Study 22 - Taking the mantle

When Elijah asked Elisha, ‘What can I do for you before I am taken from you?’ Elisha replied, ‘Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit’ (2 Kings 2:9,10). Elisha had surely seen Elijah on his off days, when no one would have wanted his spirit. Yet he still honoured his master and wanted to share the blessing he saw in Elijah’s life.

As Elijah was taken up into heaven, Elisha cried out, ‘My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’ (2 Kings 2:12). He wasn’t referring to the chariot he saw, but to Elijah himself. He was saying, ‘We don’t trust in chariots and horses but in the living God. Elijah, you’re God’s prophet, God’s mouthpiece; therefore you’re the defence of Israel. My father, I love you. I honour your great ministry.’

A fruitful relationship
When Elijah had gone, Elisha took on his role as Israel’s defence. In his lifetime great armies came against the nation, but they couldn’t penetrate it because Elisha warned what was going to happen before it occurred. The king of Aram couldn’t understand how the Israelites could possibly know all about his secret invasion plans until he was told, ‘Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom’ (2 Kings 6:12). When Elisha became ill, ‘the king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. ‘My father! My father!’ he cried. ‘The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’ (2 Kings 13:14). In other words, ‘You’re our defence. We honour you as God’s prophet. We respect you and your ministry.’

The discipleship worked! God told Elijah that Elisha would succeed him as prophet, and he did. Elisha received a double portion of his master’s spirit and performed twice the number of miracles.

Although Elisha succeeded in his ministry, he was no mere clone of Elijah. Similarly, Joshua learned much from Moses, but fulfilled a role that was distinctly his own. The proof of good discipleship isn’t the creation of a carbon copy, but of an informed original. That’s where discipling can fail and things can fossilise. God doesn’t want fossils, though: he wants you to learn his ways both through your discipler and direction from his Spirit. You and God are a unique combination.

Discipleship isn’t only about passing on values and vision. People must also learn how to experience the power of the Holy Spirit. Elijah taught Elisha many things about God, but one thing captured Elisha’s imagination more than any other. He’d seen the Spirit of God resting on his master, and that, more than anything else, was what he wanted – in double measure.

Nothing could shake Elisha from his determination to experience this empowering. All the training in the world was no substitute for a personal endowment of power from on high. ‘If you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours,’ replied Elijah (2 Kings 2:10), thereby prefiguring another who would ascend into heaven, leaving his disciples with the promise of power from the Holy Spirit.

Challenge of discipleship
The church must face the challenge of making disciples. Leaders, many excellent young men and women long to be discipled.

You may argue that you don’t know how to make a disciple. Looking back, you don’t remember anybody taking you under his wing. Somehow you made it on your own. Perhaps you don’t know how to start. Perhaps you even feel that if anyone came really close to you he or she would discover your weaknesses and how you have failed the Lord in the past. It seems to me, though, that Elijah was a man just like you – and he trained a great disciple.