Inseparable (Part B)

This is an interesting thing. I have said this to God in moments of just complete dissatisfaction. Where's the God of Elijah?

I can't believe, why don't you do something? That kind of a spirit rather than Elijah here calling on the Lord saying, the God of Elijah is my God. And He has promised this and Lord, where are you?

And He strikes the waters and they part. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of 2 Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Inseparable is the title of Pastor Rick's message and today he'll be teaching in 2 Kings chapter 2. Verse 5, Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, Do you not know that Yahweh will take away your master from over you today? So he answered, Yes, I know, keep silent. So they're like, where are these guys coming from?

They're quickly texting each other, he's on his way to you now, ask him, ask him if he knows. We did hear and he acted like he, anyway, he's again more amateurs like those in Bethel. On Elisha's end, he's long suffering with the repetitive questions. Didn't I just answer this? Answer me again. It is a little difficult in conversation if the person just repeats themselves over and over. We try not to do that from the pulpit without noticing, saying, I know I'm not, I'm repeating myself for this reason. I know I'm repeating myself for this reason. I know, okay. So he answered, Yes, I know, keep silent.

Keep silent. Old Testament brilliance. The New Testament, we can't really hammer them like this. I mean, Paul is just so patient with the Corinthians. Verse 6, Then Elisha said to him, Stay here, please. Pause a minute. Paul was not always patient. When he says to them, I think if somebody smacks you upside your head, you'd be fine with that.

But no, we come preaching love and kindness. You got a problem with us. He could turn it on when he had to.

It's just you got to watch it. I bought a sports car years ago, and as the old guy was polishing it, got to give me the keys. He says, Be careful. This thing get away from you. And I should have said, How do you know?

Do you have one? Anyway, he was right. If you weren't careful with that car, man, it just take off. So this is something to do with what I was talking about. Oh, you know, the comebacks, you know, the snarky comebacks, the people who deserve it. You got to just, Lord, if the Lord is restraining you, be restrained. And most of the time he does restrain us from saying what we would think would be well serving us. Anyway, verse 6, Then Elisha said to him, Stay here, please, for Yahweh has sent me on to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives, as your servant lives, I will not leave.

So the two went on. The third invitation to abandon his station, to leave his calling. His calling was to follow Elijah. He promised that he would follow Elijah.

1 Kings 19, this is when Elisha goes, and he throws his mantle, his, you know, not really a blanket, like his cape over him, and a symbol of anointing. And Elisha responds, and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, Please, let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you. And he meant it.

And here we see him doing it to the end. They're inseparable. So the two of them went on.

Again, the beautiful picture. Elisha knew where he belonged, and so did Elijah. Both of these men knew where they belonged. He would say, I've got, now God is sending me to Bethel. Now God is sending me to Jericho. And wherever you go, I'm going to be right there by your side.

Man, to have people like that in your life. Verse 7, and 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan. So these are spectators. These are the sons of the prophets, and probably others joining into, you know, there's always somebody in the neighborhood that just, crowd draws a crowd. But back to this overly formalized Christianity. And seminaries, and seminaries, I think, they have some things to offer. You can learn how to pronounce a lot of things in seminaries. But incidentally, I just go with Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary for pronunciation. I just have to lock it down at some point, because they did altars, and then you've got the difficulty of, you know, the tongue just not able to pronounce certain words.

I don't try too hard anymore. Anyhow, there they are watching them, but formalize Christianity for appointing church leaders, I think, is not as good as the New Testament example. The ideal is discipleship. Paul said, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1. Imitate me as I imitate Christ. In other words, it is doable.

This is the best way to go. Verse 8. Then Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water, and it was divided this way and that, so that the two men crossed over on dry ground.

Well, they've got 50 spectators to this, even though from a distance they can see what's going on. This is impressive. This is impressive as Moses. Moses did the same thing, and the similarities between Elijah and Moses are profound because Moses gave the law, Elijah continues the law. There's no apology coming from God about the law given to Moses because it's upheld by Elijah and all the prophets. Exodus 14, God says to Moses, but lift your rod, stretch out your hand.

Well, let me preface this. The people are being chased by Pharaoh and his army, his chariots, and Moses says stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, and God says, why are you crying out to me? Lift up your rod, stretch out your hand over the sea, divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And so this is a Moses-esque moment, verse 9. And so it was when they had crossed over that Elijah said to Elisha, ask, what may I do for you before I am taken away from you? Elisha said, please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.

Well, there's a lot here. One is Elisha, the older prophet, he's been processing how faithful Elisha is on their walks until he gets, what can I do for you? Because he's been doing something for him, been blessing his heart. He's probably saying nobody's giving me this much love, at least they're not in ministry. And this is, you know, the fruit of loyalty, to have somebody to love you and to then recognize it in the work for God. It is something that you wish more artists could capture on canvas, so you can post these kind of things up for us to be reminded of.

These things are for our edification, to make us better at serving Christ. The love between these two men is profound. Now, when Paul grieves over Titus, and I don't want to rely on quoting it, because it's better read. Let's go to a commercial break.

