25 ELISHA RECEIVES THE BATON

Elisha with great emotion and a keen sense of extreme personal loss greatly laments the departure of the great prophet Elijah and honors him with a very meaningful tribute. “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” He saw it as a loss and yet by it he received the sign by which he was assured of the grant of his request for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. He looked steadfastly towards heaven from where he was to expect that gift as the disciples also did when Jesus ascended. He saw it a while as Elijah ascended, but the vision was soon out of sight; and he saw him no more. He tore his own clothes, to demonstrate the sense he had of his own and the public loss. Though Elijah had gone triumphantly to heaven, yet this world could not spare him, so Elisha lamented Elijah’s departure.

Such farewells ought to be much regretted by survivors. Surely anyone’s heart is hard whose eyes are dry when God, by taking away faithful useful men, calls for weeping and mourning. Though Elijah’s departure made way for Elisha’s promotion and increase in stature, especially since he was now sure of a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, yet Elisha lamented his loss for he loved him and could have served him forever. He gave him a very honorable and brief eulogy, as the reason why he lamented the loss. He himself had lost the guide of his youth: My father, my father. He saw his own condition like that of a fatherless child thrown into the world, and sincerely lamented it. Jesus, when he left his disciples, did not leave them orphans as He said in John 14:18, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” But Elijah must leave Elisha as an orphan—except that Elisha had asked that a double portion of Elijah’s spirt be given to him.

Good request, Elisha. The public had lost its best guard; he was the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. If he could have he would have brought them all with him to heaven in this chariot if it had not been that their own sin hindered it. The Israelites did not use chariots and horses in their wars as the neighboring nations did, but Elijah was to Israel better than the strongest force of chariot and horse, and defended them against the judgments of God and the attacks of nations by his counsels, reproofs, and prayers. His departure was like the routing of an army, an irreparable loss. “Better to have lost all our men of war than this man of God.”

First, earlier we discussed at length that Elijah was a man just like us. Yet Elisha calls him “the chariots and horsemen of Israel.” What is the symbolism of being called chariots and horsemen?  Chariots were the most powerful weapons of warfare in Elijah’s day. Not only could archers shoot arrows and spearmen throw spears from chariots, the chariots themselves were weapons, to say nothing of the war horses out front striking with powerful hooves. From the elevated vantage point of simply standing in a chariot one could see the battlefield better than the foot soldiers could. The side of the chariot protected the soldiers in it so they were more free to shoot arrows or throw spears. On the wheels of some chariots were blades capable of cutting down many foot solders. It is easy to see that a chariot in those days was the most powerful weapon of war.

What is the most powerful weapon of war today? How can we visualize ourselves as prayer warriors being like a strong and effective weapon of warfare? Today’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile is capable of going a great distance from one continent to another and accurately delivering an atomic bomb. It was like the contemporary “smart bomb” with the explosive power of a huge bomb directed and traveling to exactly and specifically its target with the precision of a laser beam. Yet there exits another kind of missile that we might consider strategically even more valuable, a Patriot missile which can hit an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and knock it out of the sky before it reaches it’s destination. The Bible says Satan is throwing fiery darts at us. We can compare that metaphor of Intercontinental Ballistic and Patriot Missiles to Satan’s fiery darts and our prayers with which we knock down those darts.

Nations today, as then, are under attack by invisible forces of unrighteousness. These evil spirits oppose God and intend the destruction of God’s people and God’s church. These invisible spiritual forces are responsible for the continual blinding and binding of non-Christians. Today God needs men and women who, like Elijah, will be powerful spiritual weapons rushing to the effective defense of all that is precious to God. The militant church of God must fight against the Spirits of jealousy that breed discontent, spirits of lust that urge people into various forms of perverse sexual sins, religious spirits that lead people into demon and devil worship, and other deceptive spirits that lead people into witchcraft, materialism, atheism, and numerous doctrines of devils—false religions.

Will you do today for your nation what Elijah did in his day for his nation? Will you become a strong spiritual weapon that God can use to tear down the forces of unrighteousness that attack your nation? community? church? family? If you are willing to do the difficult spiritual work in the invisible realm, you will be doing the work of an Elijah. You too will be chariots and horsemen.

