Last Conversation Between Elijah and Elisha

Introduction to Elijah's Departure and Elisha's Succession

0:07 If you've brought your Bible with you, I would encourage you to turn with me to 2 Kings, chapter 2.

0:15 And this will be the last time that I will say that. It's been some 32 Sunday nights that we've been in this section of the Word of God, 1 Kings 17 through 2 Kings, chapter 2, as we've been looking at the life and ministry of this unique prophet of God, Elijah. And now in this second chapter of 2 Kings, we have the last chapter in the record of his life. While here on earth, God has put a postscript in the New Testament where we see this unique man again standing with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration along with Moses.

0:57 But our study of his life and ministry will conclude with our consideration of this chapter this evening. I shall read the...

1:06 First 15 verses of this second chapter of 2 Kings. And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me as far as Bethel. And Elisha said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

1:41 So they went on, they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, Yea, I know it. Hold ye your peace.

2:03 And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came near to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, Yea, I know it. Hold ye your peace.

2:40 And Elijah said unto him, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me as far as Bethel. And Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to the Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they too went on.

2:56 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood over against them afar off. And they too stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters. And they were divided hither and thither, so that they too went, over on dry ground.

3:16 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee.

3:49 But if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both asunder. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.

4:17 And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. And he took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?

4:41 And when he also had smitten the waters, they were divided hither and thither. And Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho over against him saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

5:08 Let us once again look to God in prayer, asking his special help that we might hear his voice as we study together this portion of his truth.

5:27 Our Father, we would bow in thy presence, to consciously acknowledge our need of that special help and ministry of the Holy Spirit. We acknowledge that unless he is pleased to illuminate our minds, that we shall look into this portion in vain. We do earnestly pray that by the Spirit our minds may be illuminated, and that the word itself may run and have free course and be glorified in this hour. In that expectation, we wait, and for that blessing we plead through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Elijah's Parting Request to Elisha

6:14 In this very fascinating chapter, we have sought to lay hold of those principles which I trust have been in some measure profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Tonight, as we look again at this second chapter of 2 Kings, we will focus our attention on this very touching scene, we will focus our attention on this very touching scene, which brings before us the last recorded conversation of Elijah and his successor, Elisha. I'm thinking in particular of that conversation which comes to focus in verse 9, when the two men are left alone, apparently out of sight now of the fifty sons of the prophets who followed them to the brink of the river Jordan. And now that the two men are alone, Elijah turns to Elisha,

7:11 And his request is this, verse 9, And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken from thee. It's as though he assumed the role of a father who, upon his dying bed, as did Jacob, would give blessings to his son. And this one, who had been in such an intimate relationship with the prophet of God, for at least now a period of some six years, since the mantle of the prophet was cast over him as he was out plowing in the field, he says to him, assuming the place of a father to the son, What do you want from me as a parting gift from me? You've lived with me, Elijah, at least this half dozen years. You know that you're going to be my successor. You've seen what it means to be a prophet.

8:11 In the midst of apostasy, Elisha, what do you regard as the one indispensable requisite to fulfill the office upon which you are now going to embark as I'm about to be taken into the presence of my God? Perhaps there was no question that would reveal more clearly, on the one hand, Elisha's understanding of the nature of his task, and secondly, no question would reveal more clearly, his own understanding of his personal inadequacy, or conversely, his sense of adequacy.

8:54 What do you want me to do for you? He didn't say, give me a list, like an imagined Santa Claus in Sears who says, now let me see your list of all the things you want from Santa. What do you want me to do? What is that blessing without which you dare not assume the role that you will be assuming perhaps in just a few short minutes or perhaps, at best, a few more hours as I am to be taken home to my Father?

9:22 And so the request of Elijah is not a haphazard request. It's not an off-the-cuff thing. And the whole drift of the passage would seem to indicate that there was some premonition on the part of Elisha that there was going to be this conferral of a special blessing for when Elijah said to him, Tarry here, three times, he said with an oath, as the Lord lives and as thy soul lives, I will not. I will not leave thee.

9:47 He was clean to this man. Whether God had indicated to him previously, we do not know. The record is silent. But there would seem to be some intimation that this man knew that there was to be a conferral of a distinct blessing that would in a peculiar way equip him for the task that lay before him.

