King Ahaziah died but Elijah didn’t die! He was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind, accompanied by fiery horses drawing a chariot of fire. Like Enoch of old, he walked with God and then suddenly went to be with God (Gen. 5:21–24; Heb. 11:5). Both men illustrate the catching away of the saints when Jesus returns (1 Thess. 4:13–18). But before Elijah left Elisha to carry on the work, he walked with his successor from Gilgal to beyond the Jordan, and what a walk that must have been! The Lord had at least three purposes in mind when He led these two servants to walk together.
Taking advantage of the present. Elisha knew that his master was going to leave him (vv. 1, 3, 5), and he wanted to be with him to the very end, listen to his counsel and learn from him. It appears that Elijah wanted Elisha to tarry behind and let him go on alone, but this was merely a test of Elisha’s devotion. When Elijah threw his mantle on Elisha and made him his successor, the younger man promised, “I will follow you” (1 Kings 19:20), and he kept that promise.
During the years that the two men had worked together, surely they came to love and appreciate one another in a deeper way. “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18) applies to ministry as well as marriage. Moses and Aaron labored together, and David and Jonathan encouraged each other. Paul journeyed first with Barnabas and then with Silas, and Luke seemed to be a regular companion to the apostle. Even our Lord sent out His disciples two-by-two (Mark 6:7; see Eccl. 4:9–12). We are not only fellow workers with the Lord, but also with the Lord’s people, and there must be no competition as we serve the same Lord together (John 4:34–38; 1 Cor. 3:1–9).
We never know when a friend and fellow worker will be taken from us. God told Elisha that Elijah was leaving him, but we don’t know when it is our time or a friend’s time to go to heaven. What great opportunities we miss by wasting time on trifles when we could be learning from each other about the Lord and His Word! It rejoices my heart when I see younger Christians and Christian workers appreciating the “senior saints,” the veterans of Christian service, and learning from them. One day, these “giants” will be called home and we’ll no longer be able to learn from them.
These two men represented different generations and opposite personalities, yet they were able to walk together. What a rebuke this is to those in the church who label the generations and separate them from each other. I heard one youthful pastor say that he didn’t want anybody in his church over the age of forty, and I wondered where he would get the wise counsel that usually comes with maturity. I thank God for the “Elijahs” in my life who were patient with me and took time to instruct me. Now I’m trying to share that same blessing with others.
Preparing for the future. At Bethel, Jericho, and Gilgal, the two men visited the “sons of the prophets” (vv. 5, 7, 15; 4:1, 38–40; 6:1, 7; 9:1; see 1 Kings 20:35), companies of dedicated men who were called of God to study the Scriptures and teach the people. Samuel led one of these “schools” at Ramah (1 Sam. 7:17; 28:3; see 10:5, 10; 19:20–23). These groups would be similar to the mentoring groups in our churches, or even like our Bible schools and colleges. The work of the Lord is always one generation short of extinction and we must be faithful to obey 2 Timothy 2:2—“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (nkjv).
These young prophets knew that their master was about to leave them, so these final meetings must have been very emotional. We have “farewell messages” in Scripture from Moses (the book of Deuteronomy), Joshua (Josh. 23—24), David (1 Chron. 28—29), Jesus (John 13—16), and Paul (Acts 20:17–38 and 2 Tim.), but the Lord didn’t record for us what Elijah said to his beloved students. Certainly he told them to obey Elisha just as they had obeyed him, to remain true to the Word of God and to do everything God told them to do as they battled against idolatry in the land. It was their responsibility to call the people back to obeying God’s covenant (Deut. 27—30) so that He might be pleased to bless and heal their land.
During the years that I was privileged to instruct seminary students, I occasionally heard some of them say, “Why should we attend school? Charles Spurgeon never went to seminary, and neither did Campbell Morgan or D. L. Moody!” I would usually reply, “If any of you are Spurgeons, Morgans, or Moodys, we’ll no doubt discover it and give you permission to stop your education. But let me remind you that both Spurgeon and Moody founded schools for training preachers, and Campbell Morgan was once president of a training college and also taught at a number of schools. Meanwhile, back to our studies.”
God has different ways of training His servants, but He still expects the older generation to pass along to the younger generation the treasures of truth that were given to them by those who went before, “the faith … once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3 nkjv).
Reviewing the past. Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the Jordan River were important places in Hebrew history, each of them carrying a significant message. Before he left the land and went to heaven, Elijah wanted to visit these sites one last time and take Elisha with him. Our eternal God doesn’t reside in special places, but we who are creatures of time and history need these visible reminders to help us remember and better understand what God has done for His people. The past is not an anchor to hold us back but a rudder to guide us, and the Lord can use these “tangible memories” to strengthen our faith. The British poet W. H. Auden wrote, “Man is a history-making creature who can neither repeat his past nor leave it behind.” It’s important for us to remember what God did in the past and to pass this treasure along to our children and grandchildren (Ps. 48:9–14; 71:17–18; 78:1–8; 145:4). That’s one of the major themes of Moses’ farewell address to the new generation about to enter the Promised Land (Deut. 4:9–10; 6:4–9; 11:19–21; 29:29). “Remember” is found fourteen times in Deuteronomy and “forget” at least nine times.
