OPEN: I love trivia.
I enjoy all kinds of trivia games.
AND being a preacher, I especially love Bible trivia.
In fact, I’ve even came up with my own Bible trivia question that I use sometimes to stump other preachers once in awhile. The Question:
“How many times in Scripture did people cross rivers or seas that had been parted so they could cross on dry ground?”
The answer: FOUR.
First when Moses led the people out of their slavery in Egypt and crossed the Red Sea.
2nd - when Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land and crossed the Jordan on dry ground.
And then (in our text today) when Elijah crossed the Jordan to meet with the Fiery Chariot and when Elisha crossed it again to reenter Israel.
That’s a GREAT trivia question. And as far as I’ve ever been concerned, it had no lasting theological value.
But then… maybe it does.
Romans 15:4 tells us (referring to the Old Testament Scriptures):
“… EVERYTHING that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
So – how much of the Old Testament was written to encourage us and give us hope?
ALL of it.
Including the stories of people crossing these bodies of water.
Now, I’ll get back to that in just a little bit… but first, let me lay a little foundation.
In Romans 15, Paul was telling us that (as New Testament Christians) the Old Testament can teach us…
… about God
… about endurance
… about encouragement
… and about hope.
But as valuable as the Old Testament is to us Christians, that doesn’t mean that we are to live our lives as Old Testament people. As Galatians 5:18 tells us:
“… if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
The Old Testament was a covenant/ contract that God established with Israel. And that contract was based upon the Law. The that Law had one major drawback – it couldn’t make anyone righteous.
As Hebrews 7:19 says: “…the law made nothing perfect… “
In other words, if you and I tried to live our lives according to those commandments, we could never be good enough to be good enough to get into Heaven.
The Law’s purpose was to expose our sinfulness, and to reveal our need for Jesus.
As Galatians 3:24 puts it: “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.”
Thus, the Law was given through Moses (that’s why it’s often called the “Law of Moses”) and that Law could never lead us into heaven. God drove home this fact with a very painful story in the Old Testament
ILLUS: The story is related in Deuteronomy 32:48-52
“On that same day the LORD told Moses ‘Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.
This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.’”
This passage was saying that the reason Moses didn’t get to go into the Promised Land was BECAUSE he’d sinned against God.
Now, most theologians believe to the incident God was referring to here, was where Moses had been commanded to SPEAK to a rock so that water would come out. BUT Moses had grown weary of a people that were always complaining and bickering and backbiting. And he’d especially grown tired of their questioning his God-given leadership of the nation. So, in this particular incident, instead of just speaking to the rock, he STRUCK the rock in anger and implied about HE was bringing forth the water for Israel (not God)
Now, if that was true – by most standards that was a VERY small indiscretion. This seems to be ONLY complaint God ever had against Moses. Moses lived 120 years and this one incident keeps him out of the Promised Land! Others had done worse and they got into the promised Land..
That’s not FAIR.
But this wasn’t really about fairness.
This was about God using Moses as an object lesson
Moses was one of the greatest servants of God in the Old Testament.
A man of unparalleled righteousness and obedience.
But even this great man of God had sinned.
And the Law that he had brought down from Mt. Sinai couldn’t remove that sin.
God’s point was – even the smallest sin can keep us out of heaven.
But God had another lesson.
Not only could the smallest sin keep you OUT of heaven, the Law COULDN’T get you INTO heaven.
You see, Moses represented the Law (the Law was often called “The Law Of Moses”), and God chose not to let Moses into the Promised Land partly because He wanted to teach us that – just as the giver of the Law could not enter the Promised Land that same Law would be unable to lead anyone else into heaven.
God kept Moses out of the Promised Land.
Moses was not allowed to lead God’s people into this new land.
So WHO DID? Who did God have lead Israel into the Promised Land? (Joshua)
You know what Joshua’s name in the Greek is?
JESUS (which means “Savior”)
The Law was not permitted to take people into the Promised Land… but Joshua (the Savior) could lead them in.
And when Joshua led the people into the Promised Land God parted the Jordan River so that the people could cross the riverbed on dry ground. And Joshua leads the people of Israel across the river… in exactly the same place that Elijah and Elisha crossed.
You think that might have been a coincidence???
Now, this morning we read the story of Elijah and Elisha at the Jordan River.Elijah has always ministered in the land of Israel (the Promised Land). But when it comes his time to be taken up in the whirlwind… where does he go?
He crosses to the other side of the Jordan.
He LEAVES the land of God.
He goes OUTSIDE the Promised Land.
Now, why does God have Elijah do that??
Because Elijah represents the Prophets of the Old Testament.
AND the Jews depended upon the Law and the Prophets to bring them to righteousness.
God’s message: neither the Law NOR the Prophets could bring us into God’s rest.
Elijah doesn’t cross back into the Promised Land, but someone else does.
Who’s that?
Who parts the waters so he can walk right back into God’s Land?
Elisha.
As I was preparing this message I asked myself: “I wonder what Elisha’s name means?”
“Elisha” means “God is our Salvation”
Do see what God is doing here?
God is using the same imagery as He did with Moses and Joshua.
Neither the Law NOR THE Prophets could bring people to salvation
But Joshua (means: the savior) and Elisa (which means “God is salvation) could bring us to God’s Promised Land. We needed a Savior to bring us out of our wilderness - into God’s presence.
