Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 22:40, 51-53; 2 Kings 1:1-18; 2:1-18
In this message we will consider the reign of Ahaziah over Israel (1 Kings 22:40, 51-53; 2 Kings 1:1-18) and the rapture of Elijah (2 Kings 2:1-18).
Ahaziah began to reign over Israel in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat and reigned for two years (1 Kings 22:51).
Ahaziah did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, walking in the way of his father and his mother and in the way of Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin. Ahaziah served and worshipped Baal and provoked Jehovah the God of Israel to anger, according to all that his father had done (vv. 52-53). He saw the tragic ending of his father Ahab, but he did not take it as a warning.
Second Kings 1 is an account of the illness and death of Ahaziah.
When Ahaziah became ill he sent messengers and told them to go and inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether he would recover from his sickness (v. 2).
Jehovah sent Elijah to stop the messengers of Ahaziah and to charge them to tell Ahaziah that he would not come down from his bed but would surely die (vv. 3-8).
Ahaziah twice sent a captain of fifty with his fifty men to Elijah, and each time Elijah commanded fire to come down from heaven and consume them (vv. 9-12; Luke 9:54).
Ahaziah sent a third captain with his fifty men to Elijah, and the captain entreated Elijah to save their lives. The angel of Jehovah told Elijah not to be afraid of the captain but to go down with him to see Ahaziah. Elijah went and told Ahaziah that because he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, he would surely die (2 Kings 1:13-16).
Ahaziah died according to the word of Jehovah. Because he had no son, his brother Jehoram (according to the Septuagint) began to reign in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah (vv. 17-18).
In 2 Kings 2:1-18 we have an account of the rapture of Elijah.
At the time when Jehovah was to take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven, Elijah tried to leave Elisha, and Elisha did not let him go, in three steps (vv. 1-8). The first step was from Gilgal to Bethel (vv. 1-3); the second step was from Bethel to Jericho (vv. 4-5); and the third step was from Jericho to the river Jordan. Fifty sons (disciples) of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance. Elijah struck the water with his mantle, and the water parted so that he and Elisha crossed over on dry ground (vv. 6-8).
Elijah and Elisha are both types with much spiritual significance. Elijah is a type of the Old Testament age, and Elisha is a type of the New Testament age. The age was changed by passing through four places — Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the river Jordan.
Gilgal was a place where God's people dealt with their flesh (Josh. 5:2-9). The children of those who came out of Egypt had not been circumcised, indicating that their flesh had never been dealt with. When they crossed the Jordan to begin fighting to gain the good land, they first dealt with their flesh by being circumcised at Gilgal.
From Gilgal Elijah and Elisha went to Bethel. In Genesis 12, when Abraham came out of Chaldea (giving up the world) and came to Bethel, he built an altar to offer everything to God. This indicates that Bethel is the place to give up the world and turn to God absolutely, taking God as everything.
Elijah then led Elisha to Jericho. The first city that Joshua and the people of Israel had to defeat when they entered into the good land was Jericho. Jericho signifies the head of God's enemy, Satan.
Finally, Elijah and Elisha went to the river Jordan, which signifies death. The New Testament baptism, putting people into death, began from the Jordan (Matt. 3:5-6, 13). To cross the river Jordan, Elijah struck the water with his mantle. Elijah's mantle typifies the outpoured Spirit, the Spirit of power. The Spirit of power, which some Bible teachers call the "mantle Spirit," dealt with the river of death so that the way was opened for Elijah and Elisha to cross over.
As we consider the significance of all these types, we see that in order for the age to be changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament, we must deal with our flesh, give up the world and turn to God, defeat Satan, and pass through death.
Elijah charged Elisha to ask him what he should do for him before he was taken from him, and Elisha asked, "Let a double portion of your spirit be upon me" (2 Kings 2:9).
A chariot of fire and horses appeared to separate Elijah from Elisha. Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, and Elisha saw it and cried, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!" (vv. 11-12a). Thus Elijah was taken up, leaving Elisha alone on the earth.
Elisha gained the double portion of the spirit of Elijah (vv. 12b-18). After Elijah was taken up, Elisha grasped his clothes and tore them in two pieces. Then he picked up Elijah's mantle, which had fallen from him, returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan, and struck the water, saying, "Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah?" (vv. 12b-14). The water parted, and Elisha crossed over. When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho opposite him saw him, they said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha" (v. 15). Then fifty sons of the prophets attempted to seek Elijah for three days to no avail (vv. 16-18).
Elisha surely received the spirit of Elijah. However, as we will see, the Spirit, who at Elijah's time performed great miracles such as shutting up the heavens, opening up the heavens, and calling down fire from heaven, acted in a different way through Elisha. Elisha behaved in a way which was very similar to that of the Lord Jesus in the Gospels, doing many gracious and sweet things.
For three and a half years the Lord Jesus brought His disciples from the dealing with the flesh (Gilgal), to the giving up of the world (Bethel), to the defeating of Satan, the head of the demons (Jericho). Eventually, the Lord Jesus brought His disciples to the river Jordan. The one hundred twenty who were praying in Acts 1 had all been brought to the Jordan to die with Christ and to be buried with Him. I believe that, as a result, they no longer treasured what they were or what they could do but had torn this "into two pieces." Through all these steps, they were in a position to receive the mantle of Elijah, the power from on high. Therefore, on the day of Pentecost the Spirit of power came upon them. Today we are those who are following the Lord Jesus from Gilgal to Bethel, from Bethel to Jericho, and from Jericho to the Jordan. Through all these steps we enter into a new age, the age of the New Testament, where Christ is doing gracious things.
Elijah's rapture typified the termination of the Old Testament age in God's economy. But Elijah himself was not terminated. He was taken up into heaven to await the next age to see Elisha (Christ) doing many gracious and sweet things. We are now in the age of the New Testament of Christ, who did and is still doing everything graciously.
The Scriptures say that Elijah will come back again (Mal. 4:5; Luke 1:17; Matt. 11:14; 17:10-13 cf. 17:3-4; Rev. 11:3-12). At the end of the New Testament age, the great tribulation will be a time like Ahab's time, and Elijah will return as the same kind of witness. During the three and a half years of the great tribulation, God will be forced to use Elijah again to burn His enemies with fire (Rev. 11:5). Eventually, Elijah will be killed, and after three and a half days he will rise up and be raptured to join not just the Old Testament saints but also the New Testament overcomers.
