It is humorous that Elijah continues to go from place to
place and each place he goes prophets come to Elisha to tell him that Elijah is
going to be taken from him this day. Apparently
the Lord had told nearly everyone what He was going to do. It surely did some good for Elijah's heart to
see some of those prophets the Lord had told him He had kept safe. The secret was no secret at all because God
told them all. Finally, Elijah goes back
over the Jordan as the Lord rolls back the water just as He had done with Joshua
so long ago, and he and Elisha now go back across. While they are together Elijah asks what
Elisha wants him to do, a la Solomon, and Elijah asks for one thing, a double
portion of Elijah's spirit, indicating that he was given the birthright of a
spiritual first born son who received a double portion of his father's
inheritance. When Elisha takes the cloak
of Elijah after his mentor is taken up, he copies Elijah's actions in crossing
the Jordan, the proof that indeed he has received according to his
request, and all the others know it has
passed to him. They have trouble
believing the story that Elijah was taken up bodily into heaven and seek to
find him or his body but Elisha ultimately says, "I told you so."
Jesus is clear about the law, it is God's law and will not
be changed. Our righteousness is to
exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.
We know that on the one hand that relates to His righteousness
alone. Our only hope of entering the
kingdom of heaven is always His righteousness.
The other side of that is that we are to pursue righteousness, to desire
it enough to work for it in our own lives.
We work with the assistance of the Holy Spirit but the work of entering
the kingdom of heaven, no matter how far we progress in righteousness, is
always the work of the perfect righteousness of Jesus, the work of fulfilling
all righteousness, all the way to the cross in submission to the Father's
will. We, like Elisha, are to seek a
double portion of His Spirit in order that we might be true heirs of the
kingdom, that we might display in our bodies the imprint of God that Jesus
alone bore perfectly.
Paul says that he does not judge himself. Have you advanced that far in the
kingdom? Paul lays no claim to perfection
though he does say, "I am not aware of anything against myself…" What he also says is that he is not acquitted
because he is unaware of anything against him.
He is not the judge of himself, only God is judge and he warns against
our judgment on any person because we know so little of anyone, including ourselves,
in truth, and because we know so little of righteousness. There are flaws and defects in our lives that
are not at all apparent to us that will become apparent in light of His perfect
righteousness. Humility in seeking after
Him is always necessary. Because of His
sacrifice, we are free to pursue righteousness without the fear of losing our
inheritance. Let us not live too carefully,
but with reckless abandon for the kingdom of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment