2 Kings 2:11-12 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire… I. THE FITNESS OF THIS TRANSLATION. 1. There was fitness in the place. 2. There was fitness in the method. 3. There was fitness in the exclamation with which Elisha bade him farewell.He cried, "My father, my father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!" Doubtless, amid that sudden flash of glory he hardly wist what he said. Yet he closely hit the truth. II. THE REASONS FOR THIS TRANSLATION. 1. One of the chief reasons was, no doubt, as a witness to his times. The men of his day were plunged in sensuality, and had little thought of the hereafter. 2. Another reason was evidently the desire on the part of God to give a striking sanction to His servant's words. How easy was it for the men of that time to evade the force of Elijah's ministry, by asserting that he was an enthusiast, an alarmist, a firebrand! III. THE LESSONS OF THIS TRANSLATION FOR OURSELVES. 1. Let us take care not to dictate to God. 2. Let us learn what death is. It is simply a translation, not a state, but an act; not a condition, but a passage. We pass through a doorway; we cross a bridge of smiles; we flash from the dark into the light. There is no interval of unconsciousness, no parenthesis of suspended animation. Absent from the body, we are instantly "present with the Lord." 3. Let us see here a type of the rapture of the saints. We do not know what change passed over the mortal body of the ascending prophet. This is all we know, that "mortality was swallowed up of life." (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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