I Will Follow You

2 Kings 2:1-6 ESV

1 Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 3 And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. 5 The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

6 Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

It is my honor and my privilege beloved, to officially serve the Lord and this flock of believers as pastor here at Bethany Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

And of course, one of my duties as your pastor is to bring forth to you a message from the Word of God. And today we begin a new series of messages that will encompass the month of July. And throughout this month, we will work through a narrative that I believe is one of the most fascinating narratives in the Old Testament.

That narrative that we will be working through has two significant parts to it. The first part is the more well-known part of the narrative, that being the catching up, or the taking of Elijah the prophet. And the second part being the succession of Elisha to his mentor, teacher, and spiritual father’s prophetic office.

Now, what we will see throughout this narrative are several different things. We will look at God’s sovereignty, we will see two men’s full determination to see God’s will and purposes realized, we will see one who placed service to God above all else as he recognizes Who God is, and we will see faithfulness and commitment from God and to God.

When we look at the opening words of this narrative, we automatically see God’s sovereignty on display when we read:

2 Kings 2:1a ESV

1a Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind,

So, right away we see the pronouncement of one of the main events in this entire narrative, and that is the Lord taking Elijah to heaven by a whirlwind. Thus, before it is written that God actually took Elijah, it is written that He will be taking Elijah as it says that it is about to happen.

Now, we ask, “why”? why did God take Elijah in a whirlwind? Why didn’t Elijah die a death the same way that any other man dies? There are only two men recorded in the Scriptures that speak of God taking them and bringing them to Him without them facing death, and Elijah is one of them. And furthermore, Elijah is the only one who was taken in this way, that is, by a whirlwind.

So, once again, we ask “why”? Why did God choose to take Elijah from the earth? And to take him by a whirlwind at that? This is where the sovereignty of God comes into play because the answer to these questions is simply, God done this simply because God wanted to do this.

Some may say that Elijah lived such an exceptionally holy life that he somehow earned his right to be taken to heaven without tasting death, but all men are born in sin, therefore there is not a man who somehow doesn’t deserve to die. And furthermore, there are certainly some instances in the Scriptures that indicate times when Elijah didn’t act very holy.

So, we see the sovereign choice of God to bring Elijah to Him without him tasting death, and why did God do this? Because that’s what He wanted to do. God is holy, God is sovereign, and He doesn’t need to explain Himself to anyone.

But when we see God make this sovereign decision, we also see in the second half of this first verse, God putting it within the heart of Elijah to do exactly as He commanded him where we read:

2 Kings 2:1b ESV

1b Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.

Elijah left Gilgal, and he knew that when he left Gilgal that he was not coming back, but that he was going to be with the Lord. It seems as though God made this plain to Elijah, yet God put it within the heart of Elijah to travel straight to the place where He would take Elijah out of this world.

Knowing that he was leaving to never return, Elijah tries to spare his apprentice, Elisha from going with him as he knew that he was to be taken and that Elisha would be left alone.

We see this when Elijah tells him:

2 Kings 2:2a ESV

2a And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.”

Elijah knows what is coming, but he hasn’t come out and told Elisha what is coming, so it seems like he tries to spare him from it. They start out from Gilgal and Elijah tells Elisha, “Look, just stay here, because the Lord has commanded me to go all the way to Bethel.”

But just as God put it within the heart of Elijah to go exactly where He had determined him to go, so has God put it within the heart of Elisha to stay by his mentor’s side no matter what.

We see this when Elisha responds to Elijah’s plea for him to remain in Gilgal by saying:

2 Kings 2:2b ESV

2b “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

What Elisha essentially says here is, “As long as God is God and as long as you are living here on earth, I will stay by your side.”

In other words, what Elisha says to Elijah is, “As long as you’re living, I will be with you, whether it’s in Gilgal, Bethel, or wherever. I will not remain here while you depart!”

So, even at the urging of his mentor, Elijah, Elisha would not turn back. He was determined to follow him to the ends of the earth if that is what God led him to do.

But it wasn’t just Elijah who tried to talk Elisha out of following him, we also see a group of people who attempted to do the same thing, when we read:

2 Kings 2:3a ESV

3a And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?”

So, there was a group of people in Bethel called “the sons of the prophets” here. These “sons of the prophets” are also known as the “school of prophets”. These were men who followed the teachings of Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha during the time of the prophets and were known as their “students.”

And they are probably known as the “sons” of the prophets here because the prophets that I just listed, Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha, were known as their spiritual “fathers”.

But it has been revealed to these who were enrolled in this school of prophets either by Elijah or by God Himself that Elijah was going to be taken away from them that very day by God Himself.

So, these sons of the prophets approach Elisha, who they see following his master Elijah, and they ask, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?”

So, they basically say, “God is going to take Elijah away from you today, while he is on his journey, so you might as well stop following him.”

But look at Elisha’s response to them. He says:

2 Kings 2:3b ESV

3b “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Well, that kind of seems a little rude, doesn’t it? But what Elisha is essentially saying here is, “I already know that God is going to take Elijah away from me today, and He has put it within my heart to follow him to the end, so don’t try to stop me from doing so!”

This happened in Bethel, then in Jericho, and last of all, at the Jordan River itself. And at each location, whether it was Elijah or the sons of the prophets who tried to deter him, Elisha’s response was the same, “Don’t try to stop me!”.

Oh, that we would have the same dogged determination to follow after God today!

We live in a society, in a time where there are a host of people who attempt to dissuade us from following after God. And when I say follow after God, I mean truly worship God, truly live a life where we are consciously devoted to the glory of God ALONE.

We live in a society that tells us to stop following after the Lord. And that attempt to get us to stop following after the Lord manifests itself in telling us to flat out forget about God altogether and focus on ourselves. Or more popularly, it manifests itself in telling us to tweak the way that we worship God.

It manifests itself by telling us that service to God, that the worship of God should benefit and glorify us more than anyone, even God.

“Find a church that makes you feel good about yourself!” they say. What about find a church that loves God and worships Him in spirit and in truth?

I hope and I pray that you, my beloved sheep are determined to doggedly follow after God, I mean truly follow after God, truly worship God and God alone no matter what anyone, I mean anyone will ever tell you.

There are people out in the world who will tell you to do otherwise, there are even people within the church who will tell you to do otherwise, but I’m here to tell you that God did not make you or anyone else for your own glory. No, He made you for His own glory.

I hope and pray that you truly know that and believe that with all your being. And if you don’t know that, if you don’t really believe that, then it is my prayer that God would change your heart.

But regardless of what anyone tells you, beloved, what I charge you here today is to follow hard after God the way that He commands you to follow Him, no matter what obstacle may stand in your way!

Amen?