still, you see the pattern of the miracles that God was doing.

There was an enemy general with a terrible skin disease—leprosy. His servant girl, captured from Israel, said, "I know of a prophet in Israel who could help." After some back-and-forth, Naaman went to Elisha. But Elisha, wanting to humble this big shot, sent his servant to the door, saying, "Go wash in the Jordan River seven times, and you'll be cured." Naaman was furious. He said, "I expected him to come out, call on the name of the Lord, and wave his hands over me. We have better rivers where I come from!" He stormed off, but his servants said, "Sir, you still have leprosy. Would it hurt to try?" So he calmed down, went to the Jordan, and on the seventh time out of the water, his skin was as healthy as a young boy's—he was healed of leprosy.

Once again, Jesus was a great healer of many people and diseases, especially those with leprosy.

Then there's that really oddball miracle where the sons of the prophets are saying, "Hey, things are going great. We need a building expansion." The people working with Elisha are growing in number, and more and more people are learning the word of God and spreading the word of God. So, they take some axes and go to cut down some trees to build a better school for themselves. But while one of them is working, the head flies off his axe and lands in the water, and they can't find it. He had borrowed it, and an axe head was not something you could run down to the hardware store to get for a few bucks. Those were extremely pricey, and he was going to be in a pickle. So, he tells Elisha about it, and Elisha throws a stick in the water. The forces of gravity take a bit of a vacation, and the axe head rises to the surface. They grab it, and all's well.

Now, that little miracle is kind of a funny one. We like the big miracles where the whole nation marches through the Red Sea or where you feed 5,000 people or do something really big, not a dinky little axe head popping to the surface at someone's convenience. But you might want to consider that God does pay attention to little people and little things as well as the affairs of nations and the big shots.

Well, anyway, those are some of the miracles that Elisha does. After the chapter that we're going to look at, he's dealing with a great army that has surrounded the city. All of a sudden, the Lord sends a panic on them. I mean, dove's dung was selling for lots of money. People were eating it. Donkey heads were selling for an obscene amount of money—that's how hungry they were in that siege. Elisha says, "Hey, by this time tomorrow, food is going to be cheap, and there's going to be food all over the place." The king's chief of staff says, "No way! I mean, if the Lord opened the floodgates of heaven, that could never happen." Elisha replies, "Well, it'll happen, but you'll see it and not taste it."

In the night, the Lord sends a panic into the enemy camp, and in the morning, the Israelites discover the camp is empty, but all the food was left behind. So, they eat and eat and eat, and there's a big stampede out of the city gates to get to the food. The king's officer, who said "No way," gets trampled by the crowd and dies. Once again, a great miracle of provision but also a sobering miracle of judgment.

We're going to read today from 2 Kings 6:8–23. Many of these miracles are eye-opening, but this one is literally about the opening of eyes.

Now, the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, "I'll set my camp up in such and such a place." The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place because the Arameans are going down there." So, the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again, Elisha warned the king so that he was on his guard in such places.

This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel. There's got to be a spy here! They know everything I try."

"None of us, my lord the king," said one of his officers. "But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."

"Go find where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men and capture him."

The report came back: "He's in Dothan." Then he sent horses, chariots, and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?" the servant asked.

"Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, "Strike this army with blindness." So, he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. Elisha told them, "This is not the road, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you're looking for. 

So, he led them to Samaria. Being struck with blindness probably means they were bedazzled or couldn't comprehend what was going on, because they could follow Elisha, but they were kept from recognizing him or understanding their situation. After they entered the city of Samaria, Elisha said, "Lord, open the eyes of these men so that they can see." Then the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria—the capital of Israel—surrounded by all the Israelite troops.

Well, that's a little inconvenient. When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, "What shall I do? Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?"

"Do not kill them," he answered. "Would you kill those you've captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them, so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master." So, he prepared a great feast for them. After they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So, the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory.

Elisha prayed, "Lord, open their eyes," and I want to think with you about having our eyes opened to the reality—the heavenly reality—of God and all that he does. I want to focus on a number of different things because many of us go through life without our eyes opened to the realities around us. One reality is that God knows everything. God knows all. You read this story: there's a king who's being very secretive. He's very security conscious. He doesn't want to let anything out to the spies. He's just wasting his time, because God knows, and God passes along to Elisha what the king is up to. God knew when he spoke during that siege and said, "There's going to be food all over the place." God knew that before it ever happened.

