Would anyone want your mantle?

 "Elijah Taken to Heaven" 

Illustration from Treasures of the Bible 

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Kings1-3; Psalm 101

TO CHEW ON: "And Elisha saw it … He also took up the mantle of Elijah…" 2 Kings 2:12,13.

On reading of the story of Elijah, and how God took him away, two questions come to mind:

1. What was the significance of Elisha seeing Elijah taken from him? For Elijah said that whether or not Elisha got his last request (a double portion of Elijah's spirit) hinged on him witnessing that event - 2 Kings 2:10.

2. Do mantle hand-downs (and by that I mean more than inheriting a piece of physical clothing) still happen today?

First the seeing bit
 
The old commenter, Matthew Henry, gives two possible explanations. He suggests Elijah:

1. Was telling Elisha to pay close attention to his last minutes, as a student attends his teacher.

2. Was naming this sight condition as a sign of God's favor.

I side with the latter. Elijah understood the spiritual rigor of being a prophet, the faith it demanded, and the need for spiritual sight. I believe Elisha recognized it too—indeed hoped it would be included the "double portion" of Elijah's spirit he requested - 2 Kings 2:9.

The writer of my Bible's notes on 2 Kings defines the "spirit of Elijah": "… is either an indirect or direct reference to the Holy Spirit" - Larry D. Powers, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 483.  

That Elisha was a candidate for that spirit (Spirit) was made clear here when he did see Elijah leave. And he certainly got a good measure of that sight:

• He saw his servant following Naaman, then lying to get some of the money and clothes he coveted - 1 Kings 5:25,26.

• He saw and heard the actions of the Syrian King and army, though he wasn't present - 1 Kings 6:12.

• He saw the heavenly army that surrounded the city - 1 Kings 6:17. 

What a powerful inheritance Elijah named for Elisha in "sight"! 

The mantle

My Bible's study notes define mantle as "a symbol of the authority he (a prophet) had been given by God" - Powers, Op Cit. p. 484.

When Elijah first called Elisha to be his successor, Elijah threw his cloak (or mantle) around Elisha (1 Kings 19:18). It's clear from Elisha's actions following that, that he knew what this meant.

Talk of inheriting or having someone's mantle fall on one is still a teaching in some churches. My daughter experienced such an event as a teenager and I believe it changed the course of her life (for the good).

What spiritual inheritance do we long for?  What mantle would we hand down? Would anyone want it?

PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for these spiritual giants Elijah and Elisha. Please help me to give Your Spirit greater access to my life. My desire is leave a worthwhile spiritual legacy. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 101

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Open eyes

Photo: V. Nesdoly

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Psalm 119:17-32

TO CHEW ON: “Open my eyes that I may see
Wondrous things from Your law.”


What a great prayer to pray regularly when we begin our times with the Lord!

It brings to mind incidents when Bible characters had their physical eyes opened to spiritual realities:

• Balaam, on his way to “curse” Israel for Balak had his eyes opened to the angel that was blocking his donkey’s path - Numbers 22:31.

• Elisha’s servant had his eyes opened to the surrounding “horses and chariots of fire”—the Lord’s army—after Elisha prayed - 2 Kings 6:17.

It brings to mind the question, why are some eyes spiritually closed, some open?

• Disobedience is one reason for spiritual blindness:

For the Lord has poured out on you
The spirit of deep sleep,
And has closed your eyes” - Isaiah 29:10.

• So is failure to acknowledge God’s existence and glorify and thank Him: “ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,  because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” Romans 1:20,21.

• But “'Blessed are the pure in heart, / For they shall see God’” - Matthew 5:8.

The beautiful thing is, spiritual sight is available and possible.

•  It came to the man born blind whose eyes Jesus healed with mud and Siloam water, so he could exclaim: “‘One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see’” - John 9:25. Jesus later made sure that He also addressed the man's spiritual sight issue - John 9:35-38.

• And it came to Saul/Paul on the Damascus Road. I love the parallel of physical and spiritual sight in his story. For it was after Ananias prayed for him that “scales” fell from his light-blinded eyes so that he regained his physical sight (Acts 9:17,18), while at the same time embarking on a new life path that God showed him - Acts 9:16.

Let’s make the psalmist’s prayer our own as we seek spiritual sight and insight for our lives from the Bible.