How do we conduct such warfare? How can we knock down the fiery darts of the enemy? Using the words of Scripture we can say, Let God arise and His enemies be scattered. May His foes flee before Him. May the God of peace crush Satan’s head under our feet shortly. May the strong man be bound and his spoils taken. May every evil imagination that exalts itself against God be cast down. May love, joy, peace, prayer, praise and worship be released in the heavenly and earthly realms. May lying, stealing, cheating, involvement with demons, perversities and sensual sins be bound in the heavenly and earthly realms. May the gates of hell not prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ, but to the contrary may the Church of Jesus Christ prevail against the gates of hell. When the enemy comes in, like a flood raise up a standard against them. May rulers, authorities, forces of darkness in this world and evil spirits in high places be uprooted, overthrown destroyed and torn down in Jesus’ name.

Where are the Elijahs of the Lord God today? Will you enter into an invisible spiritual war and bring destruction to those forces that are trying to destroy your nation? community? Church? and family? Will you be an Elijah of the Lord God today?

Second, next we look at what followed immediately after Elisha’s spontaneous lament of the departure of the chariots and horsemen of Israel. He was about to be elevated into a ministry much like Elijah’s—as a father to the sons of the prophets and himself a weapon like the chariots and horsemen of Israel. Elisha picked up Elijah’s mantle, the badge of his office, which, we may suppose he put on. Verse 13 says, “Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.” When Elijah went to heaven, though God did not let his body fall, He did let his mantle fall instead. People pass on to their reward, but the work goes on. Elijah was to be clothed with immortality; he was going to a world where he no longer needed the mantle to wear or to shelter him from the weather, or even to wrap his face in, as Elijah had needed it for that purpose.

Elijah left his mantle as a legacy to Elisha, and, though in itself it was probably of little value, yet as it was a symbol of the descent of the Spirit on him, it was worth more than if he had given him thousands of gold and silver coins. Elisha took it up, surely not as a sacred relic to be worshipped, but as a significant garment to be worn, and a reward of sorts to him for his own clothes which he had torn up in his lament and grief at Elijah’s departure. We may guess that he had loved this cloak ever since it was cast over him when Elijah first called him to follow him. Elisha who then so cheerfully obeyed the call of God that was attached to it, and became Elijah’s servant, is now dignified with it, and becomes Elijah’s successor. Elisha had probably returned it to Elijah, but now receives it again permanently.

There are material and immaterial things left by great and good men which, like this mantle, ought to be gathered up and preserved by the survivors. Can we, for examples, remember, value, and appreciate their sayings, writings, lives and examples? If so, then the blessings and influence of those giants of the faith can continue to empower us in our succeeding generation.

Third, Elisha received Elijah’s power to divide Jordan as verse 14 says, “He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. ‘Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?’ he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.” Having parted with his father, he returns to his sons in the schools of the prophets. The Jordan river was between him and them; it had been divided to make way for Elijah to his glory. And now Elisha will try whether it will divide to make way for him to do his business. Perhaps it was a test by which he will know that God is with him, and if he has the double portion of Elijah’s spirit.

Elijah’s last miracle would then be Elisha’s first and in a symbolic sense Elisha would begin where Elijah left off with no gap in between. This is true today too. When men and women of God pass away, let us pick up their mantles and serve God in our generation. The tool God will use may be different, but the God who uses the tool is the same. In dividing the waters Elisha made use of Elijah’s mantle, as Elijah himself had done possibly to hint that he planned to keep to his master’s methods and would not try to do anything new. He did not think himself wiser than his predecessor. He called out to Elijah’s God: Where is the Lord God of Elijah? He does not ask, “Where is Elijah?” as belaboring the loss of that great man as if he could not move with confidence now that Elijah was gone, or as doubting Elijah’s happy arrival in heaven. He was not like the sons of the prophets who did not know what had become of Elijah nor was he preoccupied with wondering what would be the condition of Elijah now in heaven. Even with further biblical revelation we still do not know a lot about what heaven will be like. Elisha is not expecting help from Elijah. Elijah is neither omniscient nor omnipotent. God is.

So Elisha asks, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Now that Elijah was taken to heaven, God had abundantly proved Himself to be the God of Elijah. Elijah now had better provisions than even the brook Kerith or the widow of Zarapath could have given. I see rich symbolism in this question. Now that Elijah was taken to heaven Elisha inquired after God! When our earthly comforts are removed, we still have a God to Whom to go who lives forever. The God Elisha asks about is The God of Elijah, the God that Elijah served, and honored, and pleaded for and adhered to when all Israel had deserted him. This honor is given to those who cleave to God in times of general apostasy, that God will be, in a peculiar manner, their God. “The God that owned, protected, provided for Elijah and in many ways honored him, especially now at last—where is He? Lord, was I not promised Elijah’s spirit? Make good that promise.” Where is Elijah’s God? God is on His throne listening to prayer as He has always been. My question would be, “where are the Elijah’s.”  We have lost one Elijah, but we have not lost Elijah’s God. He has not forsaken the earth. He is still with us. It is the duty and obligation of the leaders and protectors of God’s saints on earth to inquire after God, and appeal to Him as the Lord God of the saints that have gone before to heaven, the God of our fathers.

