From the God of Elijah to the God of Elisha <2 Kings 2:1–15> 

What determines true success in a person’s life?
Outstanding skills, a favorable environment, and strong leadership are all important.
But as time passes, we come to realize one profound truth:
The most important factor in determining true success is the strength to go all the way to the end—in other words, faithfulness.

Today’s passage shows the prophet Elijah walking his final journey before being taken up to heaven.

And beside him walks Elisha, his disciple, who follows him to the very end.
Through this, we see what true faithfulness looks like, and how we can walk faithfully in our journey of faith.

This moment is not merely a farewell. It marks the end of one era and the beginning of a new one in which a new servant of God is established.
And through this word, God asks each one of us:

“Are you living now as a faithful servant to the end?” 

1. A faithful servant remains loyal to the end.

Before God, true success is found in unwavering faithfulness.
2 Kings 2 shows us Elijah, the man of God, walking his final path before being taken up to heaven, accompanied by Elisha, who is to succeed him.

Elijah was a representative prophet who stood against Baal in the dark days of northern Israel. He called down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel and appeared with Moses before Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration as a man of great faith.

Yet in today’s passage, the focus shifts from Elijah to Elisha, who faithfully walks beside him.
Elisha had been called by God about 7 or 8 years earlier and had walked the path of ministry as Elijah’s disciple ever since. Now the time had come to see whether he was ready to inherit the calling.

As they journey together, Elijah tells Elisha at four different places:

“Stay here.”(2 Kings 2:2, 4, 6)

But each time, Elisha responds:

“As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”(2 Kings 2:2, 4, 6)

Faithfulness is revealed not in the beginning, but in those who go all the way to the end. Even if unnoticed, uncelebrated, or unappreciated—those who walk quietly and steadfastly to the end are the ones God uses. 

The places Elisha walks through—Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the Jordan—are not just geographical locations, but symbolic of a journey of faith.
They are mirrors reflecting where we stand in our own faith:

∎ Gilgal is the place where past shame is rolled away and God’s people are restored.

∎ Bethel was once where Jacob met God, but later became a place of empty ritual, where the essence of worship was lost. Still, it is a place where a new commitment can be made.

∎ Jericho is the place of great victory by God’s power, yet also a place where pride can lead to downfall.

∎ The Jordan River is the final threshold, the place where the calling is passed on and a new decision must be made.

Elisha, in the face of each invitation to stay behind, makes a choice and moves forward. Eventually, he crosses the Jordan and receives the prophetic calling.
Then he retraces the path, walking back into the history of God’s redemptive work. 

Where are you staying right now?

Are you in Gilgal, preparing for restoration?

Are you stuck in Bethel, clinging to routine while the essence of worship has faded?
Are you resting in Jericho, relying on past victories?
Or are you standing before the Jordan, hesitating to cross? 

God carries out His work through those who follow Him to the end.

Now is the time to decide. Move on from your place of hesitation—into restoration, into renewed worship, into humble obedience, and finally, into your calling across the Jordan.

God always remembers and uses those who are faithful to the end.
Today, may you begin again that walk of faithfulness in response to His calling. 

2. From the God of Elijah to the God of Elisha

After Elijah was taken up to heaven, Elisha began a new path of calling right from that place. That beginning opens with a remarkable scene at the Jordan River.

“He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. ‘Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?’ he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.”(2 Kings 2:14)

Just like Elijah, Elisha parts the waters of the Jordan. He did not just wear Elijah’s cloak—he fully inherited Elijah’s faith and calling. And when people saw this, they realized:

“The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, ‘The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.’ And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.”(2 Kings 2:15)

This was not merely a transfer of his mentor’s power. It was a holy moment of succession— the moment when the God of Elijahbecame the God of Elisha. It was living evidence that God’s work was now being fulfilled through Elisha.

In the Bible, there are many expressions where God’s name is mentioned with a person’s name: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
This is not merely a record of genealogy. It is a declaration that God’s work truly happened within that person. God personally met Abraham, worked through him, and thus people came to call Him “the God of Abraham.” 

Today, I stand before you as a pastor, sharing the grace and encounters God has given me. But if you live your whole life of faith and only say, “Ah, Pastor Kang Sung Wook’s God is amazing,” yet never come to know that God as your own God, then your faith may remain superficial, relying only on someone else’s belief.

