Why did God take Elijah to heaven in a chariot of fire?

All was now finished, the path of service and sorrow was ended; and Elijah was at last to enter upon his eternal recompense. "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels" (Psalm 68:17), and we may therefore conclude that the chariot and the horses of fire are the expression of angelic power. And, as it is added in the psalm, "The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place," we may also gather, that the Lord Himself was in the midst of this display of His power, and the more certainly in that the whirlwind is often used in scripture as a symbol of His presence, though in judgment. The fire also speaks of judgment, but we know that the holiness of God, which must ever assume the aspect of judgment to His people when not walking in His ways (Heb. 12:29), is nevertheless their eternal security and blessedness. In such a manner Jehovah rapt away His faithful and precious servant from the scene of his testimony to be for ever with Himself, thereby exhibiting in a most signal way His appreciation of his service, and bestowing upon him an abundant entrance into the heavenly kingdom.

Elisha saw Elijah ascending, and exclaimed, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horse-men thereof." Faith being in exercise he connected the chariot of God with Israel, and saw therein the promise of the display of God's delivering power for His people. Moreover, as he lost sight of Elijah, "he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him." His past history was closed, so to speak, with the departure of his master, and, together with Elijah's mantle, he received, according to promise, a double portion of his spirit, as the endowment for his new service which he was to carry on, in the power. of resurrection and grace in the midst of Israel.

Elijah, taken away by the power of God, quits the earth without passing through death. We find in the fact itself a marvellous testimony to the sovereign goodness of God, and to the approbation He bestowed upon His faithful servant.

It has been already remarked that the mission, or, at any rate, the proper ministry of Elijah closed with his own complaint against the children of Israel. God took him at his word. He pleaded against, instead of for, Israel. Now he was called to a ministry of a judicial character, but it ought to have been in communion with all that were of God and for His name, and there was, so far, a want of entrance into the mind of God. There was the full, complete remnant of the people according to the election of grace. They were as nothing to Elijah, but they were very much to God. It is evident, therefore, that God and His servant were totally at issue, and, therefore, if such was the condition of the servant, he was virtually resigning his office. So God, from that very moment, taking him at his own word, appoints Elisha to succeed him. Yet, nevertheless, God did not take him away in anger. Far from it. On the contrary, though it was the lack of grace on behalf of the people of God which was surely offensive to the Lord in His servant the prophet, there was no lack of grace on God's part. Elijah therefore remains, though by no means as before. There was a certain transition of position, before the Lord took him. But when he did take him it was with the highest honour that could be put upon man here upon earth — he was caught up to heaven without even passing through death.

Now they come to Jordan. "As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. And fifty men, the sons of the prophets, went and stood afar off." They did not go on; they were arrested by the difficulties; but "they two," the two that were as one, so to speak, stood by Jordan. "And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither so that they two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee." They had gone down through the great and well-known sign of death — not now passing through death to enter into the land, but passing through death for one of them at least. And this becomes an epoch that gives its proper character to the prophet. He was right. Not merely his own mind, but a spiritual instinct of the Holy Ghost gave him to look for a higher degree still. He goes on, and now he is on the very eve of it. Elijah puts the question, "Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." Not a double portion as compared with Elijah's, but a double portion as compared with any other as a successor of Elijah. A double portion was the firstborn's portion. He asked for this, for the firstborn's portion. "And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing, nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so."

Now came the moment to decide whether faith in this case was to have her commensurate blessing. "And it came to pass as they still went on, and talked, that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." Elijah was in fact a man with a heart and tongue of fire, if I may say so, and all his ministry was of this character — consuming and judicial, of all men most unsparing. But if Elisha was given to see him caught up in a chariot of fire, with horses of fire, and with a whirlwind mounting up to heaven, this new starting-point of Elisha's becomes of importance. For heaven is not the place of fire. There may be exceptionally the bursting out of consuming judgments of God, but heaven, I repeat, normally is not the place of fire, but rather of love, of peace, of divine glory, of rest and peace, unbroken by sin. And Elisha accordingly was to have his ministry characterized by these very qualities.

"And it came to pass as they went on, and talked, that behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire; and they parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into the heavens. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and the horseman thereof! And he saw him no more."

