Naaman the Leper: II Kings 5:1-27

Setting: Damascus, the capital of Syria. There were few places in the ancient world that were more evil or more destitute of any real message of God. God choose this place to display his mercy and love. Deserts and mountains stood between Damascus and the Land of Promise but those barriers that sometimes limit us do not limit God. God was about to work. In a city filled with statues to false Gods God was going to establish a new place of worship. 

Read verses of II Kings 5 as highlighted in the notes.

In II Kings 5:1 we meet Naaman. This may not be his actual name but an honorary title. It literally means was “well-informed” or “beautiful” and may have been the way he was known in a city. Verse 1 tells us a great deal about him but it does not say anything about his religious faith. He is not presented as righteous man or a religious man seeking truth so no one can say God presented Himself to him because of that. He was a man who had everything the world considers important but was missing the one thing most desperately needed by everyone, a right relationship with the creator God. We are told about him:

1. He was a Captain/Commander: Commander in chief.
2. He was a great man in the sight of his master, that is respected by the king.
3. He was honorable/highly regarded. He found favor with the king because of all he had done for the nation.
4. He had been used by God. Although he was not an Israelite the sovereign God used him in Syria. 
5. He was a valiant soldier, a brave man who had proven himself equal to any task given to him.

He was a man who had everything except!

6. He had Leprosy, a dreaded disease that no man could cure. Leprosy was so ugly in ancient times that God used it to picture sin for His people. Healing was only available from God. That pictured the truth that only God could save from sin. 

How many reasons can you come up with as to why God would choose to send help to Naaman? I know of no reason why God would come to him except to display His glory and because it was while we were all yet sinners that God loved us. 

A Jewish Slave. Read II Kings 5:2-4. What reason did she have to help the man who was a slave master? What reason did she have to share her faith in a Jewish God with a Gentile? She had every human reason to hate her captive and even rejoice when he became a leper. The armies of Benhadad had taken her captive and carried her away into slavery. “Just by chance,” she ended up exactly where she could be used of God. Think about how insignificant her life must have seemed in this ancient city where sin abounded, and God’s witness was so small. We can too easily feel overwhelmed by the abounding sin and limited support for the things of God in our society, but God can work through the seemingly most insignificant of individuals because He is God.

II Kings 5:5-6 give us a picture of how Naaman understood the way in which God works. He assumed that God’s blessings were available for a price. That is how he was raised. Unfortunately, this is the assumption many today still hold. God’s blessing is available at a price. Sometimes it is expressed as “If I am really faithful doing something I don’t want to do God will reward me.” Sometimes it is expressed as “If God does this, I will do this for Him.” For Naaman the assumption was that the magicians of Israel would perform a miracle for the right price. It’s the way of the natural man. Grace is foreign to sinful thinking.

Think about the length Naaman was willing to go to in order to find what he needed. A trip from Syria to Israel was no small undertaking but he was desperate and was willing to try anything. It is amazing the things people try to find even a moment of peace, peace that God offers freely to all who believe in Him.

King Joram: Once Naaman arrived, he went to the one the world would assume could give access to God. The slave girl said a prophet could cure him, but Naaman chose to approach the king. Maybe he assumed the prophet was subject to the king. 

II Kings 5:7 gives a pathetic picture of the king. The king of Israel was supposed to know God and be able to lead the nation in worship, but King Joram did not know God, so he was unable to help. He didn’t even know about Elisha. The king’s behavior should cause us to ask “Had Naaman come to me would I have been able to show him God or take him to a servant of God?” 

God allowed Elisha to know of the events that had transpired and directed Elisha to send a message to the Naaman via the king. 

II Kings 5:9 and 10 tell us that Naaman went to Elisha. But Elisha refused to come out to him, not as a sign of disrespect but to ensure God got all the glory. Elisha directed him to go and dip seven times in the Jordan River. God requires faith and faith alone. The Jordan was not the cure but a test of heart. Washing was a symbol of cleansing. Unless one is washed in the blood of Jesus there is no cleansing of sin. See I John 1:7, Revelation 1:5, 6

In II Kings 5:11-12 we learn that Naaman refused to follow the directions of Elisha. Pride always stands in the way of being cleansed. Naaman says, “I thought.” Sinners always have an idea of how to be right with God.

He let it be known that he was not treated with respect. To be saved from sin one must be willing to admit that he is a sinner with nothing to bring to God. To be right with God we have to acknowledge that even our best deeds and thoughts are still only filthy rags compared to the righteousness demanded by God. 

The rivers back home were better. The world always has a fairer, more realistic approach or better way to God. But Jesus declared that He and He alone was the way and that no one, not Naaman or anyone else, could come any other way. It’s God way or no way regardless of how we feel about it. 

