Should I Stay or Should I Go

Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to the right and to the left. Then the two of them crossed over on dry ground. ... Then Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. ... Elisha picked up the mantle that had fallen off Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he struck the waters. “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?” he asked. He struck the waters himself, and they parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over. -- 2 Kings 2:8-14

My nomination for Prophet of Cool is Elijah. Put some cheap sunglasses on him and Elijah could be the drummer for ZZ Top. Of course, there is always the possibility the concert would be cut short by lightning strikes. Nobody messed with Elijah.

Even Joe Cool, though, loses it now and then, and Elijah was getting tired. After destroying the Baal cult prophets in a confrontation on Mt. Carmel, Elijah prayed until the three and a half year drought broke and out ran King Ahab’s chariot back to Jezreel. The threats of Jezebel caused the prophet to flee into the wilderness. Though he asked God to let him die, Elijah was not allowed to leave this world until he had appointed his successor. After Elijah threw his mantle on the plowboy Elisha, the two of them traveled together for a while.

In the second chapter of Second Kings, it has been revealed that God is about to take Elijah, and Elisha refuses to leave his master until the end. They visit several places of symbolic significance such as Bethel (“the house of God”) and Gilgal (“roll away the reproach”), eventually coming to the Jordan River. The crossing of Jordan symbolizes, not so much physical death, as the death of self, or dying to the old nature. The power of God upon Elijah is such that he is able to command the forces of nature and the waters part at the touch of his mantle.

When the two men reach the other side, Elijah asks Elisha, “What do you want me to do for you before I go?” Elisha replies, “I want a double portion of your anointing.”

Elijah says, “You have asked for something very difficult, but if you see me taken up, it’s yours.”

I have a question about exactly what this means. It is easy in the immediate context to think that Elijah means “if you are allowed to see me go up,” – or, in other words, if God reveals the nature of this departure to you. This would be related to revelation knowledge and would be applicable.

There is another possibility, too. In the larger context Elisha persists in following Elijah through the various locations to the very end, despite each time Elijah saying to his servant, “You just stay here. There’s no need for you to go on with me.” Elijah may have been saying, “This will be pretty hairy. If you have the courage to handle it and see me actually go, then the double portion is yours.” It could also be a combination of both those ideas.

Receiving revelation requires courage – not exactly the same kind as is required for skydiving or the kind that earns men the Medal of Honor in combat, perhaps, but courage still. It is not easy to give up all of our defenses and abandon ourselves to God and His revelation. We know the revelation is going to demand something of us even as it gives us something of incalculable value. I think of Jesus’ parable of the Pearl of Great Price – the man gave up all he had to have that one pearl. One Sunday evening in the space of a few minutes standing on the sidewalk outside his church in Lewisville, Texas, A. R. Trotter gave the most powerful exposition of that passage I have ever heard. We were all weeping, including Brother Trotter, before he was done. It takes courage to even begin to seek the Pearl. Most of us never start.

Elisha was not to be denied. He crossed Jordan. He faced the fiery chariots and horsemen of God. He saw Elijah taken up and he saw the mantle fall to him. The mantle, or prayer shawl (talith, spellings vary), was the symbol of Elijah’s connection to God and of his authority in this world. He had thrown it on Elisha when they first met to call him to the prophetic ministry -- much as Jesus had breathed on His disciples immediately after the Resurrection and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” though the outpouring did not come until after Christ’s Ascension on the day of Pentecost.

Taking up the mantle, Elisha returns to the Jordan and strikes the water himself. Is this real? Do I have the authority of my master? Does this piece of cloth mean anything? Where is Elijah’s God now?

The water parts just as it did for Elijah. Elisha now carries not only the authority of God but the responsibility. God will not give authority to those who are not tested, who cannot follow and endure. Nevertheless, the story of Elisha assures us that the Lord will find some, a remnant in every generation who will abandon themselves to His purposes, bear the burden of revelation, and speak with His authority.

A Bed, A Table, A Chair and A Lamp

Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If not, I would have told you. I am going to away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also. – John 14:1-3

This is a famously misunderstood verse from the KJV “in My Father’s house are many mansions”. Though it has spawned countless references in hymns and gospel songs, the correct concept is not of some English manor or a home in Beverly Hills. Rather Jesus is talking about a resting place of travelers. It is related to the idea of ‘abiding’ or ‘dwelling’ so prominent in John’s Gospel.

Also, the meaning is not predominantly about death or heaven. Becoming a child of God, a son of the Father gives us admittance to the Father’s “house” – e.g., the house of David, meaning someone in the family.

When I am done with this world, or when God is done with me in this world, I will leave this physical body behind. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul compares the body to a tent, subject to destruction. He reassures us that should it be destroyed we need not fear or worry as we have “a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” He is expanding the metaphor of the tent or tabernacle – recalling the move of the Ark of the Covenant from a tent to a temple.

Not only is there no reason for my heart to be troubled, it is imperative that I not allow the things that happen in this world to trouble me. Reading through the Proverbs, I see that diligence, integrity, and prudence are commended, but not unending toil and struggle. “The Lord’s blessing enriches, and struggle adds nothing to it” (Proverbs 10:22). To fret and fear, to be troubled in heart are indications that I do not fully trust God. “Believe in God,” Jesus says, “Believe also in Me.” Knowing Jesus, I can believe and enter into a place of rest and peace.

It is good, I think, to be reminded that we are strangers in a strange land.

This world is not my home,
I’m just a’passin’ through.
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.

We are in this world but not of it.

My mistake is often to put that rest and reward ahead – in the sweet by-and-by. Jesus, though, promised it in the present. Sure, heaven will be a place where the “wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest”, but it is not the traveler’s rest of which the Lord spoke in John 14.

One day Elisha went to Shunem. A prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to eat some food. So whenever he passed by, he stopped there to eat. Then she said to her husband, "I know that the one who often passes by here is a holy man of God, so let's make a little room upstairs and put a bed, a table, a chair and a lamp there for him. Whenever he comes, he can stay there." 2 Kings 4:8-10

It's not a vast mansion, just a place to stop and rest, to be refreshed. It is a place where I am welcomed and loved. I find it a refuge of contentment and security along the way.