Elisha wanted to enjoy the precious, remaining moments before Elijah was taken up, and so they “still went on and talked” together as they walked along. How sweet it is to hold communion with our blessed Lord in this “desert” scene, for it was now a desert through which these two men were passing. Elisha was enjoying Elijah’s company, we could say, as though Elijah had already gone up (for they were now across the river of death), and we too can walk here below in company with our blessed risen and ascended Lord. These are days of heaven upon earth!
While they were holding this sweet communion together the chariot of fire appeared. In a moment Elijah was taken up — and Elisha saw him go! His desire was granted, for he must see Elijah go up if he were to have a double portion of his spirit resting upon him. For Elisha it was now a walk of faith, but his eyes—the eyes of his heart too — were upon the one who had gone up. “My father, my father,” he cried, “the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!” All his hopes and the hopes of Israel, figuratively, centered in the one who had gone up. So for us; all our hopes and desires, and all our blessings, center in Christ at God’s right hand in glory. He is the only One who can bring in the promised blesngs to Israel, and He will in a coming day.
Elisha then took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces. We can see in this a figure of how we have put off the “old man,” and are to manifest “the new man” (the life of Christ) here in this world during His absence. How slow we are to be done with self in a practical way—to rend the old mantle in two pieces as it were!
Yet it was not until after this that Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him. When Elijah had placed it on him some time before, he had been unprepared to receive it, but now in the energy of faith he picks it up himself.
Just as Elijah is a type of Christ as the rejected One, so Elisha is a figure of Christ as the One who has gone through death, risen again, and is sead at the right hand of the Father in heaven. We now have life in Christ risen, and like Elisha here, we are sent back into the world to manifest that life. The Lord Jesus said, when He was about to leave this scene, “As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” John 17:1818As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. (John 17:18). Then after His resurrection He breathed on his disciples, communicating that risen life, of which the Holy Spirit is the power.
It is beautiful to see this brought out here typically, as Elisha returns to the river Jordan to cross over to Jericho. How could he cross over that “river of death” to bear his testimony in the “city of the curse” where Elijah had been rejected? He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and came and stood by the waters. Then he smote them with the mantle saying, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” Immediately the waters rolled back and he crossed over. If we are going to manifest the life of Christ in this world, we must first learn what it means to be dead and risen with Christ. Then in a practical way we need to have the sentence of death on the old man, as the Apostle said, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” 2 Cor. 4:1010Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:10).
ML 10/21/1956