Companionship
2 Kings 2
My thought is to follow the companionship of Elisha with Elijah till the moment that Elijah was caught up. The truth is very precious, but if it is to be carried out, there must be personal attachment to Christ, an individual, personal walk with Christ. Even the right company, going to the reading meeting and attending the prayer meeting will not replace an individual, personal walk with Christ Himself. If there is real personal affection for Christ, then our company will be ordered aright. We are told to follow righteousness, faith, charity and peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
At first, Elisha was very reluctant to follow Elijah. "So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?" 1 Kings 19:19, 20. Elijah told him to go back again and for a moment Elisha went back. "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62. If you have other objects, Elijah said, you had better go back. The Lord wants our undivided affection.
But in 2 Kings 2, Elisha is different. So with us, if failure has come in, and we have gone back, let us turn again and follow Him. Here Elijah is a type of Christ and Elisha a type of one who is thoroughly attached to Christ.
These two men visited places of remarkable renown in the history of Israel: Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho.
Gilgal was first visited by the children of Israel when they crossed Jordan. Here the memorial stones were placed which were taken out of the riverbed. Here the Israelites were circumcised—in type the flesh was set aside.
Bethel means "the house of God" and it was here that God first appeared to Jacob in a dream. It led him to say, "Surely God is in this place.”
Jericho was the first stronghold of the enemy taken in the land after the children of Israel had crossed over Jordan. Now in retrograde, Elijah and Elisha go from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to Jordan. All is being left behind. They are about to leave the land by crossing the Jordan.