Gooding, David: 5 - The Ascensions of Elijah

This is now the fifth study that we are presently conducting on the first and second Book of Kings. We are not seeking to cover every comma, not necessarily every full stop, and so you will understand that we have been arbitrarily selecting various topics from these two books. However, let me say you are all very welcome to the study. Tonight we arrive at the second book of Kings and to its early chapters. It is my intention, God willing, to speak about the ascension of Elijah. Perhaps I ought to rephrase that and say I intend to speak about the ascensions of Elijah, for there are two. In the first one, he ascends to a steep hill and sits on its top, much to the distress of the king. In the second one, he is taken up by chariots and horses into heaven. And I shall suggest that in both these passages, Elijah becomes for us a prototype of our blessed Lord. Pray notice that I didn't say a type of our Lord, but a prototype, which is rather a different thing. So let us, uh, refresh our memories by reading a few verses here and there from these early chapters of the Second Book of Kings. Chapter one and verse one: and Moses re- uh, and Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. And Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was ill. And he sent messengers and said unto them, Go inquire of Baal Zevul, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this sickness. The angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal Zevul, the god of Ekron? Now therefore, thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed. And the messengers returned unto him, unto the king, that is, and he said unto them, Why is it that you are returned? And they said unto him, There came up a man to meet us and said to us, Go turn again unto the king that sent you and say to him, thus saith the Lord, is it because there is no God in Israel that thou sendest to inquire of Baal Zevoth, the god of Ekron? Therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shall surely die. He said unto them, what manner of man was he which came up to meet you and told you these words? And they answered him, He was an hairy man and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he, that is the king, said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. and he went up to him, and behold, he sat on the top of the hill. And he spake unto him, O man of God, the king has said, come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, if I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. There were two other attempts, similarly. The second inquire, uh, uh, uh, uh, earned itself the same punishment as did the first. The third captain took a much more sensible view, pleaded with Elijah, and was shown mercy. There was no mercy for the king, uh, Hazael. In chapter two, we have the famous ascension of Elijah. Uh, let's read, breaking in at verse nine. It came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me, when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him. God give us good understanding of his word. So, as I have said, I determined to say a few things this evening, God willing, on the ascensions of Elijah, and shall read them as prototypes of our blessed Lord. The first of these stories has been widely criticized in the technical and academic literature. Many have observed that the judgment inflicted by Elijah on the two captains and their two, uh, uh, uh, their two groups of fifty soldiers was exceedingly severe. Fire came down from heaven and destroyed them. And as has been argued over this case and others like it, that the Old Testament is a foreign book and does not accord with the character of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. In particular, did not our Lord explicitly forbid his apostles to behave like Elijah did on this occasion. Luke tells us in his chapter nine, and at the end of it, as our Lord was slowly journeying down from Galilee to Jerusalem, the apostles, or some of them at least, had the task of going ahead and booking a lodging for the night. And so they went to a particular village, knocked on the door, asked the dear lady for lodging, you'll see, for our Lord and some of his apostles. But she happened to be a Samaritan. And when she discovered that, uh, uh, this Jesus and his apostles were going down to Jerusalem, to the temple. She slammed the door in their face. And we who live in this favored part of the geography of the world will know what religious animosity can do. And the apostles, according to some manuscripts, were led to ask the Lord, what shall we, uh, do in reply to this? Will you that we call down fire from heaven, like Elijah did? And he strictly, he strictly forbade it, of course. You'll do no such thing. That kind of animosity. Sad, isn't it? But this was a savior who was out to save both Jews and Samaritans. And we have in the fourth go- uh, fourth chapter of the Gospel of John a lengthy story of our Lord's personal conversation with a Samaritan woman, leading her to faith, and not only her, but practically her whole city. How then shall we understand, in the light of what our Lord said on that occasion, how shall we understand these stories in chapter one of the Second Book of Kings, of the severe judgment that was meted out to the king and to his two deputies? Just let us remember what that king knew. The son of Ahab, Mother Jezebel. Recently, God himself had demonstrated in miraculous fashion that Baal was no god whatsoever. That Jehovah was the one true God. And Elijah had staged a sacrifice to show it, called upon the God of heaven to demonstrate that he was the sole God by answering by fire and sending fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice. Alahazah. In