10:06 So the request of Elijah is that Elisha should tell him what he regards as the indispensable gift which he needs and endures. And he anticipates as he faces the prophetic office. Consider, then, the answer of Elisha to this request of Elijah. The prophet says, What shall I do for thee?

Elisha's Answer: The Double Portion of Spirit

10:30 And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. Will you try to put yourself in Elisha's place? When these sons of the prophets have come saying, Don't you know that your master is going to be taken from your head? Don't you know that your master is going to be taken from your head?

10:47 Don't you know that your master is going to be taken from your head? Don't you know that your master is going to be taken from your head? Today, there was something in the very bearing of Elisha that spoke of a calm and a peace that these sons of the prophets are all agitated. Don't you know he's going to be taken from you?

10:56 He says, I know all about it. Hold your peace. I'm not ruffled. He isn't.

11:01 Why should I? He's the one about to step through that veil which separates us from this world and that world beyond. He's not ruffled. I'm not ruffled.

11:11 What are you so disturbed about? Nonetheless, the fact that he knew he was going to witness this unusual, very unusual procedure. He didn't know exactly how it was going to come to pass, but he knew that his master was to be taken from him. And his mind filled with all of these thoughts of the soon departure of this one at whose feet he has sat for these years.

11:35 They have just witnessed this unusual miracle of the parting of the Jordan. As we indicated last study, whereas God brought his people to elaborate preparations when he brought them over that river as a nation, here almost as an off-the-cuff activity, the rugged prophet wraps his mantle together and strikes the water and they part hither and thither. You don't see that and quickly shape such a sight. We'll just read this in such a cursory way.

12:05 Can you imagine what your thoughts would be like if you hear a rushing river behind you and you know as you hear the rushing of that river that just a few minutes before that thing had been parted and its walls held back while you walked over it? Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that?

12:18 Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that? If ever there was a time for a man's mind to be agitated, to be brought out of perfect balance so that he wouldn't be held quite accountable for what he'd say, it was this situation. And yet, as we read through the passage, it would seem as though it's almost the reflex response of Elisha to this request of Elijah.

12:38 And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. There seems to be no hesitation, no question as to, and that which he needs above all else as he anticipates assuming the prophetic office. Consider with me the substance of Elisha's answer. There are two possibilities as to what these words mean.

13:03 Some would say what Elisha was asking was for the portion of the firstborn to be his. And they would cross-reference this with Deuteronomy 21 and verse 17. And I'm reading now that text of Scripture, Deuteronomy 21, Deuteronomy 21 and verse 17. But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath, for he is the beginning of his strength.

13:33 The right of the firstborn is his. And having a mind steeped in the Old Testament law, some say that Elisha is asking for the portion of the firstborn, something of the spirit of the prophetic office, which would rest upon others now that Elisha is about to depart. But he says in essence, this would be their understanding of it, that since he has a peculiar place of responsibility and will stand as head over the schools of the prophets and will stand in the room instead of Elisha, the great prophet of Israel, therefore he asks for a portion commensurate with that peculiar place of responsibility. Others, and some quite emphatically, say, no, this is not the thought at all. The thought is that he waxes bold to ask that literally double the measure of spiritual unction which rested upon Elisha should rest upon him. In the light of the magnitude of the need, here this man of God who ministered so powerfully leaves behind him not a nation still upon its face, as they were upon Carmel, but a nation which for the most part is still given over to the worship of Baal, a nation which still, still has yet to establish true religion in the land. And though there have been some signs of reviving and quickening or resurrecting of the school of the prophets as we have seen,

14:59 the nation as a whole still is an apostate nation. And so they would interpret his words as saying, if with the measure of the spirit you knew there was this effect, if anything is to happen, I must have a double portion of the spirit that rested upon you. Now, which is it? Well, if I were either Elijah or Elisha, I'd be able to say with some degree of pontifical authority.

15:26 But since I am neither Elijah nor Elisha, I cannot say, and I frankly have not come to a settled position in my own mind, and I don't think it really affects the significance of his answer. If the meaning of his words is give me the portion of the firstborn in the light of my peculiar responsibilities, or if it is, give me a double measure in the light of the grace, or if it is, give me a double measure in the light of the grace, the significance is not changed. And there is a basic two-fold significance in the answer of Elisha. First of all, it showed Elisha's insight into the secret of a powerful prophetic ministry.

