So now I would like to continue in our study of the life of Elisha. So if you would, turn to 2 Kings chapter 2. Now the last time we looked at Elisha was in 1 Kings chapter 19. I'll read this verse. The last thing that was spoken of him says, Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. And then we come to 2 Kings chapter 2. And as I mentioned in previous messages, I believe it was about three to three and a half years between the time that Elijah called Elisha to follow him and Elisha went after him until the chapter that we see this evening. And I can't help but notice or wonder what all went on during that time. the life of service that Elisha had toward Elijah. I imagine they were pretty much joined at the hip, so to speak. And so we come here to chapter two and verse one, and it says, and it came to pass when the Lord would take Elijah up into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah Went with Elisha from Gilgal and Elijah said unto Elisha Terry here I pray thee for the Lord has sent me to Bethel and Elisha said unto him as the Lord liveth and as I so liveth I will not leave thee until So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that went, or the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, yea, I know it, hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. And he said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, yea, I know it, hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Terry, I pray thee here, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. And he said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they too went on. And 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off. And they 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 too went over on dry ground. And it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha, 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. And he said, thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee. But if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass as they went on and talked, and I can't help but wondering what they were talking about at this particular time. But it says, as they went on a talk, 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. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, And he saw him no more. And he took ahold of his own clothes and he rent them in two pieces. And he took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he had also smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him. And they said unto him, behold, now there be with thy servants 50 strong men. Let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest peradventure the spirit of the Lord had taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. Now, I can't help but wonder, what are these guys thinking? But it's kind of hard to be too critical because how would you be thinking if you were in this situation? But just the thought that, you know, peradventure, the spirit of the Lord had taken him up and then cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said, you shall not sin. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, sinned, and they sent there for fifty men, and sought three days, but found him not. And when they came again to him, for he had tarried at Jericho, he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?" And we'll stop reading there for this evening. I had originally intended to look at the entire chapter, but I don't think we'll have time for that this evening. As we begin to consider this chapter, there's several different things that we can take a look at. But first, I want to consider what happened to Elijah? What really happened to him? Where did he go? If we read these verses again, it says in verse one, and it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And then if we reread verse 15, skipping over where it says that the Lord actually came and took him up. In 15 it says, and when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him. And they said unto him, behold, now there be with thy servants 50 strong men, let them go. We pray thee and seek thy master, lest perventure the spirit of the Lord had taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And this is what caused me to consider. We know that he wasn't cast into some mountain or onto some mountain or into a valley. Where did he go? And he said, you shall not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, send. They sent there for 50 men and they sought three days, but found him not and so forth. And so when we consider this, now we know that it says he went into heaven. But when you look at the Hebrew there, this term, when he would take up Elijah into heaven, that's actually the word for the sky. He took him up. into the sky, and out of sight. Of course, he went to be with the Lord, or he went where saints in the Old Testament, wherever saints in the Old Testament went, that's where he went, without having died. When we consider, and I want to look at Enoch and Elijah, and of course the Lord Jesus Christ, but Is it so hard for us to comprehend as Christians that when we consider Elijah, how he was taken up into heaven. And we, I know, I think that is quite a concept to come to terms with. Here, Elijah and Elisha, there's two of them walking and one of them is taken and the other is left. to use terms from another passage, right? It mentions in New Testament, there'll be two people working in a field. One will be taken and the other left. We can grasp this idea when we think about ourselves, when it comes to the rapture, right? We look forward to the rapture, the return of the Lord, the concept of us being caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We think about it in terms of ourself, but for some reason, when we think about