God knows everything. When Elisha goes to anoint Hazael king of Syria, he's carrying out what God commissioned Elijah to do, and while he's doing it, Elisha just starts crying and crying. Hazael, the man he's anointing, says, "Why are you crying?" Elisha answers, "Because I see what you're going to do. I see all the people you're going to kill, all the women you're going to mistreat." He sees it all before it ever happens.

We need to understand that God is never taken by surprise. God knows everything, and we need our eyes opened to the reality that nothing happens in this world apart from God's knowledge or appointment. He's also a God who answers prayer and is involved. Elisha prays, "Lord, open the servant's eyes. Lord, blind that army. Now, Lord, open their eyes." When he was dealing with the dead son of the widow of Shunem, he didn't just do a great healing—he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered.

Deism is the notion that there is a God who made everything, wound it up, and let it go, and now it just runs like a machine. That is not reality. The living God interacts with people. He listens to prayer. He answers prayer, and we need that reality in our minds. God, open our eyes to the fact that you answer prayer and hear us.

We also need God to open our eyes to the fact that he rules creation. Just look at the miracles of Elisha. He prays, and God answers, showing his rule over creation. Elisha starts by splitting the Jordan River. A river is under God's command. A spring with bad water becomes good water at God's command. Two she-bears do what God says. When Elijah prays for a drought, there's no rain. When he prays for rain, it pours.

These miracles aren't because Elijah or Elisha had magical powers. They are because God rules creation, and he gave these prophets the ability to act when they prayed to him. An axe head floats—defying the law of gravity. We always talk about the laws of nature as though God is ruled by them, as though God can't do miracles. But who do you think made everything? The one who made everything can do as he pleases with what he's made.

And again, we can't be just practicing deists, acting as though God is not governing the world anymore. We need to understand that he rules this whole physical creation around us, and he orders the creation that we don't see. He orders and directs the angels. That's what Elisha prays for his servant to recognize, because when Elisha says, "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them," the servant must have been thinking, "Yeah, right, I can count. There's you, and there's me. I've got two. Okay, now I'm looking around the city—one, two, three, four, fifty, eighty, a hundred, two, three—let's see... it's hundreds to two, and we've got more than they do?" He's panicking, and Elisha says, "Now, Lord, please open his eyes." Then the servant sees the chariots and the horsemen of fire—God's angelic hosts—surrounding them.

We said earlier, "I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?" Well, those hills are full of the horses and chariots of fire—the same horses and chariots that took Elijah safely to heaven. You're not going to heaven, you're not leaving this world until God says so—until the chariots of fire say so. When you're surrounded by the chariots of fire, they're either going to escort you to glory if you're his child, or they're going to keep you alive here on earth. Those are the options.

God rules the physical creation, and God orders the angels. Psalm 91 says that he'll give his angels charge concerning you, to keep you in all your ways. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he saves them. This is even more striking when you think ahead to Jesus. Angels accompanied him in much of what he did. When Jesus was born, the angels sang his praises. When Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by the devil and successfully overcame him, angels came and ministered to him. When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before going to the cross, an angel came and ministered to him.

The angels were there—that mighty host—when Jesus went to the cross. When one of his disciples whipped out his sword to defend Jesus, Jesus said, "Don't you realize that I could ask my Father, and I would have legions and legions of angels at my command?" They were there, ready for the order, but the order never came. Though Jesus was surrounded by the legion of angels, he knew it was his Father's purpose that he go to the cross and accomplish God's purpose of salvation.

It is so very important that we understand we live in a world surrounded by divine reality and angelic reality. We don't have eyes to see it much of the time, but that's why we have the Bible—God's revelation—so we know they're there even when we don't see them. I don't want to make this sermon too long. I could tell you stories of people who believed they were rescued by angels in very challenging circumstances, but suffice it to say, the angel of the Lord surrounds his people. Sometimes, as in the case of Jesus, God may have other purposes than just rescuing us from suffering or pain, but the angels are still there.

We sometimes think of heaven as a realm way, way up there, with earth down here and a great gap in between. But the Bible says that heaven is right here around us too. It is the abode of God and the angels, but that home is very near to us at all times. We just don't have the senses—or the good sense, maybe—to be alert to those realities all the time. So, we need to do what Elisha did: "Lord, open his eyes." Each of us can pray, "Lord, open my eyes so that I can be more alert to you, to your heavenly host, and to your heavenly forces."

He is also, of course, a God who saves the helpless. Those angels are there for a reason—to protect, defend, and carry out God's orders. He saves the helpless. When Elisha and his servant were surrounded, God rescued them from the army that wanted to capture them. It's almost funny to read these stories. The king of Aram is plotting against the king of Israel, but his plots are always foiled because Elisha knows what he's doing. Yet, the king thinks he's going to capture Elisha, and Elisha will somehow be clueless about it—not knowing it's coming or being able to do anything about it. But Elisha knows it's coming, and he knows God will do something about it.

