Scripture: 2 Kings 2: 1-14, Acts 1: 6-11
Sermon: Chariots of Fire
Preached: February 15, 2009
2 Kings 2: 1-14
Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So they went down to Bethel. 3The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I know; keep silent.’
4 Elijah said to him, ‘Elisha, stay here; for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So they came to Jericho. 5The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?’ And he answered, ‘Yes, I know; be silent.’
6 Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So the two of them went on. 7Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. 8Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.’ Elisha said, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.’ 10He responded, ‘You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.’ 11As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12Elisha kept watching and crying out,
‘Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’
But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
13 He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, ‘Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?’ When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
INTRODUCTION
Even though we may not talk about it as much as past generations, we still have a fascination with what happens when we die. We are still haunted by questions about what lies on the other side of death. The popularity of 3 different books points to this fascination. Two of these books are novels.
Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones is about the brutal murder of a young girl named Susie. Susie then tells her story from heaven. She tells about what she experiences in heaven and what she sees of life as it continues on earth. People gobbled that book up.
Another similar book is Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It is also told from the point of view of someone who has just passed away – Eddie. Eddie wakes up in heaven and meets five people who had a very significant impact on his life here on earth. Again, the perspective is from someone there, in heaven.
Both these novels have sold millions of copies.
The third book is not a novel. It is a book about a personal experience. Don Piper, a pastor, was involved in a car crash. For 90 minutes he was declared deceased. But somehow, he survived that crash and lived to tell about it. His book 90 Minutes in Heaven is a description then a reflection, of what he experienced in those 90 minutes. To be fair, Piper’s book never quite gets into heaven. By his own admission, he made it to the pearlescent gates. He was able to gaze into heaven, but he never quite entered. Still, his book was on the New York Times bestseller list for weeks.
Clearly people want to know.
People want to know what heaven will be like.
People want to know that it is an actual place with a real connection to our present life and our present reality.
One essay I read this week commented that more people believe in heaven than believe in God.[1] That may very well be true. Heaven and its existence is almost taken for granted by many. Interestingly, another book I came across is entitled 23 Minutes in Hell, by Bill Wiesse. It is similar to Piper’s book, but the mirror opposite. It hasn’t sold nearly as many copies.
2 KINGS 2: A STORY TOLD IN 3 PARTS
Our Old Testament and New Testament passages tonight bring us to the border territory between life and death.
They bring us to that elusive border between earth and heaven.
But they say surprisingly little about what lies on the other side.
In our Old Testament passage, we are told the remarkable story of how Elijah is taken up into heaven with horses and chariots of fire. But our questions about what Elijah finds there are not answered.
It seems as if the text has its own questions to ask,
and its own answers to give.
Here we have this story of Elijah and his young prophetic protégé Elisha.
Elijah tells Elisha to leave him alone.
But Elisha sticks to Elijah as closely as Ruth sticks to Naomi,
as closely as Samwise Gamgee sticks to Frodo Baggins.
Nothing but death will separate Elisha from Elijah.
There are 3 repeated movements to this text.
1. The trip from Gilgal to Bethel.
The company of prophets in Bethel tell Elisha, “Hey, you know Elijah is going to die, right.”
And Elisha saying “Shh…I know that already.”
2. Then from Bethel to Jericho.
Again the company of prophets in Jericho say the same thing: Hey, you know Elijah is going to die, right.”
“Shh…I know that already.”
3. Then from Jericho to the Jordan River.
But there, at the Jordan River, the company of 50 prophets does not speak.
They are silent as they watch Elijah and Elisha cross the miraculously divided river.
That is when Elijah asks Elisha, “What can I do for you?”
Elisha asks for a double portion of his spirit.
We may be a little taken aback by this request.
It almost sounds like Elisha is asking to be twice as powerful as Elijah.
But that isn’t what he is requesting.
In that culture, when a father was about to pass away,
he gathered his sons and divided his inheritance.
The firstborn received a double portion of the inheritance.
What Elisha is asking for here is for the firstborn’s share – a double portion.
Elijah makes no guarantees, but says, “If you see me as I am taken from you, it will be granted to you.”
Soon after, Elijah is taken up into heaven in that blaze of fire,
Elisha sees it,
then he picks up Elijah’s mantle and heads back across the Jordan River.
WHY THE 3-PART STRUCTURE?
What an odd, yet fascinating story.
Let me tell you two reasons why I believe it happens in this 3-part way.
I think this 3-part story is meant to fit into the BIG picture of Israelite history, and I believe it is meant to be the opposite of the immediate picture of Israelite history.
Let’s look at the BIG picture first.