It is very empowering to those who inquire after God that they know where to find Him. Psalm 11:4 can help us. It says, “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them.”And the great paradox of the majesty of God is that He is not only big and powerful on His royal throne, but also simultaneously graciously near, dear and available to us as Psalm 145:18 adds, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” Those that walk in the spirit and steps of their godly, faithful predecessors will certainly experience the same grace they experienced; Elijah’s God will be Elisha’s too. The Lord God of the holy prophets is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But it will not benefit us anything at all if we only have the mantles, books of memory of them, if we do not have their spirit and intimately know their God.

Fourth, Elisha also had Elijah’s interest in the sons of the prophets. Verse 15 says, “The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.” Some of the men of the School of the Prophets at Jericho who had evidently intentionally placed themselves near Jordan to see what happened were surprised to see the Jordan divided again, this time in front of Elisha in his return. They correctly interpret that as a convincing evidence that the spirit of Elijah did rest on him and that therefore they ought to pay the same respect and honor to him they had paid to Elijah. Consequently they went to meet and congratulate him on his safe passage through fire and water and the honor God had evidently put on him.

They bowed themselves to the ground before him. They were trained up in the schools; Elisha was taken from the plough. Yet when they perceived that God was with him and that now Elisha was also a man whom God delighted to honor, they readily submitted to him as their new head and father. This had happened years before near this very place as the people pledged themselves to obey and follow Joshua when Moses was dead. Joshua 1:17 says, “ Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.”

Those who appear to have God’s Spirit and presence with them ought to have our esteem and best affections, regardless of their social position or academic education. This ready submission of the sons of the prophets, no doubt, was a great encouragement to Elisha. But let us as Christian leaders not fail to see an important lesson for us here in this story: It was not because of what Elisha had done, but because of what God had done that the people pledged themselves to submit to Elisha. It is ever so easy to receive the kind services of those who recognize the presence, anointing and blessings of God on our lives. It is not for us, or our reputation, our convenience or pleasure, but for God. When people honor us, let us deflect it all to the One Whom we all serve.

It is humorous to me that the sons of the prophets made a needless search for Elijah. They evidently suggested that possibly Elijah was dropped, either alive or dead, on some mountain or in some valley. It would be satisfying to them if they were to find him. It is possible that some of them started this as kind of question regarding the choice of Elisha as though to say, ‘Let us first be sure that Elijah has gone. Can we think or possibly imagine that God would allow this to have happened? . . . that a chosen vessel prized by Him would be cast away, dropped?

Elisha did not consent. He knew it was a foolish idea with no practical benefit for anyone. When they insisted so dogmatically he was evidently ashamed to oppose it any further. Perhaps he did not want to be seen to value the mantle, the cloak of Elijah too much. Even in this I believe there is a lesson. Even when we as leaders are certain that the direction we are leading is right we can be amiable and for the sake of peace let others learn by their own actions if they are not willing to learn from our own leadership. He knew the project was needless and would be fruitless, but was wise to let them learn from it. The result probably made them as much ashamed of themselves and their failed proposal as they, by inappropriately urging Elisha had made Elisha ashamed of his opposing it. When the report came back that Elijah was not to be found, Elisha had an opportunity to teach them by asking the question, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

This would make them more willing to accept his judgments in the future. This advantage would not have belonged to Elisha had he stubbornly refused to allow them to go and try to find Elijah. Traveling up and down through the valleys and mountains will never bring us to Elijah or Elijah to us, but the imitation of his life, faith and zeal can be a great benefit to us and our generation. Try to identify a strong and influential spiritual leader whose example you would like to follow. Don’t try to be that person or necessarily even like that person, but do try to be the best version of yourself as you can—as that person was the best version of himself or herself. Elijah was a good version of what God intended Elijah to be and Elisha was a good version of what God intended Elisha to be. Both were successful men of God.

You can be a successful man or woman of God too. Be the best version of yourself. No one else can do that. You be your best self and be successful.