What a marvellous thing it is, that this man did not spend his last day on earth making peace with God. He did not spend his last day on earth making peace with God, because he already had peace with God. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and Colin, it sounds like today is all about ending well. Yeah, and Elijah is the most marvellous example of how to do that, and the end of his life has really come out of the faithfulness that has been seen through all the ups and downs of his experience. Boy, he went through some tough stuff, and God used him in remarkable ways, and God used him in very hidden ways, but at the end of his life, we see the fruit of this man’s godliness, and the surprise in his life is that in these later years, he accomplished his most significant work. There’ll be folks who are listening to the programme today, you’re in your fifties, your sixties, your seventies or older, your greatest work for Jesus Christ may be in this era of your life, and Elijah is an example of that to you. It’s a wonderful encouragement and a great story. It is. And let’s continue that story as we go on with our message, Your Influence Lasts Longer Than You Think. Here’s Colin. Staying in 2 Kings in chapter 2 and moving the camera in a little more here, we have this description that we’re given here of Elijah’s last day on the earth before he’s taken up into the presence of the Lord, and what an amazing day it was. He used his last day to make this sort of farewell tour in which he visited the sons of the prophets at these various locations before he crosses the Jordan River. The geography is fascinating. Elijah must have travelled between 25 and 30 miles in this trip, and I’ve no doubt that he preached a message at each of these locations, so it was quite a vigorous and strenuous last day before he went into the presence of the Lord. Now I just want to pause here for a moment and say this. What a marvelous thing it is that this man did not spend his last day on earth making peace with God. He did not spend his last day on earth making peace with God because he already had peace with God. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and on the day that you die there’s nothing to be added to that any more than there’s anything that you could add to that in any other day of your life. That’s your security. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He knows this when the day of departure comes, Elijah does not go into some kind of panic, and neither will you if you truly are Christ. He has peace with God, he stands in grace, he looks ahead to the hope of glory, he says I’ve got one more day left, what’s the best thing I can do with it? Let’s spend the day saying goodbye to the people I love. Isn’t that marvelous? Do you know that you have peace with God today? Can you say today, I have peace with God, it is right between me and God right now, through Jesus Christ who is my Lord and is my Savior. Whether that day comes now or whether it comes years from now, there’s nothing that you can ever add to that. If that is not yet true of you, I urge you not to wait until the end of the sermon. Can you say right now from your heart, Lord Jesus Christ, I need you as my Savior now, I need the forgiveness that comes from your cross right now, I need to be your person right now, I need to embrace you as Lord as you embrace me, I need to let go of the sins and the double life I’ve been hanging on to right now, I want to be at peace with you now. Don’t leave it to the last day of your life. You don’t know when that will be. So here is this man who has peace with God, and what a wonderful picture this is. He said, I’m going to be with the Lord, I want to now say goodbye to my friends, I want to encourage others who are going to continue the work that God has given me to do, and they’re going to be more fruitful than I have ever been, so I want to encourage them to be faithful. And we’re told here that the day begins in Gilgal, Elijah was going to Bethel, which is ten miles west, over the mountains. This is quite a journey, really. And he says to Elisha, stay here, well if you were Elisha would you have left him? I’ve got a chance, I’ve got one more day with a great man, I’m going to stick close to him every minute of the day. I’m coming with you Elijah, I’ve got a hundred thousand questions I’ve got to get packed into this day before you go. Isn’t that how you would feel? I know it is how I would feel. Elisha’s like a sponge, like a leech, hanging on to him and saying I want every minute that I can with you, and rightly so as well. So they go to Bethel, and the sons of the prophets there also knew that this was Elijah’s last day. The sons of the prophets, God had evidently revealed this to them, and so verse three, one of them says to Elisha, do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from you? And I just love this, Elisha says, yes I know it, now keep quiet. I love that, I love that. He says look, I know it’s the last day I got with a great man and I don’t need you to keep reminding me, let me enjoy it, let me enjoy it. And it’s a wonderful touch. And there will be people in your life and you can’t imagine your life without them. And Elisha I’m sure cannot imagine ministry, life, without Elijah who’s been his best friend and his mentor and has taught him so much. Learn everything you can from older godly people while you have them. I say to everyone who’s younger in the congregation, cherish every senior Christian who has walked with God for years and use every opportunity that you have to gain the benefit of their wisdom. Let’s treasure that for as long as we have everyone who truly walks with God. They are gifts to the church and this church is replete with them. Then Elijah goes on to Jericho, that’s 10 miles back in the opposite direction to the east and he meets with another cohort of these younger men. What a marvelous day this must have been for Elijah, must have been pretty exhausted after all this travel. Now he comes, no doubt preaches another sermon, stay faithful, the God who was with me will be with you and so forth and so on. Here’s the man who’s been saying half his life, I even I only am left and look at what’s happening now, he’s leaving behind a generation of godly leaders who speak the truth of the word of God with clarity and power and they’re there in Bethel and they’re there in Jericho and they’re there in Gilgal and