Significance of Elisha's Request: Insight and Humility

16:08 As he thought back of what he knew of the prophet Elijah, and remember, he knew him not from a distance. Some men, and especially some preachers, look wonderful at a distance. Just don't ever get the wrong idea. Just don't ever get the wrong idea.

16:22 You don't have to know them too intimately.

16:25 Here's a man who's walked with him, talked with him, slept probably in the same room with him, in the same patch of ground out under the stars. For six years, he's been identified in this intimate relationship with the prophet. The whole picture in this last scene of them still going on and talking is one of the most intimate kind of friendship where people are just sharing their minds at the deepest level. Having viewed the man in that most intimate relationship, having seen him in his position before Israel, having seen his ministry to kings, having seen him stand, or at least having heard the record of his stand against the great tide of idolatry and wickedness, he's come to perceive that the answer to the question what makes Elijah tick was not to be found in Elijah's gifts primarily, was not to be found in Elijah's gifts primarily, was not to be found in his personality, not to be found in his training, it was to be found in the spirit that rested upon him.

17:33 Elisha knew that the secret of the life and ministry of this man was the anointing of the spirit of Jehovah that rested upon him in a peculiar way for the exercise of his prophetic office. This is the first thing that his answer indicates. And then secondly, it revealed Elisha's humility and desperate sense of his own personal need. Some have read into this request, why doesn't this seem a rather proud thing to say?

18:09 To ask for a double portion of Elijah's spirit? No, it's just the opposite. It reveals a sense of inadequacy, a sense of need, a sense of undependence upon sources of power that lay outside, that lay outside himself. It's as though, he says, Elijah, you could live the way you lived and you could minister the way you ministered because you're a man far beyond me.

18:38 But I am so much less the man you are that if I'm ever to fill your shoes, I must have twice the divine enablement that you have. This was far from a confession of a proud heart or the request of a proud heart. It was the confession of one who had been gripped by a sense of, you know, his own inadequacy. And the principle that comes to light in this answer of Elijah is this, that the measure of our true humility is our conscious awareness of our need of the Spirit's assistance.

19:15 Let me repeat it. The measure of our true humility is our conscious awareness of our need of the Spirit's assistance. Ah, but someone says, how do I know how consciously aware I am of the Spirit's assistance? I'll answer that.

19:35 The measure of our conscious awareness of need is our specific request for the Spirit's assistance. That's how it worked out with Elijah. The sense of his inadequacy became a conscious awareness which focused upon a specific request, let a double portion of the Spirit rest upon me. What one thing shall I do before I go?

20:09 No hesitation. Let a double portion of thy Spirit be upon me. I would say by way of application that this is the acid test of whether or not we know anything of true spiritual humility. It is not how well we can mouth the phrases of the Bible that are the expressions of humility.

20:35 Without him I can do nothing. Similar phrases. This is the acid test. Does this produce in me that painful consciousness that when he says without me he can do nothing, he meant that.

20:51 Left to myself all I can do is wonder. Left to itself all my heart can be as a lifeless cold stone. Left to myself all I can do is bring reproach to my Master. And I'm so convinced of that that it drives me to the throne of grace to beseech in Jesus' name ever increasing supplies of the Spirit of grace.

21:18 That's the acid test. Not how glibly I make the confession of humility, but how earnestly I seek the grace of Christ made real and powerful by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. There's the test. The greatest witness of pride is not someone filling up his lungs and popping out his chest and saying look at me.

21:46 It's his failure to frequent the closet of prayer. An unfrequented closet of prayer is the loudest witness of a heart of pride. What it's saying is I can do many things without him. Every time the closet of prayer is omitted, neglected, falls into disuse, not only the closet of prayer when we are strangers to that constant ejaculatory prayer.

22:27 Do we know what it is throughout the day, many times in the day, to have our hearts go out to the Lord? As Nehemiah in that crucial situation, I prayed unto the Lord and I said to the king. Do we know what that is? To have the heart go out to him, the reflex action in the situation of need.

22:48 Oh Lord, help. Oh Lord, give grace. Oh Lord, save. Oh Lord, enable.

