#DailyDevotion What To Make Of Elijah’s Ascension?

2 Kings 2:5-15 ⁵Then some of the prophets who were in Jericho came to Elisha. “Do you know,” they asked, “the LORD is going to take your master from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he answered. “Be silent.” ⁶“Please stay here,” Elijah told him; “the LORD is sending me to the Jordan.” “As the LORD lives and as you live,” he answered, “I will not leave you.” So the two went on. ⁷Then 50 of the prophets went and stood at some distance from these two men who stood by the Jordan. ⁸Elijah took his coat, rolled it up, and struck the water. It divided in two parts, and the two men went over on dry ground. ⁹“Ask what I should do for you,” Elijah told Elisha when they had crossed over, “before I’m taken away from you.” “May a double share of your spirit be on me,” Elisha answered. ¹⁰“You have asked for something difficult,” he said. “If you see me taken away from you, it will be that way, but otherwise not.” ¹¹As they were walking along and talking, there came a fiery chariot with fiery horses, separating the two, and Elijah went up in a whirlwind to heaven. ¹²“My father, my father!” Elisha cried out when he saw it. “Israel’s chariot and horses!” When he didn’t see him anymore, he took hold of his own garment and tore it into two pieces. ¹³Then he took up Elijah’s coat that had fallen from him, went back, and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴He took the coat Elijah had dropped and struck the water. “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. As he struck the water, it divided in two parts, and Elisha crossed over. ¹⁵Those prophets who were at Jericho saw him from the distance. “Elijah’s spirit,” they said, “rests on Elisha.” They went out to meet him and bowed down before him.

It is somewhat interesting that Elijah, the prophet to Israel goes across the Jordan where the Israelites had once crossed over the other direction into the Promised Land. It would seem Israel for the most part will have rejected his message most of the time. I find it interesting because he’s going to where another prophet whom Israel also grumbled against, i.e. Moses departed this earth in spirit. Moses did not cross over the Jordan with Israel. Elijah like Moses performed a great deal of miracles. They did not seem to improve the faith of the people he ministered to. There Elijah would be taken up into heaven bodily by the horses and chariot of Israel. The second person to be taken up by God in the Scriptures while alive.

To be honest, I’m not sure what to make of Elijah going across the Jordan, out of the Promised Land, where Moses died and was buried by the LORD. There seems to be some extra biblical material Jude knows about that says Moses’ body was taken up to heaven by the archangel Michael. It seems to matter on the surface only this, both Moses and Elijah later appeared in the Promised Land, with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.

What is of importance to us perhaps is this, Elisha witnessed the ascension of Elijah and received a double portion of the Spirit of the LORD Elijah had. The apostles and the church witness the ascension of our LORD Jesus Christ and we receive from him the promised Holy Spirit to do the work of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Almighty Jesus, you poured a double portion of Elijah’s spirit upon Elisha. Continually give us your Holy Spirit so we may forever proclaim your Good News to a world that does not know you so some of them will be saved and enter into your rest. In your precious name we pray. Amen.