it, At least maybe I'm just speaking for myself and you're not this way at all. But when I think about Enoch, and it says, and he was not, for God took him. And we think of Elijah, went up into heaven in a whirlwind. I want to consider, just take a little bit of time and think about this. This is how it will be when we consider the rapture. Is it not meeting the Lord in the air? Elijah was caught up, it says he was caught up into heaven. He was caught up into the sky. And so turn to 1 Thessalonians. I just want to, we know this passage, but 1 Thessalonians chapter four. I want to look at the terminology that's used in this passage concerning us. If we are indeed still alive, when the Lord comes back, this is how it will be for us. It's something that we have to look forward to. I think all of the people of God down through for the last 2,000 years have in some way hoped that the Lord would return during their life so they might be able to experience this. What a wonderful blessing it would be to not have to experience death. That's a wonderful blessing. And there is a group of people that will get to experience how it was for Enoch and how it was for Elijah. They will live through that. A whole generation of God's people will be that way. 1 Thessalonians 4.13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain." And I noticed here the phrasing that he uses. This is without a doubt. He says, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, so those of us who are still here at the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up, and we'll look at this phrase later, but we shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." I want to consider these three individuals in the word of God who ascended up into heaven or who were taken away. Consider the descriptive words in the Bible concerning how these men left the earth. First, let's go to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse five. I want to consider Enoch. And if you think about it in this way, I don't know whether this is really a good way to break it down, but if you think about it, during the first 2,000 years of the history of mankind, there was one man, there was one man before the flood who didn't die. He was not, for God took him. Then in the next 2,000 years, from approximately from the time of the flood until Christ, there was one more man who did not die. he was taken. And then Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, the son of man, ascended into heaven. And then there will be that generation at the end, there will be a whole generation of God's people who will be caught up But there were those three people throughout different stages of history. That's how it stood out to me. So how did Enoch go? First, I'll read Genesis 5.24, stay there in Hebrews. It says in Genesis 5.24, and Enoch walked with God, and he was not, he just disappeared. He was there one day, he was with his family, and then he just was not. Why? Because it says, for God took him. Now look at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 5. It says, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found. So evidently people were looking for him. But he says, and he was not found just like with Elijah. They looked, he wasn't found because God had translated him. For before his translation, notice this word keeps being used. Before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. This word here for translate or translation is metatetheme, which is to transfer or literally transport. and by implication to exchange. So he was, when it says that he was transported and it says that he was not for God took him, he literally was translated or transported from this location, planet earth, to be with the Lord or wherever it was that he went at that time, but he did not die. He was literally just translated from earth to heaven. Enoch knew a little bit about the end times. I find this interesting. If you go to Jude 1, go to, well, just Jude. There's not Jude 1, but go to Jude. I have Jude 1 here in my notes, but Jude 14. I find this interesting that Enoch knew so much about how things were going to be in the last days. Jude 14, it says, and Enoch also, the seventh from Adam prophesied. So he was a preacher in this sense. He prophesied of these saying, behold, the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints. to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." I believe Enoch prophesied all of this passage right here, because it's an unbroken, it's one sentence. And Jude goes on in the next verse and continues his thoughts as he's writing by inspiration. But it says that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying, behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and convince all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed and all of their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. It's so amazing how the message, it mentions Noah being a preacher of righteousness. We have here Enoch was a preacher of righteousness. And we have here how he so harshly, I mean, he would have made a good Baptist preacher. You know, the hellfire and brimstone, how people mock Baptist preachers. One time I was in Colorado and I met a guy from Kentucky and he mentioned somehow we got on to church and he mentioned that, yeah, he's like, I was raised in Eastern Kentucky and my mom, you know, used to take me to a Baptist church, you know, and it was one of those hellfire and brimstone kind of preachers, you know, and that's just how people a lot of times refer to Baptist preachers. And the reality is, is that preachers in the word of God, going all the way back even to Enoch, They're hellfire and brimstone kind of preachers. Enoch was preaching about the Lord coming to execute judgment on