spite of it. Like his unfortunate mother. When he was now ill, sent, if you please, to inquire of Baal. Baal's a wolf. A deliberate, and in the face of recent history, a deliberate insult to Jehovah. What would you have God to do? As for this being contrary to the spirit of Jesus, I remind you of what our Lord said, among other things, about the false attitudes of many of the rabbis in Jerusalem. He enunciated there some of their perverse deeds and added, how shall you escape the torments of hell? Yes, he is the loving savior. He died to save mankind. But he is also the judge. Said he on a ca- on an occasion, the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father, and has given him the judgment because he is the Son of Man. And it's part of our Christian gospel, is it not? I use the word advisedly. It is part of our Christian gospel that there's going to be a final judgment. I hope you agree with me. It's part of the gospel. Would you prefer that the world went on endlessly in its perverse ways, with all the crime that exists in it, and the deliberate atheism? Would you prefer it went on forever? Or would you like iniquity stopped? The good news is, part of the gospel is, according to Paul in Acts seventeen, God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained. The judgment of God is not contrary to what our Lord Jesus stands for. It is precisely because there will be a judgment that he died for our sakes at Calvary to save us from it. And now he's ascended. He was the meek and lowly Jesus, as we say. Now he's ascended far above all principality, powers, mights, and dominions. And the favored disciple that at the Last Supper leaned back on the couch and therefore leaned on the breast of the Lord Jesus. When he saw the Lord Jesus in all his glory on the Isle of Patmos, tells us that he fell at his feet as one dead. Such was the overpowering glory of the risen Lord. Let me back home what I'm trying to say by referring to the thesis with which I began this series. And that was simply this, that after the death of David, God made provision for the maintenance, the spiritual maintenance of his people, and if they should wander, for bringing them back again and recovering them to their normal spiritual health. That provision was not the endless raising up of kings. God did raise up kings, and some of them were very good. Some of them were good, and some of them were the very opposite. The provision God made, according to Solomon, was the building of the house of the Lord at Jerusalem. And we shall look inside just briefly into that house of the Lord to see one of its features. Here you have it. I hope you can see it. When you came in through the door, you will find the walls, they were covered with, uh, uh, wood. The wood was carved, and it was carved with cherubim, palms and rosettes, palmettes and rosettes, in other words, architecturally, uh, and cherubim. And then it was overlaid with gold. So whichever way you looked around, cherubim. In fact, coming in the door, that was similarly constructed, it had, uh, cherubim on it. It was a folding door, but it had cherubim on it. When you came, some scholars hold that there were steps up into the holiest of all, others, uh, think not. We can't discuss the possib- the the the, the, the, the problem at this moment. Here was the most holy place. In there was, of course, the ark, and on the golden slab that covered the ark, the mercy seat, as is called in English, were two cherubim from each end, overarched with their wings outstretched, looking towards the mercy seat. So the ark that was the same ark was brought in by Solomon into the Most Holy Place here. In addition, there were two olive wood cherubim. There was no such thing like it in the Most Holy place in the tabernacle, but here there were two olive wood cherubim. They were full models, and they stood there with their wings outstretched, so that the wing of the one touched the wall, and this other wing went to the middle. And then there was the other cherub with his wings outstretched, so the two wings met in the middle, and this one's wing went to the wall. The whole thing covered by these cherubim. I don't know whether, um, you like cherubim, whether your bedroom is covered with wallpaper with cherubim on it or not? Whether when you wake up after a nightmare in the middle of the night, whether you see cherubim? I don't know. Of course, why should I? What do they mean to you? Let's think of their history for a moment. We first read of them in Genesis chapter three, do we not? When Adam and Eve sinned and were expelled from the garden. And they were expelled from the garden so that they could no longer put out their hand whenever they liked and take of the fruit of the tree of life. When they were in the garden, anytime they wished they could stretch out their hand and take of the fruit of the tree of life. Needed to do so, of course, to keep the trace elements necessary for perpetuation of life. When they were shut out from the garden, and they could no longer stretch out their hand and take and eat of the fruit of the tree of life, they began to die. And there, at the gateway in, the cherubim with a flaming sword, keeping the way to the tree. A sorry story, that. And it has its application still. We are mortal creatures, aren't we? Until the Lord Jesus comes. I mean, physically mortal. Then come with me centuries to the time when Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle. And here was, uh, the tabernacle built, therefore. And if you can imagine it, this is a priest. This is the first time he ever came in, because he's all fingers and thumbs because of the splendor of the place, you see, and not wanting to do anything wrong, eh, and