Elijah had diligently fulfilled what he was called to do. Though he had to endure some harrowing times from the wicked Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel, he came through with the help of God. Through it all God was with him to sustain him. The truth is this: God never leaves us to do His work without staying close to help us accomplish the task. We saw how closely He stayed with Elijah. And we can be assured that He will never forsake us. Remember God is with us all the time and His empowerment is just one prayer away.
Earlier in 1 Kings 19:16, one of the
three people Elijah was told to anoint was Elisha, who was to succeed him in
the ministry. Apart from anointing Elisha, Elijah was also to anoint Hazael as
king over Aram and Jehu as king over Israel. Since the recruitment of Elisha,
nothing much has been said about his transition. We were only told how Elisha
responded to the call. In 1 Kings 19: 21, we were told that he slaughtered a
pair of oxen, boiled their flesh using his plow as firewood, and then gave them
to the people, as he arose to follow Elijah. His was a total commitment to the
call of service to God. The Bible did not say much of what took place since his
recruitment. We can only guess that in the interim, Elijah ably mentored
him. Now in 2 Kings 2, we sense that it was time for Elisha to begin the work,
for God was about to take Elijah to heaven.
Second Kings 2:1 said that “And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven.” In this chapter, we will catch a glimpse of Elijah’s last moment on earth before he was triumphantly and wondrously translated to heaven via a whirlwind. In this verse, we are told that both Elijah and his protégé Elisha began their journey from Gilgal. This was the place the Israelites first celebrated the Passover in the promised land after Joshua took them across the Jordan. It was here that the second generation of the Israelites who were born in the wilderness wandering were circumcised, and the covenant with God was renewed. It was here that God rolled back the reproach of Egypt from his people. This was a place of a new beginning.
Our journey with Christ also began with our spiritual Gilgal. Our life with Christ began at the altar of sacrifice where we lay down our life in sweet abandon and total surrender to Him. Lay down our lives is only the beginning of the journey. We must be determined to go with Him all the way resiliently. As the saying goes, the ending is more important than the beginning! Let us end well and hear these wondrous words of Jesus, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”
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