Gilgal (v. 1) was the first place the Israelites camped after they crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promised Land (Josh. 4:19–20). It was there that the new generation of Jewish men submitted to circumcision and officially became “sons of the covenant” (Josh. 5:2–9). Gilgal was the place of new beginnings and Elijah wanted his successor to remember that. Each new generation is an opportunity for God to raise up new leaders, and each time His people repent and return to Him, He can restore them and renew them. At that time, Gilgal was the center of idolatrous worship (Hos. 4:15; 9:15; 12:11; Amos 4: and 5:5), but Elijah didn’t abandon it.
From Gilgal the two men walked to Bethel (vv. 2–3), about fifteen miles west of Gilgal. Abraham worshipped there (Gen. 12:8; 13:3) and so did Jacob. It was at Bethel that Jacob saw the angels ascending and descending the ladder (or staircase) that reached to heaven. There he heard God promise to be with him and care for him (Gen. 28:11–19). Bethel means “house of God,” and there Jacob worshipped the Lord and vowed to obey Him. Years later, Jacob returned to Bethel and, like Abraham (Gen. 13:3), made a new beginning in his walk with the Lord (Gen. 35). King Jeroboam had put a golden calf at Bethel and made it the site of idolatrous worship (1 Kings 12:26–32; Amos 3:14; 4:4–6), but Elijah looked beyond the city’s present desecration to the time when it was a place of blessing and renewal.
At Bethel, the students spoke to Elisha about his master’s departure. Perhaps they thought they knew something that nobody else knew, an attitude not uncommon among some students. The same scene was repeated when Elijah and Elisha arrived at Jericho (v. 5). In both cities, Elisha politely assured the students that he was aware of what was about to happen, but that their discussing it only added to the pain of his separation from his master. Their approach to what God was doing was purely cerebral, but to Elisha, the loss of his beloved master brought pain to his heart. The mark of a true student of the Scriptures is a burning heart, not a big head (Luke 24:32; 1 Cor. 8:1).
The two men then went fifteen miles west to Jericho, the site of Joshua’s first victory in the Promised Land (Josh. 5:13—6:27). It was also the place where Achan disobeyed and took of the spoils that belonged to the Lord alone, a sin that led to Israel’s defeat at Ai (Josh. 7). Certainly the wonderful victory at Jericho showed Israel how to conquer the land: get your orders from the Lord; obey them by faith, no matter how foolish they may seem; give all the glory to Him alone. The two times Joshua failed to follow this formula, he experienced defeat (Josh. 7, 9). Joshua had put under a curse anybody who rebuilt Jericho (Josh. 6:26), but during the reign of evil King Ahab, the city was rebuilt (1 Kings 16:34). Jericho would remind Elisha of the victory of faith, the tragedy of sin and the majesty of the Lord who deserves all the glory.
Elijah and Elisha walked five miles east and came to the Jordan River, and surely the record in Joshua 1—4 came into their minds and into their conversation. The Lord opened the Red Sea to let His people out of Egypt (Ex. 12—15), and then He opened the Jordan River to let them into their inheritance. What good is freedom if you don’t claim your inheritance? As the nation followed the ark of the covenant, the Lord opened the swollen waters of the river, and the people passed over on dry land! To commemorate this miracle, Joshua built a monument in the midst of the river and another one on the shore. Nothing is too hard for the Lord, for with God, all things are possible! And Elijah duplicated that great miracle!
This is a good place to point out the similarities between Moses and Elijah. Both opened bodies of water, Moses the Red Sea (Ex. 14:16, 21, 26) and Elijah the Jordan River. Both called down fire from heaven (Ex. 9:24; Lev. 9:24; Num. 11: and 16:35), Both men saw the Lord provide food, Moses the manna (Ex. 16) and quails (Num. 11), and Elijah the oil and flour for the widow, plus his own meals (1 Kings 17:1–16). In the land of Egypt, Moses prayed and God altered the weather, and Elijah prayed and God stopped the rain and then three years later started the rain again. Moses gave the law to the people of Israel and Elijah called them to repent and return to the true and living God. Both were associated with mountains (Sinai and Carmel), and both made journeys through the wilderness. Both men had unique endings to their lives: God buried Moses in a grave nobody can find, and God carried Elijah to heaven by a whirlwind. Both Moses and Elijah were privileged to be present with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:4; Mark 9:5; Luke 9:33).
Elijah is a good model for believers to imitate when it comes to the inevitability of one day leaving this earth, either through death or the rapture of the church. He didn’t sit around and do nothing, but instead visited three of the prophetic schools and no doubt ministered to the students. He didn’t say to his successor “I’m going to leave you” and thus dwell on the negative, but said “I’m going to Bethel—to Jericho—to the Jordan” and kept busy until the very moment the Lord called him. Even more, he didn’t ask his successor to give him anything, because we can’t take anything in our hands from earth to heaven (1 Tim. 6:7), but instead he offered to give Elisha a gift before the end came. One of the best gifts we can leave is a prepared servant of God to take our place!