Pass The Baton Series

Another thing I want you to see is that Elijah gives Elisha three opportunities to leave him as he is preparing to be taken up by God, we know this because it says right at the beginning of 2 Kings chapter 2 that the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind. Now unlike Peter who denied Jesus three times, all three times here, Elisha stays, saying, “as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you” and he doesn’t. He wasn’t all talk like Peter.

As we continue over this story the next few weeks, I want you to be alert to Elijah being a symbol or type of Jesus, and Elisha being a symbol or type of his disciples (especially maybe Peter).

So Elisha gets the cloak thrown over him and the first thing he does after saying good-bye to his parents is cook up the oxen he was plowing with. Now it’s easy to pass over this part of the verse, but it’s very significant, hence it being in the Bible. First of all it marks a complete and permanent separation with his former life. Remember when Jesus said in Luke 9, which is about counting the cost of following Jesus, he says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God”. Well here Elisha is completely putting the plow to rest, he is not looking back now for the rest of his life, and so he has a ceremony cooking the oxen with the wood from the plow. Additionally, the act of cooking the meat is a communion sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. He is grateful for this difficult call.

So Elijah has Elisha by his side for a few years through the wars, Elijah gets taken up to heaven and here is left Elisha, the new great prophet of Israel. Back now to 2 Kings 2 we see Elisha ask for a double portion of Elijah’s Spirit poured out on him. Of course Elijah can’t do that only God can, so he says “you have asked a difficult thing”, and he puts it in God’s hands by saying if you see me go your desire has been granted, if you don’t it has not been granted.

Sure enough Elisha sees him carried to heaven and the very first miracle Elisha does is the last one Elijah did. He hits the water with the cloak and the water of the Jordan river was parted for him. Onlookers saw this and confirmed that surely the spirit of Elijah (or of course what we know is the Holy Spirit) was upon Elisha. Second point, II. When we accept the call of God we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Notice just very quickly what Elisha says when he gets the water parted, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Or as we might say today, he is pleading for God to show himself. Elisha is in the business of representing God, not glorifying himself.

In the next verses we see that the sons of the other prophets (actually students or disciples) wanted to go find Elijah, “maybe he’s just up on a mountain”, apparently God may have been in the business of supernaturally transporting Elijah around while he was alive. But Elisha knew where he really went so he tells them not to bother, but they pester him and he says whatever, go ahead, but when they come back without finding Elijah he says, I told you so. Third point, III. When we accept the call of God we will be misunderstood.