Chariots of Fire
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Where’s the Grown-up?
Where’s the Grown-up?
It is January… everyone’s favorite season. Because we get to do that joy that comes once a year: filing taxes.
Do you have moments where you look around and wonder: where is the grown up who should be doing this for me?
Buying a car, or a house, paying certain bills, voting… taxes is one of those for me. Makes me feel like 2 kids stacked on top of each other in a trench coat.
Recap - Elijah on Mount Sinai
Recap - Elijah on Mount Sinai
Recall that God spoke to Elijah, the still-small voice, the quiet whisper. On Mount Sinai he told Elijah to go and appoint a new king of Syria, and a new king of Israel. Elijah obeyed. God told him to go find a young farmer tilling his fields by the name of Elisha.
Elijah did and Elisha stopped in the middle of his work packed up and followed Elijah. They went on a few more adventures. Including, one time, King Ahab kept sending troops of 50 soldiers at a time to bring Elijah to him, and Elijah kept calling fire from the sky to consume them. Good times.
About six years Elisha followed Elijah.
Until the day came...
Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.
Oh… that day. How did he know? No idea. But somehow it seems like everyone knew and Elijah goes on a tour of prophet clubs in Judah.
Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho, then across the Jordan river and back again. Walking distance… but a hard walking distance, up 1000 feet of elevation in there. And everywhere they go, all the prophets know what’s about to happen.
First, Elijah knows:
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.
Then Bethel
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.”
I know, shut up.
“Sons of the prophets” were disciples of the prophets, maybe other disciples to Elijah himself, which is why Elijah is going to visit them. Prophets in training, looking to inherit the mantle of prophecy. Elisha, we will see, is a “son of the prophet.”
Elijah again gives Elisha an opportunity to rest, and maybe to spare him the drama of what’s about to happen. Or maybe to test his young disciple.
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.
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.”
How do they know? I don’t know. But they know. And Elisha already knows. And he says “I know, shut up.”
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.
“Please” stay here. Seems like an entreaty. Maybe still a test? Elisha stays firm, he will follow.
Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan.
Lots of witnesses
Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.
So… awesome. Not an accident this is reminiscent of Moses and after him Joshua. This is the same river Joshua passed over on dry land, and Moses died on the East side of the bank never entering into the Promised Land.
Moses and his protege - Joshua.
Elijah and his protege - Elisha.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.”
What is Elisha asking for? To be twice as powerful as Elijah?
Here’s where some context is helpful. The way inheritance works in Israel and Judah: It isn’t “the oldest gets everything” like is common in Europe (primogeniture). All the sons inherit, but the firstborn gets the “birthright” - a double inheritance.
This is what Judah got from his father Israel - after several older brothers lost the privilege.
So Elisha is asking, not for twice the power, but the double birthright as Elijah’s firstborn son. There are all these “sons of prophets...”, but he asks to be first. And not of Elijah’s possessions… but of his spirit.
Well… that’s a hard thing because the spirit that empowers Elijah isn’t really his to give, is it?
All of the power, all of the prophesy, all of the miracles are by the Spirit of God. Always.
So Elijah answers:
And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.”
Like a test of Elisha’s spiritual insight, his spiritual readiness… and Elijah already knows that God has designated Elisha as his successor. And sure enough
And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
What a picture.
Chariots - the tanks of the Old World, symbol of power and might. And horses, symbol of military power and wealth… and chariots are pretty useless without horses...
but these are made of fire. They don’t take up Elijah, that’s a common mistake, and I definitely had this picture wrong in my head. The chariots, this burning power of God that throughout Elijah’s life the fire from the sky consumed sacrifices and enemies.... now it stands to separate Elijah from Elisha...
And a whirlwind, I picture a twister, a cyclone, sucks Elijah up into the sky. And he passes from view.
“into” heaven is debated a bit here. Possibly “towards” heaven is a better translation, but Elijah is taken elsewhere. Now, I have always heard this taught as Elijah got sucked up straight into heaven, as in ascended to heaven to be with God. It doesn’t quite clearly say that… and Jesus says no one before him ascended into heaven. But this was truly crazy… it appears that several years after this Elijah writes a new king, Jehoram, a letter:
Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.
Jehoshaphat was king when Elijah “ascended”. Jehoram becomes king… and then a letters come to him from Elijah.
