Passage: 1 Kings 19:15-21; 2 Kings 2:1-12

The Big Idea

Elisha spent about ten years following Elijah before he ever began his own ministry. In those years he learned to love his master, learned submission and had that love tested. Relationship comes before service. Elisha’s call and seven tests are the same ones we face as followers of Jesus: a changed life, our affections, sincerity, other people’s opinions, faith, patience and character. Elisha passed them by staying close to his master, and when Elijah was taken up, the master’s power rested on the servant. Before we serve God, we spend time with Him, and then receive His life and power to do what He would do.

A Decade of Devotion

Elisha and Elijah lived and served together for about ten years. That’s what we look at today.

It began the day Elijah called Elisha to follow him, and ended the day Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Only then did Elisha begin to represent God to the people.

During those years, Elisha learned to love Elijah. He learned submission. And that love and submission were tested.

Relationship comes before service.

Relationships take a lot: commitment, effort, faithfulness.
Many believers are eager to serve the Lord but haven’t yet developed a deep relationship with Jesus.
Honestly, we don’t control how fast that happens.
And another hard truth: our relationship with Jesus usually deepens most through trials and struggles. Testing.

The call and testings of Elisha are the same things we’ll go through as followers of Jesus. Before we serve God, we spend time with Him, and then receive His life and power to do what He would do.

The Call (1 Kings 19:15-21)

After Elijah’s great discouragement in the wilderness, God sent him back with new assignments: anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat as prophet in your place. God also reminded Elijah that He had preserved seven thousand in Israel who hadn’t bowed to Baal. So Elijah found Elisha plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, driving the twelfth pair himself (1 Kings 19:15-19).

Elisha wasn’t looking for God. God was looking for him, through Elijah.
That’s how all of us are saved. God comes after us!
If you don’t believe yet, God will keep pursuing you as long as you live.
He loves you and doesn’t want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9).
So He keeps sending Jesus after you.
He won’t force you. He respects the will He gave you.
Yet His love keeps seeking you. Anyone who refuses Him to the end will have to walk past the cross to do it.

Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.

God called Elisha through Elijah’s cloak. It’s an invitation to relationship!
It’s an invitation to serve God together, to share in the work of His kingdom.
It’s the same invitation God extends to us: “Come follow Me. Learn from Me. Walk with Me. Take My yoke on you” (Matthew 11:29).
“Come know Me, and come serve with Me.”

Elisha responded right away, almost as if the Holy Spirit had been preparing his heart. Because He had!

Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and asked, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I’ll follow you.” Elijah said, “Go back. What have I done to you?” So Elisha went back, slaughtered his oxen, boiled the meat using the plowing equipment for fuel and gave it to the people to eat. Then he got up, followed Elijah and became his servant (1 Kings 19:20-21).

Elisha accepted the call. He believed it and received it. So they all lived happily ever after, right?

Not quite. Immediately the tests began. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17), so his faith had to be tested to show it was real.

Test 1: A Changed Life

Elisha had to change his life. He gave up a good business. Twelve yoke of oxen was a sizable operation. He’d have to leave it immediately to follow his master.

No soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, since he wants to please the one who enlisted him (2 Timothy 2:4).

This doesn’t mean we all quit our jobs.
It means we let go of everything we hold dear, for Jesus.
Yes, everything.
Anything you hold back becomes an idol in your heart.
Anything you refuse to surrender, Jesus will lovingly deal with.
Wouldn’t it be better to give it all to Him freely at the start, like Elisha?
“I didn’t do that when God first called me, and now it’s so hard.”
If you’ve felt stuck in your walk with Jesus for years, this may be why.
What do we do? Turn back to Him! Give it all to Him today. He’s gracious and kind and will receive you. Don’t let the enemy steal one more day of your life with things that won’t last.

How to pass the test: Leave your old life and run after Jesus. Let Him lead what you do at work, at home, in the car, everywhere. Run after Jesus with all of it!

Test 2: Affections

“Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I’ll follow you.”

Notice how humble Elisha already is. He won’t even say goodbye to his parents without his master’s permission.
He’s not a robot. He loves his parents and wants to say goodbye.
He’s not delaying obedience. He wants to tie off every loose end that could hold him back, rather than leaving his parents wondering what happened to him.
Elisha cut ties in love. He would serve one master.
So do we. We don’t have to be harsh. But we have to let go of anything that demands to come before Jesus.
We can’t love anything more than God, even good things like family (Luke 14:26).

“Go back. What have I done to you?”

Elijah wants Elisha to be sure he knows what he’s getting into.
Jesus also tested His followers, and many turned back (John 6:66).
Elisha wasn’t signing up for an easy life, but for service, suffering and enemies who’d want him dead just for being with Elijah.
This was his chance to take the easy road.

But Elisha was all in. He threw a farewell feast, using the tools of his old livelihood as firewood!

His old life was sacrificed to celebrate his new one.
He blessed people. He gave what he had. He was transformed and free.

He followed Elijah and became his servant.

A servant’s life: ready to take orders, ready to do what the master says, never seeking his own will.
Is that where you are with Jesus? Or are you still plowing your own field with your own oxen?
Surrender is where true discipleship begins.
You might think you believe, but your surrender shows what you really believe.

How to pass the test: Follow one Master, love one Master, serve one Master. All in.

