"Elijah and Elisha stopped by the river … then Elijah took off his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the water with it; the water divided, and he and Elisha crossed to the other side on dry ground. There, Elijah said to Elisha, 'Tell me what you want me to do for you before I am taken away. 'Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit [the eldest son's inherited share] and [thus] become your successor,' Elisha answered. 'That is a difficult request to grant [since God alone can give it] … but you will receive it if you see me as I am being taken away from you' … They kept talking as they walked on; then suddenly a chariot of fire pulled by horses of fire [symbolizing God's protective presence] came between them, and Elijah was taken up to heaven by a whirlwind [not in the chariot]. Elisha saw it and cried out to Elijah, 'My father, my father! Mighty defender of Israel [more powerful than all its military forces]! You are gone!' …  In grief [and distress] Elisha tore his cloak in two. Then he picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He struck the water with Elijah's cloak and said, 'Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?' Then he struck the water again, and it divided, and he walked over to the other side. The fifty prophets from Jericho saw him and said, 'The power of Elijah is on Elisha!'" (2Kgs 2:9-15 GNT)

Would Elisha pass the test that Elijah had set him? Would he see Elijah being taken up to glory as Jesus was? The 50 prophets didn't see the chariot of fire or the whirlwind, but Elijah did and so passed the test. He had the ability and vision to see the heavenly spirit world. It seems few have this same ability in our time. Why might this be?

Later in his story we read: "Elisha's servant got up, went out of the house, and saw the Syrian troops with their horses and chariots surrounding the town. He went back to Elisha and exclaimed, 'We are doomed, sir! What shall we do?' 'Don't be afraid,' Elisha answered. 'We have more on our side than they have on theirs.' Then he prayed, 'O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!' The Lord answered his prayer, and Elisha's servant looked up and saw the hillside covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (2Kgs 6:15-17).

The end of Elijah's ministry was a new beginning for Elisha. God always has new beginnings for us. We can learn from Elisha as to how they should be embraced.

Elisha had already been singled out by God as Elijah's successor (1Kgs 19:16) and had faithfully served him in the background for quite some time. He had grown to greatly love and respect him. Although he knew it was coming, he was deeply distressed when they were separated. He had lost his master, his mentor and his closest friend.

Relationships between leaders and those they are training to take over from them need to be warm and friendly, but also open and transparent so that nothing is kept hidden that might later emerge and spoil, or even ruin, their future service.

He had already burned his bridges relative to his work and parents (1Kgs 19:19-21); now he was having to step up from one form of ministry to another; from follower to leader. He symbolically tore his own cloak in two and took hold of the thing for which God had taken hold of him (Php 3:12).

But he still had to pick up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah's shoulders. (I'm sure it was the same one he had thrown across his shoulders while he had been ploughing his father's fields.) And fifty prophets were looking on. What would happen?

It seems from the Hebrew that the first time Elisha struck the water of the Jordon River, nothing happened. That must have been difficult for Elisha to understand and to cope with. Surely, at this point, he was in danger of becoming discouraged and giving up. Yet there was no hesitation. He tried again. He bravely affirmed his faith in God knowing he wouldn't have brought him this far to cause him to suffer shame.

Jesus told a parable about the need for perseverance in prayer and then said: "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened" (Lk 11:9-10).

The dividing of the Jordan so that Elisha could pass over on dry ground seems to have been purely a demonstration of supernatural power. That is, no specific need was being met that needed a miracle. It wasn't like the parting of the Red Sea so that the Israelites could escape from the Egyptian army. Yet it did proclaim that the spirit of Elijah now resided within Elisha. 

Someone once prophesied over me saying I had forsaken the supernatural. When he asked me if that made sense, I found myself saying that it did, though I may well have been more concerned to affirm him as a prophet than to agree unhesitatingly with what he had said. As I reflected on his words, I felt I might not have completely forsaken the supernatural, but my expectation wasn't as it had been earlier in my Christian life. Can you identify with me? I think it is all too easy to live in the natural and to seldom take real steps of faith. Yet this is the life to which we have all been called.