Sketched XI Day 15 Faith Made Sight: Digging Deeper
July 7, 2023
Discover the original intent of Scripture. Make good application to our everyday lives.
Become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
2 Kings 2:1-14
But Elisha replied, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 3 Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?” He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”
4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; the Lord is sending me to Jericho.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.
5 Then the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?” He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.”
6 Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord is sending me to the Jordan.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.
7 Fifty men from the sons of the prophets came and stood observing them at a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water, which parted to the right and left. Then the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you.” So Elisha answered, “Please, let me inherit two shares of your spirit.” 10 Elijah replied, “You have asked for something difficult. If you see me being taken from you, you will have it. If not, you won’t.”
11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind. 12 As Elisha watched, he kept crying out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”
When he could see him no longer, he took hold of his own clothes, tore them in two, 13 picked up the mantle that had fallen off Elijah, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle Elijah had dropped, and he struck the water. “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” he asked. He struck the water himself, and it parted to the right and the left, and Elisha crossed over.
The Original Intent
1) What is significant about the opening words of this scene? (verse 1)
We would be wise to repeat these 4 syllables from Elijah’s home-going story and remember, it is the Lord who holds our time. He knows what time it is in your life, Sister, and there isn’t one thing you can do to change that reality. He knows your story with every detail backwards and forwards from the end to the beginning. (Isaiah 46:10)
Nehemiah experienced mockery around work as he found himself in the middle of a project far too big for him. His brood of scoffers sent him messages to taunt him so that he would be intimidated and cease obeying the Lord. (Nehemiah 6:9) Join Moses in asking the Lord to “teach us to number our days carefully that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.” (Psalm 90:12)
Only when we begin with the Lord, and finish with Him, can we say with Moses, “Establish for us the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:17) and Nehemiah, “But now, my God, strengthen my hands” (Nehemiah 6:9). The Lord is the true source of efficacy and endurance of our work and our days.
Since He knows the true status of our remaining time, we would be wise to do our work within the confines of a vibrant relationship with Him where we can hear His voice to go where He sends, say yes when He prods, and say no to moving where He is not leading.
The Lord gave Elijah exactly the time on earth he needed to finish the work He gave him and to learn to trust the Lord implicitly. Let’s determine to use our hours and minutes to do the same. Let’s make it our goal to know Him and follow Him in worship as we enter each minute of our normal, everyday lives.
The Everyday Application
1) What is significant about the opening words of this scene? (verse 1)
“The time had come…” are easy words to gloss over, but these mere 4 syllables in English are rich with jewels for us to plumb their depths and carry around with us in our everyday lives. How often are we hurried? Okay, I heard you laughing from here! Every minute! Every day!
How often do you feel pulled in more directions than you feel able to satisfy? How often do you wonder, “Am I doing enough? Does what I do matter?” Perhaps you’ve heard these words pass your lips a time or two, “Let’s go! I’m late!” Frustration follows, and annoyance brings extra baggage of rudeness, mockery, and shaming if not for ourselves, to the people around us.
Time matters, but we often move through it feeling we are controlled by its ever-pressing movement that mocks, “Faster! You’re not enough yet! You aren’t going to finish!” It’s easy to believe that if we fill more things and chase a little faster, we will win some kind of brilliant prize like best mother, most faithful Christ-follower, or most helpful servant leader. All of these are lies.
What if our goal was to know and trust the Lord in each situation, offering the whole of our lives, including our time, as an act of worship instead of our goal being to accomplish such and such? How much freer might we live and talk and laugh and engage?
Verse 11 provides such a sweet glimpse into Elijah’s departure. They both knew the Lord would take him that day, but they didn’t know when. Instead of panicking, they “continued walking and talking” just as they had done hundreds of times before.
“The time had come…”. Use these four words as a reminder to re-align your view of time with the Lord’s perspective, then choose to simply “walk and talk” with Him!
The Original Intent
2) What can we learn from Elisha’s repeated phrase, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you”? (verses 2, 4, and 6)
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened in the narrative had Elisha “obeyed” and stayed when Elijah instructed him to stay. Truthfully, when I consider the depth of relationship the two shared and the intimacy of master and disciple, I think it was likely Elijah was quite confident Elisha would follow him regardless of his instruction. Following Elijah was what Elisha had been training to do all this time as the Lord prepared him to take on Elijah’s role as prophet to Israel. In fact, Elisha would do even more than Elijah had during his ministry! (more on that in question 3!)
Would Elisha have received the double portion of Elijah’s spirit had he chosen in these last hours to cease following his teacher? (verse 9) For certain, Elisha would have missed the intimate sharing of these last minutes and hours with his teacher. He would have forgone watching the Lord’s whirlwind carry Elijah home. He would have missed the inaugural moment of his ministry when he crossed the Jordan River on dry ground as Elijah had (verse 8), as Joshua had (Joshua 3), and before them, as Moses had split the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21).
