Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Jun 27 2019 - 2 Kings 2:1-18 – Elijah taken up to heaven

Elijah, you will remember, had recruited Elisha to be his disciple – to be with him and to learn from him.

Today's reading describes a very special day in the life of both of these prophets. Elijah seems to know that the time has come for him to leave the world and he seeks to do so quietly and on his own, but Elisha will not leave his side. First they travelled to Bethel and then to Jericho. At both towns, prophets came out to tell Elisha that the Lord would take his master from him that day. Elisha acknowledges that he too knows this.

Finally, Elijah travelled to the Jordan river with Elisha accompanying him. At the river, Elijah took off his cloak, rolled it up and struck the waters with it. The waters divided and the two prophets crossed on dry ground. Elijah is leaving the Promised Land just as the children of Israel had entered it.

Having crossed the river, Elijah asked Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?" (v. 9). Elisha asks for a double portion of the spirit that has filled Elijah; he wants to be like his master and to serve the living God as Elijah had done. Elisha is promised that if God enables him to see Elijah taken up from him his wish will be granted.

As they continued walking 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" (v. 11). Elisha picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him and, tearing off his own clothes, took up his master's cloak. When he got back to the Jordan he struck the water with the cloak, the waters parted and he walked through on dry ground. When he met the bands of the prophets, they recognised that, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha" (v. 15). The evidence for this will be seen in the things Elisha is able to do in the name of the Lord, things similar to those previously done by his master.

Jesus had chosen twelve special disciples to be with him always, to learn of him and help him in the work of the kingdom entrusted to him by his Father. They were devastated when he was crucified; their hopes of the kingdom were dashed. But when he rose from the dead and met with them again, their hopes were revived. Imagine then that day when Jesus met with the remaining eleven on a hillside in Galilee and he was taken from them, ascending into heaven. How would they now continue his work?

A few days later this question is answered as, gathered again in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them from heaven. Now they are filled with the Spirit that animated the Lord Jesus and enabled him to be effective in the ministry the Father had given him. Now they were able to do similar works to him, and greater also for he had been taken from them. Three thousand were brought to own Jesus Christ as Lord on that first Day of Pentecost and billions more have come to know God through the Lord Jesus Christ since that day.

And today we also own Jesus as our Saviour and our Lord. He has called us to be his disciples – to follow him and to learn from him. He has given us his Spirit that we might be fully equipped to serve him in the work of the kingdom. What is keeping us from doing great things for our great God and our great Saviour, Jesus Christ?

Father God, we thank you for the Lord Jesus who has called us, in all our weakness and fear, to be his disciples. We thank you for your Spirit who makes the risen person and power of the Lord Jesus present to us. Send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work to your praise and glory.

Jun 27 2020 - Acts 23:11-35 – Reading between the lines

During the night, while he was imprisoned in the barracks in Jerusalem, we read that “the Lord stood near Paul and said, ‘Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts 23:11). I love this phrase “the Lord stood near Paul”. Paul must have been aware that the Lord was always watching over him and that he would never leave him, but on this particular night he was conscious of the Lord’s presence with him in a particularly powerful way – perhaps the Lord even appeared to him visibly. The Lord’s promise to Paul on that night shapes the rest of the story of the Book of Acts. Paul is on his way to Rome to bear testimony to the Lord Jesus before the powers in that city as he has done in Jerusalem. This was the Lord’s purpose for Paul when he appeared to him all those years before on the Damascus road (see Acts 9:15).

And the first way in which we see this promise being fulfilled is in the foiling of a plot to kill Paul. God’s hand is behind the leaking of the plot to Paul’s relatives and the willingness of the commander to listen to and take seriously the testimony of what seems little more than a child. Instead of him being murdered in Jerusalem Paul is transported to Caesarea to stand before the Roman governor, Felix. He has taken one important step on his journey towards Rome.

It’s important to note also the content of the commander’s letter to Felix. He writes that, “I found that … there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment” (23:29). This will be the continuing verdict of those before whom Paul is brought to stand in judgment, yet he will remain a prisoner all the way to Rome. But, as Paul puts it, God’s word is not chained (2 Timothy 2:9), nor has Paul’s ministry come to an end. Many of his letters will be written from prison and they minister to us still.

But the Bible can sometimes be very frustrating in failing to answer some of the questions we want to ask of it. I am always fascinated when I read of the forty or more Jews who plotted together to ambush and kill Paul. Three times in Acts 23 we are told that they took a solemn vow neither to eat nor drink until they had murdered Paul. I want to know what happened to these men. Did they starve to death or did they break their vow? The Bible just does not tell us (though I suspect I know the answer); it does not tell us because it is not important to the narrative concerning Paul.

There are many who seem to make a career of reading between the lines of Scripture. Their elaborate systems, filling in the gaps of Scripture, are diversions from the Word of God. They distract us from what God has said and what he wants us to hear. We need to focus on what Scripture does say; on what it tells us of the plans, purposes and heart of God – his grace towards us in the Lord Jesus Christ and his call upon our lives. It is by paying attention to what God has said that we are trained in godliness and equipped for the mission to which he calls each one of us. There is enough here to keep us fully occupied.

Heavenly Father, thank you that you have not left us in ignorance concerning yourself but have revealed your mind and purposes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the example of the apostle Paul who was determined to testify of Christ in every circumstance, knowing that the Lord Jesus was with him – right beside him. Give us this same confidence and enable us to trust in your promises and to tell others of your saving purposes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter Misselbrook