Elijah was the prophet of fire and rain. He brought fire from heaven on the sacrifices and rain to end the drought (I Kings 18:30–46).
Elisha was the prophet of the double portion.
Elijah’s and Elisha’s ministry had much in common. They were able to smite waters and part them; they brought water in times of drought; they helped widows in times of famine; they raised from the dead only sons; and they performed miracles for those who were outside of Israel, which was not a common practice among the prophets of the Old Testament. They pronounced judgments on kings and vengeance on unbelievers.
Elijah and Elisha brought miracles of judgment and miracles of provision that were very much like what we must believe for in the days ahead. We may have to perform the miracles of Elijah and Elisha in the days ahead, if they get worse. It would be impossible for us to store enough food to take care of ourselves in the days to come. We will need miracles such as the miracle Jesus performed, multiplying the five loaves and two fishes, or the miracle Elijah and Elisha performed, multiplying bread, the meal and the oil, so that there was always enough for everyone.
No matter what provision we make in our diligence, we should become concerned about how the prophets of old did the miracles. What developed their faith so that they were able to perform miracles? How were the miracles performed? How did the Lord do the miracle of turning the water into wine? How did He change the molecular structure to create the good wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1–11)?
The miracles of judgment are necessary. Today there is such an element of lawlessness in the land that it closely parallels the times of apostasy in Israel, the country to which Elijah and Elisha prophesied.
These men were prophets who spoke the word of God to a people who had drawn away from the Lord. In the stories of Ahab and Jezebel are examples of how corruption and the complete disregard of righteousness and judgment can exist in the rulers of a land. Judgments were pronounced on them, and the judgments came to pass through famines and various testings.
In the end time, judgments will be performed again; the two witnesses will be able to speak any word that they find necessary to speak, and they will bring judgments upon the inhabitants of the earth.
The judgments will be so great that the inhabitants of the earth will be incensed against them. When the two witnesses are finally slain and left dead in the streets for a certain period of time, people will declare a worldwide holiday and rejoice over their deaths. In the midst of the rejoicing, the two witnesses will be resurrected and will ascend on high. More of the seals will be broken and judgments will begin to fall on the earth exactly as God has said (Revelation 11).
Before many of us walk in the full manifestation of resurrection life, we will be performing miracles; and some of us may be slain and resurrected into a place of rule and authority.
The manchild will come forth as it is written in the book of Revelation, and the dragon will be ready to devour the manchild upon the moment of its birth, but he will be caught up to a place of rule (Revelation 12:4, 5).
We are in a transition period in which the satanic raging against the elect will be very great.
A portion of the elect will be the Elijah company. They will come with Elijah (probably Elijah himself according to Malachi 4:5) before the great day of the Lord comes.
There will be a tremendous manifestation of judgment that will occur in the earth while people are still walking on a human plane; and in the midst of that, God will bring forth varied experiences by which His remnant will come into glorified bodies and resurrection life.
The book of Revelation gives different slants on the picture of the future. It presents the two witnesses and the manchild. In it we see a certain repetition of the styles and manners by which deliverances come. That is the focus of this word. God wants us to be prepared to do miracles and signs and wonders.
The miracles Elijah and Elisha performed were different from normal miracles. We have not yet seen such administration of judgment at the discretion and guidance of individuals. We do not understand how Elijah and Elisha were able to initiate judgment on the plane that they did, nor do we understand how judgments are to come in the earth again. We will never see days like Elijah or Elisha because they moved as individuals. In the end time, judgment will be administered by a Body of people.
The two witnesses spoken of in the book of Revelation will pull down fire out of heaven whenever they choose and will do many mighty works.
You may have the impression that they are Moses and Elijah. Elijah was translated, and Moses died. Jude 9 implies that Satan contended for Moses’ body, so the angels entered into the struggle, and his body apparently never did decompose. Matthew 17:3 records that Moses and Elijah were on the Mount of Transfiguration talking to the Lord Jesus about the things He was to suffer. They were well aware of the Kingdom that was to follow.
Moses and Elijah are unique. Both of them understood thoroughly the operation of miracles and judgment. Psalm 103:7 says that God made known His acts to Israel but He made known His ways unto Moses.
Moses knew the ways and the workings of God, and he knew how to do a miracle. He did one miracle that displeased the Lord because he did it on his own initiative. Instead of speaking to the rock he smote it. God was so displeased with Moses’ failure to glorify God before the people, that Moses was forbidden to enter into the land of Canaan (Numbers 20:11, 12). The first time God told him to smite the rock (Exodus 17:6), but the second time he was supposed to speak to it. Because he knew how to do it, the second time he smote the rock, and the waters still flowed. The ways of God were made known to him.
How do we enter in to know the ways of the Lord? How do we enter into the days of judgment and the works God is setting before us? Surely the time is upon us to believe for God to repeat the days of Elijah and Elisha.