God saves the helpless. He saved Elisha and his servant. When the widow and her sons were going to starve or be sold into slavery, God provided the flow of oil to rescue them. When they were out in the desert, facing enemy armies with no water, God gave a word through Elisha, and water flowed in the desert. There are so many examples of how God rescues helpless people. We know that Christ himself said the reason the Son of Man came was to seek and to save the lost—to help the helpless, those who have no other helper.

But God is not just a God who rescues, saves, and rules. He is also a God who judges the wicked. We've seen the terrible story of the two she-bears that ripped into the group of youths who challenged and mocked Elisha. We read the story of the enemy army that opposed God's spokesman and was suddenly blinded. We read a harsher story yet of Elijah, where the king of Israel sent a captain and fifty troops to capture him. They said, "Man of God, the king says come down." Elijah responded, "Well, if I'm really a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your men." Boom—they're gone.

But the king, being a slow learner, sent another captain with fifty more troops. Same song, different verse: "Man of God, the king says come down." Elijah replied, "If I'm really a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your men." Again, they're gone. The third captain, having gotten the message, pleaded, "Oh, please, man of God, no more fire! But it would be really nice if you'd come with us." God said, "Sure, go with him." So Elijah went and delivered the original message to the king: "You're going to die." And the king died.

When we think God is someone we can trifle with, we need to read these stories. God is not to be messed with. He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, but we must not forget these parts of the Bible. If you think you can boss around the man of God, saying, "The king's in charge—you do what the king says," or when you think you've got God's people surrounded, God can strike you blind. But God can also extend grace.

There's a great story in the New Testament about someone struck blind: Saul, a terrible enemy of the gospel, who was hunting down Christians to kill them. Suddenly, Jesus appeared, and Saul was blinded and flattened. Three days later, his sight was restored, and he was launched into being an ambassador of the gospel. Something similar happens in the story of Elisha.

Elijah means "Yahweh is my God," and Elisha means "My God saves." Their names sound similar, and I keep mixing them up, but it is Elisha we’re concerned with here. Elisha prayed for the whole army to be blinded. But when they were at the mercy of the king of Israel, Elisha extended grace. The king said, "Shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?" Elisha answered, "No. You wouldn’t even treat prisoners of war that way, and you didn’t capture these people. Someone else captured them. Now, let’s feed them and send them home." And so, the king extended grace to them.

And God, in the stories of Elijah and Elisha, does that again and again with undeserving people, but also with people who were foreigners, people who were not part of the nation of Israel, the Jewish people. Naaman was an Aramean—or Syrian—general, meaning he was a general of the armies that had actually been attacking Israel. So, not only was he a foreigner, but he was an enemy foreigner, and the Lord gave him healing from his leprosy. When Elijah traveled outside the nation, he went to a widow from Zarephath, which was Gentile territory. By the Lord's hand, he provided food for her and raised her son from the dead. She was a foreigner.

By the way, Jesus comments on both of those accounts. He says, "Back in the day, when you read about Elijah, there were a lot of widows who didn’t have enough food, and Elijah went off to some foreigner and provided food for her. There were a lot of people with leprosy back in the day, and yet he healed an enemy general." That was not Jesus' most popular sermon. After he gave that sermon, they wanted to grab him and throw him off a cliff. That shows how much nice religious people sometimes like foreigners. We don't like it when God extends his grace beyond where we would like it to go.

Or consider the story of Jonah. We’ll get to that one, Lord willing, next month at the combined service. Jonah desperately wished that Nineveh would be blotted from the face of the earth, but God spared the city. Again and again, God extends grace to foreigners and to people who don't deserve it—those on the wrong team, those who have been attacking God’s people. But what does Jesus say? "You’ve heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemy."

Romans 12 says, "Do not take revenge. If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink." We see all of that in action right here. Elisha has an enemy. He feeds them, gives them something to drink, and heaps burning coals on their heads, sending them home embarrassed that they came to kill him, only to leave with a banquet.

And so it is with all of us. We're a lot like that army. If God opens our eyes, one of the first things we realize is how dense we've been and how much trouble we're in. When God's Holy Spirit works in your heart and opens your eyes, you begin to see your sinfulness and the weight of God's judgment against sin if he were to give you what you deserve. That's a scary realization. It's like walking along blindly and suddenly opening your eyes to find yourself standing in the capital city of the enemy, surrounded by spears. That’s very, very bad news, and many people don't want to face it.

