We have seen previously that the person of Elijah can be considered from more than one aspect: as prophet, as a type of the forerunner of Christ, as a type of Christ. It is likewise with Elisha. He is first of all a picture of the perfect servant.
From the day when, meeting Elisha, Elijah had cast his prophet’s mantle upon him, the newcomer had faithfully followed and served his master; moreover, he was only known as the one who “poured water on the hands of Elijah” (1 Kings 19:21; 2 Kings 3:11). As is becoming for a true servant, until he enters upon his public ministry he keeps himself in the background and one hears no more said of him. While possessing the prophetic mantle which had been conferred upon him by Elijah so that he could exercise judgment over the land of Israel in his stead, he did not use it until his master had been taken up, when he would receive along with a double measure of Elijah’s spirit a second prophetic mantle fallen from heaven, which would render him capable of exercising a ministry of grace.
Elisha is a beautiful example of the Christian, the servant of Christ. There where his master is, he will be (John 12:26). At Bethel and at Jericho the sons of the prophets say to him, “Dost thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from over thy head today?” He responds, “I also know it: be silent.” His knowledge cannot be communicated to him by the sons of the prophets, for he is a prophet himself by virtue of a special divine order. But that which distinguishes him above all is that he has left all to follow his master, his sole object, the sole source of blessing for his soul. Without Elijah, Elisha is nothing and desires to be nothing; Elijah above all is the one upon whom his affections are centered: “As Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee!” Elijah had said to him: ‘Abide here, I pray thee; for Jehovah has sent me to Bethel,” then “to Jericho,” then “to the Jordan!” “Jehovah has sent me”; this shows Elijah’s obedience; but if Elijah obeys, ought not Elisha follow him?
It is the same for us; we can be sure we are following God’s way in following that of Christ. Elisha had not received any special direction for his guidance, but he is attached to Elijah who had received direction, and who to him was the man of God, God’s representative.
Elisha’s faith is tested all along the way. “Abide here, I pray thee,” the prophet says to him. Abide at Gilgal, at the place of self-judgment, of judgment of the flesh, at the place where the reproach of Egypt had been rolled away from the people. Begin the history of Israel once again. No, that would be to begin again a test that could not be passed. The one sent of God alone could follow this path —As Jehovah liveth, I will cling to him. Elisha passes through Gilgal with Elijah, as we do with Christ. “I will not leave thee!’ Begin it again for ourself? Never! Our Gilgal is the cross, the circumcision of the Christ. Just as we too can do, Elisha had found in Elijah all that Gilgal could offer him, and in fact, when he later recrosses the Jordan, Gilgal no longer is a part of his route.
At Bethel, the place of the sure promises made to the fathers... Abide here, says Elijah. You will not fail to obtain them from a God who cannot lie, since you have passed through Gilgal with me.—No, I will not leave thee. If you do not receive them now, how shall I obtain them without you? When you shall have obtained them, then will be the time for me to dwell at Bethel.
And see, now the sons of the prophets are trying his faith. Will you go further, seeing that your master is going to be taken up from you? “I also know it: be silent.” You cannot understand the motive behind what I am doing. It is he, himself. It is his person that draws me and that is everything to me. To be separated from him for an instant would be to lose a blessing that I know but feebly yet, that I sense with my heart more than with my understanding, but which I shall certainly have if I do not leave him, for I know that he will attain it.
Abide at Jericho, Elisha, says Elijah; as for me, I am sent further. No, could I ever feel the curse hovering over this city more than thou? Since thou, my lord and master, dost not remedy this today, could I remedy it myself? For that I should have to have a personal power, and that I have only in thee. As long as I do not have it, why should I be stopping here? Be silent, prophets!
“Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan?” Here there is no more summons to abide. Elijah takes Elisha with him, leads him through the river of death in the power of the Spirit which death cannot resist, in the triumphant power of a life that it cannot swallow up. A mantle belonging to Elijah is able to do these things. Oh, what a blessed association for Elisha! “They two went on: “They two stood by the Jordan?” “They two went over on dry ground:” Elijah does not go over for himself alone, but in order to let Elisha pass over with him. Elisha, this alter ego of Elijah’s, will come forth out of death with him and will then return in deliverance for Israel!
The sons of the prophets who had foretold Elijah’s being taken up do not play a useless role here. In them prophecy is the witness at a distance of the victory over death, as also a little later of the return in grace for Israel of a double measure of the spirit of Elijah that Elisha is going to receive. They say: “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha” (2 Kings 2:15).
Now when they two had passed over the Jordan Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken away from thee.” Elisha answered, “I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.” And he said, “Thou hast asked a hard thing: if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so.” (2 Kings 2:9-10).
For Elisha to obtain this double portion it was not enough that his faith and his affection for his master should be put to the test. Watchfulness was also necessary in order that he might not lose the prophet from sight at the moment of his departure. “They went on and talked” (2 Kings 2:11), apparently occupied with various subjects, but Elisha’s eye kept but one object in its field of vision. He could be interested in all the things the rich heart of his master was communicating to him, but his eye was simple. He just did not want to miss that solemn moment. We are not called, as was Elisha, or as the first disciples, to see Jesus ascending to heaven in the cloud, but should we not have the same attitude with regard to His coming as they did to His departure? Should we not, if we truly love Him, wait for Him without distraction while walking and talking as we fulfill our daily responsibilities? For it is a matter of seeing Him “in the twinkling of an eye.” Oh, that our expectation might be a continual and watchful one like that of Elijah’s servant!
“And it came to pass as they went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire; and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into the heavens. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and the horseman thereof, And he saw him no more.”
This chariot and these horses of fire were angels (2 Kings 6:17), corresponding in their appearance to Elijah’s character who, as a prophet of the law, had acted by the fire of judgment in the midst of Israel. It was not at all this way at the ascension of the Savior. An angelic train sent to serve Him or to carry Him into heaven was in no way necessary. He went up by His own power, having been declared Son of God in power by resurrection. A cloud, the dwelling place of the divine glory, received Him at once and carried Him up from before the eyes of His disciples (Acts 1:9). Our ascension will be like unto His (1 Thess. 4:17). But when He as Son of Man will return to judge the world, He shall be revealed from Heaven “with the angels of His power, in flaming fire” (2 Thess. 1:7-8), and we ourselves and all the saints, the hosts of heaven, shall be accompanied by myriads of angels (Rev. 19:14; Heb. 12:22; Jude 14; Deut. 33:2; Zech. 14:5). And when He shall come as Messiah, Jehovah will give charge to His angels who will bear Him up in their hands, lest He dash His foot against a stone (Psa. 91:11-12).
Elisha cries out, “My father!” thus showing that he according to the word of Elijah had seen his patron going up to heaven, but he also acknowledges in him the true Israel: “the chariot of Israel!” This exclamation again proves how much all this scene in type presents to us Christ as the great prophet of Israel and not as the Savior in relation to the Church. It is as Prophet, as the true Sent One, the true Messiah, the true Israel, that He is sent into the heavens here; it is as Son of Man and Son of God, as Lord and Savior, that He has been translated there and that He will come again for us.
Elijah’s mantle fell down upon him, because his servant had seen him going up to heaven. Now this mantle belonged to Elisha. Likewise we shall always have the power of the spirit with us if we are attached to Christ and if our eyes follow Him on high.
Elisha tears his own garments in two. They will henceforth serve him no longer, for he possesses Elijah’s mantle, the double portion of his spirit. It is in this power that he will walk in the midst of Israel. May it be likewise with us! May we tear up our old garment after having put on Christ, that we may present Him in testimony to the world!