The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

Section One: The Patriarchal Age

Chapter 10—Prophetic Work of Elisha

To elijah the Lord had said, “Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.” 1 Kings 19:16. AGP 106.1

Thus Elisha was called to the prophetic office while Elijah was still active in the great work God had committed to him. Elisha immediately joined Elijah, and remained with him until they were separated by Elijah’s translation. AGP 106.2

His intimate association with the great prophet Elijah, during the closing years of that reformatory movement in the nation, must have been of inestimable value to Elisha. It gave him the most favorable opportunity to gain a clear understanding of the grave crisis Ahab and Jezebel had brought upon God’s chosen people. It gave him a revelation of the subtle purpose and determination of Satan to break Israel’s connection with Jehovah, and turn them into debased heathenism like all the other nations of earth. AGP 106.3

It likewise gave him a revelation of God’s purpose to defeat the forces of evil. He witnessed the operation of a greater power with Elijah to save than with Ahab to destroy. His experience also gave him a clear vision of the superhuman task that had been committed to Elijah, and a keen realization of his own utter inability to carry the work forward after Elijah’s departure. Why should he not cry out, “My father, my father,” when he saw the chariot bearing the mighty Elijah heavenward, thus parting “them both asunder,” and leaving himself alone with apostate Israel? AGP 106.4

This was a supreme hour for Elisha. The strong, fearless, Spirit-filled Elijah had gone, leaving a great work for Elisha to take up and carry forward. The task seemed too great to Elisha. But it was there, and with it was Elijah’s mantle lying at Elisha’s feet, where it had fallen from his departed leader. This was a token of assurance to Elisha. But before laying his hand upon it, “he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces,“ AGP 106.5

thus expressing, it would seem, entire separation from the world and utter renunciation of self. AGP 107.1

He then gathered Elijah’s mantle to himself, and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan. Apparently bewildered and fearful, he cried, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” Has He left this world and gone with Elijah? Or is He still here to direct and empower me in the prosecution of His work? Will He part the waters for me as He did for Elijah? “And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.” Verse 14. Thus Elisha was given immediate and signal evidence that the God of Elijah was still on earth, and with him, and that the same divine power that had wrought so mightily through Elijah had been imparted to him. AGP 107.2