A servant intervened.  II Kings 5:13. We must never lose sight of the impact an encouraging word can be to one who is seeking God.  It took courage for the servant to address his master that way but in the end, it led to cleansing. God is so patient. He continued striving to get one to follow His directions. See Hosea 11:4. God never gives up on the lost.

Naaman yielded to God and did it His way. He was cleansed exactly as God said he would be. Naaman had to do something. A sinner must respond by faith and ask God to save him. Repentance is required. When Naaman did what God asked him to do, that is to trust in God’s way, God did something. It all happened just as God said it would. God acted as soon as the faith was evident. 

II Kings 5:15-19. The God once doubted is now worshipped. And it all began when a slave girl shared her faith in the true God who can do all things.

There are multiple lessons here. There is a lesson regarding the necessity of faith for salvation. If anyone has been trying to do church their way and not God’s way the story of Naaman is a challenge to make that personal commitment to Jesus. A personal commitment may at first seem contrary to today’s philosophy, maybe ridiculous or even unnecessary, but it is God’s way or no way as Naaman learned. God has only one way, the way of the Cross. And the only way to that Cross is by faith, not of works, lest any of us boast.

There is also a powerful message for all of us who have made that decision. Are we willing to be simply slaves or servants and tell others about Jesus? That may be the only way they will ever hear that there is a way of salvation or that they will make the commitment necessary. God want us to be faithful in our testimony because in ways we may never be able to imagine, He will use us for His glory and others will come to know that God and God alone is worthy of worship.

1) Leprosy: (From Arthur W. Pink)

1. Has an insignificant beginning: Almost imperceptible
2. Is inherited: A communicable disease and easily transmitted from parent to child
3. Works insidiously and almost imperceptibly: Has little pain until the final stages
4. Spreads with deadly rapidity: Slowly but surely the whole body is affected
5. Highly infectious: Spread to others wherever he goes
6. Peculiarly loathsome: Nothing more ugly to the eye than one infected with leprosy
7. State of living death: Slowly spreads and destroys every function of the body
8. Dealt with by banishment: Forced to dwell outside the congregation of Israel
9. Makes its victim an object of shame: Places him outside of everyone and everything
10. Incurable in O.T. times: It took a miracle to cure this disease

The Kingdom of God

Which verse is the center one in the Bible? Most often the answer is Psalm 118:8, which reads, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans.” Actually, there are 31,102 verses in the King James translation and since that is an even number, there is no single middle verse of the Bible. Psalm 103:1–2 are the two middle verses of the Bible, with 15,550 verses before and after them. Read those 2 verses.

What is the most common name and most common attribute of God in the Old Testament? What is the most common theme of the New Testament?

The most common name for God and the one God gave to Moses according to Exodus 3:14 is, “I am who I am.” He is the eternal God who does not change and can be trusted to keep every promise.

The common attribute of God in the Old Testament and the only one given emphasis in the Hebrew by use of triple repetition is that of the holiness of God expressed by the angels in Isaiah 6:3. Read that verse. 

The holiness of God means first that He was totally different from all else in creation and second, it carries an ethical concept that reminds us that God is without sin. Because God’s holiness will not allow Him to be in the presence of sin, God had one of two choices. God could either destroy us in our sinfulness or He could find a way to purge that sin from us. The Cross is God’s provision to purge us and acceptance of that provision allows God to do just that. Rejecting that provision means we remain in our sin and of necessity must be separated from God. 

The most common topic in the New Testament is the Kingdom of God, In the New Testament there are 65 verses that refer specifically to the Kingdom of God. There are 31 verses that refer of the Kingdom of Heaven and another 30 plus verses that refer to the kingdom with specific reference to that kingdom. In the Lord’s Prayer we say, “Thy kingdom come.” We should understand what the kingdom really is and what we are asking God to bring about in our lives, in our community and for our world when we offer that prayer. 

To have a kingdom there must be two essential ingredients. There must be a king and there must be subjects. In the Kingdom of God there is a King who is King Jesus Himself and there are subjects, those who belong to Him by faith and as such name Him Lord or King of their lives. 

See Ephesians 5:and Matthew 24:14 

The question is not who is King because that is obvious, but rather who are His subjects? To be a subject of a kingdom first one needs to become a citizen of that kingdom and then one needs to be a loyal subject of the king. Merely living within the confines of a kingdom does not make one a citizen of it. Merely attending a Christian church or having one’s name on the membership roll does not automatically make one a citizen of God’s Kingdom.