he comes in, do you see? And, uh, on the left here is a lampstand. And the thing about the lampstand, it it was that not merely did it have seven lamps on it, it was made to look like a tree. It roots. It had six branches. And the branches were adorned, though it was made of gold. The goldsmith had so hammered it as it was, uh, uh, emblems of various stages of the life of the tree and of its fruit. If the priest knew his Genesis, he would surely have jumped to the conclusion what this was. This tree? It was a tree of life, of course. What an amazing thing. And as the priest came near it, he must have shuddered a little bit, for all round in the tabernacle were cherubim. Cherubim on the walls, cherubim on the veil, cherubim on the ceiling, cherubim galore. And yet not one of them raised a protest against the man's coming to the tree of life. He could touch it if he wanted to. How can that be? How could a man be admitted to the tree of life. And the answer, as you know, is to be found if you penetrate into the holiest of all and to the very ark and throne of God. Inside that ark was God's holy law that would condemn the most holy of us as sinners deserving a penalty of sin. But on that golden slab that covered the ark was the blood of atonement spilt by the priest on the Day of Atonement. And as Paul says in Romans chapter three, God has set forth our blessed Lord to be a propitiation through his blood, so that we can be justified not by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ. Hence, therefore, the way into the presence of God, and we all of us have enjoyed it, have we not? We find in its illustration a means of helping our imagination to grasp what God has done through the sacrifice of Christ. Now we come to the house of God. Cherubim everywhere. And, uh, not only on the walls. But, uh... Okay, I think you've all seen enough to know what I'm talking about. Let's cancel it out. Enough, therefore, to remind them of the holiness of God. Cherubs on the door, cherubs on the walls, and the two great cherubs standing in the Most Holy Place. What will they tell us of? They will eventually remind us that they are God's executives. So when we come to the book of the Revelation, in chapter four, we're given a vision of the throne of God. It rests, does that throne, on the four living creatures, which is another name for cherubim. Cherubim and living creatures are one and the same thing. They uphold the throne of God. And when God's judgments are about to happen, on one occasion at least, it is one of the cherubs that takes the vial of the wrath of God and gives it to the angel to empty over the wor- over the world. Cherubim were the executives of God, not only in his mercy, but in his judgment. It was life itself under God protesting against the suicide of human sin. And therefore, when God in his mercy caused Elijah to stage on Mount Carmel the practical demonstration that God was the only and true God, and he's the only sacrifice. And then Ahaziah deliberately in the face of God ignores God Jehovah. When he's ill, sends to Baal Zivuth to ask whether he will recover. And has Ahaziah gone beyond all mercy? And must face the judgment. And the New Testament agrees with it. We must not be misled into soft-pedaling the judgment of God in the words of Jesus Christ, as though Christ was all love and no judgment. That is not true. The opposite is true. The very fact he died for us was because otherwise there would have been eternal judgment for each of us. The symbolism, therefore, of the house of God, the cherubs being God's executives to protect the holiness of that house. But with that, let us pass to what I have called Elijah's second accession, as- ascension. You'll forgive me, I'm sure, for describing the first one when he went and sat on a hill as an ascension. The second one is more notorious, as he and Elisha went together, and both of them knew that this day they must part. There appeared chariots and horses, and Elijah was taken up into heaven by the chariot and the horses. And Elisha was left to carry on Elijah's work. It would be easy for Christians to see there in a prototype of what happened when our Lord left his disciples, as he had forewarned them he would, and went up into heaven and left us here to carry on the witness. Let us notice, therefore, one or two features from the, uh, chapter two. Verse nine, and it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha, and what shall I do for thee before I be taken from thee? And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be unto thee. But if not, it shall not be so. Interesting condition, wasn't it? If you see me when I am taken from you. And we think of the story of our Lord's own ascension. What do you make of that story in the Acts chapter one? that Christ was taken up into heaven. A lot of academics known to me tell the, tell that that is simply a myth. You can't get into heaven by going up from earth, rocket or no rocket. Uh, how far would you have to go before you come to a door called heaven? How do you... They say it's a primitive story, this, by people who thought that heaven was just, uh, you know, uh, a few miles above Jerusalem or London or wherever. No, it's not a primitive story. You see, let's describe it this way to start with. It was a physical event, and yet it was a symbolic event. Let me use an analogy, a modern analogy. Let me ask you, when did Queen Elizabeth II ascend the throne? Uh, uh, incidentally, what, what do you mean by that funny phrase, she ascended the throne? You say you don't mean, do you, literally? I mean, it's not a question of getting a big old chair and climbing up on it and sitting on it. You don't mean... Well, no, when we talk about Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne, we