all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed. And so this was Enoch. Enoch was not, for he was transported without having died. And he went to be with the Lord. How did Elijah go? It says in first, First, I want us to notice that concerning Enoch, it says he was not, notice this, for God took him, okay? Now, as we consider Elijah, how did Elijah go? Second Kings 2.1, it says, and it came to pass when the Lord would take Elijah up into heaven by a whirlwind. So Elijah was taken into heaven. How did Christ go? Turn over to Acts 1, the terminology that's used in that passage. How did Christ ascend? Acts 1, it says, the former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up. He was taken up, just like Enoch, just like Elijah. He was taken. ascend himself up. He didn't, although we know that he is God, but it says he was taken up in this sense. Well, then go to verse 9 and it says, and when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up. And a cloud received him out of their sight. Verse 10. Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. I'm just mentioning this more than anything just to show this terminology how it is all exactly the same. And then in 1 Thessalonians 4, 17, I'll read this again. together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. And so in this passage, it mentions that we were caught up to meet him in the air at his coming. And this is different than with Elijah. It doesn't say that the Lord came down to take up him in that sense. Elijah didn't meet him in the air in that way, but we will be caught up And notice that it's passive on the part of the ones being caught up. The only one that would be different that I wouldn't argue about anything is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. He can take himself up, but it says that he was taken up. But as we look at that picture, to me, it's a blessed picture of something that one cannot do for himself, other than Christ, is that Enoch was taken. He was not for God took him. Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind. We will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And it's all done at the Lord's timing. Elijah, in our passage today that we're looking at, Elijah knew that it was going to happen. He knew ahead of time what was happening. He knew that it was his last day on earth. And I believe he knew he wasn't going to die. He was going. It's a comforting thing to realize that it's God's timing, and He's the one that's taking care of it all. And the picture of Him catching us up is a wonderful thing. As we continue on in our passage, I want us to notice what I view as the test that Elijah gives to Elisha. Now I might be going way out here. Well, I am going way out here to draw some parallels. But as I considered this, I think of before Elijah is taken up, I view that he tests Oh, Elisha. And as I was thinking about this, I don't have it in my notes, but as I was driving to church tonight, I was thinking about before the Lord ascended, he also tested Peter. Remember the constant questions, the three times he asked him, Peter, do you love me? and feed my sheep. Do you love me? Do you love me? And finally, Peter's like, Lord, you know that I love you. And in this passage here tonight, I haven't read it in the commentary. I might be way off base, but I couldn't help it. At least it reminded me of how Jesus, before he ascended, he did that. And Elijah does the same thing with Elisha. He tells him three times, stay here. I'm going over here, the Lord sent me over here, stay here. And Elisha's like, no, I'm not. And he tells him again. He's like, no, I'm not. And he tells him three times. And then finally, he goes. And in case I forget later, there's another similarity, because this isn't in my notes, but the other similarity would be how Elisha could have stood there and continued standing there gazing up into heaven. after Elijah went, but he wept or he, he didn't weep, but he cried out after him, my father, he tore his clothes, but then he picked up the mantle and he went and it was time to get to work. And so that I see those parallels there with the Lord and Peter and then the early church and now it's time to get to work and so forth. But anyway, let's look at this passage. As they leave Gilgal, In verse 2 it says, And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. Notice, Elijah did not tell Elisha, I must now depart. As though he knew his departure was at hand. The verse, verse 1 tells us that as the And it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, but it doesn't say here that Elijah told Elisha, okay, now I must depart. And then before I do, I'm going to go over here and stay here. He doesn't tell him that, but I believe that Elisha definitely knew that he was going to be leaving. No, he says, the Lord has sent me to Bethel. That was a quote from Elijah. Elijah was going for one last visit. These places where he's going are where the prophets of God are. And there's many prophets of God. Remember how Elijah at one time had believed that he was the only one left in Israel. And here we are three and a half years later, and before he must be taken up on this final day, he has these one last visits to the prophets. And so I believe that this was a test here. Elijah said, the Lord has sent me. The Lord has sent me. to Bethel. What if Elijah had shared no interest in going where the Lord was sending Elijah? And so he said, the Lord has sent me. And so Elijah wanted to be there. And I'm probably going to keep mixing that up, Elijah and Elijah tonight. But after this, there's only going to be one. There's going to be Elijah. No more Elijah and no more Elijah. So it should get better in future lessons. And then I want us to consider once they get to Bethel. It says, and