And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father, ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
Now there are options here. Maybe Elijah prewrote the letter to have it delivered. Maybe the events in 2 Kings aren’t exactly chronological somewhere. Chronology is not usually the primary organizing principle in the Bible. Or maybe the whirlwind sucked up Elijah to take him elsewhere.
This, in fact, is the assumption that all the other prophets make, and Elisha doesn’t stop them from searching the area by saying “he’s in heaven, y’all.”
But what Elisha very MUCH knows, is that for him, Elijah is gone. He feels the grief of it, the panic of it.
And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
He is taken from Elisha’s sight, never to be seen again. And Elisha mourns it. Tearing them is a vivid demonstration of his sense of loss and grief.
And he heads back the way he came, back towards Judah and Israel:
And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
These are the steps back into the promised land. But know he has a problem. How did he cross the Jordan before? Elijah miracled it. Bam. Dry land. What does he do now? Elijah was always the “miracle” guy, the prophet, the spirit-filled one.
What can Elisha do?
And he cries out.
2 Kings 2:14a (ESV)
Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”
Turning point. Everything before this was Elijah.
Everything after is through Elisha.
He had reasons to expect. Reasons to hope, to anticipate… but he hadn’t done anything yet.
There was always someone else. Someone else to intercede with God. To be the leader, to be the voice of God, to be the hand of God. There was always someone else before.
It wasn’t Elisha’s turn.
It wasn’t Elisha’s place.
But all of a sudden Elisha looks around and… there’s no one else.
And he looks around and wonders, and asks, then Where is God?
Where is YHWH?
The God of who? The God of Elijah. Isn’t he also the God of Elisha? Isn’t he just God? But we hear a bit of how Elisha thinks of it. He follows Elijah who follows God. God tells Elijah things and that’s how Elisha hears from God.
With Elijah gone… Where is YHWH? Elijah’s God?
Maybe Elisha doesn’t have much faith here, but he does so great. So he does what he saw his Master do. Take the cloak, strike the water with the cloak.
Is it a magic cloak? Nope. Is it a special secret method of parting water? Nope.
Elisha does what he saw his Master do… and God parts the water.
Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.
It’s such a cool, silent but active and powerful answer to Elisha’s question.
Where is God? Oh… he’s right here.
The “sons of the prophets” see it right away.
Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
They want to send people to search for Elijah, he tries to dissuade them, but Elijah doesn’t show up physically again. Just the letter… maybe. From here out the next few chapters show Elisha stepping into ministry, doing miracles similar to or better than Elijah’s miracles.
Where is God?
Where is God?
In You?
In You?
Maybe there is someone who has been the “God person” for you in your life. A parent, a friend, a pastor.
That is a gift from God. Even if they are still with and available to you… It isn’t the “God of Elijah” or “your Dad” or “Pastor Dusty” or anyone else.
It is YHWH. He loves you. He wants you to know and love and worship him. He wants you as his child, not his grandchild… it doesn’t work that way.
Do you believe in Jesus, as your own Lord and your own Savior?
Do you trust in Him for your life and salvation?
Have you prayed that prayer, you can pray it with me now “Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God, who died and rose again, to save a sinner. To save me. You are my savior. I will follow you as my Lord.”
When you pray that, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you, giving you direct connection spirit to Spirit with God Himself.
Where is God? In you.
Not through a priest or pastor or parent or friend or anyone else. A direct line, a heart to heart connection. You hear Him, He hears You.
Where is God? In you.
In Us?
In Us?
Here in our church: where is God? In us.
This is the beauty of a small church, we are like Elisha coming all alone to the shore of the Jordan. Oh… how am I going to get across?
Who is going to lead out in new ways of discipleship? Of ministry? Of administration? Of accounting? Of leadership? Of whatever “crossing the Jordan” we come to next?
You can’t hide among the crowd... there isn’t one.
There is the Holy Spirit in you, supernaturally gifting you to serve the Kingdom of God.
Where is God? In you. Reach out your cloak, in obedience to where and how He is calling you, and God will part the waters.
<Worship Team>
You are filled with the Spirit of Elijah, the Spirit of Elisha, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God. You have the power, the privilege, and the responsibility to speak to God… and to speak for God...
as His witnesses...
as His prophets...
as His people.
Where is the Lord? He is here.