The Welcome Valley Reader
Where Is the God of Elijah?
It was a day like few others; a day filled with
parting and grief, a day of victory over death and yet of bereavement, a day of
miracle and mystery. While there have been greater days in history, there has
never been one just like it. For one man, it was the day from which all days
afterward must be counted. That man was there, saw it all up front, and faced
the crisis of his own destiny as a result. You will recall the name of the man
so honored. His name was Elisha.
Elisha’s unusual experience had
not come without warning. It may be that a man that worked for a prophet and
associated with junior prophets experienced very little without warning. He knew
at its beginning that that day he would lose his friend and mentor. Elijah, the
famous prophet of God, knew it and tried to get him to stay behind. Like a
family member refusing to leave a deathbed, Elisha refused to be left behind. So
they walked together, master and servant, following God’s directions to the
master. They walked the long dusty trail from Gilgal to
In
Even the sons of the prophets knew
that Elijah’s end had come. Here, in the city of
Elijah tried again. He asked
Elisha to stay in
God led Elijah farther. This time,
they went to
It was at this city of
Again, at
It had been a long walk. Gilgal to
As they came to the river, Elijah removed his mantle, wadded it up, and struck
the water with it. One must wonder what Elisha thought as he saw this super
prophet wield his cloak. He would likely have known about the day Elijah, hiding
for his life in a wilderness cave, had heard the voice of God and wrapped his
face in his mantle before daring to approach the Almighty. Elisha would have
remembered the day when he himself had been plowing in his father’s field and
suddenly felt the prophet’s mantle drop around his shoulders, signifying that he
would take the place of the great man of God. Strangely, on the day of that
calling, Elijah had also challenged his decision to follow him. Then, as today,
the challenge went unheeded. Elisha had been following his mentor ever since.
He’d followed as a servant. We have no record that Elisha had done anything
greater than pour his master’s wash water. We have no record that Elisha had
prophesied so much as once. We have no record that he had performed a single
miracle. Other than his family information and the account of his calling, the
only record of Elisha before this particular day is that he served and followed
a remarkable man of God.
Yet those days of service must have proved marvelous. The odds are that Elisha
was along when his master accurately told King Ahab that God would deliver him
from an unconquerable foreign army. It is likely that when Elijah caught Ahab
among the grapes of the vineyard he’d obtained by murder that Elisha heard him
tell the wicked king that the dogs would lick up his blood. Elisha would have
heard the curse against the notorious Jezebel for her part in the murder and
would remember that the dogs would eat her someday. Elisha would have watched as
King Ahaziah’s arresting soldiers fell to the fires Elijah called down from
Heaven. All this, Elisha had been in a place to see. He knew he was dealing with
a man who knew the Lord as few others.
Yet, through it all, Elisha had
followed the man wearing the mantle. Elisha wasn’t the prophet yet. Elisha
wasn’t doing great things, but he’d followed the man who wore the prophet’s
mantle. Now, he saw that same mantle strike the water. At the touch of that
garment, the
It seems that the whole prophetic community knew that Elijah wasn’t going to
simply die and go to heaven. A quick check of 2 Kings chapter 2 reveals that his
going was spoken of as his being taken away. It wasn’t to be a death, but rather
a catching up, what we might term a rapture. Yet, unlike the coming snatching
away of Christ’s followers where the dead and living will all live anew and be
together forever, this rapture had the essence of death. The Elijah that Elisha
had loved, honored, and served would be gone and gone for good.
Historically, such a transfer from earth to Heaven is extremely rare. Elijah was
on the brink of experiencing one of only two such passings in what would become
6000 years of world history. Moses, the great man of the Old Testament didn’t go
without dying. Looking futureward, John the Baptist, of whom Jesus Christ would
say that none greater had been born, wouldn’t either. In spite of an early
Christian rumor that the apostle John would be so blessed, that saint would die
also. The reasons are obvious, but even Jesus Himself would have to die before
leaving this earth. Other than Elijah, only Enoch, a very holy man, has been
deathlessly translated into the heavenly state. Enoch lived clear back near the
dawn of time.
Elijah’s end is something so rare
as to leave us marveling. Yet, in spite of the sheer, hair-standing-on-end
wonder of it all, Elijah’s departure was to his servant just that, a departure.
Like Christians who grieve in spite of knowing that their loved ones are in such
a place as Heaven, Elisha was about to be left to mourn the ascension of his
friend and master. Fallen
In the weighty moments before the end, Elijah asked what Elisha would have him
do for him. Considering Elijah’s track record this was a big offer.
Yet, Elisha nearly managed to baffle the prophet’s generosity. He asked for a
double portion of the spirit God had sent upon Elijah. It is difficult to say if
he was referring to the Holy Spirit, as a New Testament believer most certainly
would have, or if to some kind of angelic spirit that God used with Elijah. But
in any event, this spirit came from God, and Elisha wanted twice as much. Elijah
called the request difficult. Yet, he promised that if Elisha should see him
when he was taken up to heaven, God would grant the request.
We aren’t told how long the final
talk lasted after Elisha’s request, but, suddenly, a chariot made of fire pulled
by horses of the same material charged between them. A whirlwind descended upon
the senior prophet, and Elisha watched him rise to heaven. His cry: "My father,
my father, the chariot of
Then, in the classic Hebrew show
of grief, Elisha ripped his own clothing. Yes, he’d seen the expected miracle,
but now he stood alone on the far side of the
But wait, what was this? Lying
before Elisha was a piece of cloth. What was it? It was
the mantle. It was
the mantle that had been in the presence of God. It was the mantle that had but
briefly rested on Elisha’s shoulders on the day of his call. Where Elijah was,
he no longer needed it. Elisha picked it up and headed back for the
What were Elisha’s thoughts as he
walked toward the river? Was he remembering the oxen he’d made his living with
until the day Elijah cast the mantle over him? Was he remembering how he’d
sacrificed those oxen to God before leaving all to follow the prophet? Was he
remembering the skeptical sons of the prophets who had insisted on watching from
Elisha stopped on the bank of the
The whole future of Elisha lay
hidden in that question. No, not just of Elisha—on that question hung the future
of God’s voice speaking to
Elisha struck the muddy water with
that used garment and asked: "Where is
the LORD God of Elijah?"
And the water parted!
* * *
The power and reality of the living God are useless unless we experience them
personally. It isn’t enough to be part of a religious tradition. It isn’t enough
to have some sort of belief in the historical events recorded in the Bible. It
isn’t enough to have known godly parents and ministers. It isn't a matter
of developing one's own religious views. It is a matter of getting into close
relationship with a God Who is living and real. All the history, all the
background, all the religion in the world will do you no good unless when you
ask, "Where is God?" you get an answer from Heaven. We can be thankful
that God is eager to relate to us and has promised to answer the cry, "Where is
God?"
The Bible says:
. . .The word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the
word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. (From Romans 10:8-9
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near (From
Isaiah
55:6
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