HARVEST SIFTINGS TYPIFIED.

There has been considerable speculation respecting this account of the three times and places at which Elijah invited Elisha to part company with him: that Elijah was too modest to desire many witnesses of the final manifestation of God’s favor toward him, or that he wished to spare Elisha the sadness of the later parting; but these suggestions are not satisfactory to us. To our mind these were a feature of the type whose antitype must be expected in this present time.

As Elijah represented the consecrated ones who will as overcomers constitute the body of Christ and become participants with our Lord in the glories of the Kingdom in the first resurrection, so apparently Elisha would represent a consecrated class of this time, in some respects inferior (The Great Company Class). These will have an acquaintance with the Elijah class, will minister to them in various ways, yet not be identified with them as members of the same death-devoted company.

In harmony with this illustration or type we shall expect that, as the present age draws to its close and the Elijah class passes away entirely, there will come various siftings or testings to this class of inferior consecrated ones to separate them from the company and fellowship of the Elijah class. Whoever will fall away in this sifting will cease to belong to the Elisha class. Those who endure the siftings and testings will thus maintain their position in the Elisha class, and some will thus continue according to the type down to the very close of Elisha’s experience, and will then in consequence of this faithfulness receive a great blessing – a double portion of the Elijah spirit.

As the two prophets went on Elijah said to Elisha, make request what I shall give thee, as I go from thee shortly. Elisha’s request for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah is not to be understood as meaning twice as much of God’s power as Elijah possessed, for this would have constituted Elisha a prophet of double the power of Elijah. Besides, how unreasonable a request would it have been for him to make – that Elijah should give more than he himself possessed. We must understand him, therefore, to mean that if Elijah’s spirit or power would in any wise be remaining with any prophets in the earth who would represent the Lord, that Elisha desired that he might have twice as much as any other one – not selfishly, we may assume, but that he appreciated Elijah’s disposition and position as a servant of God, and desired that as far as possible he might enter into a similar work of service. His request was granted conditionally, but he was told that it would be dependent upon his own watchfulness.

The lesson which we draw from this request of Elisha and the conditions of its fulfilment is that the consecrated class whom he represents in the end of this age will need to be on the alert if they would discern the passing away of the Elijah class, and that only in proportion as they do discern the completion of the Elijah class and its passing into glory will they become the recipients of a proportionately large measure of the spirit and zeal of the Elijah class.

From the Scriptures we get the thought that after the Elijah class shall have been completed, tested, proven and glorified, there will still remain a period of time before the full ending of the “present evil world” or dispensation – before the full inauguration of the Millennial glories. During that period the class which we believe Elisha represented – namely, a consecrated class, but lacking in some measure the full spirit of devotion exhibited by the Elijah class – will be quickened and energized by the change of dispensation and the evidences of the fulfilling of the divine plan, so that thereafter they will be practically as devoted and self-sacrificing and zealous every way as the Elijah class had been.

The receiving by Elisha of power from the departed Elijah seems to correspond in considerable measure to the “foolish virgins” getting their oil and being able to trim their lamps after the “wise virgins” have gone in to the wedding and the door is shut. As the foolish virgins were not evil but good – “virgins” – so Elisha was not an evil man but a good man and a prophet: as the foolish virgins lacked something that the wise virgins possessed, so Elisha lacked something of what Elijah possessed, and that lack, which was supplied to the foolish virgins in the oil, is represented in Elisha’s case in the mantle and blessing.

As the Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Virgins does not go on to show what happened to the foolish virgins except that they failed to enter into the marriage because the door was shut, so the Elisha picture merely shows that Elisha did not accompany Elijah, but on receiving his benediction and power he continued for a while the work that Elijah had been doing.

So it is our thought that during the great time of trouble there will be a consecrated class who had not a sufficiency of zeal in self-sacrifice to be counted of the Lord as members of the Elijah class or body of Christ, who nevertheless will experience a great time of refreshing and become thoroughly devoted after they realize that the Church has been glorified – after they begin to see also the fulfilment of various Scriptures respecting Babylon.

This class, whom we understand to be represented in the Scriptures as the “great company,” whose number no man knows, who wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, and eventually come up to spirit conditions, though not to be of the Royal Priesthood in the throne (Rev 7:9-17) – these are represented as recognizing by and by that the little flock, the Bride class, the Elijah class, have passed beyond the vail and they are shown to rejoice accordingly, saying, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give glory to God, for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready!” This class in turn, though not worthy to be the bride, the wife, is invited to participate in the great marriage feast which is to take place shortly after the glorification of the Church. – Rev 19:7-9.

Continued with next post.