Great Bible Truths Podcast Episode 146
Lessons from their lives Talk 12 – Elisha
Welcome to Talk 12 in our series, Lessons from their lives. Today our subject is Elisha.
Elisha is one of the best known of the Old Testament prophets.
He is well known for the amazing miracles he performed. These are mainly found in 2 Kings chapters 2-6 and include:
- Parting the waters of the Jordan (2 Kings 2:14)
- Multiplying the widow’s oil (4:1ff)
- Restoring the Shunamite’s son to life (4:8ff)
- Curing Naaman’s leprosy (5:1ff)
- Floating the iron axe head (6:1ff)
- Smiting the Aramaens with blindness (6:18).
What was the secret of his powerful ministry?
He was chosen by God and anointed for service
1 Kings 19:15-16
15.The Lord said to him (Elijah)…
- … anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.
Elisha’s call was expressed in a very simple way
- So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.
Elisha was eager to follow Elijah
- Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,’ he said, ‘and then I will come with you.’ ‘Go back,’ Elijah replied. ‘What have I done to you?’
Elisha was willing to make a complete break with the past
He was prepared to say goodbye to his family
- … ‘Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,’ he said, ‘and then I will come with you.’ ‘Go back,’ Elijah replied. ‘What have I done to you?’
He sacrificed the material things which had given him security
- So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the ploughing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.
He became Elijah’s servant and was willing to play second fiddle to him
- …Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.
All this was before he even started.
To see the start of his ministry we must now turn to:
2 Kings 2:1-15
- When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.
- Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So they went down to Bethel.
- The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, ‘Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?’ ‘Yes, I know,’ Elisha replied, ‘so be quiet.’
- Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.’ And he replied, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So they went to Jericho.
- The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, ‘Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?’ ‘Yes, I know,’ he replied, ‘so be quiet.’
- Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.’ And he replied, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So the two of them walked on.
- Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan.
- Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
- When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?’ ‘Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,’ Elisha replied.
- ‘You have asked a difficult thing,’ Elijah said, ‘yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours – otherwise, it will not.’
- As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
- Elisha saw this and cried out, ‘My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’ And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.
- Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
- 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.
- 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.
In this passage we see even more clearly the secrets of Elisha’s success. We’ve already noticed his eagerness to follow Elijah. As we shall see, is rooted in his longing for:
- Fellowshhip with Elijah
- The power of Elijah
- The God of Elijah.
Fellowship with Elijah
- Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So they went down to Bethel.
- Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.’ And he replied, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So they went to Jericho.
- Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.’ And he replied, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So the two of them walked on.
- As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
The power of Elijah
- When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?’ ‘Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,’ Elisha replied.
- ‘You have asked a difficult thing,’ Elijah said, ‘yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours – otherwise, it will not.’
- As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
- Elisha saw this and cried out, ‘My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’ And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.
- Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
- 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.
The God of Elijah
- 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.
How does all this apply to us?
One way to understand the passage we’ve just been looking at is to see Elijah’s departure into heaven as a prophetic symbol of Christ’s ascension described by Luke in Acts 1.
As Elisha saw Elijah taken from him into heaven, so the disciples saw Jesus taken from them.
Elijah’s cloak symbolises the Holy Spirit. Just before his ascension Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:48).
As Elisha picked up the cloak that fell from Elijah and struck the water with it miraculously parting the water as Elijah had done,
so the disciples received the Holy Spirit who was sent by Jesus shortly after his ascension and were immediately involved in miraculous signs and wonders attesting that they had received the Spirit of Jesus.
And the same power is available to us today.
May God give us the same determination, commitment and zeal to stay close to Jesus, to receive his Spirit, and to use the gifts he gives us to perform mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God.