Elijah and Elisha for Today

The Servant Son or The Mantel of Elijah

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

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Genre: Sermon Series

Lesson: 7 of 16

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[Rushdoony] Our scripture this evening is from the I book of Kings, the 19th chapter verses 19-21. I Kings 19 verses 19-21. “So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. 20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? 21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.”

In our anarchistic day many of the old forms and customs and symbols have eroded so that there is very little in the way of symbols to set forth relationships. To cite one example that a few of you might recall; when I was very young no young man went courting, and that term alone dates me, without being very careful what gifts he took to the girl. Until his intentions became serious he made sure that he gave her only candy and flowers whenever he called because to take her anything else was to declare that his intentions were serious, and it could lead to trouble if after giving her, say a book, he backed out and broke off.

Now the gifts in such a relationship were symbolic, they set forth the meaning of relationships, and the Bible is full of symbolic actions and one of the central in scripture we meet with here in our text. We saw last night that God told old Elijah that he was to look beyond his time, to the judgment that he was to bring upon Israel and to anoint men who were to be a judgment against Israel, and also to appoint Elisha to be prophet “in thy room” said the Lord. And now Elijah does, he passes by him and casts his mantel upon him, one of the great symbols of scripture. A strange situation, Elijah comes from an unknown background, he is one of the few men of consequence in scripture whose father’s name is not given. He was a nobody in his background, the second Moses by the calling of God and now he comes to Elisha who comes from a wealthy family, land owners of consequence, they have 12 yoke of oxen working in the field, 11 hired men and the heir Elisha at work; and Elijah passes by and casts mantel upon him

What did this mean? The casting of a mantel was a sign of adoption so that immediately Elisha asks permission “I pray thee, let me go say goodbye to my father and mother and kiss them.” Because now being adopted he was totally under the authority of his new father and to cast a mantel over someone was something that only a superior could do to an inferior. And though Elijah was a nobody in his position and background socially he was the prophet of the Lord, and though Elisha came from a wealthy family and was an heir he immediately, like a humble child, asked permission even to go back and say goodbye to his parents. The casting of the mantel thus means adoption, but it also means more, it signifies protection. Ruth when she crept into the threshing floor and made herself at the feet of Boaz, said to him when he awakened “cast now thy skirt over thine hand-maiden. I who am in need of a husband, of a protector, I come to you now and beseech you, cast your mantel, your skirt, over me.”

But we meet with it elsewhere. We meet with it in the parable that our Lord gives us of the wedding feast in Matthew 22, and as we read in Matthew 22 in verse 11 “and when the king came in to see the guests he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment and he said unto him ‘friend how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ and he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants ‘bind hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Why? Because for any man to come into the presence of the king in his own clothing was to come as an enemy, was to come claiming an independence from the king. Anyone who approached a king had to come under his grace and protection as a member of his household, as one whom he cared for, one whom he fed, whom he asked to come to his table and partake thereof as a son of the household. One whom he clothed, even as we clothe our children and feed them, so that when we come to the Lord’s table we come to our Father who feeds us and we acknowledge ourselves to be his children and we come clothed not in and of ourselves but in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, for if we come otherwise we come as his enemies. “

And so to cast the mantel over someone is to declare that they are the possession of the superior, of the king, of the Lord, and that they must now live by his every word and be fed by his table, that they are not to be fed by the husks of this world but to feed at his table, to be commanded by His word, to be clothed by Him in all their being. We are to be sons, but servant sons.

We read in our text that Elisha took his leave of his family, he slew the oxen, boiled them with the instruments, with their yoke, with the plow, gave unto the people and they did eat, and celebrated his sonship which made him a servant. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. What was his ministry like? In II Kings 3 verse 11 we read “But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.” Do you see what it means to be a son? Elisha, the heir of a great household, goes out with this rough man of the desert Elijah, and he who had servants now is the servant and when it’s time for Elijah to wash his hands there is his servant-son Elisha holding the water and pouring it, going and coming at the every word of Elijah. This is what it means to have the mantel cast upon one, he ministered to him.

Now let’s stop for a moment and look at another area, the paganism of the world round about Elijah and Elisha and the paganism that was around our Lord and the apostles, and the paganism that is around us today. What was religion in that paganism? And what is it today? Now in the ancient world when a man went to the temple of the gods he did not go there to worship. We talk about pagan worship, but we flatter their religions when we say that. Technically there was no worship in a pagan temple, there was no day of worship, there was no hour of worship, there was the temple. And what did you do? Well it depended on what you wanted. Were you taking a sea voyage? Why then, in our Lord’s day for example, you went to the temple of Castor and Pollox, they were the spirits or gods who were the specialists in dealing with sea voyages, and you made an offering and you said “Alright, I want protection on this sea voyage.” Or you went to the temple of Venus and you said “look, I’m very much in love with Jane Doe, now I want her to fall in love with me and I’m giving you so much and I expect results.” This is what you did, you went in there and you bought insurance, you treated the gods as insurance agents and if you didn’t like what they gave you, you stopped giving them your business, you went somewhere else. That’s why all of pagan antiquity was filled with the multiplicity of gods and temples and cults. After all it was necessary to shop around, to find what you wanted and to get the services you wanted.

