We Are Elisha
 

This thought occured to me the other day, about Elijah and Elisha and the similarities to Christ and the church. I was thinking, could Elijah be a type of Christ and Elisha the church?

Elijah calls Elisha, puts his mantle on him as we are called to continue Christ's work here on earth

Elisha gains his double portion upon Elijah's leaving and doing greater works than Elijah did.

Jesus said the comforter would not come until he left and "greater works than these shall you do because I go to my Father"

Elijah, before he goes up, drops his mantle for Elisha to take. He takes it and parts the same river Elijah parted with the same mantle just earlier. Could this be a type of the Holy Ghost given to us?

Later Elisha is said to have the spirit of Elijah, believers are said to have the Spirit of Christ

What do you think?

Re: We Are Elisha
 

i could see the relation of the 2, and i have heard it preached in a similiar fashion

Re: We Are Elisha
 

Pretty interesting. I had not heard the analogy before.

Re: We Are Elisha
 

I've heard that interpretation before. It has some merit. Nice post... Elisha. ;)

Re: We Are Elisha
 

I think this is a very accurate picture of the relationship between the Lord and His church. Good job, Prax.

Re: We Are Elisha
 

Makes sense to me Prax. Good post. :thumbsup

Re: We Are Elisha
 

I never heard it before. I was surprised to hear others say they never heard it before. Apparently some here have heard the analogy before though

Re: We Are Elisha
 

Thanks

Re: We Are Elisha
 

I heard a sermon where the preacher counted elijah's and elisha's miracles. elisha died being one miracle short of doubling elijah's miracles, but when a dead man was thrown into elisha's tomb and came back to life by touching his bones, elisha doubled elijah's miracles.

Re: We Are Elisha
 

Interesting!

Re: We Are Elisha
 

Re: We Are Elisha
 

Alright, let me get this straight in my mind since I've never heard it before....

Jesus would be Elijah. His church would be Elisha doing the greater works?

eh, OK. So then to carry the type forward, who would be today's Naboth, the School of Prophets, Elisha's servant, the widow gathering sticks, the boy that died crying "my head, my head," the king in II kings 1st chapter, the captain and his 50, the second captain his 50, the third captain and his 50, the captain of the Syrian army, the maiden in the Captain's house, on and on?

But, I kind of like being a part of the Elisha company and don't mind pouring water on the hands of Elijah.

Re: We Are Elisha
 

I have a book by Herbert Lockyer titled "All The Miracles of the Bible" In it he quotes one Bible teacher, Dr. Graham Scroggie, as saying Elijah and Elisha both had 11 miracles and another teacher, Bullinger, as saying that Elijah had 8 miracles and Elisha had 16. I just dug out a list I had made several years ago. My list, shown below, lists 10 for Elijah and 18 for Elisha. That doesn't come out to a double of numbers for Elisha. However, if we combine Elijah's miracle number 1 (shutting off the rain) and number 6 (turning on the rain) and call it one, then his total drops down to 9 and Elisha has 18 (including his miracle after his death). That would make Elisha's double portion to be double the number of recorded miracles of Elijah. There may be other ways of counting and grouping these.

ELIJAH'S MIRACLES (9 or 10 depending on how we count them)

1. Shutting Heaven 1 Ki 17:1
2. Fed by ravens 1 KI 17:2-7
3. Oil and meal multiplied 1 Ki 17:8-16
4. Widow's son raised 1 Ki 17:17-24
5. Fire from Heaven 1 Ki 18:1-40
6. Rain 1 Ki 18:41-45 (this might be considered part of miracle number 1)
7. Transported or ran quickly for 15-25 miles 1 Ki 18:46
8. Fed by angel 1 Ki 19:1-8
9. Fire from Heaven (twice) 2 Ki 1:1-12
10. Parting the Jordan 2 Ki 2:8


ELISHA'S MIRACLES (18)

1. Parting the Jordan 2 Ki 2:14
2. Waters healed 2Ki 2:19-22
3. Bears from the woods 2 Ki 2:23-24
4. Water for Kings 2Ki 3:20-24
5. Oil for widow 2 Ki 4:1-7
6. Birth of a son 2 Ki 4:8-17
7. Raising son from the dead 2 Ki 4:18-37
8. Healing of pottage 2 Ki 4:38-41
9. Bread multiplied 2 Ki 4:42-44
10. Naaman's leprosy healed 2 Ki 5:1-14
11. Servant smitten 2 Ki 5:20-27
12. Ax head floats 2 Ki 6:1-7
13. Battle plans revealed 2 Ki 6:8-12
14. Servant's eyes opened to see angelic host 2 Ki 6:13-17
15. Blindness inflicted 2 Ki 6:18-19
16. Sight restored 2 Ki 6:20
17. Famine broken 2 Ki 6:24-33 and 2 Ki 7:1-20
18. Dead Man Revived 2 Ki 13:20-21 (After Elisha's Death)....

Re: We Are Elisha
 

The story of Elijah's mantle falling upon Elisha can be compared to Jesus' ascension and the subsequent clothing of the early church with power.

The story is told in 2 Kings chapter 2 with the following progression:

1. Gilgal, rolling, rolling away the reproach. picture of our sins being washed away by the blood of Jesus at our conversion, our spiritual circumcision (ref Joshua 5:2-9) as they entered Canaan/salvation

2. Bethel, house of God, at salvation Jesus comes into us as the Holy Ghost and we are the house of God, then later at our baptism in the Spirit, He comes upon us as the Holy Ghost to empower us

3. Jericho, victory by faith, enemy stronghold torn down, as children of God we have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son

4. Jordan, Yaradh, to go down, after salvation we go down into the waters of baptism in the name of Jesus Christ as a public display of our faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and also as a public declaration that the old person we used to be is dead so we are giving him a public burial.