On the Road to the End of the Road
On the Road with Elijah
On the Road with Elijah to the End Of The Road
II Kings 2:11-12a
 
Most theologians estimate Elijah’s ministry probably lasted anywhere from fifteen to twenty years. One of the lessons he learned earlier on was the necessity of being exactly where he was supposed to be to receive the blessings of God.
 
When he was in Cherith he was fed by the birds and his water came from the stream. And then he went to Zaraphath and there he was fed by the widow and all this came from the hand of God.  It was on Mt. Carmel the fire fell. 
 
I’m afraid there are many Christians who never get to see God do anything because they are never around when and where He’s at work.  And if we aren’t careful, we become like the children of Israel who died in the wilderness. They mumble and grumble in the desert and not only do they not do anything for God but He doesn’t do much for them either. And this is their choice, not His. The truth is, we get what we want in life. 
 
Tonight we come to the final event in the earthly life of Elijah.  The time has come for him to go home to heaven.   
 
 
 
 
I can almost imagine Elijah taking one last glimpse back over the Jordan and thinking to himself, “I’ve walked by faith and I’ve known some failure but through it all, God has been faithful.”
 
If we could choose, I think most of us would choose for our lives to end with a flourish rather than with a whimper.  We would rather be struck down doing something heroic or noble than to die by inches. 
We don’t get to provide any choice in that decision, but Elijah certainly had an unusual home going.  IN fact as far as I can tell, no one else in Scripture has had the same experience as Elijah.
 
Enoch, in the book of Genesis  “walked with God and then was no more because God took him away.”  Moses was brought up to a mountain where he died and God himself buried him (Deut. 34). 
 
But no one else recorded in history has left the earth like Elijah.
 
Now as we saw last week, Elijah had the privilege of knowing his life was ending. Elisha knew it also. In fact, from the report of the “sons of the prophets” it must have been pretty common knowledge. 
 
We also saw that Elijah and Elisha take this stroll down memory lane, revisiting many of the significant places of Israel’s history, concluding with Elijah being taken away into heaven, and his mantle falling to Elisha. 
 
We looked at some of the detail of that last week.  Tonight I want to zero in on the rapture of Elijah.
 
 
Notive verses 11-12a
 
 I don’t know about you, but for me that’s kind of hard to picture. 
 
Apparently, as they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 
 
Now there is a very common mis-teaching and misrepresentation of these verse that often takes place.  Notice that Elijah didn’t go to Heaven in a chariot . . . he went to heaven in the whirlwind and the chariot separated Elisha from Elijah.
 
Now like I said, I find it hard to even try to imagine what happened.  One minute Elijah is there and the next he is swept off to Heaven. And there are are flaming chariots and horses and tornadoes.  That’s pretty spectacular, but what a way to go!
 
And strange as it might seem, this is not the end of the story.  There is still an encore. 
 
Malachi 4:5-6
 
Jesus explains this text in the gospels,
 
Matthew 17:10-13
 
In other words, John the Baptist was not Elijah, but he came in the spirit and power of Elijah.  He was the one “like” Elijah who would come.
 
 
 
Even that is not the end of the story.  In Luke 9 we read the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus.  Jesus, taking Peter, James and John with him, went up on a mountain to pray.  While Jesus was praying two people appeared “in glorious splendor”.  Those two people were Moses and Elijah.
 
This faithful prophet of God who was taken up in a whirlwind met with Jesus on the mountain along with Moses!  It is a wonderful testimony of life beyond the grave.  Moses represented the Law and Elijah represented the Prophets.  Both showed by their presence that Jesus was the fulfillment of both the law and the prophets.  He was indeed the long awaited Messiah.
 
And even that is not the end of Elijah’s story.  He’s like the Energizer Bunny!  There is strong reason to believe he one of the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11 that are one the earth during the Tribulation. 
 
So Elijah may have been taken up to Heaven, butGod certainly wasn’t through with him. 
 
So on this last trip together, I want to try to draw some conclusions and applications from this final chapter of his story.
 
First, I think
 
1. We Gain Needed Perspective
 
Elijah was a faithful servant.  I hope you felt his story was a great study.  Yet, when Elijah died, the mantle passed on to another. The real story then, is not about Elijah . . . it is about the Lord.
Billy Graham is a faithful servant and so was Dwight Moody, Billy Sunday, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Wesley, Jonathan Edwards and on back to the Apostle Paul, Moses etc.  When one faithful servant dies, the Lord raises up another. This is an important reminder because we have this propensity to focus on the messenger rather than one who sends the message.  We tend to worship the created rather than the Creator.
 
Isn’t it amazing how distorted our perspective is on all that?  Every year multiplied millions will be spent celebrating the winners of things like the World Series, the super Bowl, NBA Championship and Stanley Cup and things like that. 
 
And really, the world is no better or worse because someone wins the World Series, Super Bowl or NBA Championship.  It’s just entertainment.  Maybe it would be different if we were cheering heros of war, then at least we could hope that a real difference was made.
 
What haunts me, however, is the reality that we are prone to bow before men.  We wonder what will happen when a great spiritual leader dies.  He will be replaced! We wonder what will happen to a church if the Pastor leaves.  God will raise up someone else to lead!  We wonder what will happen if a certain piece of legislation is passed or is not passed.  I’ll tell you what will happen!  God will remain on the throne!
 