If you know your Biblical geography, you may have noticed that this 3 stage trip – Gilgal to Bethel; Bethel to Jericho; Jericho to the Jordan River – is basically retracing the Israelite entrance into the Promised Land. Only now Elijah is exiting the Promised Land. Why? Was it a way of saying things had gotten so bad in Israel that now things were actually better in the wilderness on the other side of the Jordan than they were in Israel?
I think so.
That leads to how this story fits into the more immediate context of Israelite history.
This is 2 Kings chapter 2.
We didn’t read 2 Kings chapter 1.
But if we did, we would have read an equally fascination story that in ways is very similar to the one in chapter 2.
Chapter 1 is all about King Ahaziah, the son of Ahab.
Ahaziah is a wicked, disobedient, idol-worshipping king.
Elijah sends King Ahaziah word that he is about to die.
Ahaziah is so angry, he sends a company of 50 soldiers, chariots and horses, to find and arrest Elijah.
In chapter 1 there are 3 companies of soldiers sent out to find Elijah and bring him to King Ahaziah.
The first company finds Elijah. But before they can seize him, they are consumed by fire from heaven.
The second company of soldiers finds Elijah. Before they can seize Elijah, they are consumed by fire from heaven.
Finally, a third company of soldiers finds Elijah. But this time the captain begs for mercy. There is no fire. He and his men are spared.
At the end of chapter 1, King Ahaziah dies.
He leaves no son, no heir to the throne.
So what is going on here?
I think chapter 1 and 2 are put beside each other as mirror images.
In chapter 1, the 3 parts have fire, fire, then no fire.
In chapter 2, the 3 parts have no fire, no fire, then fire.
In chapter 1, it is the fire of judgment.
In chapter 2, it is the fire of triumph.
In chapter 1, the disobedience and wickedness of Ahaziah is highlighted.
In chapter 2, the obedience and holiness of Elijah is highlighted.
In chapter 1, death comes to Ahaziah – death, defeat, and darkness.
In chapter 2, Elijah also meets his end – but it is an end of triumph and light.
In chapter 1, Ahaziah leaves no son, no heir, no real future.
In chapter 2, Elijah leaves Elisha, who like a firstborn son, receives a double portion to carry on the work.
Elisha literally takes on the mantle of Elijah.
Like Aaron the high priest putting his garment on Eleazar his son;
Like Moses laying his hands on Joshua his successor;
Here Elisha picks up Elijah’s mantle, and heads back across the Jordan,
back into battle, so to speak, against evil, disobedience, and injustice.
And if you know the story of Elisha, you know he does amazing things,
he does great things, in ways greater even than Elijah,
always opening a dark and closed world
to the light and power of God’s grace,
always showing the astonishing newness of God’s life in a world trapped in a King Ahaziah type death.
Even though we may want this passage to be about heaven, and what heaven will be like, it is really about earth, and what our work here on earth is all about.
ASCENSION-SPIRIT-GREAT THINGS
The same can be said when that other great Prophet,
Jesus, was taken up into heaven.
We want to keep looking up trying to catch a glimpse of what heaven is like.
But Jesus and the angels tell us,
“Stop staring.
You have work to do here and now.”
And like Elisha,
on Pentecost we received a double portion of his spirit,
the portion of a son, a first-born,
in order to do his work.
In order to walk into the world
ready to speak and work against evil, disobedience, and injustice.
Ready to speak and work for peace, righteousness, and shalom.
Ready to do great and even amazing things.
Can we do it?
In one of the more astonishing things he said,
Jesus tells us,
“I tell you the truth,
Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.
In fact, they will do even greater things than these
because I am going to the Father (John 14:12).
Even greater things than these — it hardly seems possible.
How can we do greater things than Jesus?
How can we do greater things than the last generation of saints?
How can we carry the gospel with as much conviction, and courage, and commitment as they did?
How?
But we can.
We must.
CONCLUSION
Martin Copenhaver, writes about graduating from Seminary and being ordained in the First Congregational Church of Burlington Vermont. He was young, only in his late 20’s. He was filled with all the doubts and misgivings of a young pastor. He wasn’t sure he could do this job. Added to this, his father had been a pastor. In fact, his father was scheduled to preach at his ordination service. But his father had passed away only weeks before the ordination.
When the service came, it was bitter/sweet.
His mother still came to Vermont for the service.
She brought a surprise.
She brought the robe, the vestment, that her husband, Martin’s father, had used all those years in ministry.
Martin writes that he hesitated wearing it.
He wasn’t sure it would fit.
But, reflecting further, he wasn’t sure he was fit to wear it.
But in the end he did.
And it felt good and right and fitting.
He felt neither prepared nor worthy
to wear the robe
nor carry the mantle.
But he prayed that he might receive a double portion of the Spirit.[2]
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