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The Parting of the Ways God Wants Us to Remember. (2 Kings 2:1–6)

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The Parting of the Ways God Wants Us to Remember. (2 Kings 2:1–6) Men’s Study & Coffee | January 23, 2018 | 2 Kings, Week Two (*notes from “Be Distinct” by Warren Wiersbe) 2 Kings 2 | The Parting of the Ways God wants us to remember. (2 Kings 2:1–6) King Ahaziah died but Elijah didn’t die! He was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind, accompanied by fiery horses drawing a chariot of fire. Like Enoch, he walked with God and then suddenly went to be with God (Gen. 5:21–24; Heb. 11:5). But before Elijah left Elisha to carry on the work, he walked with his successor from Gilgal to beyond the Jordan… what a walk that must have been! The Lord had at least three purposes in mind when He led these two servants to walk together. Taking advantage of the present. Elisha knew his master was going to leave him (vv. 1, 3, 5), and he wanted to be with him to the very end, listen to his counsel and learn from him. It appears Elijah wanted Elisha to stay behind and let him go on alone, but this was just a test of Elisha’s devotion. When Elijah threw his mantle on Elisha and made him his successor, the younger man promised, “I will follow you” (1 Kings 19:20), and he kept that promise. During the years the two men had worked together, surely they came to love and appreciate one another in a deeper way. Moses and Aaron labored together, and David and Jonathan encouraged each other. Paul journeyed first with Barnabas and then with Silas, and Dr. Luke seemed to be a regular companion to the apostle. Even Jesus sent out His disciples two-by-two (Mark 6:7; see Ecc. 4:9–12). We are not only fellow workers with the Lord, but also with the Lord’s people, and there must be no competition as we serve the same Lord together (John 4:34–38; 1 Cor. 3:1–9). We never know when a friend and fellow worker will be taken from us. God told Elisha that Elijah was leaving him, but we don’t know when it is our time or a friend’s time to go to heaven. What great opportunities we miss by wasting time on trivial things when we could be learning from each other about the Lord and His Word! It is always encouraging to see younger Christians and Christian workers appreciating the “senior saints,” the veterans of Christian service, and learning from them. One day, these “giants” will be called home and we’ll no longer be able to learn from them. These two men represented different generations and opposite personalities, but they were able to walk together. What a caution this is to those in the church who label the generations and separate them from each other. Preparing for the future. At Bethel, Jericho, and Gilgal, the two men visited the “sons of the prophets” (vv. 5, 7, 15; 4:1, 38–40; 6:1, 7; 9:1; see 1 Kings 20:35), companies of dedicated men who were called of God to study the Scriptures and teach the people. Samuel led one of these “schools” at Ramah (1 Sam. 7:17; 28:3; see 10:5, 10; 19:20–23). These groups would be similar to the mentoring groups in our churches, or even like our Bible colleges. The work of the Lord is always one generation short of extinction and we must be faithful to obey 2 Timothy 2:2—“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” These young prophets knew that their master was about to leave them, so these final meetings must have been very emotional. We have “farewell messages” in Scripture from Moses (the Book of Deuteronomy), Joshua (Josh. 23–24), David (1 Chron. 28–29), Jesus (John 13–16), and Paul (Acts 20:17–38 and 2 Tim.), but the Lord didn’t record for us what Elijah said to his beloved students. Certainly he told them to obey Elisha just as they had obeyed him, to remain true to the Word of God and to do everything God told them to do as they battled against idolatry in the land. It was their responsibility to call the people back to obeying God’s covenant (Deut. 27–30) so that He might be pleased to bless and heal their land. God has different ways of training His servants, but He still expects the older generation to pass along to the younger generation the treasures of truth that were given to them by those who went before, “the faith … once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Reviewing the past. Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the Jordan River were important places in Hebrew history, each of them carrying a significant message. Before he left the land and went to heaven, Elijah wanted to visit these sites one last time and take Elisha with him. Our God doesn’t reside in special places, but we who are creatures of time and history need these visible reminders to help us remember and better understand what God has done for His people. The past is not an anchor to hold us back but a rudder to guide us, and the Lord can use these “tangible memories” to strengthen our faith. The British poet W. H. Auden wrote, “Man is a history-making creature who can neither repeat his past nor leave it behind.” It’s important for us to remember what God did in the past and to pass this treasure along to our children and grandchildren (Pss. 48:9–14; 71:17–18; 78:1–8; 145:4). That’s one of the major themes of Moses’ farewell address to the new generation about to enter the Promised Land (Deut. 4:9–10; 6:4–9; 11:19–21; 29:29). “Remember” is found fourteen times in Deuteronomy and “forget” at least nine times. Gilgal (v. 1) was the first place the Israelites camped after they crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promised Land (Josh. 4:19–20). It was there that the new generation of Jewish men submitted to circumcision and officially became “sons of the covenant” (Josh. 5:2–9). Gilgal was the place of new beginnings and Elijah wanted his successor to remember that. Each new generation is an opportunity for God to raise up new leaders, and each time His people repent and return to Him, He can restore them and renew them. At that time, Gilgal was the center of idolatrous worship (Hos. 4:15; 9:15; 12:11; Amos 4:4 and 5:5), but Elijah didn’t abandon it. From Gilgal the two men walked to Bethel (vv. 2–3), about fifteen miles west of Gilgal. Abraham worshiped there (Gen. 12:8; 13:3) and so did Jacob. It was at Bethel that Jacob saw the angels ascending and descending the ladder (or staircase) that reached to heaven. There he heard God promise to be with him and care for him (Gen. 28:11–19). Bethel means “house of God,” and there Jacob worshiped the Lord and vowed to obey Him. Years later, Jacob returned to Bethel and, like Abraham (Gen. 13:3), made a new beginning in his walk with the Lord (Gen. 35). King Jeroboam had put a golden calf at Bethel and made it the site of idolatrous worship (1 Kings 12:26–32; Amos 3:14; 4:4–6), but Elijah looked beyond the city’s present desecration to the time when it was a place of blessing and renewal. At Bethel, the students spoke to Elisha about his master’s departure. Perhaps they thought they knew something that nobody else knew, an attitude not uncommon among some students. The same scene was repeated when Elijah and Elisha arrived at Jericho (v. 5). In both cities, Elisha politely assured the students he was aware of what was about to happen, but their discussing it only added to the pain of his separation from his master. Their approach to what God was doing was purely cerebral, but to Elisha, the loss of his beloved master brought pain to his heart. The mark of a true student of the Scriptures is a burning heart, not a big head (Luke 24:32; 1 Cor. 8:1). The two men then went fifteen miles west to Jericho, the site of Joshua’s first victory in the Promised Land (Josh. 5:13–6:27). It was also the place where Achan disobeyed and took of the spoils that belonged to the Lord alone, a sin that led to Israel’s defeat at Ai (Josh. 7). Certainly the wonderful victory at Jericho showed Israel how to conquer the land: get your orders from the Lord; obey them by faith, no matter how foolish they may seem; give all the glory to Him alone. The two times Joshua failed to follow this formula, he experienced defeat (Josh. 7, 9). Joshua had put under a curse anybody who rebuilt Jericho (Josh. 6:26), but during the reign of evil King Ahab, the city was rebuilt (1 Kings 16:34). Jericho would remind Elisha of the victory of faith, the tragedy of sin and the majesty of the Lord who deserves all the glory. Elijah and Elisha walked five miles east and came to the Jordan River, and surely the record in Joshua 1–4 came into their minds and into their conversation.
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