PRAYER: Dear Father, “Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.” Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

PREPARE

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Isaiah 40:1-20

TO CHEW ON: “Prepare the way of the LORD
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God” - Isaiah 40:3


How do we “prepare the way of the LORD” during this busy season?

If we want Christmas to be more than just a time of family and cultural celebration, we may find it necessary to ask ourselves if any spiritual road maintenance needs to happen in our lives.

My Thompson Chain Bible has a category called “Readiness precedes blessings.” I’ve distilled thoughts from some of those verses in an acrostic poem. Maybe you will find some things in it to help you “prepare the way of the Lord / Make a straight … a highway for our God.”

PREPARE

Provide a path for God
Rend your hearts, repent, return, reconcile
Envision with obedience-washed eyes
Prepare trenches for God’s blessing
Allow yourself to sit; allow the dead to rise
Reap the crop of God’s righteous rain
Enter—washed, white, every bit prepared

(Verses on which these are based [slash indicates line break]: Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3 / Joel 2:12-13; Matthew 5:24 / John 9:7 / 2 Kings 3:16-17 / Matthew 9:14-17; John 11:39 / Hebrews 10:12 / Revelation 7:13-14.)

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to prepare my heart for this beautiful season of remembering and celebrating Your incarnation.

MORE: Laurel’s story

My friend Laurel and her husband have two children with autism spectrum disorder. Listen to her story of how Christmas was ripped away, and then returned to her as she learned a new way to celebrate the season.



Laurel Archer | Advent from Christian Life Assembly on Vimeo.


Laurel and some of her friends write an Advent blog each year. It’s updated regularly throughout Advent at Four Parts Hope.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Seeing Jesus

Image: Aitoff / pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 12:12-26

TO CHEW ON: "Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and asked him saying, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.' " John 12:20,21


The scene was a Messiah-seeker's dream. Jesus' good reputation from raising Lazarus had spread so that when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9), He was accompanied by an adoring crowd. The significance of this act would not be lost on any Jew in the crowd familiar with Old Testament prophecy. They saw Him as their expected Messiah—a savior from Roman rule.

But now Greeks, proselytes who worshiped with the Jews to the extent they were allowed, came to Philip asking permission to see Jesus too. Jesus' answer to Philip and Andrew is puzzling: "'The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.'" What does that have to do with their request to see Him?

The invitation to see Jesus weaves through John. Jesus first issued it when two disciples met Him for the first time and asked, "'Where do you stay?'"  His answer: "'Come and see'" - John 1:39. Later the same Philip from our story answered Nathanael's question about Jesus: "'Can any good come out of Galilee?'" with "'Come and see'" - John 1:46. Then the Samaritan woman invited her neighbours to check out Jesus with, "'Come, see a Man who told me all things I ever did'" - John 4:29.

The people of Jesus' day saw Him as a human marvel of miracle-working and mind-reading wisdom. As He rode into Jerusalem, they saw Him as their Messiah. However, in our passage today we are ushered into a whole new stage of "seeing' Jesus. The IVP Commentary explains it well:

"When Andrew and Philip announce the coming of the Greeks something wondrous happens. It triggers the moment the reader has been anticipating since the story began: Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (v. 23). As with all his cryptic sayings, this response addresses the issue, but it does so in ways incomprehensible at the time. He does not speak directly to the Greeks, but he speaks of their place in his community in the future. For he reveals that it is time for his death to take place, through which a great crop will be produced (v. 24) as he draws all men to himself (v. 32)" - The IVP New Testament Commentary Series  accessed through Biblegateway.com.

Jesus calls his death "'glorification.'" How can death on a cross be considered this?

"It may seem strange to refer to Jesus' death as a glorification. But the death is at the heart of the Son's revelation of the Father, for God is love and love is the laying down of one's life (cf. 1 Jn 4:8; 3:16). So in the cross the heart of God is revealed most clearly" - Ibid.

In this time of our preparation to celebrate Jesus' passion, let's review the significance of these scenes and teachings from Jesus' life and "see" in Him God's love, willing to be sacrificed as a seed so we could have eternal life.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for this image of You as the seed of a God of love, willing to sacrifice Yourself so we could have life. Amen. 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recognizing Jesus

Mary Magdalene Sees Jesus Risen
- Artist unknown
From Treasures of the Bible

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 20:1-18

TO CHEW ON: "Now when she had said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know it was Jesus." John 20:14

I have always been puzzled by Mary's failure to recognize Jesus. Didn't she know Him well? Hadn't she observed Him at close quarters as one of the women who served His itinerant ministry? Why this failure to recognize him?