Now this is paganism and it marks many people in the churches. They shop around, they shop around for the church that can do the most for them socially, give them the best friends, give them a preacher who’s always ready to run around and hold their hands every time they have a trifling problem and whose preaching suits them rather than pleases the Lord. Now that’s paganism, that’s paganism.

But what does it mean to be a servant-son? To be a Christian means that the mantel of the Lord has been cast upon us by His sovereign grace. Elijah never had Elisha come ot him and say “please, won’t you take me?” Elisha never knew what was happening until Elijah passed by under orders from God almighty and cast his mantel upon him, and he was then a servant son. And we are told that we have been bought with a price, and we are not our own we are the servant sons of the almighty by adoption through Jesus Christ, it is not of ourselves but of Him.

Nor can we say that this is demeaning to us, nor can we claim that we have any special privileges because we are told of our Lord Himself that He was the servant son supremely, the servant of the Lord He is called by the prophet Isaiah, the Son of God. Very God of very God and very man of very man and we are told in Hebrews 5 verses 8-14 “ Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

We need to discern what our Lord wants, the servant son. And what does this say for us? We are called, his mantel is thrown upon us. We have been summoned to the wedding feast and the wedding garments have been placed upon us and we need to be not as babes in Christ, but men who obey, who harken and who heed the every word of God. Who as servants are instant in season and out of season to do that which he requires of us, men who are under authority are the men who command and who inherit. Even the servant son Jesus Christ Himself learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and because of that became the author of our salvation, became He who is King of kings and Lord of Lords.

To be the servant sons of God means to be fully under His word and so the question we need to ask ourselves is this “whose mantel is upon us? Whose word commands us? Whose servant child are we?” Christ passes by and by His sovereign grace casts His mantel over us, it is not of us it is of Him, and then He summons us to minister unto Him and to one another in His name. Are you a servant son? Let us pray

Our Lord and our God we thank Thee that Thy mantel has been cast upon us even as by Thy sovereign grace it was cast upon Elisha. We thank Thee Lord that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ and made partakers of Thy table as children by the adoption of grace of Thy kingdom, of Thy family, of Thy royal estate. Teach us therefore to live by Thine every word, to be Thy servants ministering one to another in Thy name, setting forth the crown rights of our Lord in every area of life and thought, and going forth in His power to summon all men and nations into the obedience of Jesus Christ by faith. Bless us to this purpose we beseech Thee, in Jesus name, amen.

[Moderator] I trust that you’ve been more aware of what it means to be a servant-son of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have said that each night, Lord willing, we would have a question and answer session not only concerning anything about the message but anything concerning the word of God, philosophy, history, politics, economics, that’s interesting to you and that you need to know an answer from the word of God, so we’ll open at this time for some questions and then allow Mr. Rushdoony to answer them.

Well {?} I think you said you had some more last night, would you like to begin tonight?

[Audience member] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, what do I foresee in the near future for this nation of ours? As I said last night salvation and judgment are different sides of the same fact and the cross is the supreme example and declaration of the coincidence of judgment and of salvation. It declares us to be dead for our sins and trespasses and in our sins and trespasses, and it makes us alive in Jesus Christ. And as I said also last night if the Lord does not judge this nation we are indeed castaways.

Now we have in our time seen the be all and end all of life in terms of getting everything we want, in terms of material advancement. I spoke when I was in Birmingham last week of a young man, very knowledgeable in doctrine, who nonetheless was a little disturb by some of the things I had to say, especially tithing, because what he wanted to do was get himself a nice summer place but the lake and a power boat and indulge his taste in water skiing. It was very upsetting to be told that God’s priorities must prevail. Now that’s Spirit is very common place today, people give God the leftovers, and God pronounces judgment on all such and they’re going to get the leftovers from the Lord.

I feel that God’s judgment will strike us in the economic realm, and I think we are going to see before this century is out, and perhaps relatively soon, a major economic disaster. I do anticipate very rapid inflation in the next few years, possibly the next six years, of the disastrous sort with far-reaching repercussions. Now what will happen will depend upon the people. If there is repentance, if there is a return to the Lord, then there will be a way out. So I do foresee very, very serious times not only for our country but the whole world. We are in a time of world-wide unbelief and apostasy, and the persecution of our faith is breaking out in all the world, we simply are not told about it anymore than we are told of what’s happening here when faithful pastors in one state, not too far from here, 63 of them any day likely to go to prison. So we are in a critical time, but it is encouraging to see the many men who are coming forward and making a stand, and that makes me very hopeful, their number is growing. So God is calling out a remnant to make a stand and to witness to this nation.

