2 Kings 22KI 2
My thought is to follow the companionship of Elisha with Elijah till the moment that Elijah was caught up. The truth is very precious, but if it is to be carried out, there must be personal attachment to Christ, an individual, personal walk with Christ. Even the right company, going to the reading meeting and attending the prayer meeting will not replace an individual, personal walk with Christ Himself. If there is real personal affection for Christ, then our company will be ordered aright. We are told to follow righteousness, faith, charity and peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
At first, Elisha was very reluctant to follow Elijah. "So 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. And 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?" 1 Kings 19:19, 2019So 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? (1 Kings 19:19‑20). Elijah told him to go back again and for a moment Elisha went back. "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:6262And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62). If you have other objects, Elijah said, you had better go back. The Lord wants our undivided affection.
But in 2 Kings 2, Elisha is different. So with us, if failure has come in, and we have gone back, let us turn again and follow Him. Here Elijah is a type of Christ and Elisha a type of one who is thoroughly attached to Christ.
These two men visited places of remarkable renown in the history of Israel: Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho.
Gilgal was first visited by the children of Israel when they crossed Jordan. Here the memorial stones were placed which were taken out of the riverbed. Here the Israelites were circumcised—in type the flesh was set aside.
Bethel means "the house of God" and it was here that God first appeared to Jacob in a dream. It led him to say, "Surely God is in this place.”
Jericho was the first stronghold of the enemy taken in the land after the children of Israel had crossed over Jordan. Now in retrograde, Elijah and Elisha go from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to Jordan. All is being left behind. They are about to leave the land by crossing the Jordan.
Gilgal
Gilgal is the proper place for any of God's children to start out for service. Gilgal was the place for mortification of the flesh. To win victories the sharp knives must be used, not against our enemies, but against ourselves. Here it was that the Lord rolled away the reproach of Egypt. All that comes between our souls and Christ is truly a reproach to us and we have to judge it unsparingly. Elijah makes his departure and tells Elisha to tarry. He is testing him out to see his desire. He makes a wonderful reply: "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." That was heart attachment. Oh, for heart attachment to Christ!
And so they go, both together, down to Bethel and to the house of God. In Gen. 35, after Jacob had gotten into the mix up with his family, God exercised him to go back to Bethel. This Jacob did, but he realized that if he was going to go to the house of God, he must first bury the false gods that had somehow gotten into his household.
House of God—the Church
Timothy was exhorted as to how to behave himself in the house of God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth. Instruction as to how to behave ourselves in the Church of God does not mean in a building. I do not, of course, advocate any unbecoming attitude when entering a meeting room, but here it is the scope of the Church of God composed of all believers. God has such a house on earth, and we should be careful of our deportment all through the week as being part of that house. So each believer should desire to remember the Lord at His Table on the first day of the week. I would not encourage you to do so if you are going on with something inconsistent with your testimony as a Christian. That should first be judged.
Who are the "sons of the prophets" in verse five who meet and talk with Elisha, asking him if he knows that Elijah will be taken from him? Typically they are like Christians who are so mixed up with the world, that there is no positive testimony for the Lord; they are just bread-breakers, that is all. We never see them at any other meeting. How it grieves us to hear them speak of the Lord's coming; their whole life is a denial of the reality of His return. So Elisha says, "Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.”
Jericho
Once again Elijah urged Elisha to tarry, but the heart attachment is still there and they journey on together to Jericho. That city had been overthrown by Joshua and a curse was pronounced on the one who would rebuild it. So Jericho is the city of the curse. Jesus went through Jericho to reach Zacchæus. This world is under a curse, but because the blessed Lord of glory went through this world you and I have been saved. Elijah and Elisha went through Jericho, too, but Elisha was in good company. Do you have heart attachment to Christ?
Alas, the sons of the prophets were very much at home in Jericho, and they had no desire to leave there. We meet those who will lay claim to knowing all about Christ being taken up yet they are all mixed up with the systems of men. May we say like Elisha, "Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.”
Jordan
They two go over the Jordan, bringing before us the death and resurrection of Christ. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20). Here is a man who had crossed Jordan with Elijah, or I should say in company with Him of whom Elijah was a type Jesus our precious Savior. When the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, we were crucified with Him. That was the end of all that we were, our ambitions and all. We have died to all that and now are to live unto Him. A.M. Barry