Elisha was one awesome prophet of God! His name means ‘my God is salvation’ and the whole ministry of Elisha would prove to be an outworked testimony to the meaning of his name. You see, Elisha lived in dark times. Apostasy abounded and Israel’s enemies were circling. Yet through countless situations, Elisha stood as a light… a voice in the wilderness… showing through his life that the God of Israel was well and truly alive! In fact, Elisha performed more recorded miracles than anyone in the Bible other than Jesus. Let’s look at how it all began. Let’s start at the beginning with the call of Elisha…
Forgetting that which is behind…
1 Kings 19:19-21 19So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. 20And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? 21And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.
The first thing we see about Elisha is that he was a plowman. Here he was, plowing with his oxen to break up the tough rugged ground. He would remain a plowman to the end of his life although God had a whole new ‘ground’ in mind for Elisha. It wouldn’t be the hard natural ground that would concern Elisha after this point… Oh no! God had an even harder ground for Elisha to plow! It would be the hard hearts of the Israelites themselves that Elisha would now be concerned with.
So Elijah comes up and throws his mantle around Elisha. Elisha didn’t have to ask ‘what’s going on?’ He knew exactly what that meant. Mantle’s were typically made of animal hair (not overly popular today!) and were generally worn by kings and prophets. They were symbolic of the owners calling, position, and authority. So Elisha didn’t have to ask Elijah what was going on. He knew. This was a passing of Elijah’s calling and position onto Elisha.
God’s sovereign choice
From the passage we see that God choice Elisha. Elisha was simply going about his normal daily business of plowing the fields, when God came through his prophet Elijah and sought him out. In like manner, we read in the New Testament that ‘the son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost’. And, as Jesus said, ‘You did not choose me, but I have chosen you.’
Can I explain God’s sovereign choice and man’s free will completely?
No. Do I understand it completely?
No. But have I experienced it?
Yes. No doubt about it.
When we arrive it Heaven God can explain it all to us … until then, Christians should thank God that He has called and chosen them while still believing and agreeing with the call that ‘whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.’
Counting the Cost
We see also the seriousness of Elisha’s response. How seriously did Elisha take this call from Elijah? Well, this is answered above where we read the Elisha slaughtered his oxen as a sacrifice and burnt the plowing equipment to cook the meat! No going back for this guy!
In doing this we see a great example of someone leaving behind the old life when the call of God comes. He knew this was a new beginning for him and there is no compromise with his past life. Jesus said it well (as normal) “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62).
There is no looking back here!
How about you?
Have you been looking back or are you pressing on to the higher calling of our Lord?
Ministering unto the Lord
The last thing that we read in the passage above says ‘Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.’ How true of us this is. Not with Elijah of course, but with our master, the Lord Jesus. We arise, count the cost, leave the past behind, and follow Him! And what’s more, we are called to minister to Him as well.
Pressing on to the higher calling
2 King 2:1-6 1And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. 3And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 4And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. 5And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 6And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.
The next passage I will draw your attention to is 2 King 2:1-6. We saw earlier that Elisha had forsaken all to follow Elijah and minister to him. He was willing to submit himself to the will of Elijah and follow him wherever he went. Now, there are three things that stand out in this passage before us.
- At each stage Elijah tells Elisha to stop and not to go any further with him.
- At each stage, Elisha’s determination to press on and not leave Elijah is seen.
- Each of the four places mentioned are highly significant and symbolic locations in Israel’s history.
Three times in the passage above Elijah tells Elisha to stop and stay where he is! Kind of strange wouldn’t you say? It’s almost like Elijah is testing Elisha as to how far he is willing to go. Actually, there is no ‘almost’ about it! That is exactly what he is doing. And I believe that it applies to us as well.
How far do you want to go with the Lord?
Have you been tested whether you will press on to the higher calling of our Lord?..
Because you will be tested.
Even when the Lord was on earth He tested people to see if they truly desired to be with Him.
Luke 24:13-33 13And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 17And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 22Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. 25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 28And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. 29But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. 30And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? 33And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
The road to Emmaus - Testing your desire
Jesus ‘acted like He was going further.’ In the language of modern relationships, he was ‘playing hard to get.’ He had wet their appetite by showing them himself in the law and the prophets, but now He was testing their desire for Him. And sometimes He will do this with you.
Like Elijah testing Elisha, the Lord also longs to see whether we will press on further, following hard after Him, with the desire to know Him better. Had these disciples not truly had a desire for more time in the presence of this man on the road to Emmaus they would have missed out on Christ revealing himself to them further at their home. Don’t miss out!
I really like the words quoted above from 2 Kings 2:6 where Elisha said‘ “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”
"So the two of them walked on."
There was nothing that was going to stop Elisha from following Elijah no matter where that led him!
And so the two walked on! I hope you are going ‘on’. I also hope that attitude to ‘go on’ is found within me! Whether it is serving the Lord in small or great things, it really doesn’t matter. Whether the Lord seems close or far away, all that matters is that the Lord has His rightful place in your life and that you are ‘pressing on to the higher calling of our Lord’. From Gilgal, to Bethel, to Jericho and to the Jordan…
How far did Elisha want to go? Just as far as Elijah wanted to take him! May we be the same!