[Moderator] Alright, another question?

[Audience member] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes. I am familiar with the book The Life and the Glory I think it’s a very fine statement of the fact that the men who came here and established the colonies were men who saw themselves as called of God to make this a covenant people and covenant states or colonies. Very definitely they felt that unless the Lord built the house they labor in vain that build it. I don’t think the book tells half the story of that because so much of it has been suppressed. For example John Elliot during the Cromwellian era was able to go so far as to apply the Biblical form of government and use just the word of God as the law for all the praying villages of Indians so that elders over ten and elders over fifties and hundreds and thousands were appointed, and they governed themselves by the word of God. But the minute Charles the II came to [audio cuts out for about 5 seconds] found cases up into the 1840’s when everything was decided in a trial in terms of scripture, and that’s when it was the saying that ignorance of the law is no excuse, because everybody knew the book, this is what they were schooled on. Today you can’t help but be ignorant of the law, it has no rhyme or reason in terms of anything God ever ordained, it’s simply what a group of anti-Christian men get together and say “our will is going to be done in such and such a way and it’s totally arbitrary.” No, this was very clearly established to be a covenant nation.

Now, in the constitution an oath of office is specified. We don’t understand what that means unless we know what an oath meant to the men that inserted that. An oath meant opening the Bible to Deuteronomy 28 and putting your hand on that chapter and swearing before God, invoking His blessings and His curses in terms of that chapter. Now read that chapter when you go home and you’ll see something in what the oath of office once meant. Now they don’t even know that that was once the case.

Yes?

[Audience member] {?} I’m sure most people know who I’m talking about I’d like to know if you have any general comments about this phenomenon.

[Rushdoony] Yes. In the Bible a revival is not when a lot of people say “I accept the Lord” or when they go forward at the meeting. Revival takes place in scripture when men destroy their idols, when they begin to serve the Lord, when they put Him in command of their lives and they live by the every word of God, now that’s a revival. I believe there are signs of that kind of revival here in this country.

[Audience member] You would say {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, it’s false. It has no substance. Now the Christian school movement is a practical manifestation of revival and the parents who put their children in a Christian school are saying practically “as for me and my house, we are the Lord’s.” And the people who are tithing are saying the same thing, and the people who faithfully study this word and pray to God for more life so that they might better obey Him and serve Him. They manifest revival. I like to tell people that it’s a mistake to go to the Bible as an inspiring book, it doesn’t claim to be an inspiring book, it’s very often uninspiring reading if it hits you the wrong way as a sinner. It is an inspired book, and it commands us, it doesn’t try to inspire us. It says “thus saith the Lord” and that’s how we must read it.

Now very often it goes against the grain because we still have elements of sin and our sin sometimes we wish the Lord would word things a little differently, he gets very personal. [laughter]

[Moderator] Alright, is there another question? {?}

[Audience member] I’ve been going over in my mind for some time the very nature of Christian schools and there’s some debate that they are going as to the best approach, that is the church school as opposed to the so-called evangelistic school in which the parents have {?} and also the church {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, there are I know some schools which limit attendance to the church families. There’s some very fine schools in the hands of men I highly respect and regard that are dedicated to that. I feel however that the Christian school is proving to be one of the most remarkable means of reaching children and their parents for Jesus that we’ve seen for some generations. It is so effective an arm for that purpose that this is why the federal and the state governments are moving against it. They recognize very clearly that if the Christian school movement is not captured, controlled, and destroyed by the end of this century not only will these state schools be dead, but we will have a Christian country

Now this is the impact these schools are having. Here and there across the country I know of churches, sizable congregations, formed entirely out of parents who put their churches in a Christian school because they wanted the best schooling for their children, and it led to their conversion.

[Moderator] {?} No more? Alright let’s stand and be dismissed and then those of you that have them if you will save them until tomorrow night, Lord willing, we will have another question and answer time. Brother Water’s if you would dismiss us in prayer please?

[Brother Water’s] Our Father for Thy word and for the proclamation of it we are grateful, we pray day by day for greater insight, for greater knowledge of it we have indeed oh Lord we may know how to serve Thee better. Grant Thy continued blessings upon this meeting, on the people here with all others {?} and privilege to pray, dismiss us in Thy loving favor and ever direct us in Thy love, in Thy righteousness [audio cut off]