The IVP New Testament Commentary says of her uncomprehending reaction:

"Such can be the blinding effect of profound emotions. In this case, her inability to recognize him also seems to be due to the character of Jesus' resurrection body, since such failure is typical of encounters with him (cf. Matthew 28:17; Mark 16:12; Luke 24:16, 37; John 21:4)" - IVP Commentary of the New Testament accessed through "Study This" on Biblegateway.com.

This is by no means the only time Jesus wasn't recognized, though. A failure to recognize who He really was in His person and work was a common reaction to Him while He was on earth.

• Isaiah predicted this blindness - Isaiah 53:3.

• Though the disciples were guilty of this same reaction for much of the time Jesus was with them (John 14:9), they eventually got it. Look at what John says in His gospel, written some 50 years after Jesus' death and resurrection: "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him and the world did not know Him" - John 1:10.

• The Jewish leaders of Jesus' time who looked on Him as their rival clung tenacious to their unawareness - John 9:1-34.

• Jesus predicted that bad things would happen to His followers because people in authority didn't and wouldn't recognize Him and His Father - John 16:1-4.

The above could and does impact Christians in the world today. So do two other things about recognizing Jesus:

• People can see that we have seen and know Him by the bent of our lives. In his letter to early Christians, John says:

"Whoever abides in Him does not sin.* Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him" - 1 John 3:6 (emphasis added).

"No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him" - 1 John 3:6 NIV.

• Jesus may come to us even now in many ways through the needs of our fellowmen (Matthew 25:34-40). Do we recognize Him here?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, please open my eyes to see You in the needy people all around me. Soften my heart to respond as surely as I would if it were You in person. Amen.

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* "…does not sin…"  or "no one who lives in him keeps on sinning…" does not mean that the person who is in Christ never sins. The IVP Commentary is helpful here: "What is meant, then, by the statement no one who lives in him keeps on sinning is quite simple: sin is not the identifying characteristic of those who live in him." (Emphasis added.)


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Treasure hunt

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 119:17-32

TO CHEW ON: "Open my eyes that I may see

Wondrous things from Your law." Psalm 119:18

Francine Prose relates this incident in her book Reading Like A Writer:

"When I was a high school junior, our English teacher assigned us to write a term paper on the theme of blindness in Oedipus Rex and King Lear. We were supposed to go through the two tragedies and circle every reference to eyes, light, darkness, and vision, then draw some conclusion on which we would base our final essay.


It all seemed so dull, so mechanical. We felt we were way beyond it. Without this tedious time-consuming exercise, all of us knew that blindness played a starring role in both dramas.


Still, we liked our English teacher, we wanted to please him. And searching for every relevant word turned out to have an enjoyable treasure hunt aspect. ...  It was fun to trace those patterns and to make those connections. It was like cracking a code that the playwright had embedded in the text, a riddle that existed just for me to decipher. I felt as if I were engaged in some intimate communication with the writer, as if the ghosts of Sophocles and Shakespeare had been waiting patiently all those centuries for a bookish sixteen-year-old to come along and find them" - p. 4-5.

Did you catch that: "...I felt as if I were engaged in some intimate communication with the writer..." Isn't that exactly what happens when we read the Bible and begin to see the patterns, crack the code, understand the schemes of God—how all that ceremony and sacrificing in the Old Testaments culminates in Jesus, how themes like blood and water, bread and sheep, yeast and fire are woven through the Bible in a sort of "wink, wink—get it?" message?

The wonderful thing is that unlike the reading of dead playwrights, when we read the Bible we have the Writer beside us, in us, "opening our eyes" as we read. It's interesting to note Bible passages that describe moments of sight.

• In the case of Elisha's servant, it came after Elisha's prayer for God to open the servant's eyes to the angelic army that surrounded them - 2 Kings 6:17.

• From his pit of suffering Job declares, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You" Job 42:5.

• Jesus pronounces the blessing of the sight of God to the pure in heart - Matthew 5:8.

• His words "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more but you will see Me," show that such sight is the possession of believers: faith is necessary - John 14:19.

• Jesus further taught His disciples that sight and insight would come to them through the Holy Spirit - John 16:5-15.

Let's continue to look for and expect to find treasure in the Bible as we make the psalmist's prayer our prayer:

PRAYER: Dear God, open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.