they’re there by the Jordan and God has multiplied ministry through this new generation of men. So the last years leading to the joys of the last day, one day, what a day it was. And now let’s zoom in even more closely, I want us to see together the last moments, the last moments. Verse 11, as they went on and talked, behold chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, that’s Elijah and Elisha. Here’s the separation coming, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. What an amazing scene, one of only two men who goes from earth to heaven without going through death. Now the angels in the Bible are described as chariots of God, in Psalm 68, they’re also described in Hebrews chapter 1 as winds and as flames of fire. So when you read about chariots and when you read about flames and when you read about whirlwind, you know for sure that the angels, who are normally invisible to us, are here being made visible to Elijah and to Elisha and that stooping down, they are lifting the servant of God up into the presence of his master. It is a beautiful and a wonderful picture. And of course, this is the story in the Bible that gave rise to the song that is so widely known, Swing Low Sweet Chariot. You know that song? Come in for to carry me home? Well this is exactly where it comes from, and if you hear it sung you might like to bring up this story and get the conversation onto the Bible. Remember what it says, I looked over Jordan and what did I see? Come in for to carry me home, a band of angels coming after me, they’re coming for to carry me home. So Swing Low Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home. Well this is a remarkable miracle, obviously, and the question then is, but how does it speak to us today? A faithful preacher has the responsibility always to ask two questions. One is, how does this relate to Jesus? And the other is, how does it relate to us? And when Christ returns, we know that those who are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We can draw that line of connection for sure. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, the New Testament says, and some of us, perhaps all of us, may be among these people. But having said that, and with that glorious hope ahead of the church, it remains true that the vast majority of Christians go from earth to heaven through death. All of us do until the day of the Lord’s return. So the question remains, how then does this passage that seems to describe something absolutely unique then speak to us? I pondered this long this week and found great joy in doing so. So let me draw your attention to this, that before Elijah was swept up by the angels, we are told very significantly that he crossed the Jordan. Verse 8, Elijah took his cloak, he’s by the Jordan River, and he rolled it up and he struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other till the two of them could go over on dry ground. Now you see the significance of this back in the time of Joshua when God’s people came into the promised land, they were coming from the east, similarly the Jordan River was parted at the time of Joshua, God did that miracle to bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey. But now Elijah is crossing in the opposite direction, he’s going out, very significant, he’s going out and again God opens the river to give him a safe passage as he goes out from the earthly Canaan and towards the Canaan that is above into the presence of Christ in heaven itself. Now you all know that the river Jordan is often used as a symbol of death and that is very familiar to us and it’s very relevant here. We sing these words, when I tread the verge of Jordan bid my anxious fears subside, death of death and hell’s destruction land me safe on Canaan’s side, a reference of course there to heaven itself, that’s a way in which we speak about death, the verge of Jordan. Now look at what is happening here. God has parted the Jordan to give his people a safe passage into the Canaan that is above and Elijah walks through and wonderfully Elisha walks behind him. It’s not of course Elisha’s time to go but he is being reminded in this wonderful event that when his time comes he will be as safe as Elijah was. What a glorious picture that is of pointing us to Jesus Christ who by going through death himself, by passing through these waters himself, has made a safe passage through these waters for all who follow him, just like Elijah followed Elijah. And that is why as Christian believers we can say for me, let it be Christ, I want for Christ to live and when Jordan above me shall roll, there’s the image of death, when Jordan above me shall roll no pang shall be mine for in death as in life you will whisper your peace to my soul. Even when the waters of death close over me I will be given a safe passage because of Jesus Christ who has made this passage safe, I will go through, I will not end here, I will not be submerged here, I will go through, I will be taken through these waters even of death. Now put these things together and see this. Elijah goes through the Jordan and then is lifted up into the presence of God. Put these two together and you have the perfect picture of what will happen to every believer, what will happen to you one day if you are in Jesus Christ. What is death for a Christian? It is to pass safely through the Jordan and to be lifted up into the presence of God. Here’s death for a Christian friend, it is through and up, that’s what it is. Through and up, through death, made safe by Jesus Christ and up into the presence of almighty God. Through and up, through and up. And one day that will be the path in which the Lord Jesus Christ leads you as safely as he led Elijah. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the concluding part of our message Your Influence Lasts Longer Than You Think and it’s part of our series The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life and if you ever miss one of our broadcasts, why not go online to openthebible.org.uk, there you can find all of the previous messages, go back and listen again. You’ll also find Open the Bible as a podcast on all your favourite podcast sites. Now let’s get back to the message, here’s Colin. And finally I just want to end the series here, a kind of postscript, I want you to notice the godly successors first steps because it may be some years until some are called into the presence of Christ and there is much, much, much work for you to be doing between now and that day. Put yourself then in the shoes of young Elijah and the great man’s gone and what in the world is he going to do now? And you notice what he does do, verse 12, the first thing he does is he just tears his clothes and you know what that is, it’s an eastern expression of grief and it’s a very intense expression of grief, he rips his own clothes. And I’ve no doubt that the tears would have flowed. Spurgeon has this beautiful comment, he says, Jesus wept and you could not be like Jesus unless you wept too. So never be ashamed of the tears at the loss of someone you dearly love, huge hole. Jesus wept and you could not be like Jesus unless you wept too. What do you do after the grieving? What do you do after the weeping? Notice what happens next, verse 13, he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him. Here’s this man and his mentor, his friend, the one who’s been the center of his world has been taken up into the presence of the Lord and what is he to do now? How can he move forward from here? And his first instinct has been to tear his clothes, he’s been weeping and eventually he dries his eyes and what do I do now? And there right in front of him, there’s this cloak on the ground. And the Bible tells us quite specifically what has happened, Elijah’s been taken up into the presence of the Lord, he’s not going to need his cloak anymore, his work is done and as he goes up to heaven the thing floats down from the sky and lands right in front of Elijah on the ground. This is the cloak that Elijah had put on Elijah’s shoulders when he called him. And Elijah then takes up the cloak and he puts it on. The right response after you have grieved the loss of a godly person is to carry on the path in which they walked. Were they humble? You be humble now too. Did they pray? You give yourself to prayer now too. Did they engage in some great work? Are you able to continue that work? If you are not, are you able to encourage someone else who can? The right response after you have grieved the loss of a godly person is to carry on in the path that they had walked. And don’t you just love this picture of this cloak coming floating down as Elijah goes up the thing falls off and it lies there on the ground. Doesn’t that make you think of another scene where the disciples are so grieving Jesus as he’s taken from them into the presence of the Father in heaven. He ascends. Oh, what are we going to do without Jesus? We’ve had him right next to us. We could ask him questions any day in the last three years and now he’s up at the right hand of the Father. Oh, we’re glad about that, but what are we going to do? What are we going to do? And a few days later, what happens? The day of Pentecost. Remember what Jesus said? The Holy Spirit comes and here’s how Jesus describes it. You will be clothed with power. The cloak of Christ, the spirit of Christ, the presence of Christ will rest upon you so that you are able to do the work of the master in the power of his spirit that rests on you. So Elisha takes his first step into a whole new era of life. He casts the cloak down at the Jordan and God marvelously confirms his presence with Elisha by doing precisely the same miracle as Elijah had seen happen on the way out. And I just love the fact that he asks this question. He doesn’t say, where is Elijah? He says, where is the God of Elijah? And the answer is Elijah, of course, is gone. But the God of Elijah is right here with you, Elisha, and he will never leave you and he will never forsake you. And that is the promise of God also to you. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and the final part of our message, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life, spotlighting the life and story of Elijah. And if you’ve missed any of the series, remember you can always go back and listen online at openthebible.org.uk. There you can stream any of our previous messages. When you come to the website, please take a little time to look around. We have lots of resources to help you grow in your walk with Christ. There’s a section called Open the Bible Story, which takes you on a journey through the Bible, showing you how it’s all one story, which begins in the garden and ends in the city of God, and the whole way through, the Bible story points to Jesus Christ. And coming this autumn, there’s another section, Open the Bible for Leaders, with a lot of practical training for those who are in Christian leadership. If you’re taking on a role in Christian ministry, it’s not easy. Whether you’re leading a small group, teaching a Sunday school class, or serving as a missionary, establishing deep roots in God’s word is essential if you want to serve effectively and glorify God as you do that. Look out for this new section in the website coming this autumn. You can find our website at openthebible.org.uk. Open the Bible is able to remain on this station and on the internet because of the generosity of our listeners. This month, if you’re able to begin a new monthly donation to Open the Bible of £5 or more, we would love to send you the book The Fight by John White. Colin, give us a sample of this book. It is warm in the way that it’s expressed, and it’s very practical in taking us through what it means to live the Christian life. So, for example, in his chapter on prayer, which I think is just outstanding, he gives several principles as to how we can grasp God’s will in prayer. For example, he says it’s always God’s will that we praise him. It’s always God’s will that we open up the longings of our hearts and speak to him, tell him how it is. It’s always, he says, God’s will that we pray for our enemies. He applies that scripture really powerfully. He says it’s always God’s will that when we don’t know what his will is, we should ask. Really practical, wisdom given in a warm and a fatherly way. Anyone who reads this book is going to be helped to grow in the Christian life. Again, the book is The Fight, and it’s our gift to you when you set up a new monthly donation to Open the Bible of £5 or more. You can find details of this offer and lots more information about Open the Bible at openthebible.org.uk. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I very much hope you’ll join us again soon. How important is your heart? Find out next time as we begin our new series, A Father’s Wisdom. Join us next time on Open the Bible.