This chariot and these horses of fire were angels (2 Kings 6:17), corresponding in their appearance to Elijah's character who, as a prophet of the law, had acted by the fire of judgement in the midst of Israel. It was not at all this way at the ascension of the Saviour. An angelic train sent to serve Him or to carry Him into heaven was in no way necessary. He went up by His own power, having been declared Son of God in power by resurrection. A cloud, the dwelling place of the divine glory, received Him at once and carried Him up from before the eyes of His disciples (Acts 1:9). Our ascension will be like unto His (1 Thess. 4:17). But when He as Son of Man will return to judge the world, He shall be revealed from Heaven "with the angels of his power, in flaming fire" (2 Thess. 1:7-8), and we ourselves and all the saints, the hosts of heaven, shall be accompanied by myriads of angels (Rev. 19:14; Heb. 12:22; Jude 14; Deut. 33:2; Zech. 14:5). And when He shall come as Messiah, Jehovah will give charge to His angels who will bear Him up in their hands, lest He dash His foot against a stone (Ps. 91:11-12).

Elisha cries out, "My father!" thus showing that he according to the word of Elijah had seen his patron going up to heaven, but he also acknowledges in him the true Israel: "the chariot of Israel!" This exclamation again proves how much all this scene in type presents to us Christ as the great prophet of Israel and not as the Saviour in relation to the Church. It is as Prophet, as the true Sent One, the true Messiah, the true Israel, that He is sent into the heavens here; it is as Son of Man and Son of God, as Lord and Saviour, that He has been translated there and that He will come again for us.

Alas! the ministry of Elijah only brought to light the utter ruin of the nation in responsibility. It clearly showed that, not only the nation had broken the law, and sunk into idolatry, but that prophecy — which recalls a failing people to God — was entirely powerless to effect any restoration. In spite of a ministry accompanied by the warning signs of a famine on earth, and fire from heaven, the prophet of God is rejected by a blinded and idolatrous nation. Having fulfilled his ministry, the faithful but rejected prophet forsakes the land of Israel by way of Jordan — the river of death — and is taken to heaven by the whirlwind.

Had Elijah received his request, how much he would have lost! How much better to be carried up to Heaven in a chariot of fire, than to be taken away in a fit of impatience! Elijah asked for the latter, but God gave him the former. "And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal." (2 Kings 2:1)

The second instance is in 1 Kings 19 "And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth 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 away my life; for I am not better than my fathers." Here we find Elijah, the servant of God, having lost all courage through the difficulties that connected themselves with the people of God, not his own difficulties. It is not trial in the world; it is trial in the midst of God's own people. And let me say affectionately, that nothing tests the saints of God like the troubles of the people of God; people who can meet their own difficulties, are often overcome by difficulties connected with the testimony of the Lord, and give way before them. It is these that bring out the true strength of the heart. We can meet our own personal difficulties in the strength and power of God, but these try the heart in an extraordinary way. Whilst all was smooth with Elijah — whilst he could call for drought at one time and plenty at another — all went well; but if a Jezebel come in and threaten to put the iron heel of oppression on him, why, then he goes to God and says, as many a man has done since, Take away my life; I cannot go on. What a contrast is Elijah in chapter 19, to what he is in 18! In the one, he is a man remarkably above his circumstances; he has neither chariot nor driver, but he has God, and everything under his feet in the power of God. In the other, he is like a disappointed child; he goes under a juniper tree and prays that he may die. And does he die? God takes him up by a whirlwind into heaven — a chariot of fire and horses of fire! Nothing had ever entered into his heart like that! And when Moses stands on the mount with the Lord Jesus, Elijah is there too. He, too, is in the land, and that in the scene of the glory of Christ, when He reaches the highest point that it is possible for a man to reach on earth. Thus both these petitions were set aside, and far more than that which was asked was given; they were answered according to God's thoughts about them.

Elijah did not die, and never has died. God had another plan for His beloved servant. It was no part of that plan to let His servant pass from this world a disappointed man, under a cloud of depression, dying in some lonely desert. His passage to heaven shall be very different. God's chariot is waiting God's due time to carry him to heaven with glory and honour. In the meantime he is the object of God's tender care. He gives his beloved sleep; angels shall wait upon him; food shall be provided for him, and his thirst shall be quenched.

It was in the dark day of Israel’s ruin that Elijah and Elisha were sustained; there were none such men in the palmy days of Solomon. The faith that carried Elijah through such days of ruin for God, was answered by his being taken to heaven in a chariot of fire!