Now to drive that fact home, during His ministry on earth, Jesus took 3 of His closest disciples with Him to a meeting on what we call “the Mount of Transfiguration”. And while Jesus is on that mountain He meets with two Old Testament people. Do you remember who those two Old Testament men were?
(Moses And Elijah)
The last time we saw these 2 men in the Old Testament they were OUTSIDE the Promised Land.
But now – on the Mt. of Transfiguration – they’re INSIDE the Promised Land. And the ONLY reason they’re in the Promised Land now… is because Jesus brought them there.
They Needed A Savior To Bring Them Into God’s Land!
Now, isn’t that cool?
I personally believe that’s intriguing.
“But Jeff” (you might say) “you said that Romans told us that ‘… EVERYTHING that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.’” Romans 15:4
So Jeff, what you’ve shared about Moses and Elijah is intriguing, but how does this encourage ME? How does this give Me hope?
Well, that’s very simple.
Skeptics will try to tell you that the Bible is a collection of fables.
They try to tell you that Scripture is nothing more than the writings of clever men who wanted a book to use for a religion they created for their own purposes. And so they made up all of the things you’ve read out of whole cloth.
But what we’ve just seen in the stories about Moses and Elijah proves that that’s NOT true! The Bible is NOT some motley collection of men’s teachings
Oh, no! It’s an elaborately intricate book that weaves God’s thinking throughout every story found in its pages… even down to the smallest details.
The stories in your Bible are not just there to entertain you.
They are there to assure you that you matter to God.
And the message of the crossings of the Jordan River is there to assure us that God cares so much for you and me that He took extreme care to give a Bible that is reliable even down to the smallest details. And the purpose of giving you such a reliable book was to drive home this repeated message:
You Need A Savior!
You need Jesus!
God loved you… so repeated that message in His Bible over and over and over again.
(pause…) But there’s more
When Elijah crossed over the Jordan…he laid cloak on the water & crossed over into the wilderness.
He crossed over from Land of Promise into a land of rock and sand… a desert.
He literally crossed over from the region of Life… into a place of death.
It used to be, when people talked about dying, they described it as “crossing over” - as in “crossing the river”. And those outside Christ viewed that place to which they were “crossing over” as being a one-way trip. For them death was a scary and FINAL destination. It was a dark place filled with nothing but sorrow and misery.
One ancient philosopher wrote:
“There is hope for those who are alive, but those who have died are without hope.”
And that’s where Elijah went - into a land without hope/ a land of darkness.
But there, in that land of death… God was waiting for Elijah.
Elijah may have walked into a place of emptiness and regret but God wasn’t going to let him stay there.
God had a RIDE waiting for Elijah.
And not just any old ride… it was fiery chariot.
A vehicle designed to catch your attention and impress you.
From that day until this, that fiery chariot has represented the power of God over death.
ILLUS: There’s an old Negro Spiritual that went this (SING IT WITH ME)
Swing Low Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home
Well, I looked over Jordan, and what did I see – coming for to carry me home
It was a band of angels, coming after me – coming for to carry me home.
Swing Low Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home
Paul wrote about our hope in I Thessalonians 4:13-18
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
This was the image God wanted to place in our minds with Elijah.
Just as with Paul’s description in I Thessalonians, God was telling us with Elijah that death is NOT a final destination for God’s people… there is a resurrection.
One man put it this way:
“For the Christian, death is not a period, but a comma in the story of life.”
And God has given us that promise from the day we became Christians
Romans 6:3-5 tells us
“… don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
In baptism, we cross over from death to life, just as Elisha did when he returned to Promised Land. Baptism teaches us that when we go down into the water, our past is buried with Christ.
But when I baptize someone, do I leave them under water? (wait for a response).
Somebody would get really upset if we did that.
No we don’t leave people under water. We raise them up again… raising them (if you will) from the dead.
That’s because baptism isn’t just a promise that God forgives our sins.
Baptism is a promise that God WILL raise us one day from the grave and we will be with the Lord forever.
CLOSE: The crossing of the waters in Scripture teaches us that God offers us hope and encouragement – just as Romans 15 promised.
And we know it is true, because when Jesus Rose from the Dead, He showed us that death could not hold us either.
One person described it this way:
What gives a widow courage as she stands beside a fresh grave?
What is the ultimate hope of the cripple, the amputee, the abused, the burn victim?
How can the parents of brain-damaged or physically handicapped children keep from living their entire lives totally and completely depressed?
Why would anyone who is blind or deaf or paralyzed be encouraged when they think of the life beyond?
How can we see past the martyrdom of a helpless hostage or a devoted missionary?
When a family receives the tragic news that there child has died or their dad was killed in a plane crash or a son overdosed on drugs, what single truth can become their whole focus?
What is the final answer to pain, grief, diseases, calamities, and fatal accidents?
The only thing that can make any difference to those who’ve experienced these hardships: Jesus will come for us… and there will be a resurrection.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4
FOOTNOTE: There are those who maintain that this fiery chariot was not the end of Elijah’s earthly ministry. They point out that John 3:8 tells us “no one has ascended up to heaven but he that descended from Heaven” – that is Jesus. Also, they note that II Chronicles 21:12 tells of Elijah writing a letter to King Jehoram… a King that lived years after Elijah was taken up in the whirlwind.
I mention these facts to point out that there are things about this incident that still confuse me. But rather than address them in a sermon that I didn’t feel would benefit from these thoughts, I preferred to make them available to you, the reader, for further consideration.