 God is the one who is worthy of worship.  We must put our hope and confidence in Him, not in those who serve Him.  Others will disappoint us.  Some will stumble. 
Some will not, but they will still disappoint because they cannot deliver that which only comes from the Lord.
 
And this passage is a cold, blunt reminder that the work of God is not dependent on any human.  None of us are indispensable.  Therefore, we are to worship the Lord and not men.  We can appreciate and celebrate the contributions of men and respect their influence, but always remember that the ultimate honor goes to the Lord. 
 
Second, we not only gain perspective,
 
2.  We Get a Warning
 
One second Elijah was here, the next he was gone.  That is true of all of life.  There are no guarantees on how much time we have left.  Listen to the warning of Jesus in
 
Matthew 24:36-44
 
The rapture of the church, like the rapture of Elijah, will be sudden.  It will be like the chariot that swoops out of the sky.  When that day comes the time for preparation will be over.  We must live each day with the realization that “this could be the day that Jesus returns”.
 
But it is not just the rapture that will be sudden.  As we’ve seen illustrated just recently in our own church, sometimes death itself is sudden.  One day we are making plans for a great vacation; the next day we are being fitted for a casket.  We must make the best of every day. 
 
I love the fact that Elijah was busy right up until the time the Chariots came to escort him home.  He continued to teach faithfully right up until the end.  Let’s face it; too many of us stop living long before we die.  Even more people stop serving the Lord long before the job is over.  Elijah’s sudden departure reminds us that we must remain alert, awake and diligent in our service to the Lord.
 
So we gain perspective, we get a warning and
 
3. We’re Gifted With Hope
 
Listen, when you serve God, there is always a reason for hope.  Please don’t miss this.  Elijah was faithful in this life but this life is not all there is.  Elijah was swept up into life with the Father forever.  It was hundreds of years later that this same Elijah appeared with Jesus.  The message is clear: there is life beyond the grave.
 
If you are life me, you need to be reminded of that fact regularly.  This world is not our home we truly are only passing through.  I love the way the Bible tries to prepare us for Heaven.  It uses analogies from nature.  Paul said we are like a seed that is planted and what we will become is something we can’t even imagine right now. 
 
Another example is that of a child in the womb.  To the child that existence is all they know.  They are secure, comfortable and content.  The birth process is difficult and maybe even a little scary for the child.  But when they enter the world it is bigger and greater than they could have ever imagined. 
Our existence on this side of Heaven is like the baby in the womb.  We cling to this life . . . but we shouldn’t . . . because a greater existence awaits.
 
In 1952, young Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California.  She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways.  The weather was foggy and chilly; she could barely see the boats accompanying here. Still, she swam for fifteen hours.  When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and that she could make it.  Finally physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out.  It wasn’t until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half a mile away.  At a news conference the next day she said, “all I could see was the fog . . . I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.” [HEAVEN p. xxii]
 
We feel like this woman at times, don’t we?  Life wears us down.  We get discouraged, we become tired and we want to quit.  It is easy to think that this life is all that there is.
 
The rest of the story is that two months later she tried again. Again the fog was dense, but this time she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind as she swam. After swimming in treacherous waters for over 13 hours, she reached her goal. In doing so, she broke a 27-year-old record by more than two hours, for both women and men and became the first woman ever to complete the swim.
 
 
Elijah’s story, if you will, helps us to visualize the shoreline.  It is a brief Old Testament reminder of a wonderful New Testament truth of what awaits every child of God beyond the grave.  Don’t miss this glimpse.  Look at it carefully.  Take it all in.  You will need that picture of the eternal for the time you have left on this earth. 
 
Elijah kept going in spite of threats and hardships because he kept his eyes focused on the prize.  That’s what you and I have to do.  We have to keep focused on the fact that this life is NOT all there is.  In the times of joy we must remember that there is a greater joy still to be gained.  In the times of hardship we must remind ourselves that the struggle will be worth the effort.  If we can keep an eternal, heavenly perspective life will be greater and death will lose its sting.
 
The way to start having an eternal perspective on life is to establish a solid and saving relationship with Jesus.  No matter what we would like to think, not everyone goes to Heaven.  Heaven is reserved for those who have placed their trust, hope and confidence in Jesus.  Salvation is not about the church you go to or the religious rites you practice.  Salvation comes from trusting Christ as our Savior and our Lord.  This means being honest about our rebellion and sin and putting our trust and confidence in the payment Jesus made on our behalf.
 
If all this series on Elijah has done is given you information and challenged you to live a little better, I have failed in my mission.  The goal of this study of Elijah, the goal of any passage in Scripture, is to encourage us to trust the Lord more fully. 
We begin that process by putting our trust in the work of Christ on our behalf and then we seek to faithfully serve God day by day. 
 
We serve the Lord not only because He is God and He is in charge; we serve Him because He loves us and someday we will be with Him.  We may die of old age.  We may die in a spectacular act of heroism or service that will inspire many. 
 
Or, we may be caught up to Heaven in the Second Coming of our Lord. But you see, in the end, the most significant thing is not how we die . . . it is where we end up when we do.
 
Let’s pray