Elijah brought drought, multiplied the meal and oil, restored a child to life, caused sacrifices to be consumed by fire, and brought rain. He caused captains and men, companies of fifty to be slain by fire, and he divided the waters of the Jordan (I Kings 17, 18; II Kings 1, 2). The miracles of Elisha began where Elijah left off. Elisha started with dividing the waters of Jordan; he healed the bad waters that caused the crops to miscarry; he called out bears to eat forty-two children; by his word water was supplied in times of drought and a widow’s oil supply was multiplied. When there was death in the pot, he threw in the meal and healed it; he multiplied loaves in a time of famine; he raised a child to life; he healed the Gentile captain Naaman of leprosy, and then on the same day transferred Naaman’s leprosy to his servant Gehazi because of his greed (Gehazi died of that leprosy). Elisha made an iron axe head float; he smote the Assyrians with blindness and lead them into a trap; and after his own death, the touch of his body resurrected a corpse to life (II Kings 2–6, 13).
Two verses of Scripture will illuminate the basic difference between Elijah and Elisha. I Kings 19:3, 4 records Elijah’s reaction when he heard the threat of Jezebel: And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”
Elijah felt that he had not made any progress that made his life worth continuing. He was very discouraged when he made his prayer, but after that he went on to do the greatest work of his life. After an angel cooked food for him under the juniper tree, he went on a fast. He went in the strength of that food for forty days to Mount Horeb (I Kings 19:5–8). On Mount Horeb the Lord told Elijah that which determined the future of kings, the selection of his successor, and the judgments that were to come.
There is no record of Elisha’s being discouraged. In II Kings 6:15, 16 we find Elisha in a real corner. Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. (They were surrounding the city where Elisha was.) And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
The Scripture indicates that Elisha had spiritual vision. He saw not only the physical world about him but also the spirit realm. Elisha saw the host of God, the horses and chariots of fire around the city. The attendant only saw the besieging army that had come to take the prophet. This situation would be discouraging to most people. Such overwhelming odds and what would appear to be certain death by human opinion, discouraged the attendant; he did not know what to do. Elisha was not discouraged. He told the young man not to be afraid.
In this day God must give His people a double portion. The only thing that distinguished Elisha from Elijah was the last request that Elijah granted Elisha: a double portion of the spirit that was resting upon Elijah.
For years Elisha poured water on the hands of Elijah. He took care of Elijah, cooked his food, and served him. But when their parting came, Elisha did not put on a pseudo humility and ask to have just a portion of the spirit that rested upon Elijah. I think that despite all Elijah’s discernment he was expecting a simple request. He was prepared to bless Elisha; but Elisha saw what Elijah had; and with no false humility, he asked for twice as much.
Elisha’s request for a double portion expressed faith in Elijah, faith to believe that a man could minister to another man twice as much as he had himself. Spiritual laws indicate that a river cannot rise above its source. Greater is the teacher than the disciple, and rarely is that ever violated. Very few of the disciples measured up to what the Lord had.
We should examine our false humility. Perhaps some of us should seek out a man moving in God and ask for a double portion of what he has. There should be a greater anticipation in the hearts of God’s people. We thank the Lord for what He did through Luther, Wesley, and great men of the Bible like Saul of Tarsus. These men walked with God in great humility and did marvelous works. But in the days when the greater works are to come, we need to walk in more than these saints walked. We need a double portion.
Reach in to God’s provision with a boldness and faith that pleases the Lord. You may not know how it will happen, but believe for a double portion. Believe for a successive chain of double portions. When an elder lays hands upon you, appropriate twice as much as he has. Humbly appropriate it. Do not be swelled with pride when you have twice as much as he. He may come to you and ask you to bless him with a double portion of what you have. Think how the portions of the Spirit would multiply! Believe for the multiplying of the anointing and blessing of the Lord to rest upon you.
If Elisha wanted that double portion why did he have to go through Elijah instead of going to God and saying he wanted twice as much as Elijah? It does not work that way. God still works through human channels. As people bless one another, the blessing multiplies greatly. What a person receives back from the one he blesses is more than he gave out. Body ministry results in a greater sum total of effectiveness and faith than any of the individuals involved would have.
In Isaiah 61 God gives us a promise of what we are going to see. God will bring the day of great gladness and …grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called the oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Verse 3. Verse 6 states it more clearly: But you will be called the priests of the Lord; you will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.
Whatever God has blessed the world with will flow to Zion. We do not seek it greedily, but we are persistent to claim God’s promises. Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation they shall shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, everlasting joy will be theirs. Verse 7.
Elijah in a moment of stress found himself so discouraged that he prayed to die. You may be walking in less than Elijah, but you may still be praying his prayer. You may become so discouraged that you no longer want to live. All you need is a double portion. With the double portion Elisha never expressed a desire to die, as far as the Scriptures record. Even after he was dead, he was more alive than many of the living.
Jesus invited us to ask largely that our joy might be full (John 15:7–11). We must begin to ask for more than what we now have. Whatever we have had in our walk with God has been adequate for our survival; but if we are to be more than conquerors (Romans 8:37), we had better seek the double portion.