2Kings 2:13 -14 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 also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
Isn’t it interesting that the very mantle that Elisha picked up in the fiery wake of his master’s departure is the same one that has been within arm’s length for years and years?
Travelling backwards through time, it was probably this same mantle that was thrown over him when the two of them first met on that sweaty afternoon on the field, and it was there when Elijah communed with God as the Almighty spoke in whispering tones. (1 Kings 19)
Elisha knew that it was not a talisman of power. Otherwise, if he had been even a little bit ambitious, he could have reached out and grabbed it to work a few quick miracles of his own. But He recognized that it was not the mantle that was anointed but the man bearing the mantle. He knew it was merely an item that was serving his master … an item that was useful to his master. And so, on that day that mantle fell off the chariot – borne shoulder of Elijah on to him, something he would have remembered was that it was this same mantle that was placed on his shoulder signaling his recruitment to the service of Elijah and his God many years before. When Elijah dropped the mantle on him the first time, it was a call to service and when Elisha picked up the second time, all he saw was that he had the same purpose as that piece of cloth – to serve. And so, his first battle cry was, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” In his mind, he was the same as the cloth, a tool in the hand of the most high God. He was one with the mantle, and that was why it worked in his hand.
Incidentally, that mantle was never heard from again … because God was no longer using it. The anointing was on the man, not the mantle. The spirit of service had seamlessly transferred from Elijah to Elisha. Anyone who had perhaps picked up that mantle after Elisha dumped it would have found out that the power was in the man of God and not on what he wore. If the said man as moved by the spirit decided to use it as a service tool, great, if not … it’s just another item of clothing.
Speaking of mantles, the attention of the New Testament Bible student would quickly jump to Apostle Paul … and rightly so.
Act 19:11 – 12 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
Notice the wording of this account. It does not say that God wrought special miracles by handkerchiefs and aprons, rather it says the miracles were done by God via the hands of Paul … in other words, through Paul. The articles of clothing were taken off his body as an extension of the work that God was doing through him. The items themselves were powerless without the faith of the one through whom God was working, and the God who was doing the work.
It reminds me of another “mantle” type situation.
2Kings 4:25 – 32 So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, [yonder is] that Shunammite: Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, [Is it] well with thee? [is it] well with thy husband? [is it] well with the child? And she answered, [It is] well. And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul [is] vexed within her: and the LORD hath hid [it] from me, and hath not told me. Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child said, [As] the LORD liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but [there was] neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked. And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, [and] laid upon his bed.
The power was not in the staff. If it was, the child would have been raised when Gehazi applied it. Of course, a subsequent account gives us an insight to the kind of person Gehazi was, but apart from that, I think that the power was not in the staff in the first place. If the power had been on the staff, but failed in the hands of a corrupted servant, then Elisha should have collected the staff from Gehazi and laid it on the boy. But he didn’t do that. Elisha recognized that the move of God in this particular circumstance had no room for mantles and staves. And rather than stick to “what works,” he was sensitive to and followed the One who had been working the miracles all the while. He followed the leading of God. It was what God chose to do and use that worked.
When Jesus walked the earth, he operated much the same way … he even said it.
John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
So, whenever Jesus worked any miracle, he used whatever approach that He could see His father using. So, when he spat on the ground and used a patch of mud on a blind man’s eyes and asked him to go wash in the pool of Siloam, we do not find any further record of any healing or miracle by that holy mud patch, or holy pool … because Jesus had followed His father out of there. Anyone who sought to access divine intervention through Jesus would have to pay attention to what and how He was going to impart the divine touch. They would have to pay attention and be led.
It is the same way with the rest of us. We have to be aware or be mindful that it is not the oil, or handkerchief that is bearing the power but the one by whom God is working, with whose faith our faith connects to receive the imparted grace. Failure to recognize this would lead us to operating talismans in the name of Jesus, and we will find ourselves sorely led astray.
In addition to that, if we get misdirected to focus on the tools of the trade, it becomes almost inevitable that the servant’s desire to live in a way that pleases his master is lost because the drive to learn the heart of his master is no longer a priority since he believes he has found the secret to the power he requires to do what needs done whenever he needs it.
The problem with this is that our master is not looking for employees but for sons. Servant sons, yes, but not slaves whose entire existence is about performing in the name of the master. God’s desire in every scenario includes building and developing a relationship with all the people involved. He wants the beneficiary of his goodness, that is the recipient of the miracle, to see that he is cherished and that the benefit received is as much an expression of His love as it is of his power. At the same time, He wants the person He worked through, to learn and feel his heart of love, and be drawn further into a relationship with Him. This is part of what I see when I read these words of Paul.
Philippians 3:10 – 14 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
What I see is that, for Paul, despite all that he had seen and done in the process of fulfilling his mandate, his desire was still to get to know God a little more each time, even as he saw God flow through him. Every time someone got healed through his ministry, he himself got to experience God as a healer. If he was focused on the mantle, he would have lost the opportunity to develop his relationship with God, he would come away feeling unchanged, untouched by it all because it was the mantle getting things done, and he cannot have a relationship with the mantle. This is probably why some servants of God feel dry and fall away after many years of kingdom labour. They figure out a system that works, the system removes the constant need for the Lord, and they lose themselves in the system. Mos3s made the same mistake with the rock and his staff and God rebuked him. And as a last-ditch effort to extricate themselves from the insensitive lifeless system, it is common that ministers end up throwing out the baby with the bathwater … abandoning their relationship with God as well. It really is very sad.
If God has given you a mantle to use, a system to get things done in his name, the intention is for it to multiply your output, not to take his place in your life. Learn from Elisha’s question, “Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah?” Even when he was using the mantle, he was chasing after God not just results.
Daniel Oyanna is a conference speaker on relationships, health, faith and other subjects and a Pastor and teacher blessed by God with a grace to make things easy to understand. He is the author of the book To Date or Not to Date, Instructions in Submission, Crushing the Crushers, several mini-books most of which are free. He started UnLimited to help people reach their God-given goals by walking with them to their finish line. He is reachable at pd_lionunlimited@yahoo.com
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