mean she began to reign as queen, yes? But, just a minute, is there no chair? I thought there was a literal chair. And on the day of her coronation, she went down to the abbey somewhere in a nice gilded coach and climbed up on this big chair, sat on it. That's the funny way English has, I suppose. Yeah, to ascend the throne can mean literally what she did in Westminster Abbey. She climbed up on a big chair and sat on it. Or it can be a metaphor for becoming queen. So the ascension of our Lord was both a physical event and, I nearly said, a m- a magnificent metaphor. For God has raised him, not only raised him from the dead, but seated him at his own right hand in glory, far above principalities, powers, mights, and dominions, literally done so. And yet, as well as being literal, his ascension into heaven was a symbolic act. It brought to an end that succession of appearances that our Lord made, now to this apostle, now to Mary Magdalene, now to the two on the road to Emmaus, now in the upper room at Jerusalem, where he used to come and go and come and go for forty days. The ascension stopped it all. Now he ascended into glory. You'll see. It was a literal act, therefore, and a symbolic one. And you will have noticed how the chapter that tells us of this, Acts chapter one, stresses the fact that the apostles saw him go into heaven. Let me read you the passage, do you see? He led them out to Mount Olives and commissioned them, and while they were looking steadfastly into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee, why stand you looking into heaven? This same Jesus, which was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you beheld him going into heaven. You notice the emphasis on the actual seeing of it happening? You see, uh, uh, uh, and uh, uh, it we're told that as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were looking, the angels asked, why stand you looking? This same Jesus shall come, uh, in like manner as you beheld him going. You couldn't stress it more, could you? The ascension of our Chri- of Christ was witnessed. People saw it happen. The real Christ ascending. We notice how careful the record is. They don't say that they saw Him enter heaven. They saw Him going up thus far, and then a cloud received him out of their sight. They didn't see him cross over. Whether it could be seen or not, I have no idea. How do you get into heaven if you start in London? Go up? Or should you start in Australia and go down, or which, what, what, what should you do? And, and how, how far do you have to go up to get to heaven? They are not profitable questions to ask. The apostles don't say they saw him a- a- entering heaven. They say they saw him going into heaven. He went up from them. They saw him go, and thank God for the words of the angels. You shall see him, this same Jesus you shall see coming in like manner. Oh, what a marvelous thing it is. Oh, I shall see him descend from the sky, coming for me, for me, to see him. But it's not only his ascension. Says the, uh, uh, um, Hebrews chapter two, we see him. We see not yet all things put under him, but we see. Isn't it true, my brothers, my sisters? Not with physical sight, but in those moments of quiet, as you think and pray, see him, don't you? At the right hand of God, interceding for us. We see him. We are to look off unto Jesus. We are to gather our thoughts and think about those things that are Above. above. And then, as Elijah was wa- as Elisha was watching Elijah go up open-mouthed, his mantle fell down, and Elisha went and picked it up. Now, I have to confess to you that I can't find a verse that says that Elisha thereafter wore Elijah's mantle. If you would find such a verse, I would be glad to know of it. You'll see. But it was an article of his clothing, and it was used when they had together gone across Jordan out into the other side, Elijah had used his mantle to smite the waters, and the waters divided, and they went over. And when Elisha came back without Elijah, he got hold of the mantle and he smote the waters, and they parted, and he came over. But since it's a part of Elijah's clothing, it's interesting to hear what our Lord said, eh, eh, eh, he left his apostles. But wait in the city until you be endued with power from on high. But as you know, what endue means, you don't use it these days, uh, uh, so much, at least I don't. I don't say of our dear brother, he was in- endued in a navy blue suit, you know. No, I don't say that. Uh, uh, but endue means to be clothed upon, to be clothed. Wait in the city until you be clothed with power from on high. You see, said Christ before he left them, the works that I have done, you shall do also, and greater works than these shall you do, endued with power from on high. Gospel's message, surely. And then, as Elijah was leading Elisha, they went the round of places. Maybe Elijah was saying goodbye to some of the sons of the prophets he had known. Who knows? But he went to Bethel. And he went to Jericho. And he went to Jordan. Smote the waters and crossed over, uh, to the other side, rehearsing the stages of Israel's entry into the land. That's a good thing to do, isn't it? They came across under Joshua, through Jordan, to the other side. We've known the story, some of us, since we went, since we went to Sunday school. It's one thing to know the story, it's another thing to go through the experience for yourself. And under Elijah's guidance, Elisha was taken back through Israel's historical experience, presumably that Elisha might himself enter into what it stood for across Jordan. Jericho. What was that? How shall we apply Jericho? Well, some people say Jericho is your besetting sin, you know. Have you got a besetting