Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
November 18, 1984
Chariots of Fire
2 Kings 6:8-23, KJV
Back in 1982 the movie which received the Academy Award for Best Picture was called "Chariots of Fire." This movie was written by an agnostic and financed by Moslem Arabs but interestingly enough the main theme of the film was based on Christian principles. However, these principles are very subtle and a lot of people probably thought it was just a jogging movie. The plot of the movie is simple: 1924 Olympics are in Paris. There are two main characters, a Christian named Eric Liddell and a Jew named Harold Abraham. The Jew runs to gain success and acceptance. The Christian runs for the glory of God. The crisis of the story is the Christian won't run on Sunday for the qualifying race but he sticks to his guns and at the end of the story he wins the race. Nobody gets saved in the movie and the four Spiritual Laws are never mentioned. Even the title of the movie is never explained.
Although few people in Hollywood (or America) realized it, the movie "Chariots of Fire" is actually a commentary on today's passage from the Bible. In this passage the prophet Elisha and his servant are surrounded by the army of Syria. The Syrians were trying to kill Elisha because the prophet had the ability to figure out the enemy's military moves in advance. So thousands of Syrian soldiers surrounded the city of Dothan and went charging down. When the servant sees this in verse 15 he responds just like Gen. Custer's water boy: he panics. But Elisha isn't worried a bit because he sees things differently. Verse 17 reads:
"And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw - and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."
The chariots of fire belong to God's army and it requires spiritual insight to see them. In answer to Elisha's next prayer, God blinded the entire Syrian army. The prophet and his servant led them into Israel's capital city where God gave them their sight back. They weren't imprisoned and they weren't killed. Instead, Elisha sent them back to Syria to be witnesses to the Lord's power. The theme of both the movie and the Bible passage is the contrast between having a worldly perspective and a heavenly one. Like the servant, for most people, all they can see is the enemy chariots coming to get them.
There are several reasons people look at life this way. Some people reject even the possibility that there is a supernatural dimension to life. This view is reflected in the Humanist Manifesto (II), which was written in 1973. The first paragraph of the Manifesto states: "We find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence of the supernatural; it is either meaningless or irrelevant. . . ." It continues - "We can discover no divine purpose or plan for the human species. While there is much that we do not know, humans are responsible for what we are or will become. No deity will save us - we must save ourselves."
Literally thousands of scientists, educators and political leaders have put their signatures on this document. They don't see the chariots of fire because they're not even looking. This outlook has become very popular in our time. It emphasizes human possibilities and fit right in with the success of science. Nevertheless, many who have adopted it have found it leads to emptiness. Recently the famous news reporter Barbara Walters made a statement that shook people up. Instead of being a brilliant brunette Jew, she said she would rather have been born a dumb blonde Catholic. Her comment was controversial because people thought it was a put down but it wasn't. What Barbara Walters meant by it was that dumb women are more accepted by men, blondes have more fun and Catholics have the hope of heaven. As a humanist, Mrs. Walters was admitting that she admired those who saw an ultimate meaning in life.
People who reject religion and the supernatural are not the only ones who fail to see chariots of fire. After all, Elisha's servant was probably a devout Jew. I find that many present-day Christians are in his shoes. They believe in God but this belief has very little impact on their lives. Their attitudes and actions are actually shaped by the world, not by God. One reason this is so, is because a great number of Christians never mature. At one point in their lives they felt convicted about their sins and accepted Christ but not much came of it. Comparatively few Christians are dedicated enough to have a regular time each day for prayer and Bible study and yet if you don't communicate with God you are not going to see how he is working in your life.
Bible study is particularly important when it comes to understanding the way God operates. The Bible gives personal examples of how people have pleased God and how they have failed him. It also provides principles that can be applied to every area of life. If you want to have insight into the supernatural dimension of your life then you have to go to the source.
Another reason Christians can fail to see God working in their lives is the matter of disobedience. It's one thing to ignore the Bible and therefore not know God's commands. It's another thing to know the commands and disobey them anyway. A definition of sin could be that it's anything that separates you from God. It follows that the more we sin the more distant God will seem to us. From personal experience I have found that sin has a delayed reaction. You don't necessarily feel like you've been suddenly cut off from God. You may feel just as close as always but as the sin takes a deeper hold in your life you come to enjoy God less and less. It becomes easier to pick out the faults of other Christians and feel sour at the church. In the end, your eyes become closed to the presence of God. Sometimes it takes a crisis before the distance hits home.
I believe it is especially important for a Christian to be aware of the spiritual dimension of life. A teacher I had in seminary described it this way. He said, "Life is like a football game where one of the teams is invisible. Parts of the game would make sense to us because we could see the quarterback pass to his receiver but if one of the invisible players makes an interception it would all become very confusing." The goal of a Christian is to be able to see both teams at work, so that the whole game would make sense. This is the kind of insight the prophet Elisha had. It does not come automatically, just because you are a Christian. You must train yourself for it. This involves studying the Bible, communicating with God in prayer and conducting your life as if an invisible audience is watching every step you make.
This spiritual perspective does not have to be limited to individuals. Our own nation has had a long tradition of acknowledging the presence of God in its affairs. The holiday of Thanksgiving is the most prominent example of this. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts. After a year of hardship in which forty-seven out of one hundred and three had died, they had a festival to thank God for the crops that he had provided for them.
It's all a matter of perspective. What do you perceive God is doing in your life right now?
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Typed on January 5, 2006, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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