This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Life of Elijah” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 11, 1988.

And we are reading the first eighteen verses. Hear the word of God. And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven. And Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. But Elisha said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.

So they went on to Bethel. Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today? And he said, Yes, I know. Elijah said to him, Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today? And he answered, Yes, I know, be still. Then Elijah said to him, please stay here for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. He said, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.

So the two of them went on. Now, 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle and folded it together and struck the waters and they were divided here and there so the two of them crossed over on dry ground. Now it came about when they had crossed over that Elijah said to Elisha, ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.

And he said, you have asked a hard thing, nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if not, it shall not be so. Then it came about as they were going along and talking, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.

And Elisha saw it and cried out, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its forsen! And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and he struck the waters and said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And when he had also struck the waters, they were divided here and there, and Elisha crossed over. Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho opposite saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.

And they came and met him and bowed themselves to the ground before him. And they said to him, Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley. And he said, You shall not send. But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent there four fifty men, and they searched three days, but did not find him. And they returned to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, Did I not say to you, Do not go?

Father we ask that you might excite our hearts that we may be thrilled by your word and thrilled also at the prospect of your word and its work throughout the world. Surely before your throne there stand the four living creatures indicative of the four corners of the earth indicative of the message and your messengers so that that word goes out throughout the world to accomplish your purpose may we have all confidence in your plan may we have therefore that confidence in the effectiveness of your word in our lives and in the lives of those whom you call from the four corners of the earth. Bless your word as indeed you excite our hearts concerning the prospect of that word. May it be meat and drink to us and to your people universally. We pray this through Christ our Savior. Amen. And I don’t know how obnoxious he’s going to get. Can you whistle him down there, Earl?

We are here in 2 Kings chapter 2. and we have been looking at the first verse. There are a number of things here that are well worth our consideration and I have marked out four. Already we have considered one of these elements we have spoken about the phrase to heaven. The second thing that we want to speak about, and we will do that this evening, is the world. The third will be the intimation of the circuit that was resorted to by the prophets, the circuit which defined their rounds in Israel, here in the first verse mentioned by the site of Gilgal. The progress of Elijah and Elisha from Gilgal to Bethel and then to Jericho and the Jordan is indicative of that circuit which was kept by the prophets at this time in Israel’s history. And the fourth thing that we will want to speak about is the exaltation of the figure of Elisha. So we are going to be moving from the life and times of Elijah into the life and times of Elisha. Those four elements from this opening verse and then as these things are expounded in the subsequent verses of the second chapter of 2 Kings.

As I have said, we have already considered the first element, and that is the phrase, to heaven. I can’t overestimate the importance of that phrase. We cannot exaggerate the significance of that phrase. By simple way of review, that phrase is there focusing, literally focusing, for us, the hope of the people of God. In the episodes and events with regard to strategic figures in the history of redemption to this point, there have been confusing disclosures, veiled revelations, if you will, and now in this story being placed before us, is that clear, open declaration concerning the hope and destiny of the people of God. You might recall what we said concerning this event in its relationship to other events and other figures from previous epochs.

What we have read here certainly reminds us of what we read in Genesis 5, and the story there, as brief as it is, concerning Enoch, the seventh from Adam, who was taken from this earth. He was not any longer here because God had taken him. There is also the story of Moses, and Moses’ death at the end of Deuteronomy. Again, a veiled event. His body to be sure, staying here, for we are told that God buried him, but he himself taken to be with God, so that there seems to be that proclamation of a reward and destiny beyond any reward and destiny of this earth.

And then there are the testimonies of David in the Psalms, concerning the eventual destiny of the people of God, and the hope related to our faith. But here, in 2 Kings 2, we have those formerly veiled disclosures, in effect, opened up for us. What, in fact, is the destiny of the people of God? What is their hope?

It is nothing less than the translation of the body to heaven. That confusion about this matter still remains is what is spelled out for us in verses sixteen through eighteen. Here are the prophets of Israel, who seemingly do not understand, who to this point are confused about this matter. They think The body’s ultimate destiny will, in fact, be as yet this world.

The Spirit of God has taken up Elijah and possibly dropped him down on some mountain or in some valley, and Elisha tells them not to send anyone to search out the mountains and the valleys, because he knows that Elijah has been taken in the body to heaven. All right, in the person of the prophet, not simply then one who comes and proclaims the hope for the people of God. not simply one who comes with a message that is delivered rhetorically to the people, spelling out to them the will of God, bringing to bear upon them God’s law, and in a sense spelling out for them what in fact awaits them in the future. No, the prophet in himself becomes a lesson in eschatology. so that eschatology is associated not just with the message, but with the man. Looking to the man, you see the end, the hope realized in him.

