Sermon – 2 Kings 2:1-14 – A Double Share of Spirit

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – 2 Kings 2:1-14 – A Double Share of Spirit
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches
June 27, 2010

Listen to this sermon.

Good morning and welcome to Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church on this hot and steamy Lord's Day. I will be continuing today with my series of sermons drawn from the book of Kings. We have been looking at the prophet Elijah, the cosmic struggle between Yahweh the God of Israel and Baal, and the political struggle between Ahab the king of Israel and Elijah the prophet of God. These struggles in heaven and on earth are still going on and have profound significance in our own lives. But before we start looking at all of this please pray with me.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

2 Kings 2:9-15 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." 10 He responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. 15 When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

In recent years preachers have avoided this passage in 2 Kings. After all what can you do with a whirlwind and a chariot of fire in a sermon to modern people. These things make up a nice story, but is there any relevance for us today? In times past fundamentalist pastors would tell their congregations that they must believe in the literal truth of a chariot of fire and a whirlwind taking Elijah to heaven because the authority of scripture demands it. Liberal pastors, on the other hand, would tell their congregations that the whirlwind and the chariot were fanciful images included in a mythical story about the transfer of authority from one prophet to another. Neither of these approaches really get at what was happening in Elijah's time and what is happening today. Let me explain.

So far in the books of First and Second Kings we have witnessed a contest. At first there seemed to be a cosmic struggle between Yahweh, the God of Israel and Baal the so called weather God. But we saw that this was not the real contest because Baal did not exist. Then we thought that the struggle was between King Ahab, Queen Jezebel and the prophet Elijah. But since the king had the power of the state and a mighty army under his control this was really not a contest at all. The contest all along had been a struggle between God and the king over who would control God's people.

This struggle between God and king began with the Egyptian Pharaoh. Pharaoh decided that the people of God would be his slaves. The king would have total control over his people. But Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, demanded total allegiance from his people. God would tolerate no other either god or king. So God sent the prophet Moses to lead the people away from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land where God would be their king.

But as time went by the people forgot that God was their king. They demanded a king for protection from their enemies. And these kings abrogated the covenant that God has established with his people. The king seized the land to increase his own wealth and power with no concern for the poor who were going hungry. The king encouraged people to worship a false God who placed no restrictions on the king's authority. God did not permit this to occur, and today's scripture is a stunning symbol of Yahweh's power. God could assemble a heavenly army equipped with chariots of fire to defeat any king and any army on earth.

By receiving a double share of Elijah's spirit Elisha succeeded Elijah as the prophet of God with responsibility of leading God's people back to God. Elijah found out this was a dangerous assignment because the king viewed allegiance to God as a challenge to his own authority. But this was Elisha's task. And he was up it to as a prophet of God.

In modern times we have seen other kings try to usurp God and rule by their own authority and power. For example, Karl Marx saw the church as a hindrance to his communist objectives. So he advocated that religion be transformed from worship of the true living God into a watered down faith that just made people feel good with the real authority in the church resting in the state. Marx called this watered down religion that made people feel good the “opiate of the people”. The communists who seized Russia and the National Socialists in Germany both tried to take over churches so that people would worship strong leaders like Stalin or Hitler rather than God. But God sent modern day prophets with a double share of Elijah's spirit to bring his people back.

In 1932 the National Socialists in Germany established an organization called the “German Christians”. They initiated the “Faith Movement” and published their guiding principles: anti-Marx, anti-Jew, anti-internationalism, anti-freemasonry, and racial purity. They advocated what was called “positive Christianity”. Few Christians saw any problem with this at the time. They saw some problems with the Nazi government but thought that in the long run that cooperation with the government would benefit the church. A few courageous Christians came forward to condemn what the German Christians were doing. Christians, Leopold Klotz and Paul Tillich, warned that the church was preaching a gospel of nationalism and an ideology of blood and race. They called the church back to it's true mission as a witness for God.

But in April of 1933 Adolf Hitler appointed Ludwig Miller to from the Reich Church. This church would cooperate with the German Christians. All Protestant churches and religious organizations in Germany were to come under this umbrella. On the day this new church was formed all German political parties, except the National Socialists were abolished. Eventually the German Christians took control of the Reich Church with Hitler's full support, and Ludwig Miller became the Reich Bishop.

In response to this a Lutheran pastor with a double share of Elijah's spirit, Martin Niemoeller, organized the Pastor's Emergency League with over seven thousand pastors becoming members. They spoke out from their pulpits protesting what Hitler had done. On May 29, 1934 a group of committed Christians met in northern Germany to deal with the Nazi takeover of the church. The “First Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church” met to determine who would be the Lord of the church: God or the state. Theologian Karl Barth was asked to write a response to the German Christians. He produced the “Theological Declaration of Barmen”. Barth was responding to what he saw as the errors of the German Christians and the Reich Church which were harming the church and breaking its unity. Barth demonstrated from scripture that Jesus Christ alone is the head of the church, Lord of our lives, and the only source of our salvation. The government had no scriptural warrant to usurp any of these functions.

So we see in our own time the same problems encountered by Elijah and Elisha nearly three thousand years ago. This means that we have to be ever vigilant to prevent government from controlling our churches and our lives. Our churches and our lives are subject only to the authority of God who is revealed to us in scripture as Jesus Christ. And whenever government tries to either replace Jesus Christ as the head of the church or convince us to worship our political leaders we must resist and pray for a Prophet like Elijah or Elisha or Barth to lead us back to true faith in Jesus Christ.

Martin Niemoeller, that courageous pastor who organized that first opposition to Hitler wrote these words after the war: “In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

As we watch the government of the United States grow ever larger and assume more and more power we have to be prophetic. We must be grounded in our faith that Jesus Christ is the head of our church and the Lord of our lives. When we see government trying to control the church we must speak out. When we see government trying to have people worship its programs and leaders we must stop it. When we see government persecuting Christians because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ we must risk our own lives to preserve our right to worship and declare the Jesus Christ alone is our Lord.

So the battle between God and the earthly governments continues. And God annoints prophet to boldly speak out. These prophets will have a double share of Elijah's spirit. And always remember that the Kingdom of God is near.

Elisha went on to complete the task God had given to him and Elijah. He restored lands to the rightful owners. The wicked Omri dynasty was defeated and Jehu was annointed as King of Israel to lead the nation back to the worship of it's God.

So no matter what happens God is faithful and will send the leaders we need to turn our
nation back to God.

Father in heaven we need prophets with a double share of Elijah's spirit to lead us back to you. Forgive us for following false gods and welcome us back as your people. We pray Lord for the day when you will be our king. In Jesus's name, Amen.

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