sin, you folks? And you've tried and tried and tried again to get over it, and and one day the walls will fall down. Well, that may be true. Isn't what, um, the book of Joshua is telling us? Here comes Joshua to execute the wrath of God on Jericho, and they bring the ark, and s- and it circulates around Jericho. And I can imagine all the Jerichoites looking over the wall. What is this thing? Uh, this thing was the very throne of God, and it had come through Jordan and up the other side. And its processing around the walls of Jericho was saying very clearly to the Jerichoites, you will not keep God out of this city. He's got to come in. That is our witness still, isn't it? You won't keep Christ forever out of this world. He's coming again. He's coming to execute the judgments of God. Like the Israelites came and executed the judgments of God on Jericho. Oh, what a message we have to preach, haven't we? And then, of course, there was Bethel. Bethel had many a long association. It was first famous for Jacob's experience when he was, um, running away from home. He was a nice boy, was Jacob, knew all about cooking, did Jacob. Whereas Esau was a hunting type, he was a manly fellow and out, and doubtless hairy legs and all that kind of thing he was. Do you see? Uh, Jacob was a bit of a stare tone, but he's very crafty, and he stole the blessing from Esau. And then when Esau threatened to murder him, he had to run away. Do you know it's the first time he'd left home? And he was going out into the bigwig world to find himself a job. And what should he do? There are others in that kind of situation from time to time. Wh- what's he going to do, you see? So he traveled as far as he could that night, and when he couldn't travel anymore, he he he he laid down, you see, and got a stone near his head, I suppose, to protect his head. Hope he didn't have to lie on it, that would have been uncomfortable. A- and uh uh he laid down and he slept. And as he slept, he dreamed. He saw a ladder, and it was set up on earth, and the top reached to heaven. Notice it was that way round. It wasn't a ladder let down from heaven, the bottom of which almost reached the earth. It was the other way round. It was set up on earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And if you please, there were the angels of God ascending and descending. Notice the order of the words. Angels stand in the presence of God until they get their orders. They fly to do the divine will, and then they return. So here too, they were ascending and then descending. Where was God? When Jacob woke up, he tells us where God was. God is in this place. I didn't realize it, he says. God in this place, by his pillow, with God's executives, the angels of God, going to do God's will. And, uh, Jacob came to an agreement with God, that if God would guide him, then he would honor God with his life and his earnings. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? I remember when I finished studying and had to get a living, and how difficult it was. And to know about the Lord's guidance. What would the Lord have me to do? It's a crucial time in life, isn't it? And to have an experience of God... by one's pillow, so to speak. Assuring us that he has our career in hand and will guide us. That is what Bethel is. I tell you a story. I was working in the University of Durham and was attached to St. Cuthbert's College in that university. And my tenure of the post was coming to an end. And I had tried for all kinds of jobs and was turned down because I was, though a classicist, my research wasn't classics, far from it. There was one job that I thought would be an almost certain. But this morning, I got a letter saying the job had been given to somebody else. That exhausted what I thought were the possibilities. And I went down to St. Cuthbert's for lunch. Down in the mouth, I must tell you. When I got to St. Cuthbert's, this was in vacation time, and the college servants were having a spring clean. So there was nobody else on high table but me. And the crockery ware was most extraordinary, bits and pieces that the grandmothers had given them, I think, or something, or I- very odd it was indeed. Never seen the likes of it before. And there was, I think it was the gravy boat. And on its side, it had a quotation, or a motto in Latin. Jehovah tu mihi Deus es quid deest. You will notice it is a jumble of sounds. It means, Jehovah, you are a God for me. What do I lack? Tu mihi deoses quid deos. I never saw the thing again. But for me, that became a very voice of God. To let me know that in spite of many disappointments, God was guiding my career. And where do you think he brought me? Well, I leave you to work it out. But Bethel is a real experience in the lives of God's people. To know it as a historical fact about that happened to Jacob, that's one thing. To experience the actual guidance of God in these daily matters is another thing. And for all who have trusted Christ, God is a God to them. What do they need in addition? Let's commend ourselves to the Lord. We thank thee now, Lord, for thy mercies towards us, for bringing us to know thee and to know thy dear son. In spite of our many ups and downs, we thank thee that he is able to keep what we have committed to him against that day. Guide us, Lord. We're not asking for miracles at every turn of the road, but just to know thy guidance in the sense that we may know that we are doing thy will and that thy, our career is in thy hand. So may we witness for thee in this sorry world, both the love of Christ and the judgment that must follow without him. And we commit ourselves to thee and thank thee for the gift of food and fellowship that we enjoy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.