February 14, 2015

Godly Warriors Gain Godly Glory!

Last Sunday after Epiphany, Transfiguration, 2/15/15
2 Kings 2:1-12a


Godly Warriors Gain Godly Glory!
I. Our battle scars are not in vain.
II. Our glorious Savior grants us eternal victory.


It’s the mid to late 1960s and the neighborhood boys gather in the backyard of the house where one of them lives. They all have boxes under their arms (we didn’t have plastic bags then) about the size of shoeboxes. Each boy carefully opens his box, kneels down on the cement patio and begins pulling the contents out of the box one by one. Each box is filled with little green plastic soldiers about two inches high. Most of the soldiers have rifles in their hands; some have hand grenades. The figures have small bases attached to them so that you can stand the figures up. Out from the boxes come plastic tanks and jeeps, rocket launchers and military transport vehicles, machine guns and pistols. Each boy lines his men and vehicles up in battle formation. And once every boy is finished, the fighting begins and within seconds all the soldiers are knocked down as the boys simulate the noises of rifle fire, machine guns, tanks firing mortars and hand grenades exploding amid clusters of soldiers.

I’m not making this up. Some of you may have played the same games. Parents of young ones today would be horrified. Playing war?!? Are you kidding?!? Glorifying bloodshed and the atrocities of war?! I’m not saying it was right or wrong, good or bad; I’m just telling you what happened.

Today we turn our faces away from the atrocities of war. We shudder at the heinous, barbaric tactics of ISIS. We’d rather not think about what war is and does to fellow human beings.

So, did you turn your eyes and ears away from the scripture readings this morning? Probably not. In fact, we enjoyed listening to them. They were glorious readings, not accounts of wickedness and atrocities. Fair enough. But did you see the warriors in them? Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration is a warrior in all his glory getting ready to go down that mountain and defeat the forces of hell on another mountain called Calvary.

And in the reading before us right now from 2 Kings 2, we have one warrior whose battles are nearly over and one ready to take them up where the other left off. But the end for all these warriors is the same. And it’s no different for us, modern spiritual warriors that we are. Here’s a comforting truth amid our daily battles with sin, death and hell: Godly warriors gain godly glory. Let’s take that truth to heart this morning.

Part I.

There are times when even our best efforts go for nothing. It happens in countless hospitals across our country every day. We have the finest medical technology in the world. The knowledge and skill of our medical professionals are second to none. But try as they might, each day critically ill patients are told, “There’s nothing more I can do.” Their efforts went for nothing.

The prophet Elijah faced that same disheartening realization more than once in his ministry as God’s prophet to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. Recall what he endured. He received no cooperation whatsoever from Israel’s kings. In fact, he faced stiff opposition. During his ministry wicked Queen Jezebel introduced, supported and promoted the worship of the vile, immoral idol Baal. Imagine God’s covenant people behaving like rank, immoral pagans!

Worse yet, her wicked husband, King Ahab, did nothing to stop her. In fact, he supported her. When Elijah opposed Baal worship, Ahab put a price on his head. He sent Israel’s army out to hunt Elijah down like a wild animal and put him to death.

At one point in his ministry Elijah despaired and we find him hundreds of miles away from the people God had called him to serve. He was fed up. He could see no visible results of his ministry to the people. He was conceding failure.

But take a look at this warrior’s “victories” in the words before us this morning. As our text opens we find Elijah leaving a place called Gilgal. Later on the writer of Kings tells us that there was a school of the prophets there. Elijah goes from Gilgal to Bethel where there was another school of the prophets. Finally he journeys to Jericho where there was a third such school. In modern times we would call these schools seminaries. Elijah’s work had not been in vain. There were men ready to continue his work.

In today’s text we hear much about one of those men, a man named Elisha. The Lord had told Elijah to anoint Elisha to succeed him as the next great prophet of Israel. Elijah’s work would not die with him; it would live on in the life and work of Elisha.

