Elijah: Taken In To Heaven

2 Kings 2. 1-14

I am sure we all know a few lines of “Swing low sweet chariot, coming for to take me home…” An African-American spiritual. The date of composition is unknown. Taken now by English rugby fans, though the wheels of that chariot keep coming off, but that is for another day. The words of that hymn are to do with the passage before us this morning.

If you wanted to break the passage down in to manageable bites you would follow this:

Farewell Tour - verses 1-6

The divided water verses 7-10

Elijah’s Ascension verses 11-12

The Striking of the Jordan verses 13-15

So let us look at the passage in a little more detail.

Farewell Tour - verses 1-6

Some bands seem to have endless farewell tours and they are very popular. Elijah visits three places on his farewell tour - Bethel, Jericho and Gilgal. From the passage it would appear that at each of these places there is a school of prophets. They may have been visited by Elijah before or even established by him. At each of the three places Elijah asks Elisha to remain behind. Three times he asks Elisha to remain there as he journeys onwards and three times Elisha refuses and travels on with Elijah.

Elisha cleaves to Elijah and will not leave his company. Has Elijah been testing the young man for his faithfulness? Maybe but I prefer to think that Elisha wanted to be beside his “father in God” because he was blessed and edified by being so.

Also, I believe he wanted to be certain of Elijah’s departure. We know from verses 3 and 5 that he, and the other prophets, knew that Elijah’s time of departure was near. I think Elisha wanted to be there at the very end so he would not remain behind in Bethel, in Jericho or in Gilgal despite the request of Elijah.

I think the third reason for him continuing to walk with Elijah is borne out at the end of the story. Namely, that his faith in god is confirmed by what he witnesses.

Elisha is not alone in following Elijah to the place of his departure. We read that 50 of the sons of the prophets follow but from afar.

The Divided Waters: Verses 7-10 - They witness the miraculous dividing of the river Jordan. in verse 8. The River Jordan had to be parted for the people of God to cross over to the Promised Land and it needs to be parted again for Elijah to cross over from this world to the next. The River Jordan features often in Scripture at significant moments - the crossing to the Promised Land and the Baptism of Christ being two such moments. Here is another such moment. Here is a foreshadowing of the Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. One who goes down in to the depths, to death figuratively, only to be raised to new life and to ascend in to heaven.

Elijah touches the water with his cloak and the river parts, allowing Elisha and him to pass over on dry ground. Once across the Jordan Elijah asks Elisha what blessing he wishes from him before he departs. Elisha makes what on the surface appears to be quite an audacious and selfish request. Give me a double portion of your spirit. Is Elisha seeking to be greater than Elijah? Not at all. In the ANE the firstborn son got double the inheritance to anyone else. Elisha is simply asking for an inheritance of the firstborn. Deuteronomy 21:17 states this blessing of the firstborn. Elisha is simply asking for this inheritance and asking for Elijah to intercede before God now for him to inherit such a blessing when Elijah departs this earth.

Well we get Elijah’s answer in verse 10. He tells Elisha this is a hard thing he has asked. Hard in the sense that wants Elisha to know the value of what he has asked to inherit. He does not wish for Elisha to take it for granted but to truly realise the worth of such a blessing being bestowed by God.

How often do we fail to see or understand the worth of the blessings of God. Do we as the old hymn says: “Count your blessing, name them one by one and you will be amazed at what God has done?” I am not sure we do not fall in to the trap, that Elijah wants Elisha to avoid, and take the blessings of God for granted each day.

The second thing that Elijah says to Elisha is that in order to inherit this requested blessing is that Elisha must witness Elijah departing this world.

Elijah’s Ascension - verses 11-12. What aa scene is depicted here in a few short verses. Can you imagine someone writing about this today on social media. It would be pages and pages of description, of the emotional and mental turmoil create by the occurrence. Yet here in 2 Kings 2 it is given two verses.