Now, that is precisely why there is a great deal of confusion about Peter’s quotation from Joel 2 on the day of Pentecost. For in quoting that passage from Joel, in explication of what was happening on that day, when you had the people of God gathered in Jerusalem on that day, prophesying, many have concluded, by root of that passage, that the proper application of it means, yes, old men and young, women and maidens will all prophesy, that is, they will all deliver supernatural revelation. And that is the intent, the focus, the purpose of that prophecy of Joel as quoted by Peter on that day.

Not so. Not so at all. You see, what Peter is actually doing in that passage is that he is using the office of the prophet as that backdrop upon which he will then expound the eschatological hope of the people. As the prophet was one who was privy to the council chambers of God, so all God’s people, from the oldest to the youngest, male and female, shall be as well.

So it doesn’t pertain to now what specifically comes out of your mouth as you have been spirit-blessed and have become a prophet in your own right. Not at all. It has to do with reward. The prophet’s reward has become yours, and the prophet’s privilege has become yours. The prophet in himself, then, becomes a message, a message with regard to our hope. Not just in the sense that he has stood in the council chambers of the Lord, but here specifically as it pertains to Elijah, in the body raised.

In the body raised. so that you might walk around on the earth forever, as the Seventh Day Adventists tell us, and others? No. So that like Elijah, you might go to heaven. Is the eternal arena of your resurrection life to be here on earth, looking up? Or is it to be in heaven surveying all the works of God and those utterly, marvelously, wonderfully transformed? Your destiny is heaven in the body.

Point number one. We’ve got that strength, don’t we? Hope. But now moving on to the second point. The world Elijah is taken in the body to heaven by a whirlwind, or, if you read in the margin of the New American Standard Version, a windstorm. Now, it’s more than just a high wind. It’s even more than just a gale. It is a cataclysm. It is an eruption. That is what is in view.

Now it’s not just the whirlwind and the windstorm that interests us here, because as we move down to the 11th verse, we note that there is mentioned a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and they’re joined to the whirlwind and to the wind and storm, compounding the imagery for us. Well, let’s try to work our way through all of this and understand what’s going on. First of all, then, the whirlwind, the windstorm. As I said, no simple wind of high velocity, no mere gale.

We are dealing here with something of a cataclysm, something that is apocalyptic in nature. And by apocalyptic, I mean that which signals end times something that belongs to the end times themselves. The whirlwind, a sign of cataclysmic consummation. of a line with those things that are in keeping with the end of all things. So we have here Elijah, in effect, at the end of the world, going to heaven. Okay? That’s the compounding. It’s a preview of coming attractions. All right? Before it happens, you are given something here to tell you about what is going to happen, what is certainly going to take place.

The whirlwind comes then as an apocalyptic sign, a sign of cataclysm, a sign of consummation. There are a number of passages in scripture that confirm this. where a vision of the end is given, in the prophets for instance. And in the midst of those prophetic statements, there is mention made of the whirlwind, of the wind that comes from God.

Now in this sense, this whirlwind is threatening. Wind comes in something of a negative light, bringing judgment and destruction, if you will, in its wake. Indeed, something threatening. You might recall, also in the Gospels, wind comes as a threat. You have the disciples in a little bark, a little boat out in the waves on the Sea of Galilee. The storm comes up, threatens to overwhelm them.

The wind, the waves, the storm being itself apocalyptic, cataclysmic, a sign, a testimony of consummation. Need they fear? is in them quiet the storm it all becomes calm and they arrive at the haven of their rest similar lessons to be learned from those stories in the gospel and this story in 2nd Kings the whirlwind and judgment, consummation, cataclysm. But the whirlwind, the windstorm, still related to the apocalypse, the revelation of end times, is also a sign of God’s presence. the wind itself and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters the word there in the Hebrew is Ruach try to say that without reading it Ruach the wind, the breath, the spirit.

Adam may have the dust at the ground, and God comes and by the breath of the Lord, Adam becomes a living soul. Breath, the wind, God, God’s presence, the blessing, Think of other events where the wind is similarly treated. You can’t move very far through the book of Ezekiel without running into the spirit or wind. You might recall the famous 37th chapter of Ezekiel in the Valley of the Dry Bones. How the breath of God, the wind of the Lord can fill his own and become one. Stand up as a great mighty army for God. Or you might recall from the very first chapter that vision of the mobile throne or temple of God.