When we come back, I'll have it. I try to mark these things ahead, but this is so much, it's too much. 2 Corinthians chapter 2, yes, here it is. So in verse 12, he's telling the Corinthians how much he loves them, but, you know, he says, Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother.

But taking my leave of them, I departed from Macedonia. And then he, of course, goes on to develop his thought, but the part that stands out is, here's, God is doing this great work in Troas through Paul, but he can't, I can't, I gotta find, I gotta find Titus. I don't know what's happened to him. Did muggers get to him? Is he well?

Is he sick somewhere? And there's just a beautiful picture of the human side of God's servants, and no rebuke from heaven. The work continued in Troas, it continued in Corinth, and here we have these two men. Elijah, the prophet, says, What can I do for you?

And without hesitation, he's ready. It's a remarkable look into Elijah's walk with God to be able to know that he can, he can make such an offer. Other verses I can quote, but we don't have time, so we'll just continue. It says, Elijah said, Please let me have a double portion of your spirit. Now, there's no hesitation in that, but he is not saying, what he is not saying is that, Well, I'm inferior to you, therefore, I need twice as much as what you have. He is not saying, Well, I would just, you know, I'm a man like you, but I would like to do twice as much as you did. He's not saying either one of those, although both would be fine to, if they happened, if God did do this. And I don't share, a lot of the commentators try to show, Well, Elijah did seven miracles, and Elijah did 14, and there's the double portion.

I disagree. When I was younger, I didn't. I said, Boy, that's nice. And then I started digging.

Wait a minute. Elijah did more than seven again. So anyhow, back to this, then what is he doing? Because he wants to maintain that high standard, and I think most of us have said, Well, I want a double portion of the blessing, Lord, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Not shooting that part down. But what is going on here is this is a request for his spiritual inheritance, and that comes out in the story clear too. Not that the elder son's share was a double portion. Deuteronomy 21 verse 17, But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength. The right hand of the firstborn is his.

The right of the firstborn is his. Of the sons of the prophets, was not Elijah the eldest? He is the one that served Elijah directly, appointed by God.

Absolutely. Was not the prophet called the father? Yes, he was, because when he departs, stepped into heaven, he calls out, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen. He wants what's entitled to the elder son, a double portion. Now we go back, because he knows he needs to have a double portion of the inheritance if he's going to continue that standard, because he wants to do twice as much as the work for the kingdom, if Elijah can give that to him. And so, it all ends up right where we started, but the source of it, where he started with this was not something, now if he were a prosperity teacher, I'd want a double portion, I could buy two Rolls Royce cars and a Maserati, and that would be the prosperity teacher. And that, again, condemned that teaching, because the Bible does. I mean, what do you do with the verses that condemn greed in the New Testament and still go out and say, God wants you rich. Just put money in the offering box for me.

That's what it is, and they go, okay. Well, anyway, coming back to this, he wants a spiritual inheritance. Verse 10, so he said, you have asked a hard thing, nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if not, it shall not be so. So, you know, you've got to love, Elijah knows his limitations. It's not, I can't just give you this, but I, you know, I can, but God, I can tell God is going to, these are the terms. He's so in touch with God. See, if you see me taken up, then your prayer will be granted to you.

And if you don't see me taken up, tough, you're going to have to go out in a different way, lad. As with Moses, the spirit of Elijah is going to prove to be transferable, transferable, not the spirit, his spirit as a person, but as in ministry, that spirit of ministry. Well, John the Baptist has the spirit of Elijah, and so will the prophets in the Great Tribulation period or time. But here it is, Elijah, he's going to, it is going to transfer to Elijah. He's going to have that power as Moses, the commander of Israel, transferred his power to Joshua and to others. It was others that God allowed Moses to give them some of his authority and the spirit upon the other leaders in Israel. First Kings chapter 19, verse 16, and Elijah the son of Shaphat, you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

Well, that's what God said when Elijah was hiding out on the mountain in Horeb. The man who follows is the man fit to receive. What a profound lesson from just watching these two characters, and all the other characters are silhouettes, or just in the shadows, you know, you know, you're in the process of going to leave today, and it just, that's not what we're focused on, unless you've got that problem, then that becomes center stage to fix. But we're looking at these two men and we're saying, what makes this work? Why was God so happy with these men? And the proof is that he kept giving us the way he used them. Verse 11, then it happened as they continued on and talked.

Look at that, pause there. They weren't just walking in silence, they talked. I mean, it's just fellowship that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up in a whirlwind into heaven. Well, they were separated this way temporarily.

They are together again because they are inseparable. Death cannot conquer God's people. These flames that come along to take him out of this life, they characterize his ministry. I mean, he's just a fireball, even when he was doing good, even when he raised the boy, the widow's child, I mean, it's just this, you know, he pours out his heart to God.

How could you let this happen? He's just a passionate prophet. But just like that, in a blaze, he's gone to heaven, which really is the way we all go out, maybe not with the visual flames, but just like that, gone, even if we struggle to get there. Moses, he represents the believers in the scripture that have died and are raised from the dead because God took Moses and buried him where nobody could find the body, and yet we see Moses on Mount Transfiguration with Jesus.