22:54 I am not adequate for this situation. And so this answer of Elisha, whether he is asking for the portion of the firstborn or whether he is asking for a double measure of the Spirit, reveals his understanding and insight into the secret of Elijah's powerful ministry and holy life and reveals his true humility and his sense of need. Ah, but someone says, I am not called upon to be a prophet to Israel. Surely if God said to me I was to take Elijah's place, I would cry to the Lord for the Spirit.

Universal Need for the Spirit's Assistance

23:34 Anyone who is right-minded would do that. I am just a housewife. Just a housewife. Just a housewife.

23:44 Just a housewife molding and shaping the character of a future mother, a future father, a future citizen in the kingdom of Christ. Just a housewife. Being the instrument that prods my husband on in the direction of God and the work of His kingdom and truth and holiness. Or being a subtle instrument of dampened spiritual ardor and desire.

24:16 Just a housewife. Oh, I am just a factory worker. Just a machine operator. Just.

24:29 No. No matter how mean, no matter how little, no matter how seemingly insignificant the role you fill as one who has been purchased by the blood of Christ and put in that circle of your world there to be a light to show forth the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light, you are no more adequate for that of yourself than was Elijah for the world into which God was going to move him in His sovereign will and purpose. Consider then, as we carry on with the narrative, the response of Elijah to this request of Elisha. Here Elijah has asked the question, what do you want me to do? Elisha has answered and we have looked at the significance of his answer. Now notice in verse 10 the response of Elijah. What is the substance of it?

Elijah's Response: God Alone Confers the Blessing and the Role of Spiritual Sight

25:29 Here it is. Thou hast asked a hard thing, nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. This seems to be the essence of what he is saying. Elisha, you have asked a rare and singular blessing.

25:55 It is no common blessing that you have sought from me, and here are the conditions by which you will know whether or not the blessing will be conferred. If you see me, it shall be done. If not, it shall not be done. Now what is the significance of this answer?

26:12 That is a strange way to answer, is it not? Is there some significance? I believe again there are two principles here of deep significance in the answer of Elijah. First of all, he is indicating to Elisha that he must seek this blessing from God alone.

26:31 Elisha, if you see me, that is something over which I have no power. I cannot control the events that are going to surround my being taken from you. But if the God who is about to take me so orders those events and is so pleased to pull back the veil and let you see into that world of spiritual reality where this activity is going to occur, then you will have the blessing. But Elijah, I cannot set the circumstances.

27:06 The God who is ordered and directing them is the one who alone can confer the blessing which you seek. You have asked a difficult thing. Yes, so difficult I cannot give it to you. If you had asked me for my paternal blessings, if you had asked me for something else that it was within my power to give, but you have asked a difficult thing, you have asked a blessing which comes from God and from God alone.

27:34 And then secondly, it would seem to indicate that he is saying if your eye is open to that world of spiritual reality, then you will have the blessing which you desire. It would indicate that there is a direct relationship between one's sensitivity to and faith in the world of spiritual reality and the life and ministry of spiritual unction and power. It is interesting to trace this through the lives of men, that we see in Holy Scripture and also in Christian biography. In the commentary in the book of Romans on the life of Moses, it says he endured, how? As seeing him who was invisible. He endured because he saw what others didn't see. It seems that this has been an area that our study this morning and last week we have been focusing upon in our studies in Thessalonians.

28:39 We have been pressed to it that the whole life of faith of the believer is a life that is governed by that unseen yet very real world of spiritual reality. Elisha, you've asked for a double portion of the spirit that rested upon me. You've asked for a life and ministry of unction and power and there is a direct relationship between such a ministry and keen spiritual sight and sensitivity to the world of spiritual reality. It's true not only of Moses but it's true of God's choice servant the Apostle Paul.

29:18 He could say and it was his clear testimony in 2 Corinthians 4, 18 while we look not on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen. This was the focus. And there is a direct relationship between one's grasp upon the reality of that unseen world and a life and ministry of spiritual unction and of power. This came to light further in the ministry of Elisha.

