The relation between Elijah and Elisha was that of master (2 Kings 2:16) and servant (2 Kings 3:11), and thus it set forth that which exists between Christ and His ministers. For some time Elijah himself occupied the stage of action, but upon the completion of his mission and after a miraculous passage through Jordan he was supernaturally removed to Heaven. Thus it was with the One whom he foreshadowed: when the Saviour had finished the work given Him to do and had risen in triumph from the grave, He ascended on high. But men were appointed by Him to serve as ambassadors in the world from which He departed, to act in His name and perpetuate His mission. So it was with His type. Elisha was to succeed Elijah and carry forward what he had inaugurated. In order thereto he had been called by him. We saw last month how Elisha was subjected to a series of tests, which shadowed forth the disciplinary experiences by which the servant of Christ approves himself and through which he is schooled for his life’s work. Then we viewed the path which Elisha was required to tread and pointed out briefly the spiritual significance thereof in connection with the preparatory history of the minister of the Gospel. One other preliminary feature remains for our consideration, namely, the enduement Elisha received. It will be remembered that when Elijah had put to his companion that searching question, “Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee,” Elisha had replied, “I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.” This, we believe, betokened three things. First, it revealed his modesty and humility, being an acknowledgment of his weakness and insufficiency. He was conscious of his unfitness for his mission and felt that nothing but a plentiful supply of the Spirit which had rested upon the Tishbite would avail for the tasks confronting him. Happy the young servant of Christ who is aware of his own impotency, for in felt weakness lies his strength. Happy the one who has experimentally learned the force of that word, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord” (Zech. 4:6). Second, if Elisha was to take Elijah’s place at the head of the schools of the Prophets, then he needed a superior endowment to theirs—a double supply of the Spirit of wisdom and power. Third, as the accredited servant of God he needed more than the rank and file of His people: not only the Spirit indwelling, but also the Spirit resting upon him. We have only to turn to the final discourse of our Lord unto His Apostles, recorded in John 14-16, to discover the part which the Holy Spirit must play if His servants are to be duly equipped for their work. First, He declared he would pray the Father that another Comforter should be given them, who would abide with them forever (14:16). Then He promised this blessed Comforter, sent in His name, would teach them all things (15:26). It was by means of the Spirit of Truth given unto them that they would be enabled to bear testimony unto their Master (15:26, 27). He would guide them into all Truth, show them things to come, and glorify Christ by a fuller revelation to them of the mystery of His Person, office and work (16:13-15). In the book of Acts we see how those promises were made good. They were already indwelt by the Spirit of life (John 20:22) but the “power of the Holy Spirit was to come upon them” (Acts 1:8). This took place on the day of Pentecost, when “there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them. And they (the Apostles—1:26) were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (2:4, 5). This, then, is the deep need of the servant of Christ: that he be endowed by the Spirit, for without such an anointing his labours can only prove ineffectual. It was thus that Christ Himself was furnished: Matthew 3:16; Acts 2:38, and the disciple is not greater than his Lord. Much has been said and written on this subject of the minister being endowed and empowered by the Holy Spirit and varied, indeed, are the directions given as to what must be done in order to enter into this blessing What is required of the minister if he is to enjoy a double portion of the Spirit? In answering this inquiry we will restrict ourselves to what is recorded of Elisha. In his case there were two things: first, the passage through Jordan, for it is to be duly noted that Elijah did not ask him, “what shall I do for thee,” until they had gone through its divided waters! Now the Jordan stands for death (Jer. 12:5), and death must be experimentally passed through before we can know the power of resurrection. The minister has to die to self, to all self-pleasing and self-seeking before the Spirit of God will use him. Second, the Prophet had to keep his eye fixed steadily upon his master if his desire was to be realized (2 Kings 2:10). It is all summed up in those words of Paul, “not I, but Christ” (Gal. 2:20). Just in proportion as self is set aside and the magnifying of Christ be our aim and goal of my ministry, is Holy Spirit likely to use me. “And it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind to Heaven, and Elisha saw it” (2 Kings 2:11, 12). Of course he did—God never disappoints those who renounce self and are occupied solely with Christ. Elijah had made the granting of Elisha’s request upon this very thing: “if thou seest me when I am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee.” Additional incentive, then, had the young Prophet to keep his gaze steadfastly on his master. Those who follow on to know the Lord, will press forward in the race set before them. They will suffer nothing to turn them aside from fully following Christ. They are given to behold things which are hidden not only from the world but also from their half-hearted brethren. A view of the unseen is ever the reward which God grants unto faith and fidelity. It was so with Abraham (John 8:56), with Moses (Heb. 11:27), with Stephen (Acts 7:55), with John (Rev. 1:1). But something more than spiritual vision was granted unto Elisha, namely, spiritual perception—he not only saw, but understood the significance of what he beheld. “And Elisha saw, and he cried, My father! my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!” (2 Kings 2:12). Only as we ponder carefully the words of that sentence will the force of it be apparent. He did say, “the chariot of fire,” nor even, “the chariot of God,” but “the chariot Israel.” What did he mean? And why preface that explanation with the “My father! my father!”? He was interpreting for us the wondrous vision before him, the supernatural phenomenon described in the preceding verse. There was a Divine suitability in Elijah’s being removed from this scene in a chariot of fire driven by horses of fire. No other conveyance could have been more suitable and suggestive, though we have met no writer who appears to have grasped the significance of it. Why did God send a fiery chariot to conduct His servant to Heaven? Let us endeavour to find the answer to that question
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 04:13:19 +0000