My God Is Salvation [2] "Where Now is the Lord?"

Songwriter and singer Sufjan Stevens has written these words in one of his songs: Oh God, where are you now? Oh Lord, say somehow. The devil is hard on my face again. The world is a hundred to one again. Have you ever felt that way? Ever asked that question: O God where are you now?
We find the prophet Elisha asking the same question as his mentor and friend Elijah was taken away from him: Oh God, where are you now? Read: 2 Kings 2.1-18

Though Israel was idolatrous and corrupt (though they were faithless), the Lord was faithful and raised up His prophets to be His presence in their midst. When Elijah was taken up to heaven, Elisha asked the question: “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” And what was the answer? The answer was given in the miracle that followed: Elisha struck the Jordan River with the cloak of Elijah and, as it had parted for Elijah, so it parted for Elisha. So the answer was that God was still powerfully present with His people through His prophet.

The authority, power and spirit of Elijah were transferred to Elisha as his heir. Elisha had asked to inherit a double portion of Elijah’s spirit (the amount given to ones heir). Elijah told him this was a difficult thing to grant, because the Spirit was not really Elijah’s to give. It was up to God. But God granted that request and filled Elisha with His Spirit.

As we consider this theme further, I want us to look at this story in three different ways: in terms of discipleship, presence and power and prefigurement.

First, Discipleship. Elisha was a disciple to the end. He was faithful to his call. For Elijah, knowing that the Lord was going to take him away, told Elisha three times to stay behind. However, all three times, Elisha declared, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” Elisha was faithful to his calling and his promise to follow. As they journeyed from Gilgal to Bethel and then to Jericho, they were met by the ‘company of the prophets’ in each city who warned Elisha that the Lord was going to take Elijah away. But Elisha was not dissuaded. He persistently followed Elijah. And therefore Elisha fulfilled the purpose of discipleship, which is to be like the one you follow. Elisha is an example to us of what it means (and looks like) to be a disciple. A disciple learns, serves, imitates and eventually does the work of the master.

Next, I want us to look at the story in terms of Presence and Power. Elisha received a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. By the power of the Spirit, Elisha was able to stand up to kings (since his authority was above theirs); and he was able to minister to those in need – healing, feeding, providing for the helpless. After taking up the fallen mantle of Elijah, Elisha became the primary prophet of the Lord. But he wanted to be sure that he had been empowered and so he returned to the Jordan and, standing by the flowing waters of the river asked, “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” And when he struck the water with the cloak and, as it did for Elijah, the water divided to the right and the left and Elisha crossed over. This was convincing proof (to both Elisha and the company of the prophets who were watching). And notice how and where this event took place: Elisha re-entered the Land just like Joshua and the Israelites did (by crossing the Jordan River which had been parted by the Lord), and at the same location – Jericho. Elisha then entered the land like a second Joshua. And his ministry was a sort of conquest. His ministry was to claim the land and the people for the Lord. And so he ministered mercy and brought judgment.

I also want us to consider this story in terms of Prefigurement. To prefigure is to show or represent beforehand by a figure, type or model; to foreshadow. And the stories of Elisha clearly prefigure our Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. Jesus showed His disciples how all of Scripture speaks of Him. We see that clearly in this passage. And so, let’s look at the story in terms of a cast of characters.
- In one sense, Elijah is a type of John the Baptist – a lone voice in the wilderness. Jesus
even refers to John as being Elijah. As John baptized Jesus and then faded from the scene,
so Elijah anointed Elisha and soon was taken away. Elisha then is a type of Jesus. Elisha
was surrounded by disciples and had a ministry of life-giving miracles (cleansing a leper,
raising a dead son, multiplying bread, providing for the helpless).
- In another sense Elijah is a type of Christ and Elisha represents the disciples. As the
disciples left their fishing nets and family to follow Jesus, we saw last week how Elisha left his
family farm to follow Elijah. As the disciples carried on the work of Jesus, so Elisha carried
on the work of Elijah. As Elisha was given Elijah’s spirit, so the disciples were all filled with
the Holy Spirit.

And so, we can see hints of the Gospel here in these stories. But does it really matter? Yes. It does matter - a lot. Because without Jesus, the significance of this story collapses. If God was only ever present in the great figures of Israelite history and not ultimately in the Word made flesh, God incarnate, the Messiah Jesus, then these might be good stories, but that is all they are. Elisha’s question “where is the Lord?” is not only significant because it resonates with our human experience, but because it looks forward to the ultimate Answer. Where do we find God? We find God when we see Jesus (see: 2 Cor 4:6 and John 1:18). The Lord was powerfully present with His people through His prophet. But even more than that - through the life of this prophet, God foreshadowed how He would be even more intimately present with His people through His Son. Elisha’s ministry was but a foretaste of that of Jesus. The presence and power of the Spirit in the life of Elisha was a foretaste of the presence and power of the Spirit in the lives of Jesus’ followers.

So, we have looked at this story in terms of discipleship and seen that Elisha was FAITHFUL TO THE CALL. We have looked at it in terms of presence and power and seen that Elisha was FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. And we have looked at it in terms of prefigurement and seen that the story of Elisha is FOCUSED ON CHRIST.

What do we learn? We learn that God is present with His people and the strength of His people when His people (like Elisha) are: FAITHFUL TO THE CALL, FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT, and FOCUSED ON CHRIST.

The people of Israel, in the days of Elisha, could rightly wonder where the Lord was. They felt His absence and they felt how vulnerable they were to hostile nations around them, because they were faithless in terms of their calling; they had rejected the voice of God’s Spirit in the mouths of the prophets; they had rejected God’s way of salvation. We too may feel God’s absence. We too may feel far away from God and vulnerable to the hostile forces of this world. Sometimes, that’s simply the result of life being hard. But often that feeling is the natural result of us:
- Being more faithful to the pressures, expectations and ways of the world than to the call of
God in our lives.
- Filling ourselves with anything and everything other than the Spirit of God.
- Being more focused on ourselves (our own wants, desires, felt needs, assumed rights,
entitlements, lusts, addictions, ambitions) than on Christ and His Way.

The prophet Isaiah wrote this: “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things” (Isaiah 59:1-3).

When we sense the Lord’s absence maybe it is because we need repentance. The arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. God is there. He is ready and willing to save, to hear us, to help us. But your iniquities have separated you from your God. We allow sin and self to come in between us and God. We allow the stuff of the world (the noise, lies, perversions, distractions, temptations) to corrode and clog our spiritual arteries blocking the flow of God’s presence from us.

We need the witness of Elisha and the conviction of the Spirit who filled him to draw us back and give us repentant hearts
- That we would turn from faithlessness and be faithful to the call of God in our lives.
- That we would empty the junk out of our lives so that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit.
- That we would allow “the things of earth to grow strangely dim” as we turn the focus of our
lives upon Jesus.
Then we will know the presence and power of the Lord. Then He will be our strength. Then, when we are faithful, filled and focused, we can answer the question, “O God, where are you now?” with the ultimate answer: He is here; He is with me because I am in Him.

The world in Elisha’s day needed to see the presence and power of the Lord. Our world does as well. And when we are faithful to the call, filled with the Spirit and focused on Christ, we not only experience God’s presence and power personally, we display it for the world to see.

Where now is the Lord?