Elijah Taken Up To Heaven

Hello Friends,

Today is the last Sunday of July…. The next time we meet it will be August which means that school is just around the corner. Stores are stocked with school supplies, classrooms are being put together, and people are making last minute plans to enjoy the last few days of summer vacation. I don’t know about you, but for me when August arrived it seemed like everything was moving without brakes. Are you ready for school to start?

Here in Oblong, it’s not so much the month of August that indicates that school is just around the corner but rather the County Fair. This past week, hundreds of people embraced the hot, humid, and rainy weather to see a pageant, tractor and truck pulls, go-kart racing, demolition derbies, and to see the hard work of many kids involved in 4-H. I was able to see a few things at the Fair this week. My favorite thing to watch was seeing the success and hard work of the kids in 4-H: showing pigs, cows, chickens, goats, sheep, demonstrating their baking skills and artwork, putting together posters, and doing what they love to do. It was a blessing to be there and to be reminded of how the hard work we put in does pay off.

Even though school is just around the corner, make sure to make every day count, have fun, create memories, and do what you love to do!

Setting all that aside, I want to share with a you story about a man–a prophet–who was taken up to heaven. His name is Elijah. Now, you may not know much about Elijah–and that is okay–but hopefully by the end of this message you will learn something. So, let’s begin…

For starters, the prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of the fake gods, Baal and Asherah, to prove if their God was real or not. Does anyone know what the challenge was? The challenge was: Elijah killed one bull and put it on the altar and the prophets of Baal and Asherah killed another bull and put it on their altar. The god who sent fire down from Heaven to burn up the bull would be proven to be the real god. And which god sent fire down from Heaven to burn up the bull, the fake gods or the real God? The real God, our God!

Then, Elijah took the prophets of the fake gods, Baal and Asherah, and killed them because they were teaching the people to worship fake gods instead of the real God. Then, the bad queen, Jezebel, tried to kill Elijah, but Elijah ran away into the desert for a little while so that the queen couldn’t find him. While Elijah was in the desert, God told him to go find a man named Elisha and to tell Elisha that God had chosen him to be a prophet too. Then, Elisha became Elijah’s helper, and Elijah taught Elisha how to be a prophet.

Let’s read together 2 Kings 2:1-9:

“When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So they went down to Bethel. The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, ‘Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?’ ‘Yes, I know,’ Elisha replied, ‘so be quiet.’ Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.’ And he replied, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So they went to Jericho.

“The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, ‘Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?’ ’Yes, I know,’ he replied, ‘so be quiet.’ Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.’ And he replied, ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.’ So the two of them walked on.

“Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?’ ’Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,’ Elisha replied.”

What do you think Elisha meant when he said he wanted to have a double portion of Elijah’s spirit? Elisha meant that he wanted to be twice as good a prophet as Elijah was. He wanted to be twice as powerful so that he could serve God even more.

Now let’s read together 2 Kings 2:10-12:

“’You have asked a difficult thing,’ Elijah said, ‘yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.’ As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, ‘My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’ And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.”

What happened to Elijah? Where did he go? Well, God took him up to Heaven in a chariot of fire. Do you think God will take us to Heaven one day? Yes. When will God take us to Heaven? When we die. What do we have to do for God to take us to Heaven? We have to believe in God and do the right things that God wants us to do: be kind to one another, do good, love one another, do what Jesus would do, say what Jesus would say, offer help when needed, support one another, and love Jesus with all our heart, mind, and soul. That’s what Elijah did; so, if we want to get to heaven, then we must be willing to do what Elijah did for God.

Then, immediately after Elijah went up to Heaven, Elisha became twice as powerful as Elijah had been. He took Elijah’s cloak and smacked the river, and the river moved out of his way, just as it had done for Elijah. Then, he made a dirty river that was killing people, clean. One time, when some young men were being disrespectful to him, Elisha called two bears out of the woods, and the bears killed the young men for being disrespectful to God and God’s prophet, Elisha. After that, he made it so that a poor woman’s ingredients for bread kept getting more and more, just like Elijah had done. Elisha raised a dead boy back to life, just like Elijah had done. He did all of these miracles from God and more because he had become an even more powerful prophet than Elijah.

I think it was okay for Elisha to want to be more powerful because he didn’t want to be selfish with his power. He wanted to serve God.

And we can also think about how we can serve God better too. Think about ways that you can serve God better than your parents or the pastor or me. Think about how you can serve God the best out of everyone. But remember that you don’t want to serve just to be better than someone else, but only to serve God the best you can so that one day you will be taken up to heaven.

Let us pray: Dear God, we thank you for the story of Elijah being taken to heaven. We pray that you’ll help us to believe in you so that you’ll take our spirits to heaven one day. And we pray that while we’re here, you’ll help us to serve you the best that we can. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Your Friend, Holy Spirit!

Message from: https://ministry-to-children.com/lesson-elijah-taken-to-heaven/