The same is true in families. Children who grow up seeing the faith of their parents must come to meet that God personally as “my God” in order for that faith to truly be passed on to the next generation. What I earnestly pray for today is this:
That everyone here may experience the grace to confess—not someone else’s God—
but the living God as your own. And just as the company of prophets saw Elisha and said,
“God is working in that person,” may the world also look at your life and declare,
“Truly, God is alive and at work in them.” May you live as a living witnessof that truth. 

3. The Two Different Natures of Elijah and Elisha’s Ministries

Elijah and Elisha clearly served the same God, but the tone and character of their ministries were different. Elijah was a prophet who proclaimed judgment and sternly rebuked sin. He prayed that the rain would stop, and he fought against the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, destroying them. Like a lion of justice, he bore the lonely burden of a prophetic mission. But Elisha was different. He was a prophet who gave life. Most of the miracles he performed were acts of healing, resurrection, and restoration. They were works of recovery and life. Elisha’s first miracle was not parting the Jordan River, but healing the polluted water of Jericho.

“Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying,
‘This is what the Lord says: I have healed this water.
Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’”
(2 Kings 2:21)

In contrast to Elijah, who stopped the rain, Elisha begins his ministry by turning dying waters into a spring of life. This is not simply a matter of style. God is a God of justice,
but His justice is always accompanied by mercy and compassion. Though Israel still lived in sin, God never gave up the message of recovery and hope. The God who judged through Elijah now brings life to the people through Elisha. 

Another important difference between the two is “alone” versus “together.”
Elijah spent most of his time alone—at the brook of Kerith, on Mount Horeb, in Beersheba, on Mount Carmel…

He constantly fought lonely battles. After the incident on Mount Carmel, he finally cried out under the broom tree, “I alone am left.”

In contrast, Elisha was always with others—with his servant, with other prophets, with the people. People remained silent before Elijah, but they came to Elisha with questions, complaints, and open hearts. Elisha was a minister who empathized and walked alongside people. He journeyed with them on the path of God.

There are times when we must walk the lonely path of calling like Elijah. But in the end, God leads us to a place of restoration and fellowship. 

There is a story shared by Professor Baek Yoon-Hak, a music professor at Yeungnam University and a conductor. During his studies in the U.S., he once made a major mistake during an opera rehearsal by bringing the wrong score. He had used the full conductor’s score instead of the individual parts meant for performers, causing the rehearsal to come to a halt. Overcome with shame and discouragement, he approached the conductor to apologize. But the conductor smiled and said:
“Next time, just bring the part score. Don’t worry—I believe you’ll do well.”

That one sentence lifted his crushed heart.
He stayed alone for three more hours practicing after the rehearsal, but he said it didn’t feel difficult at all.

On the TV program Sebasi, he shared this realization:

“People go further with the words ‘It’s okay’ than with ‘You were wrong.’”

That one belief became the strength that made him who he is today.

Just like Professor Baek’s testimony, a single person’s belief in someone’s potential, without condemnation but with hope, can lift a broken heart again.

The simple words “It’s okay—you can do it” can help someone begin life anew.

And that is who our God is. God still says to us today:

“Don’t worry. Even if you make mistakes or stumble on this journey,
it’s okay. I am with you.” 

Dearly beloved,
God’s work is never confined to one person or one generation.
It must be passed on—to the next generation, the next person.
And we are the channel for that.

God does not want to remain the “God of Elijah”only.
He wants to be known today as the “God of Elisha”and “my God.”

Just as He was called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
God still wants to work directly in a person’s life today and reveal Himself through that name.

And at this very moment, God is asking us:

“Are you still following Me to the end?”
“Will you confess Me as your God?”

We are still lacking and weak. Our steps are slow. Sometimes we pause or fall.

But even so, God never gives up on us. He walks with us to the end and lifts us up again.

I bless you to confess today that this God is the One who guides every step of your life,
and that He is the living God—your God—who still works in your life.

God always remembers and uses those who remain faithful to the end.
May you be used in this generation as one empowered like Elisha.

Now, let us worship and confess together in song:

“You steady my steps, Lord.
I entrust my every step to You.
You know my weakness—lead me to the end.
I no longer hold onto a God I’ve only heard about,
but I cling to the living God—my God.”

Let us now offer our commitment in praise together.