2 Kings 2:7 “And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.”

2 Kings 2 is a quite amazing chapter in the Bible where Elisha succeeds Elijah as the prophet of God in Israel.

Taking Elijah’s position after his departure was a tough gig, because the northern kingdom of Israel was pretty much always bad, and always ungodly.

But despite the “crooked and perverse nation” in which they lived, for years these two men had faithfully served God together “holding fast the faithful word”.

Hopefully God can raise up some Elijahs and Elishas in our day! … men of God who do not bend and break in the face of cultural, religious, political and societal forces, pressures and trends against God’s word… men who stand and remain firmly planted in the truth when all else have gone away backwards.

And it’s an incredibly touching story here, because these two had become very close as they walked together following Jesus Christ… but Elijah’s ministry in this chapter has just about finished, and Elisha is about to literally and figuratively “take up the mantle”.

And this story is where our saying in the English language “take up the mantle” comes from.

“If you take on the mantle of something such as a profession or an important job, you take on the responsibilities and duties which must be fulfilled by anyone who has this profession or job.”

Elisha “took up the mantle” that Elijah left behind for him as the prophet of God, the job to faithfully tell people what God’s word said.

Often it was a lonely job! … but it didn’t need to be…

Because as Elijah and Elisha make their final walk together in this chapter, there’s a “third party” in this story, a group of guys known as “the sons of the prophets”… and there are fifty! of them.

These guys could have gone with Elijah and Elisha, they could have been a help and comfort which we all need and would love to have, but in this story they instead “stood to view afar off”.

They followed from a distance! Like many Christians these days, they don’t want to go near anything and anyone that gets too hot in serving God.

And so these fifty never did cross the Jordan river as Elijah and Elisha did, and they never did take up the mantle that Elijah left behind, but their lives also never amounted to anything in the kingdom of God either.

There’s two categories of people in Christianity… the “viewers” and the “doers”… sadly most professing Christians will only ever be good for watching someone else actually live the Christian life.

I myself have been in danger of this category for many years, so I can identify with the fifty!

In this story, all the fifty did was try to discourage Elisha, as his courage made them feel convicted, his commitment exposed their cowardice…

… because they were never going to bear the reproach of Christ, nor take up any cross, nor risk alienation from their peers… not one of the fifty left his buddies to cross the Jordan to take up the mantle that Elijah left.

… As Christians, we have been left a mantle by faithful men of God who have gone before, and it has fallen on the ground… who will take it up?

Who is going to take up the mantle of God’s word, who is going to take up the mantle of following Jesus Christ even if nobody else is and does?

This world is crying out for us Christians to stand up, but we will all be either one the fifty viewing afar off “the majority”… or you and I personally can be the Elisha drawing near “the minority” … as Elisha said to Elijah “As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.”

We’re never going to see salvation of souls and revival until we see some Elishas, so God help us all to be an Elisha… a “doer” of the word, rather than these fifty … who would only ever watch someone else do it from their comfortable safe space” afar off”.

Blog Bible Christian Christianity Church Elijah Elisha Faith God Jesus Salvation