All of these events were accomplished through the Spirit of the Lord resting upon these individuals who had long before these moments decided they were “all in” for persistent, consistent, determined following of the Lord.
Like them, we will all encounter crossroads when we can choose to walk away from the Lord’s ways, missing out on the good things He wants to show us about Himself. Keep following, Sister! It’s always worth it!
The Everyday Application
2) What can we learn from Elisha’s repeated phrase, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you”? (verses 2, 4, and 6)
Others in Scripture have used a similar phrase at specific crossroads in their journeys. Though Naomi gave Ruth plenty of reasons to turn back to her people, Ruth adamantly insisted, “Where you go, I will go, wherever you live, I will live, your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die.” (Ruth 1:16-17) Ruth’s insistence landed her a place in the genealogy of Jesus Christ Himself. What if she hadn’t been so determined?
Consider Moses who, when faced with the Lord’s statement that He simply would not continue traversing the wilderness with the Israelites, passionately declared, “If Your presence doesn’t go, […] don’t make us go up from here.” (Exodus 33:15) Can you imagine if Moses responded with, “Don’t come, Lord, I’ll do this on my own!”
One more profound story comes from the New Testament disciple, Peter. Following Christ’s death and resurrection, Jesus appears on the beach to His remaining eleven disciples in one of my very favorite scenes of Jesus’ on-earth life. Jesus thrice asks a repentant Peter, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:17) Each time, Peter insists with all the more fervor, “Lord, yes!” Finally, the Lord rewards Peter’s insistent following with the commissioning blessing that would provide the early church a rock on which to be built, “Feed My sheep”, came Jesus’ instruction to Peter for the Church. (John 21:17)
Let’s be Christ-followers who adamantly refuse to go forward without the Lord. Let’s be like Ruth, Moses, Peter, and Elisha who all concluded, “No way am I turning my back on the God I have come to know.”
What might the Lord God do in and through us for His kingdom, and the maturity of our own hearts, if we determine to follow our Teacher as His disciple?!
The Original Intent
3) What hints of Jesus can we see in verses 8-14?
Pulling back the layers and sitting deeply with an Old Testament passage while allowing the New Testament realities to illuminate its words so I can see the Savior in its pages is one of my special joys of studying Scripture!
If you’ve been a Bible student for a while, read these 14 verses and write down the connections you see, then tell me about it in the comments below; I’d love to learn from you! If you’re newer to Scripture study, read the New Testament linked passages a few times through, praying as you go for the Spirit to teach you deeper things about Himself! It’s the very best adventure to embark on!
Aside from the purposeful connection to Moses and Joshua, two very significant leaders in Israel’s history, through the parting of the river’s waters, the Jordan River also played an important role in Jesus’ earthly ministry. Elijah’s ministry was ending, and his final miracle was parting the Jordan, but Jesus’ first step into ministry began as he was baptized in the same Jordan River. (Matthew 3:13-17)
Jesus even helped His followers understand the connective bridge between Elijah’s work as a prophet to point Israel to God and John the Baptist’s work as a forerunner of Christ. The last prophet before Jesus was Malachi, through whom God spoke the closing words of His prophecy, “Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.” (Malachi 4:5)
This pre-Messiah forerunner would be John the Baptist! (Luke 1:11-17)
The Everyday Application
3) What hints of Jesus can we see in verses 8-14?
Before Elijah is taken up into Heaven he asks Elisha what he could do for him, to which Elisha makes the “difficult” ask for a “double portion” of the Spirit which was given by God to Elijah enabling him to prophesy. (2 Kings 2:9-10)
Fast forward to the New Testament and Jesus’ last meal with His disciples. His death was hours away and He would be leaving them soon. Jesus comforts His grieving, confused disciples by telling them 1) He would send the Comforter to be with them (the Holy Spirit, John 16:7) 2) They would do even greater works than Christ because of the Spirit in them. (John 14:12)
Elisha carried out his prophetic ministry with even more miracles than Elijah, so too, Christ-followers everywhere have access to the same Spirit through whom Jesus said we would do even more than He had!
Finally, Elijah was carried up by a whirlwind (verses 2 and 11) and Jesus was “taken up as they were watching” (Acts 1:9) into the clouds and out of sight. Elisha looked up until he couldn’t see Elijah anymore (verse 12), and then proceeded to return across the Jordan and begin his prophetic ministry.
Similarly, the disciples stood staring up into Heaven after Jesus’ had gone, but at the angels’ prodding, they returned to Jerusalem as Jesus had asked so they could await the coming Holy Spirit before beginning their ministry to launch the Church! (Acts 1:10-11)
Elijah was a foreshadowing of Jesus in many ways. His life was used as a beacon to not only point people to God who lived in his timeline, but, generations later, we too can look at Elijah’s life and see Jesus.
What do other people think when they spend time in relationship with you in your timeline? Do they see Jesus?!
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