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.
As they are walking together Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. I want you to notice that. It is important to read the text closely. Elisha witnesses the horsemen and the chariot of fire but the text says it was in a whirlwind that Elijah is taken up to heaven.
As Elisha witnesses this he cries out to Elijah “my father, my father…” His eyes cannot fully take in what is happening and his mind cannot comprehend the amazing act of grace that is taking place before him at this moment. He has witnessed this momentous occurrence. God does not work without His witnesses to testify of the His miracles.
Now the question is will Elisha receive the blessing of the firstborn and inherit a double portion. In his sorrow and grief he has torn his clothing. In the ANE this was a sign of grief and mourning. Elijah’s cloak has fallen to the earth, after all what need has he of it now. He has been transformed as he ascended in to heaven.
Striking the Jordan - verses 13-15: Elisha picks up the cloak and covers himself with it. Signifying that he has now taken the mantle of Elijah. At Abel Meholach Elijah had put his cloak around Elisha’s shoulders commissioning him as a prophet. Here Elisha covers himself with the same cloak and steps in to his calling to be a prophet of God.
As the fifty sons of the prophet watch from afar Elisha approaches the Jordan as he heads back to Jericho. How will he cross this time?
Elisha asks a telling question: “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Has God departed along with Elijah? Has God bestowed His Spirit on Elisha as he had on Elijah? Elisha takes off Elijah’s cloak and strikes the Jordan and it parts, as before. Elijah may have departed but God has not. Elisha has learned an important lesson. God has bestowed His spirit upon him. The God of Elijah is the God who is faithful. The God of Elijah is the same yesterday, today and forever. God is still near.
This revelation of God to Elisha is significant. Elisha must know god for himself. He cannot live on Elijah’s experience of God. He cannot live on the basis of seeing Elijah taken up in to heaven. he must know God and God working through him for himself.
The fifty young men, who have been watching from afar, come and plead with him to be allowed to go on a search for Elijah. they reason that God’s Spirit may have taken him up only to put him down somewhere else. Elisha says no, it is a pointless and needless exercise but they persist and he allows them to go. When they return, without finding Elijah, he tells them: “I told you so!”
A wonderful story and it would make an amazing scene in a film but what has it got to do with us in the 21st Century. Remember to ask the key question: Where is Jesus in all of this? Remember Luke 24:27 how Jesus began with Moses and the Prophets and pointed the disciples to Himself , the Cross and the Resurrection.
This story foreshadows the Cross, the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus. It focuses are gaze not on Elijah and Elisha but on Jesus. Elijah going down in to the Jordan and coming out the other side = death of Christ and His Resurrection. His being taken up to heaven in a whirlwind prefigures the Ascension of Jesus. The falling of his cloak back to earth and the bestowing of the Spirit of God on Elisha prefigures Pentecost and the bestowing of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and all who believe in Christ as Lord and Saviour.
In closing we need to follow Elisha’s example of persisting to walk by faith and not by sight. When others tell us to stay where we are we must continue to walk with God. One day He will take us down in to the Jordan and raise us up on the other side. One day we too will ascend in to heaven and what a glorious day that will be.
The time came - God was in control, not a game of chance. God’s timing is perfect.
For the Lord to take - seldom do we see chariots of fire or experience a whirlwind at the time of death. We witness the collapse of this earthbound corpse. Death appears the most lonely of experiences but this passage gives us a fuller view. God comes and takes those in Christ home. Acts 7:56, 59 - Stephen sees heaven open to receive him.
Up to heaven - Elijah’s life ended in a blaze of glory. 2 Timothy 1.10 - this is what has now happened and is for us all our hope in the face of death. Today so many people believe in only what they can see and therefore they feel, even believe, that death is the end. They fear death and even hate death and do all they can to avoid it and deny it but in the end it comes to us all. It would appear no-one has a choice.
Death is not the end. If it were then this live would indeed be meaningless, pointless and dare I say it needless. Christ has conquered death so that we too might in Him be conquerors. The key question this morning is: Do you know death has been defeated for you?
Amen.
Lastly, we like Elisha, cannot live on someone else’s experience of God. We cannot borrow their faith. we must own it for ourselves.
