God behind the scenes by Rev Stuart Simpson
30th June 2013
2 Kings 2:1-14
How many of you have ever been sucked up into a whirlwind?
It may have felt like that last week with that wild storm we had
What about seeing a chariot of fire?
Not a common occurrence
So what has this story got to do with any of us apart from it
being a great story to hear?
It really is one of the stories in the bible that remains almost
totally incomprehensible
Where we find ourselves tonight is at the point where the
ministry of Elijah the prophet is about to end
Like all of us at some point in our lives, Elijah finds himself
coming to the end of his labours on earth
What is different however, is the way he experiences this
ending
Unlike the rest of us he is ‘translated’ or taken up immediately
into heaven, as was Jesus at the time of his ascension
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This of course is when we enter the realm of mystery, because
being earth bound human-beings
Made from dust
We know nothing of this ascension
And in fact most of the mystery that permeates this story
First of all we see Elijah trying to get rid of Elisha, his trainee
As if Elijah were withdrawing into another realm
When Elisha faithfully refuses to leave Elijah’s side
Elijah leads Elisha on what seems a rather senseless journey,
from Gilgal to Jerico, which is only a few kilometres from Gilgal,
and then to the Jordan
At each place they are met by “sons of the prophets,” this is, by
groups of those prophetic bands that lived together in colonies
at the time
They warn Elisha of his teacher’s departure, but are forbidden
to speak of it further
Literally he tells them to “shut up” of course he knows Elijah is
going to leave
When Elijah and his pupil reach the Jordon, Elijah strikes the
water with his mantle, which is a cloak-like garment
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And the water of the Jordon parts; the two are able to cross on
dry land
It is at this point that Elisha asks for a double share of Elijah’s
spirit
Now some of us may think that this means that Elisha was to be
more powerful that Elijah
But what really means is that Elisha is asking for the inheritance
that was given a first-born son by his father
He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the
firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That
son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of
the firstborn belongs to him (Deuteronomy 21:17).
But he will only see such a gift if he sees Elijah as he is taken up
to heaven
Suddenly there appears a chariot of fire and horses of fire
between the two
And Elijah is lifted up into heaven by a whirlwind, whereupon
Elisha cries out that strange
“My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”
Elisha is left the mantle of Elijah by which he too can strike the
waters of the Jordan and pass back through on dry land
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Elisha has become Elijah’s prophetic successor, possessing his
same powerful spirit of prophecy
What does this all mean for us? I could imagine this story
fitting well in a Simpsons’ episode.
Those fiery chariots and horses in the vision are symbols of
the unseen power of God
15 When
the servant of the man of God got up and went
out early the next morning, an army with horses and
chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What
shall we do?” the servant asked.
16 “Don’t
be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who
are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And
Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he
may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and
he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of
fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:15-17).
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6 for
the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the
sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that
they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has
hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” 7 So
they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their
tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp
as it was and ran for their lives. (2 Kings 7:6-7).
And that power has been concentrated in the prophetic Word
that Elijah spoke and that will now be spoken by Elisha.
Elijah’s word was as powerful as a heavenly army, because it
was the Word of the Lord.
Behind all of this story and behind our lives and the world
around us, this story shows us the fact that there is an unseen
realm of God that is constantly influencing the course of affairs
on our earth.
God is at work, shaping events in our lives, sending forth his
power to achieve His purposes on earth, and much of that
power is concentrated now in the word that God speaks to us.
We do not receive that word from prophets like Elijah and
Elisha anymore
Rather, now God’s word comes to us through the bible
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Written and preached
The word was incarnate, made personal in the person of Jesus
Christ, our Lord
And now through the biblical testimony of him, God’s power
works in our hearts and lives
It is a power greater than any powers of earth, and it is
symbolised in our story by those fiery chariots and horses
It is a power that transforms lives and heals broken spirits and
overcomes the forces of evil and death
And that power works right now in the midst of us tonight
Just quickly, I want us to explore Elisha’s prophetic ministry and
how the power of God in Elisha’s ministry transformed lives
And how through Jesus Christ, God’s power works in our hearts
and the world
Once Elisha receives the spirit he is propelled into, as Walter
Bruggemann calls it, a concrete economic situation of poverty
and scarcity (2 Kings 4:1-7)
Elisha meets up with a widow whose life is to be shut down by
a creditor
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The story uses specifically economic terms of
“creditor/debtor”; Elisha plunges into the middle of the crisis.
He overwhelms the hapless widow with oil, that most precious
commodity.
Next the spirit pushes him to commit an overt ecumenical act
[Walter’s Language again]
A ministry outside his well-defined Israel. Naaman, the Syrian
general, grudgingly comes to Elisha with leprosy and he is
healed
Next the prophet who succeeds Elijah is dispatched by the spirit
into the world of death, there to enact God’s gift of life (2 Kings
4:32-37). This is about the story of the Shunemite woman,
whose son died. The mother has complete confidence in
Elisha, and so the prophet goes to the dead boy, prays,
breathes mouth to mouth with the ruah, and the boy lives.
Next, Elisha is led by the spirit to an intimate pastoral crisis
where these is a lack of food (2 Kings 4:42-44).
This lack signifies that God’s creation is not fully functioning.
There is such a mismatch of need and resources, only twenty
loaves of barley, and then abruptly...he feeds them
These acts constitute an amazing catalogue of transformative
miracles
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An economic intervention that redresses the life of
creditors and debtors
An overt ecumenical act that values those unlike “us”;
An Easter assault into the sphere of death to bring life
A pastoral feeding, showing the generosity of the
Creator
So what does this all mean for us?
In Christ Jesus, the Word made flesh, we are empowered to tell
others that God transforms lives
Through forgiveness and grace
Through the care of the world and marginalised
Through telling the good news of hope in the midst of deathly
despair
Through providing what we have been given to those who have
nothing
What have the Whirlwind and Chariots of fire got to do with us
They shows us the fact that there is an unseen realm of God
that is constantly influencing the course of affairs on our earth.
This influence of God was ultimately shown in Jesus Christ,
whom we are all saved and transformed
Question:
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1. How has God’s Word transformed your life?
2. How have you be part of God’s transformation in other
people’s lives or in the rest of creation?
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