the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, yea, I know it. Hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. And he said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And so we see here in this passage that now not only do these prophets know, then they go to Elisha and tell him, Don't you know that the Lord is going to take away Elijah from your head today? And he says, yes, I know this. And so, I don't know, as I was thinking about this when they went to Bethel, did Elijah go in and talk to the prophets and tell them, I'm going to be departing and gave his final farewells and his final words of advice maybe for them as final words of encouragement. And then when that meeting was over, they came out to Elisha and said, hey, do you know that Elijah is leaving? I don't know how that all worked out, but it's an interesting thing that Elisha knows what is going on also. Although Elisha knows that Elijah is going to heaven today, or going to be caught up, He doesn't necessarily know how. All it says is, do you know that he's going to be taken from your head today? And so again, in this passage, Elijah tells Elisha to stay. He says, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho, stay here. And then at Jericho, it says in verse five, and the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, yea, I know it, hold ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Terry, I pray thee here for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. And he said, as the Lord liveth and as I so liveth, I will not leave thee. And the two went on. So we have the same exact set of events we have. the same testing. And it says in verse six, and Elijah said unto him, Terry, I pray thee here for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. And he said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. And 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off. And they stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters. And they were divided hither and thither. So they went over on dry ground. And it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha, 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. And he said, thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be It shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass as they still went on and talked, they behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and part of them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. In this passage, I want to focus on the fact that Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit. When we consider this, he asked for a double portion of his spirit. And Elijah's response was, he says, thou hast asked a hard thing. It would be hard for Elijah to consider, for one, the gifts that he had and all that he had been able to do. was only what God had enabled him to do. It wasn't like Elijah was the source of what Elijah had ever been able to do. And here, Elisha is asking, I want a double portion. Basically, I want a double portion of whatever it is that the Lord has given you to do. And so Elijah, from his perspective, he's like, that's a hard thing. But as I wanted to consider here, Just because it is a hard thing does not mean that it's an impossible thing. With God, all things are possible, correct? And Elijah knows this. And he says he's led of the Lord, I believe, to say, you've asked me a hard thing. But if you see me go up or if you see me when I depart, then this will be so. And then I believe he's allowing for the Lord to be able to make that happen. But it's still not in Elijah's hand. It all is still depending on, if he sees me go, then it will happen. I want to consider this asking a hard thing, and whether or not God can make it happen. Turn over to John chapter 4. We'll look at John chapter 14 and then John chapter 15. And there's other passages that are similar to these, and I know there might be some that would come along and say, well, you have to understand that he was talking to his apostles in this passage. And his apostles, did they not, the apostles, during the early church, they did some things that I'm not gonna be able to do, okay? I understand that the apostles were given certain abilities, But the principle of what he's telling them here in this passage does apply to us, especially when it comes to certain things. For example, Peter was able to reach out his hand or speak and someone would be healed early on, right? There were things that happened in the early church that We just, we're not going to be able to do. I'm pretty sure that pastor is not going to go down here to the hospital. And if he just calls out to the Lord, he can just raise a person from the dead who just died. That's not going to happen. But in John 14, it does say, I don't have the verse written down here, but in John 14, it says, and whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do. That the father may be glorified in the son. And then there's this standalone statement, if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Similar verse in John 15, 16, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you. So here he is very specifically talking to the apostles. He ordained them to be apostles that they should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever you ask of the father in my name, he may give it you. But these things, I believe, do apply to us in certain areas, especially when it comes to spiritual needs. What Elijah was asking for here, or what Elisha was asking for here from Elijah, he wanted a double portion of his spirit. He wasn't asking for wealth. He wasn't asking for fame. He wasn't asking for a lot of the things that the natural man desires after. He wanted to be have double the gifts, double the ability to preach, double the ability