God Has Left the Building: 2 Kings 6:8-23 Chariots of Fire
We continue our series about stories where God meets people outside of their religious buildings. Last week we listened to a story well-known to Christians the world over: the angel announces to Mary the birth of Jesus. This week's story found in 2 Kings 6:8-23 is almost unknown. I remember a vague reference to it from my high school years, when the movie Chariots of Fire came out taking its title from this story. However, I didn’t really discover this story until I had been a pastor for several years. I consider it a lovely hidden treasure of the Bible. Four main characters drive this story: 1) The King of the Arameans (an area near contemporary Syria) 2) the King of Israel (whose garrison is then located in Samaria) 3) the prophet Elisha who is physically distant from both the kings for most of the story 4) God who is working through Elisha, communicating things the prophet would not otherwise know Elisha is the disciple of the prophet E...