God says we are all sinners and Saint Paul wrote that because of their sin they are citizens of this world. He also said that because of that we are enemies of God. We cannot become citizens of the Kingdom until that enmity is cared for. That is done via an acceptance of the shed blood of Jesus on the Cross. His shed blood pays the price of our being enemies of God because of our sin. Jesus made it very clear that in the final judgment He will determine who is a real citizen and who is not. His decision will be based entirely on whether or not one’s name is written in the Book of Life. That book is a listing of all who have personally accepted Jesus as Savior. To the rest, some of whom will plead they were involved in the church and in the ministry of the church, He will simply say, “Depart from me, I never knew you” or literally “Depart from me for you have never really been a citizen of my kingdom, you have never been registered on the official rolls kept in that Book of Life.” Read Matthew 25:31-41. The unfortunate thing is that too many people who attend church every week have never made that personal commitment and yet Satan has convinced them that they are OK since they were baptized, have their name on a church roll and take communion regularly. That is just not so. Becoming a citizen of Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God demands that there is a deliberate act of personal commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior. 

See John 3:3. 

Contemplate what commitment to Jesus means. Satan has spread at least 2 lies about that commitment. One lie says the Kingdom of God is some sort of democracy in which we get the opportunity to decide which laws we will accept and which ones we will repeal. If popular sentiment is against a law of God, we simply vote to amend that law or even annul it. 

A second lie is that participation in the life of the Kingdom is optional. If we want to participate, we can. If we want to opt out, we simply declare ourselves absent. There are no requirements, just suggestions, and nothing that we can be held accountable for. That is a totally twisted view of the Kingdom. In a kingdom there is not only a king but subjects that are in totally submission to that king.

Over 100 times in the New Testament we see Jesus and Lord used together. See Romans 10:9,  Acts 16:31, and Philippians 2:9-11.

James Merritt, in his book “Crown Him King” wrote the following on the subject of the lordship of Jesus: “While Jesus is His human name and Christ is His holy name, Lord is His heavenly name. Jesus Christ is Lord means:

He is our Master, therefore we are His slaves

He’s our Sovereign therefore we are His subordinates

He is our Ruler, therefore we are His servants

He is our King, therefore we are His subjects.

This is not a choice we make or an option we consider. This is not up for discussion or waiting for a show of hands. This is the way it is. Jesus is Lord whether some of us like it or not, understand it or not, believe it or not, accept it or not.

The question, therefore, is not “Is Jesus Christ Lord?” The question of His lordship has already been asked and answered for all eternity.” 

Merritt went on to write, “The only real question is, “Is Jesus Christ my Lord?” 

That is the question each one needs to personally answer. The question is not, “Have you trusted in Jesus as Savior?” but have you realized that in order to properly make that commitment you must also acknowledge Him as Lord. Remember, “If He is not Lord of all He is not Lord at all.” God does not ask us to accept Jesus as fire insurance for eternity but to accept Him as He really is, the Lord of His Kingdom and, therefore, Lord of every life in that Kingdom. Each one who is seeking to live according to His will needs to regularly evaluate his life and allow God to reveal areas where He still wants to rule and then ask Him to give the power to turn that area over to His Lordship. That is what being a real Christian is all about. That is what being in the Kingdom of God means.

Let Me Ask You a Question Matthew 11:2-15

Matthew 11:3 records that the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus with the question from John. Read that verse and read Jesus’ answer in verse 4. 

Background to that unusual question:  John was certainly a unique individual. His birth was special. Luke 1:6-23 records details of his birth to Zechariah and Elizabeth with Luke 1:6-7 noting that John’s parents were righteous and very old.

Luke went on telling his story. Read Luke 3:2-3 and Luke 3:21-22. John the Disciple gives some additional details on the baptism of Jesus. Those details are recorded in John 1. Read especially John 1:29. 

John the Baptist faithfully and fearlessly proclaimed the need of repentance and eventually that got him in trouble with King Herod. Read Matthew 14:1-12. John had declared that Herod was living in adultery, which was forbidden under Jewish law. That took courage and was costly, but it was the truth. The church in America could learn a lot from that.

It was while in prison that John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He really was the Messiah. Our first response might be, “How could John not have known? In fact, hadn’t he declared as much when he baptized Jesus?” But John was in prison and certainly knew his death could come at any moment, and John began to have questions. John’s faith had been brought into question and he sought reassurance from Jesus.

Probably all of us have had occasions when we doubted the legitimacy of our faith? The circumstances vary but inevitably we all have found ourselves in a situation like John where we expected God to answer in a different way than He did. At those times Satan whispers, or perhaps shouts, “Your faith is meaningless” or perhaps, “Your faith is too small, and you cannot count on God to help you.” John would have been the last person I would have expected to doubt but like all of us, he did. 

