In 2 Kings 2:1-12, we read the account of Elijah being taken up into heaven. Verse one gives us the first glimpse of what the Lord has planned for Elijah, “And it came to pass, when the LORD was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind…”; here we learn that Elijah was not going to die. Although we were unaware of God’s plan to do this until reading verse one, all the other prophets in the area knew this was going to happen, including Elisha (v.3). Now, Elisha had been Elijah’s servant since the days that Jezebel was after Elijah. While Elijah was hiding in a cave and feeling all alone in the world, God told him to go and anoint Elisha as “prophet in your place”; when Elijah found him, he threw his mantle (the symbol of his prophethood) on Elisha, and Elisha followed him from then on (1 Kings 19:15-21).
Elijah’s final day on earth is peculiar. He spends the day traveling from Gilgal to Bethel and to Jericho, before heading to the Jordan River. In each of these three cities he tells Elisha “Stay here, please”, and three times Elisha responds “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!”. It is unclear why Elijah asks Elisha to stay in these towns, some believe Elijah didn’t want Elisha to see his exodus into heaven for reasons of humility, while others think that Elijah was proving Elisha’s faithfulness. Nevertheless, what we know for sure is that Elisha was adamant that he will not leave the side of his master until he is taken up into heaven.
The two leave Jericho and approach the Jordan River. Notice that this is the same area of the river where Joshua and the children of Israel crossed over from the wilderness into the promised land before overtaking Jericho. On that occasion, the waters parted before the ark of the covenant and Israel crossed over on dry land (Joshua 3). When they approach the water, Elijah takes his mantle, rolls it up and strikes the water’s edge. The water is divided and the two cross over on dry ground. Moses had raised his staff to divide the Red Sea while Elijah uses his mantle to divide the Jordan. The staff is symbolically distinct from the mantle; Moses’ staff, called the “rod of God” (Exodus 17:9), was the ensign of his office as chief leader of God’s people. In contrast, Elijah’s mantle was the ensign of his prophetic calling (1 Kings 19:19) and his position as chief of the prophets. According to Joshua 4:23, It is expected out of us to recognize the resemblance between Moses crossing the Red Sea and Joshua crossing the Jordan, and I expect that we should do the same with Elijah crossing the Jordan. However, there is one major distinction in Elijah’s case; both Moses and later Joshua were headed to the entrance of Canaan, but Elijah was leaving the land of Israel’s inheritance. The first two were headed to physical lands, but Elijah was leaving the physical inheritance for a heavenly one.
After crossing the river, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” In our culture, it may sound like Elisha is insultingly asking to be twice the man that Elijah was, but this is not the case. The “double portion” is a reference to inheritance, and how the preeminent son in the family was granted a double portion of the inheritance upon the death of the father. But the preeminent son did not receive the double portion for nothing, rather he was now the patriarch and leader of the whole family. Elisha’s request is unique, for he was not the child of Elijah, but he was asking to take over the reins for Elijah, to step forward and take his place. Elijah’s response is “You have asked a hard thing.” This doesn’t mean that Elisha may not have been Elijah’s successor as prophet, for God already said he was (1 Kings 19:16), but this means just what it says, that Elisha desires to succeed Elijah and carry on his work for the Lord, and this is a hard thing to do. Few people have lived a more difficult life than Elijah, and how excellent is Elisha’s spirit to be willing to carry on Elijah’s work in an unrepentant hostile society.
“Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
The exodus of Elijah from the earth and into heaven is covered in a single intriguing sentence. In a moment, as the two walked and talked, a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses suddenly appeared between the two men, separating them. Then Elijah “went up” (Hebrew – Alah: to go up, ascend, climb) into heaven “by a whirlwind” (Hebrew – Ca’ar: Horrible storm, tempest, hurricane, the strong winds and torrents of a storm). The whole scene was most violent and powerful. The chariot and horses were part of the royal guard, the army of the LORD (2 Kings 6:17; Psalm 68:17), which stepped in at the command of God to separate Elisha from Elijah; thus separating the physical life from the spiritual life. It is the most popularly held belief that Elijah went up to heaven in a chariot of fire, but this isn’t so, not according to the Bible. Elijah did not travel up to heaven in a chariot of fire, but by the mighty winds of the tempest, he ascended to heaven. However, the chariot was positive proof that Elijah was not thrown far away to his death by a hurricane, but that God was taking him to heaven. As a side note of interest, Ezekiel saw something similar in a vision, but that time it was specifically the living chariot of God, made of four living creatures that make up the four corners of the chariot with their wings stretched to touch one another. What is intriguing is that this living chariot that transported God on His throne was accompanied by a “whirlwind” and the chariot was in the midst of a “raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire” (Ezekiel 1:4). Further, Ezekiel describes the four living creatures that make up the chariot of God, saying, “their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning” (Eze. 1:13). Therefore, what Elisha saw was not unique to only his situation, but a small manifestation of the armies of heaven that is consistent elsewhere in the scriptures. Notwithstanding this, Elijah’s ascension was nothing short of fearfully awesome and was a great testament to the forthcoming victory of Christ over death, which justified God to bring Elijah into heaven.
Article by Tanner Campbell.