Elijah taken up to heaven

2 Kings 2: 1-9

When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,Elijah and Elisha were on thier way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel."
But Elisha said "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the y went down to Bethel.
The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked him "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?"
"Yes I know," Elisha replied "but do not speak of it." Then Elijah said to him "Stay here Elisha, the Lord has sent me to Jericho."
And he replied "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.
The company of the prophets at Jericho came out to Elisha and asked him "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?"
"Yes I know," Elisha replied "but do not speak of it."
Then Elijah said to him "Stay here Elisha, the Lord has sent me to the Jordan."
And he replied "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.
Fifty men of the company of prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
When they had crossed Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what I can do for you before I am taken from you?"
"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit." Elisha replied.
"You have asked a difficult thing." Elijah said "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours....otherwise not.
As they were wallking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and seperated the two of them, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! the chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.

I will stop here. There is a little bit more but I will save the rest for tomorrow. I find it very interesting that three times Elijah tells Elisha to stay behind. I believe that he was testing Elisha to see if he would follow him even though he said for him to stay. You see I think that Elisha was so committed to be with Elijah that nothing could have seperated them. Not even Elijah himself.
I also wonder why Elisha told the prophets to be silent. What was his reason for telling them to not speak of Elijah being taken?
Elisha's request is a very cool request. Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit....wow. What would that look like today. Could that be the reason that we disciple people. To raise them up to be greater that we ourselves can be? I do believe that is how the church should function. If an Elder sees the Spirit of God on someone, I believe that the Elder should go and pour thier life into that person. In a sense put thier cloak over that individual to be thier successor.
This is encouraging stuff here folks. We are reading about a man that is so devoted to the call of God on his life that no man can seperate him from that. He is a man that is a faithful friend, he is wise, and speaks very cautiously. And he is a man that desires the best things that God can give him. He has walked with a man that loved God with all his heart and followed him anywhere. That was why he desired a double portion of his spirit....because of the spirit of God that flowed through Elijah.
May we be so bold as to ask God for suck things. Granted we do need to be obedient to where he is leading us now, but as we obey God, it will lead us to a greater freedom in his spirit.