29:47 You'll remember the instance to which we alluded several weeks ago in 2 Kings chapter 6 when he and his servant are surrounded by the Syrian army and that poor young man is just about at wit's end corner. And Elisha says, Lord, open his eyes to see. He doesn't know what's there. Oh yes, he knows Syrian horsemen are there and Syrian soldiers and Syrian armor and Syrian swords and Syrian staves but he doesn't see the armies of God.

30:17 And when the Lord opened the eyes of that young man he saw the multitude of the horsemen and the chariots of God. And God discomfited the enemy and put the enemy to rot. This was true of the apostles. They had seen their Lord go into the presence of his Father.

30:36 And throughout the book of the Acts this note occurs again and again particularly in the early chapters of the book of Elisha. The great power gave they witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. They couldn't think of him as dead. He was something more to them than just the concoction of well-learned theology.

30:55 He was to them the living Lord whom they had seen go alive into the presence of the Father. And when they thought of him and spoke of him and spoke to him and spoke in his name they spoke in that conviction of the world of spiritual reality and therefore they spoke with conviction and with unselfishness. Out again would you say I'm not a prophet. I'm just a mother.

31:24 Yes, you're a mother. You're a father. When you talk to that child of spiritual things is there a hollow ring of unreality? Or is there that peculiar authority when you set that little one upon your knee and you're teaching him or her catechism questions or a scripture verse or talking to him about the world of spiritual reality?

31:46 Do you speak of that world with such depth of conviction because it's a world which you grasp by the hand of faith firmly so that that child knows he's not just playing with words and learning religious concepts but in some measure he tastes the powers of the world to come as you speak as you live? A direct relationship between spiritual unction and power and an eye that is sensitive to and a heart that firmly grasps hold of the world of spiritual reality. This is true in the life of you men your place of business and work. If hell is real to you and the judgment of God is real and you hear those foul odes that fill your ears day by day and the filthiness that flows like a river at flood tide you may not say many things but those few well-chosen words spoken from a heart in life experiencing the reality of these things will come with power and with authority. Far more than a well-learned little outline of four things you better say to someone or some other approach to witnessing. It's that life

33:13 feeding upon the reality of these things. I shall never forget the testimony of one servant of God who in the early days of his Christian experience became tremendously concerned for his dear mother. She was morally beyond reproach a good mother gave herself to the training of her children and the keeping of her home but she was a stranger to grace she was religious but lost religious but lost knew nothing of the regenerating power of the Spirit knew nothing of a vital living faith in the Son of God as Savior knew nothing of heart's objection to Him as Lord. And he'd been up in his room praying for his mother and the thought that that dear woman who bore him that dear woman who tenderly cared for him was lost and that if she died in that condition according to the words of Scripture she'd hear depart from me cursed into everlasting fire. As a lad of sixteen he came down from his room and he looked sad he'd been praying for his mother and she said what's the matter son? And he just burst into tears and said Mama you're lost Mama you're lost. That's all he could say and went back to his room.

34:34 The Spirit of God took those words and sent them like an arrow through the heart of that woman. When that boy came home from school the next day his mother had a glowing testimony of the fact that God had been pleased to reveal His Son to her. You see it wasn't a clever well thought out systematic presentation of the Gospel that pierced her heart. She had had exposure to the truth of the Word but when she came into contact with someone to whom the world of spiritual reality was real and vital there was power and unction in those two words Mama you're lost.

35:16 If thou see me it shall be unto thee. You've asked for a life of spiritual unction and power and if there's that inward preparedness you will know it. Do we want a life of unction and power at the price of dealing mercilessly with anything that dims the vision spiritually? Any of the little specks very innocent in themselves but they make the eye insensitive to that world?

35:58 I'm not talking about that which is sin and is to be mortified. I'm talking about those areas of the doubtful things, the grave even legitimate lawful liberties that somehow make us insensitive to that world of spiritual reality. We pray oh God bless our influence upon our children. Could it be that this is why the influence is not what it ought to be?

God's Confirmation and Corporate Application for the Church

36:25 There is great significance in the answer of the prophet If thou see me it shall be unto thee. Let's move on then in our study to consider in the last place tonight the answer of God then to the request of Elisha.