Test 3: Sincerity (2 Kings 2:1-2)

When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah said, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I will not leave you!” So they went to Bethel together.

What’s the master doing?

Does he want to be alone?
Does he want to spare Elisha the grief of watching him leave?
He’s proving what Elisha promised at the start: “I will follow you!”
He’s giving us a chance to see how attached Elisha is to his master, and how attached we should be to Jesus.

Paul knew people who left after following for a while. Demas deserted me, because he loved this present world (2 Timothy 4:10).

Elijah gave his servant an open door to leave, though he likely knew he’d stay. They’d walked together for ten years. Still, the test was real and needed to happen.

How to pass the test: Enduring love. If Elisha’s heart weren’t in love with his master, he’d have jumped at the permission to leave. But following Jesus produces love. The heart grows more devoted over the years, unless we’re only staying out of obligation.

We can’t follow Jesus out of obligation. It must be love!

Test 4: “Are You Crazy?” (2:3)

The prophets at Bethel came out and said to Elisha, “Do you know the Lord will take your master from you today?” He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet!”

Other believers thought Elisha was too intense, too passionate.
“You know this isn’t worth it, right? God will still love you if you stop now.”
“But I love Him too much to leave!”
Paul didn’t consult with people about his call either (Galatians 1:16).
Will you listen to people, or to God?
Elisha was called to follow Elijah, and he’d be faithful.

How to pass the test: Don’t listen to people who think following Jesus is too much. “Friends, I love you, but I don’t follow you. I hear you. But I’m crazy… about Him. I follow Him.”

Test 5: Faith (2:4)

Elijah said, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I will not leave you!” So they went to Jericho.

They were at Bethel, “the house of God,” where Jacob saw the stairway to heaven (Genesis 28:19). A great place to be!
Jericho, by comparison, was a cursed city (Joshua 6:26).
“Really? That’s where God is sending you?”
Faith follows even when it doesn’t make sense.
Elijah said, “The Lord has sent me.”
So following meant going to the unlikely place, not for the place, but for the master.

How to pass the test: Trust the Word alone. You can’t make decisions only on what makes sense to you. Listen, and follow.

Test 6: Patience (2:5-6)

The prophets at Jericho said the same thing, and Elisha gave the same answer: “Yes, I know. Be quiet!” Then Elijah said, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I will not leave you!” So the two of them went on.

Elisha could have been very helpful to the young prophets at Jericho. A lot of ministry was happening there.
But the master said, “You can stay, but I’m going to the Jordan.”
What would they do there? There’s nothing there!
Wouldn’t it be more practical to stay?
Following Jesus isn’t always about what seems practical. It’s about staying close to Jesus.
Philip was being greatly used in Samaria when God sent him to a desert road, and he was blessed for obeying (Acts 8:26-39).

How to pass the test: Just stay close to Jesus!

Test 7: Character (2:7-9)

Fifty of the prophets watched from a distance as the two stood by the Jordan. Elijah rolled up his cloak and struck the water, and it parted, and they crossed on dry ground. Then Elijah said, “Ask! What can I do for you before I’m taken from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be on me.”

Jesus said, Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive (Matthew 21:22).
That question was the test. It tests us too.
What do you want from the Master? If He offered this to you, what is your heart really set on?
A servant of character answers in a way that glorifies God and helps people.
God offers us this kind of promise as we follow Him, and our answer reveals our character.
Do you care about His kingdom, or yours?
Elisha asked for a double portion of the Spirit, the spiritual resources his master had used.
In Israel, the firstborn son received a double portion of the inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:17). Elisha was asking to be Elijah’s true spiritual heir.
He wanted to glorify God and bless people. No fleshly or worldly desires!

How to pass the test: Just stay close to Jesus! Let His heart and desires become yours. You become like the friends you keep.

The Chariot of Fire (2:10-12)

Elijah said, “You’ve asked a hard thing. Yet if you see me when I’m taken from you, it will be yours; if not, it won’t.”

It’s still about relationship: staying close enough to see.

As they walked on, talking, suddenly a chariot of fire with horses of fire separated them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more, and tore his clothes in grief.

Elisha has a heart of love for his master.
He’s stayed close, learned from him and loved him.
Now his master’s power and life will be seen in him. Get ready!

Jesus told His disciples: I am sending you what My Father promised; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49).

Grace Takeaway

Before we serve God, we spend time with Him, and then receive His life and power to do what He would do. Elisha’s secret wasn’t talent or toughness; it was nearness. Every test came down to the same question: Will you stay close to your Master? Jesus has thrown His cloak over you, inviting you to know Him and serve with Him. Stay close, and you’ll see His Spirit and power rest on your life too.

For Discussion

Our main lesson: “Before you serve God, you must follow Him.” Are you following Jesus in every area of your life? What areas used to be your own way but now follow Jesus?
Read Luke 9:18-26. Who did the crowds say Jesus was, and how does that compare with today?
In Jesus’ day, the cross meant suffering and death. Describe in your own words the life Jesus calls His followers to in verse 23.
What does Jesus mean in verse 24? What kind of life is He talking about?
According to Jesus, can you be a “closet Christian”? What happens if you are?
Summarize what Jesus asks of His followers in this passage.
Read Luke 18:18-30. What kind of life does Jesus promise His followers here on earth? In heaven?
What would be the hardest thing for you to give up to follow Jesus?

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The Call and Testings of Elisha