The one that has the wheels that go in all directions, the one that is accompanied by the Spirit of God, and the incredible sound that accompanies the news of that charity of the Lord. It’s the sound of the mighty rushing wind. indicative of the presence of God and of blessing and then we move to Acts 2 the opening verses of that chapter and you remember how the disciples are all gathered and then we are told they hear a wind they hear a noise as if it were a mighty rushing wind Well, in that Ezekiel passage, connecting it with what we read in Acts 2, we understand the significance of the wind, the sign of God’s blessing and presence. For in that Ezekiel passage, the sound that is heard by the prophet is associated with the seraphim that are accompanying this mobile tabernacle or temple, this chariot of the Lord. The sound is the sound of the beating of the wings of the seraph who surround the Lord in his glory.

The wind, as it were, emanating from them. And now you have a company of disciples gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem, not in the temple, not in the temple, but in an upper room, and they are visited by the seraph of God, his presence, the wind of the Lord. sign then, a sign of God’s spirit and of his blessing, his blessed presence. But you see, it is not simply God’s presence in his spirit here that is accented, but rather the effect of God’s presence by his spirit that is accented. For the effect of the presence of God in blessing ultimately is transmission. translation from this world to the world above by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That is why you see the Spirit repeatedly in the New Testament is portrayed for us as the agent of resurrection. Look at Romans, chapter 1. Paul there is describing in the opening verses of that epistle his gospel. This is what he says, Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh who was declared with power or in power to be the son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness. The spirit specifically being that agent in which God’s presence effectually transforms, resurrects, translates. Turn to Romans 8. Look at verse 9.

And here, there is underscored a practical significance for all of this. because it won’t simply be the effect of the Spirit in our life to translate us ultimately into glory, but the effect of the Spirit in our lives presently, so that we might live for righteousness.

Verse 9, however, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, read it this way now, yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who indwells in you.”

The agent of translation, the agent of transformation, The agent by which, by whom we ourselves shall be brought to our ultimate destiny is the Spirit of God, the Word of God. And even unto that ultimate end, presently in our lives, The agent of your transformation in your life now is the Spirit. The Spirit of God.

What about the chariots of fire? The forces of fire? The imagery is military. and militant. It is understood by Elisha along the lines of a defensive weapon. That’s what the chariot of fire, the forces of fire are all about to him. For Elisha as he witnesses this scene The chariot of fire and its forces are indicative of the presence of God, the presence of his hosts, as a defensive weapon, as a protection for Israel against assault, against destruction.

And that is why, in verse 12, you have the reaction of Elisha that you do. When he sees them going, he concludes that God’s defensive power and protectiveness has abandoned Israel with Elisha. But later on we read a story about Elisha himself. Syrians have sent down a convoy to capture him and take him home. And Elisha prays to the Lord that his servant’s eyes be opened so that his servant might see that, yes, the fiery chariots are still there, and so are the fiery horses.

Chapter 6, verse 17. It isn’t the defensive weapon. It is rather the positive testimony of God’s victorious presence. The chariot of God. The triumphant Lord. The one who is described in another passage as being the man of war. This chariot goes out and all his foes are subdued and every enemy is vanquished and his people are rescued by the implement of his conquest to die with him in his victory chariot into glory That’s the image in Habakkuk 3. A victorious God who rides forth out of Canaan. And in his wake all of his enemies subdued. But in the end his people and his purpose triumphed.

The chariot also speaking about the Spirit’s presence because the fire itself is an agent of purification the wind and the fire Acts 2, the mighty rushing wind Silence again of God’s triumph and presence to his people. Silence. But the whirlwind is no end in itself. Yes, it’s an indication of the oncoming of God, an apocalyptic visitation, destruction in its wake, but also the blessed presence of our God as well, affirmed and confirmed, chariots of fire, purification to be sure, but a positive testimony of God’s victorious presence for His people. But the world is no end in itself.

It is the means of moving Elijah from one place to another. It is the means of moving Elijah from a condition in which he experiences the presence of God in one way, to a circumstance in an environment where he experiences the presence of God in a completely different way. While he, even though he has the spirit Even though he has the Spirit, it will be that limited, that preliminary appreciation of the presence of God. The Spirit himself not being that final disposition of God towards his people, but unto the end that his people might be brought to that place where they stand before him. And nothing improves. from a world in which our faith gives way to another world in which our sight sustains, maintains, and is the perpetual condition of our life before God. You move by the world From a condition in life where you do see God, to an environment where you will see Him forever. It may well be that we as a Reformed faith have underestimated this Spirit, and not given Him the Spirit.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.