John’s disciples went to Jesus as he asked and note Jesus’ response, or perhaps first note how Jesus did not respond. Every time we doubt and wonder where God is when we need Him, Satan whispers in our ear, “God is disappointed with you. You have offended Him by even asking where He is.” We would think Jesus must have been really upset with John. Read Jesus’ answer in Matthew 11:4-5.

A quick reading of that can leave us thinking that Jesus was simply saying to John’s disciples, “Tell him about all the miracles you have seen me do and he will know that I can only do them because I am the promised one.” We would not be wrong in seeing that as a part of the message Jesus wanted John’s disciples to take back to him. But there was something more here that John would have understood.

John wanted to know if Jesus was the Messiah and Jesus answered by quoting the description of the promised Messiah as found in Isaiah. Read Isaiah 35:4-6 and Isaiah 61:1.  

Note the similarity between that which the promised Messiah would do and what Jesus told John’s disciples to tell him He was doing. We can point to the resurrection as a testimony to the legitimacy of Jesus but at the point when John needed reassurance that was not possible. Instead, Jesus answered John’s doubts with the declaration that He was fulfilling the things promised of God, promises John would have known very well.

Note one thing on the list of activities that Jesus had been doing that was omitted. Isaiah continually noted that when the Messiah came, He would “set the captives free.” Jesus made no mention of it in the list of things that John’s disciples were to report on. Perhaps being set free was the one promise John wanted most to hear and perhaps the failure of Jesus to perform it when John knew he needed it was not at the root of his doubts. Satan always comes to us with a question when God seemingly fails in a particular area where we want Him to act. We don’t get a job we wanted, and Satan puts doubts in our minds about God’s willingness to meet our needs without ever thinking about all the other ways He has provided for us. We ask for healing for a loved one and instead death comes, and Satan wants us to doubt God’s willingness to care for us without reminding us of His presence with our loved one and with us or the assurance of where that loved one is. The nature of doubt is that Satan brings into question a particular seeming failure as proof that God has totally failed. 

How did Jesus respond to John’s doubts besides sending assurance based on His activities that He was the Messiah? Read Matthew 11:7. Suppose in the weeks before his death Billy Graham expressed doubts about his future. What would that say to us? If the man who had preached salvation to millions doubted his faith at the last minute, was his faith real? Those who were aware of the issues John’s disciples brought to Jesus must have wondered the same thing. John was the Billy Graham of his day.

Jesus said to John’s disciples and all who were there, “Hold on, let me point out that while John’s faith was temporarily shaken, that does not take away from who he was or the ministry he has had. Don’t let a moment of doubt define him.” I think that is important for us to understand because I can assure you that at some point someone you have looked up to will fail. It will shake you and cause you to wonder about the legitimacy of that person’s faith. He or she is no different than John.

In Matthew 11:7-9 Jesus made three statements about John, each introduced with the question “What did you to see?” (See verses 7, 8, 9) 

The first thing Jesus said about John was that He was not “A reed swayed by the wind.” Jesus said that John did not compromise the truth just because some other idea was popular. He even held to the truth when he confronted Herod. How desperately we need the church to emulate that today instead of ignoring God’s Word in order to be acceptable to more people.

Second, he was not “A man who dressed in fine clothes.” Jesus is not opposed to proper dress. Jesus was referring to the desire of many in our culture to stand out as proper and with it stylish. Keeping up appearances at any cost is one of the characteristics of our generation. The “at any cost” can easily destroy one’s testimony. John, in his sackcloth, was anything but that. His concern was not how he looked but his faithfulness. He was not concerned with living the soft life but a genuine life.

Jesus went on to ask if the people went out to see a prophet. Jesus said John was “more than a prophet.” He was the promised forerunner that Malachi spoke of in Malachi 3:1. He was more than just a prophet, he was a special servant of God. You are always more to God than the world thinks of you. You are not just a Sunday school teacher; you are God’s representative to those kids. You are not just a witness; you are God’s servant proclaiming His love to a lost world. You don’t just clean the church building; you help maintain it so that the church has a place to meet.

Have you ever had moments of doubt or times when you wondered if there really was a God who cared about you and your needs? Don’t let Satan tell you on those occasions that you are a failure, and that God is upset with you. Like John the Baptist those moments of doubt or fear or uneasiness don’t define you. Just as Jesus understood John’s concerns and assured him that He was not only the promised Messiah, but He understood his doubts completely, so too Jesus would remind us of our worth to Him. Jesus loves us, period. He doesn’t just love us when we have great faith, He loves us when our faith seems to be smaller than a mustard seed. Yes, He wants us to be faithful and will help us to be that, but when we fail His love remains consistent. And that is a message Jesus sent to John and sends to us.