But when God opens our eyes to our predicament, we realize we can't fool ourselves anymore—we're in serious trouble. We are dead meat. But then, God gives us what we don't expect. He opens our eyes to our problem and our predicament, but then he provides himself as our food. He gives those who deserve death—eternal death and damnation—a feast instead.

I told you Elisha is a type of Christ. God has all those angels, his wrath, and his judgment surrounding us. But instead of delivering death, he grants us a feast through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified. He extends his grace and feeds the hungry. You see it again and again. Elisha feeds the hundred people. He turns the poisonous food into good food. He makes the water flow and turns it into healthy water.

What did Jesus say? "If you ask me, I will give you springs of living water, and you will never be thirsty again. I am the bread of life." He proved it by feeding 5,000 people, but he said, "Now, don't get too focused on the loaves. The loaves are to make a point—I am the bread of life." You can pray to God for your daily bread, and that's fine. He can even give you miracle bread. But what you really need is Christ as your food and drink.

Christ feeds the hungry and heals the sick. We know the great stories of Jesus' miracles, and in the miracles of Elijah and Elisha, the poison pot is healed, the leper is healed, and God's healing power goes forth. As you hear these stories, remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When you're in a situation that seems hopeless, you need to hear those words: "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Pray, "Lord, open my eyes to see you in this situation and to see what you're doing."

When it seems there's a terrible lack and not enough provision, remember that God can provide. He can take cities under siege—where people are paying top dollar for a donkey's head—and turn it into a feast by the next day. God can do amazing things. Our calling is to have our eyes opened to him, and the only way that will happen is if he opens the eyes of our hearts. He is the one who heals the sick and raises the dead.

Raising the dead is probably the supreme type in the ministries of Elijah and Elisha. John the Baptist was an Elijah figure who came to prepare the way for Jesus. Just as Elijah came first, his successor—Elisha—had an even greater measure of his spirit and performed even greater miracles. Elijah and Elisha raised the dead. Jesus raised a dead girl to life, restored a widow's son, and raised his friend Lazarus from the grave. Those commissioned by Jesus—like Peter—also raised the dead.

The power of Jesus to raise the dead was previewed in the life of Elisha. There’s one more story in 2 Kings. Elisha dies, unlike Elijah, who went straight to heaven—one of only two people, along with Enoch, who never experienced physical death. But Elisha dies and is buried in a tomb. One day, some men are in a hurry, pursued by enemies. When one of their companions dies, they quickly throw his body into a random tomb. It just happens to be Elisha's tomb. The moment the dead man touches Elisha’s bones, he comes back to life.

What happened the moment Jesus died? The Bible says the sky went dark, the earth quaked, the temple veil was torn in two, and many holy people were raised from their graves. Just as Elisha's bones brought life, the death of Jesus meant life for others.

These are some of the powerful realities conveyed in Scripture. Sometimes, we focus on fine points of doctrine, but it is equally important to pray, "Lord, open our eyes to know the heavenly, divine, and eternal reality." We are called to fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. The things that are seen are temporary; the unseen things are eternal. The Bible says that God opens the eyes of our hearts, making his light shine within us so that we can see the light of the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

In Ephesians 1, we find a prayer asking the Lord to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we will know him better and the eyes of our hearts will be enlightened. We can stumble through life like deists, thinking there’s a God out there somewhere who got things started but isn’t actively involved anymore. Or we can live as though the laws of nature control God, rather than God governing the laws of nature.

May God open our eyes. Even for those of us who believe, we need fresh revelations. Elisha's servant was a believer, yet he still needed his eyes opened. So do we. We need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes again and again, so we see Jesus, God's reality, and the wonder of the angelic realm.

If you're an unbeliever, you need that too. There are two kinds of miracles of eye-opening in this story. One involves the believing servant who doesn’t believe enough and needs his eyes opened. The other involves enemies of God. If you are God's enemy, he may first blind you in judgment and let you get yourself into a world of trouble. But then, just when all seems lost and the enemy's spears are at your throat, God may open your eyes—and show you grace.

This is a wonderful story. If you follow Jesus, open your eyes. May God help you to see. If you don't follow him, may God open your eyes to the danger of being without him—and also to the feast, the bread of life, and the water of life in Jesus Christ.

Prayer

We pray, Father, that you will help us to see the unseen realm, so that we may walk by faith and not by sight. We pray that where our hearts have grown cold and our eyes have grown dim, you will help us afresh to know you, your mighty forces at your disposal, and, above all, Jesus Christ—the one who fulfills all that the prophets came to foreshadow. We pray in his name, Amen.