to perform miracles. He wanted double whatever the hand of God was that was on Elijah, double his spirit. That's what he wanted. It was concerning spiritual matters. And for us, concerning spiritual matters, whatsoever we ask, I do believe that whatsoever we ask in his name, he will give it to us. Is there a sin? Do we want to overcome sin? Do we have a desire to overcome sin in our life? Is it a hard thing? In this passage, he said, Elijah told him, it's a hard thing. Sin is probably the most difficult thing in our life to overcome. Can we overcome sin? Yes, we can overcome sin. And the Lord can answer our prayers. In the effort of the flesh, it is a hard thing, but with God, these things are possible. Do you want to be more of a witness? He said he wanted a double portion of his spirit. Do you want to be more of a witness than you are? Do you want to have more opportunity to witness? If you pray and ask the Lord to grant you these desires, I believe that He will answer our prayers. It will happen. It happens every time. If you really have a desire to be more of a witness and have more of a, be in contact with people more, so that you can witness, it is going to happen. The reality is, is that we all are in contact with people every day. We all have those opportunities, but we don't take advantage of those opportunities. And the reality is, if you're asking for those kinds of things, God is going to be able to bring it to the forefront of your thoughts. Why? Because you're praying about it. And so Do you want to have clarity of speech? Do you want to overcome fear so that you can share the gospel and have clarity in those ways? Yes, if you pray and you ask the Lord for those things, I believe that He will answer our prayers in those ways. These are things that Elisha would have had a desire more. Do you want to serve more? Do you want to do more for God? God will grant those desires. And so, do you want to have more time, more ability, all those things, if they become a burden, take it to the Lord, He will answer our prayers. Do you want to understand more of what you read in the Word of God? Especially concerning these things, if you pray and ask the Lord to give me more understanding, make the Word of God alive, and you're praying And you're asking the Lord earnestly for these things. The word of God is a hard thing to understand sometimes. I'm probably really muddling through this particular passage tonight, but the reality is, is that it's not always easy. But if we put priority on prayer and asking sometimes the hard things, but ask the Lord those things, I believe that he will bless us and he will indeed answer our prayers. Don't stop with, well, that's a hard thing. Ask anyway. And Elisha, he asked a hard thing. And God granted the answer to this hard thing. And then finally, as we continue on in verse 11, and we'll close with verse 13 tonight. But in verse 11, it says, and it came to pass as they went still 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. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more, and took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. And he took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, And he went back and stood by the bank of Jordan. So add just as it was with the apostles. He could not stand around gazing up into heaven, nor lamenting too long. I believe he really did lose his best friend in his life at this point. They're walking along, they're talking, and Elijah was no more. He was gone, his mentor. And it's hard to really put ourselves in his shoes, the impact that that could have on him. He could have spent more time lamenting what happened, or he could have began practically worshiping the event itself. This is such a monumental thing. This is such a, this has never happened in the history of mankind. And I just got to experience this. And he could have got so wrapped up in the experience of it. He could have dwelled on it and began spreading the word to the entire nation. of what he had just witnessed. And gone around making all this much ado about what has happened to Elijah. And made that a focus of his ministry. But it wasn't about that at all. He saw what happened. He reacted to it. He rent his own clothes. But then he took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him. And immediately, they were walking in this direction. Walking away from Jordan. They had crossed Jordan. They were walking away. Elijah's taken up from him. He turns around, takes the mantle and goes right back where he came from. Goes right back to Jericho, as we'll see. But he takes up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, went back and stood by the bank of Jordan. Now he's ready to get to work. And as you read, I've been reading ahead and studying. There are so many messages concerning the life of Elijah that we'll get into. He really did receive a double portion. His prayer was completely answered. He had a job to accomplish. He took up the mantle and got busy. It's a couple of different blessings here. When you consider that God has a purpose, for each individual. Elijah had a purpose. He served his purpose. It was time for the next generation. And Elisha lived a long time. His life goes on for many, many years. And he had a lot of impact. He was able to see a lot during his lifetime. And he ends up dying from illness in his old age. God's purpose that he had for Elijah, the type of ministry. And the thing is, is you couldn't have two more opposite people. I don't believe you could have two more opposite people than Elisha and Elijah. The way they dressed, the way they looked. I mean, just about everything about them was different. But what was common was that they served the same Lord. And it was God just working through and using those men.