36:45 We've looked at Elijah's request ask what I shall give thee. Elisha's answer a double portion. The response of Elijah to that request and now God's intervention in all of it. And it came to pass verse 11 as they still went on in talk that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which parted them both asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven and Elisha saw it and he cried my father my father the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof and he saw him no more and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces and he took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan and he took the mantle that fell from him and smote the waters and said where is the Lord the God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters they were divided hither and thither and Elisha went up and went over. The moment he saw this unusual scene in the midst of this whirlwind the vision of horsemen of fire and chariots of fire he knew upon the word of the prophet spoken in the name of Jehovah that his request would be granted if thou see me it shall be so unto thee. There was the promise here was the condition fulfilled

38:13 but God very graciously then confirmed in a two-fold way that he had answered his request as Elijah goes up in the whirlwind into heaven it's as though a gentle hand pulls the mantle from off his shoulders and Elisha sees it floating down to the earth that mantle that he had seen some years before and walking behind his oxen the prophet passed by and cast it upon him and indicated that he was to be his successor in the prophetic office now it's as though the Lord says to him yes I have fulfilled the word of promise and with the descent of this mantle that you are now to wear has come the double portion of the spirit of the man who wore it even as I have promised and then as it were to put the Lord to the test he comes back to the Jordan River and here the wording is confusing and the commentators seem even more confused for it seems that there might be a double smiting as though the Lord were testing him the faith of his servant he smites the waters and nothing happens and then he says where is the Lord God of Elijah and smites them again and they part hither and thither whether there was a double smiting or not God confirmed that which he had promised by doing precisely what he had done

39:41 through the prophet just a short time before when he took the same mantle and smote the same waters the presence of the Lord God of Elijah is manifested by the activity of that God being precisely the same as it was a short time before God confirms then to his servant that he has equipped him for the work to which he has appointed him and he is now to embark upon that ministry in the confidence that he goes not forth in his own charges but in the strength and power of the spirit of Elijah someone says what does this say to us should we pray that God will raise up some Elishas upon whom a double portion of the spirit of Elijah rested I don't know that that would be a prayer that would displease the Lord but if we are biblical in our perspective we recognize that God is not carrying out his work now as he did then in terms primarily of raising up unique men with a unique voice to carry out his purpose the entire gospel the entire teaching of the New Testament is that the Lord has chosen his church

41:05 as the vehicle and instrument through which he will accomplish his purposes of redemption and his purposes of grace in the earth and the history of the church confirms that it's a revived church corporate bodies of believers upon whom the spirit of Elijah rests in power that become God's instrument of dispensing blessing to the world and because our Lord Jesus has bled and died and ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high he has purchased every necessary gift that the church might be all that he desires it should be as an instrument of blessing and an instrument to accomplish his own purpose and so lest we as it were stand in the outside and say well that's all well and good for Elishas to pray for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah but that says nothing to us we should enter into the same spirit corporately of Elisha and cry mightily to God that he would send forth of his spirit and when the spirit is poured forth in power how will we know it the Lord God of Elijah performs the acts that he did through Elijah and when that spirit is poured out in power we will know his presence as we see him operating mightily to break the hearts of sinners

42:31 to tear down the bastions of wickedness to establish righteousness and truth in the hearts of his people and then in the earth where is the Lord God of Elijah he splits the Jordan now as he did when his servant was here but now that his servant is gone God still remains to bless his people still remains to accomplish his purpose may God grant that one of the passions of Elijah one of the passions of our hearts will be that we might in our own generation see the Lord answering that question where is the Lord God of Elijah and not have our hopes pinned that somewhere off in the woods God is preparing an Elisha but that God would so breathe upon his church that the church will become that instrument in his hands through which the world will be confronted with not only the message of God's saving grace but the reality and the power of the effect of that message as they see us living in vital contact with that world of spiritual reality may the Lord grant that this will increasingly be our prayer this whole scene began with the successor to Elijah acknowledging his own helplessness at that point I trust we feel very much

43:58 akin to the spirit of Elisha as we face the needs of seeking in some small measure to confront even this community in all of its affluence in all of its indifference certainly none of us by our prayerlessness would deliberately confess would we, we're adequate for this may God grant that an increasing tide of focused intercession will be witness to our increased understanding and conviction of our desperate need of that outpouring of the Holy Spirit that gracious intervention of God upon us and then through us that we may accomplish his own purpose in this our own generation let us remain our hearts in prayer