Elijah represents the believers who will be raptured to meet the Lord in the air, departing without dying. The rapture is, you know, something that I think we've got to be careful about wanting too much. You can get depressed. It's not here today. I can't take another day. Yes, you can. You got orders.

Just carry out your duty. Only Enoch and Elijah departed into heaven without dying. Even the Lord Jesus allowed himself to die on the cross as we would count death. Verse 12, and Elijah saw it. He said, got my wish. Elijah saw it and he cried out, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen. So he saw him no more. He took hold of his own clothes and tore them into pieces. He devastated. He had to have gone back and said, I just cried out, my father, my father, the chariot, and someone said, I'm writing that down.

This is profound the way he said it. He grieved over the loss of Elijah going to heaven. I know, you know, we celebrate when the righteous go, but there's still this loss.

There's still grief. Death is always wrong. You kill a mosquito, death is wrong. Nothing should die in an ideal world. In heaven, things won't die.

But here, there's this curse that we have to navigate, hack our way through like a jungle. But God will let us, we soar in the midst of all of this. And that's, that's when Satan is just, he can't take us down. And even though in the inside our hearts can be breaking, we're still serving. Elijah, he's going to still serve. He saw and he knew that the strength of the nation was not the military, it was the prophet.

It was the man of God. Because humans will not do the right thing. Things are the way they are. And God counteracts that by sending people who are in touch with him. Here's the beautiful part of the story. So good is this man at serving that these words will be applied to him when he dies. They will be applied to him by a wicked king nonetheless. Second Kings 13 verse 14, Elijah had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over his face and said, oh my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen.

I think it's sincere. He had this epiphany for a moment of just how profound the life of this man was. Elijah could have been out of it, you know, many times we don't get to say goodbye, just, you know, just out of it. Who knows, we're not told, but we do know this, that he had such an impact on others because of the discipleship of Elijah that he's doing the same thing. That is better than going and sitting in a classroom and learning something that can only be taught through companionship, through discipleship, to serving next to, through watching and observing. And Joshua, he beat the Amalekites when Moses' hands were up. It wasn't so much the military force, it was the spiritual force that was at work. Psalm 33 verse 16, no king is saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength as the righteous go. The Lord is the one, but he has to have his vessels there, vessels of honor. Verse 13, he also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Okay, so he knows he's got the promise. Now, this mantle, this cloak, it doesn't drop because Elijah was clumsy on the way up. I mean, it's like, oh, in a century, too. It is, it is on purpose.

It's deliberate. He left. This is the mantle, more than likely, that he cast over Elijah when he was working with the oxen. Hebrews 17, remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. We're seeing that in action in these two men. Verse 14, I mean, this is the crime of the church departing from the word of God.

Where else are you going to learn this stuff? I mean, you know, you can go into a, you know, a pep talk from a coach or a motivational speaker, but there's no authority behind that. There's no anointing. This is, there's anointing. This comes from God's throne. Verse 14, then he took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen and struck the water and said, where is Yahweh, God of Elijah? And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that, and Elijah crossed over. So the Spirit is, has the Spirit of ministry transferred over to him.

This is an interesting thing. I have said this to God in moments of just complete dissatisfaction. Where's the God of Elijah? Where's the God of Elijah?

I can't believe, why don't you do something? That kind of a spirit rather than Elijah here calling on the Lord saying, the God of Elijah is my God. And he has promised this and Lord, where are you?

And he strikes the waters and they part. No longer is he the prophet's apprentice. He is now the journeyman prophet. And again, as the succession of Joshua from Moses and this ministry parallels Joshua. Joshua parted the Jordan also. Moses parted the Red Sea.

And so there's, there's precedence for all of this. So it goes through a few parallels between Moses and Elijah. Both parted bodies of water, the Red Sea and again the Jordan as I mentioned. Both called down fire from heaven. In fact, Moses did it like three times.

So at least he was part of it. You know, when Dathan rebelled, fire came from heaven and consumed them. He did it before Pharaoh. Both men saw the Lord provide food. Moses with the manna and the quail. And of course, Elijah, twice also with the ravens and the widow of Zarephath when the flower and the oil. In the land of Egypt, Moses prayed and God altered the weather. Well with Elijah, he called for a drought and for three and a half years, it was a drought.

And then he canceled out the drought later. Moses gave the law to the people of Israel. Elijah called them to repent and return to the true and living God there in Mount Carmel.

How long halt you between two opinions? If Yahweh is your God, serve him. Both men made journeys into the wilderness. Both men stood before God on the mountain. Both men had unique endings to their life. God buried Moses in a grave nobody can find and God carried Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind.

So both Moses and Elijah were present with Jesus on Mount Carmel. So what we see is a systematic God, a God that has a system in place. He's following it and there's a message in the system and it's up to us to figure it out and apply it and it can have multiple forms of application. Thanks for joining us for today's edition on Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We trust that what you've heard today in the book of 2 Kings has been something to remember. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series, go to crossreferenceradio.com. Once more that's crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. Our time is about up but we hope you'll tune in again next time as we continue on in the book of 2 Kings. We look forward to that time with you so make a note in your calendar to join Pastor Rick as he teaches from the Bible right here on Cross Reference Radio.