To & Through - Your Journey with Jesus

I want to look at 2 “Prophets” on a “journey”… Elijah & Elisha
 
Definition of Prophet: A person who speaks by divine inspiration or as the interpreter through whom the will of a God is expressed.
 
It’s 500 years after Joshua had taken Jericho…
 
The Prophet Elijah comes on the scene during the rule of Ahab who was married to Jezebel and God said Ahab did more evil in the sight of the Lord than any king before him so it’s literally the worst time of Godlessness in Israel’s history…
 
500 years later Malachi prophecies that Elijah shall return and again redirect God’s wayward people…
 
500 years after that Jesus calls John the Baptist Elijah and then He’s transfigured before Peter, James and John and who appears on the mountain with Jesus?… Moses and “Elijah”…
 
2 Kings 2:1-15
1 And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 Then Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!" So they went down to Bethel. 3 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?" And he said, "Yes, I know; keep silent!"4 Then Elijah said to him, "Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho." But he said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!" So they came to Jericho. 5 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?" So he answered, "Yes, I know; keep silent!" 6 Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan." But he said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!" So the two of them went on. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 9 And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?" Elisha said, "Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." 10 So he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so." 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!" So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. 13 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. 14 Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over. 15 Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him. 23 Then he went up from there to Bethel;
 
So Elijah and Elisha started and ended their journey at Bethel… Bethel is more than just a church in Redding with an awesome worship team…
 
Remember Jesus said that God is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob who are alive because He is the God of the living not the dead…
 
When Jacob left His father Isaac he slept in “Bethel” and encountered God there…
 
Genesis 28:10-19
10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." 17 And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!" 18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel;
 
So Bethel is the house of God and the gate of heaven where angels ascend and descend…
 
Bethel is the place where the men and women who avoid the casket begin to go running for it because God becomes real to us there…
 
When Jesus calls Nathanael to be a disciple John 1:51 reads…
He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
 
Jesus says “I AM the house of God and I AM the gate of heaven”… “I AM Bethel”…
 
I AM the beginning of the journey… The place you must come to encounter God…
 
Where you see the truth with your own eyes and your clearly hear the offer of forgiveness…
 
So at the end of his earthly life Elijah takes Elisha to Bethel and from there in 2 Kings 2:4 Elijah tells Elisha… the Lord has sent me on to Jericho… so they move on to Jericho…
 
Jericho represents the place where there is no victory without a supernatural move of God…
 
Joshua 5:13-14
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" 14 So He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”
 
This is Jesus appearing and declaring that “I have now come” because this is a battle that only the Lord can fight and win…
 
See we meet Him at Bethel but we realize how much we need Him at Jericho…
 
Jesus fights the battle for “Life Beyond The Grave” at Jericho and we can do nothing to obtain that life on our own…
 
We see Him at Bethel and we run for the other side initially anyway we can except through the casket but we learn that as we come to the Jericho of sin if the Lord doesn’t fight that battle there is no “life beyond the grave for us”… It’s a narrow road that leads to life and it runs through the casket…
 
We must go from Bethel to Jericho and bow down before Jesus in worship and obedience like Joshua did…
 
Salvation is the biggest and most important of all our Jericho’s but there are more along your journey…

So we’ve been “To and Through” Bethel and “To and Through” Jericho so we’ve finally made it right?… NOPE!…
 
As if that isn’t hard enough Elijah says to Elisha and to us we still have further to go…
 
In 2 Kings 2:6-8 Elisha says…
the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan." But Elisha said, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!" So the two of them went on. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
 
The Jordan is the place of baptism…
 
It isn’t enough to meet Jesus in Bethel…
 
and it isn’t enough to come to Jericho where you realize you are helpless without Him… Even if you allow Him to conquer sin and death for you…
 
Jesus is calling us to be baptized just like when the Children of Israel came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea and here with Elijah and Elisha as they cross the Jordan river…
 
This baptism in many ways is how we come out of the grave where sin and death were dealt with and we begin truly “living beyond the grave” as we are called to…
 
See we have to come “To AND Through” Bethel, Jericho, AND the Jordan…
 
The truth is that many people don’t want to follow us because we look and live like half dead half resurrected mummies & zombies walking around talking about the love and power of God…
 
Matthew 3:13-16
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"15 But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed Him. 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.
 
Romans 6:3-13
do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead
 
So many of us need to be baptized spiritually and when we are we will run with great joy to be baptized physically in water…

Baptism in most churches has become an “optional future ceremony” when God established it as the backside of the salvation coin…
 
You should not want and cannot really have one without the other…

We’ve gotta go all in… be fully submerged and come up loosed of all our grave clothes…
 
There’s a great mystery and power in baptism that many of us are missing and I believe its the answer to many of the issues and Jericho’s that continue to plague our lives…

Now that Elijah and Elisha have been “To and Through” Bethel and “To and Through” Jericho and “To and Through” the Jordan…
 
2 Kings 2:11 says…
11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
 
So Elijah wanted to remind Elisha that the journey with God is about going “To and Through” Bethel and “To and Through” Jericho and “To and Through” the Jordan and if he would do that he too could live beyond the grave…
 
Elijah didn’t have to die a physical death because he was already living beyond the grave and I believe with all my heart that he laid out the blueprint for each of us for how to get there…