Got Leprosy?

2 Kings 7:8
8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.

This is an interesting story. It seems that there were 4 lepers who were going to die. They said to one another, "We're going to die....lets go to the camp of the Armenians (the enemy) and see if they'll look after us; if not, they'll kill us. Either way, we're going to die anyway!" So that's what they did. What they found when they arrived, however, was astonishing. Earlier the Lord had gone before them and caused a ruckus. Whatever the case was, God had the Armenian army believing that they were completely surrounded by warriors, GREAT warriors. The fear of that great army caused them to "beat feet" as it were and get out of there. They left everything they had behind. They left food and wine, oil, gold, silver, horses, tents; you name it, they left it. They took the clothes on their backs and ran!

These four starving leprous men found food, drink, clothes, shelter, riches, and transportation just waiting for them. At first they gorged themselves on what they'd found. Then they stock piled some for later. But then they realized that this was a great thing and had to go tell the rest of Israel what "good news" they had!

What an interesting story. So often we relate leprosy in the Bible to the sin in our lives. In this story 4 men, sinners, go out to die, hopeless because of this disease that is destroying their bodies and making them outcasts in society only to discover a blessing waiting for them! The bread and wine, the riches of the enemies army, the good news of victory without even fighting; all of these things parallel the redemption story of Jesus Christ found in the Gospels!!

Four sinners (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) with no hope find themselves redeemed by Jesus Christ. Jesus went before them and prepared a table. He broke bread and poured out wine to symbolize His upcoming sacrifice on the Cross. He promised them that where He was going, they would also go. (John 14:2-3) Jesus Christ conquered death and Hades on the cross so that we don't have to face that army. Jesus promised us the Kingdom of Heaven and has made us rich beyond belief. Like the 4 lepers, like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; we have to accept the gift and proclaim the good news. Just like the lepers, when we first discovered what Christ did for our lives, we wanted to take it all, eat it, hoard it, hide it away, but soon we all realized that the greater blessing is to take and eat, realize that there is plenty for everyone and pass it on!

Our leprosy or sin (alcoholism, porn addictions, little faith, hopelessness, anger, depression,etc.) is what drives us to the riches that God has in store for us