But don’t think these were rosy spiritual times for Israel. Even though Ahab and Jezebel had recently died, idolatry in Israel continued. The nation as a whole never repented of their sin, never returned to the Lord as the only true God, never worshipped him as he had directed them. But that doesn’t mean the Church on earth perished. As dark as things became in Israel spiritually, the lamp of the gospel was never snuffed out. The Lord assured Elijah that he still had 7,000 believers in Israel who had not bowed down to Baal.

And that’s what the Transfiguration of our Lord is all about. As dark as things would become for him and for his Church, when the sun literally stopped shining at Calvary and the suffering of hell tore at his soul, we have this solid assurance that it all began with him revealing his glory on the mountain and it would end with him revealing his glory as our risen Lord and Savior. That’s the Savior in whom Elijah trusted and for whom Elijah served. That was a glorious ministry even though at times Elijah had little to show for it.

Godly warriors gain godly glory. Our battle scars are not in vain.

It’s no easier being a member of Christ’s Church on earth in our day than it was in Elijah’s. Our world still fights against Christ and everything Christ stands for with every fiber of its being. It will not permit a single Christian truth to go un-assaulted. Worse yet, the old evil foe named Satan never rests in his efforts to murder the Church and every Christian. And so we suffer. And when things become spiritually dark we might entertain thoughts of throwing in the towel, waving the white flag, laying down our Christian armor and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. But don’t forget Christ’s Transfiguration! Your faith is not in a losing Savior; it’s in a victorious Savior. He defeated sin, death and hell for you. You remain safe in the holy Christian Church by faith in Jesus. Sure we’re going to get spiritually bruised and maybe even a little bloodied at times. But godly warriors gain godly glory. Our battle scars, like Elijah’s, are not in vain.

Part II.

I’m sure all of us have experienced losing a loved one to death. It leaves a hole in our heart and lives. The grieving process can be long and painful. At times it seems we may never fully get past it.

But, as Christians, we know that the death of one of our fellow Christian warriors is not a loss; it’s a victory, a victory of eternal proportions.

Elijah and Elisha knew that victory was coming for Elijah. Somehow the Lord had indicated that his time on this earth was short. And they weren’t the only ones who knew it. So did the men in the schools of the prophets. At each location, the prophets asked Elisha, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?” Elisha’s brief reply to them almost sounds rude, but perhaps he was saying, “Yes, I know all about it so there’s no need to talk with me further about it.” Victory for this warrior was imminent. A glorious moment indeed!

As he ponders Elijah’s departure, Elisha is aware of what huge sandals he has to fill. He knows it’s going to take strength and courage. And so he asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. And the Lord grants it. He equips warrior Elisha to carry on this glorious ministry.

But he wasn’t the only one that day on the receiving-end of God’s gifts. Our text describes one of the greatest events in Old Testament history. “A chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated them.” No doubt this chariot and the horses signified angels—angels who had come to take Elijah home to heaven. But not just Elijah’s soul. No, the Lord had something special in mind for this warrior. He took Elijah’s body to heaven as well. Elisha exclaimed, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel.” Elisha praised Elijah as his spiritual mentor but also as Israel’s great spiritual warrior who fought the Lord’s battles for so many years. And about 900 years later, with that glorious body, Elijah appears with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration to encourage another warrior, one named Jesus, in the last and most difficult stretch of his work as our Savior, a work that would end in his glorification and ours.

Godly warriors gain godly glory. That’s so true of us as well, because our Savior grants us eternal victory.

Even though we’re Christian warriors, we can lose sight of what our battles are all about. It’s not to gain victory, happiness or glory in this life. In fact, as Christians our lives can be and should be more difficult than those who don’t belong to Christ. And it can get discouraging, even depressing. We wonder at times if our God has forgotten about us and our struggles. The Transfiguration of Jesus is proof that he hasn’t. Jesus was about to face the greatest struggle in the world’s history and our God made sure he was ready for it by revealing his glory. Surely our God can and does supply what we need to face our lesser struggles. He does that through his powerful word and sacraments. Those are his means to keep us in the faith until he calls us home to glory. The victory is ours—glorious, eternal victory.

Godly warriors gain godly glory! As you continue the fight, may God grant you that glory! Amen.