The Mantle

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

THE MANTLE

1 Kings 19:19-21

19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you." "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?" 21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.

NIV

This is the call of Elisha, although the official call of Elisha came from the LORD. He told Elijah to anoint Elisha as his replacement or successor as the prophet of the LORD. Interestingly, this cloak, or mantle, was a fine garment made of fur or hair, and it was the mantle of a prophet, as directly indicated in Zechariah chapter 13. When Elijah threw it over Elisha, he would have known the significance of receiving this mantle of a prophet, this call upon his life. Although we may not recognize a prophet of the LORD by his clothes today, we must remember that a prophet is one of the gifts to the church. The church is gifted with apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers. We put emphasis on the calling to be a pastor and an evangelist, which we may see in today's missionaries. Although we would not have considered Billy Graham as a missionary, but as an evangelist who declared the good news. Yet there should also be apostles and prophets in the church today. However, unlike a pastor, who is called by God, in most evangelical denominations, the one called to be a pastor must meet denominational requirements, be invited by a church, and be voted on by the members to be accepted as their pastor; the prophet is called solely by God. Understanding that apostles are the ambassadors of the Gospel, and the prophet is either a foreteller or an inspired person. To be inspired by God to speak for God is an awesome responsibility. Elijah carried that responsibility to the extreme, especially when he challenged those four hundred and fifty so-called prophets of Baal. Again, the reason we consider them so-called prophets is that Baal is a man-made god, who has no eyes to see, ears to hear, or mouth to speak, so Baal could not inspire anyone to speak for him. However, our God can call anyone to be one of his prophets today, just as he did with Elijah and Elisha. The important issue is about all these gifts to the church. Man does not make that call, but God does. Men may establish requirements to obtain a license or to be ordained in their denomination. Still, it is God who ordains a person to be a shepherd of His people, a pastor, to preach the truth to prepare God’s people for works of service, so the body of Christ might be built up. That brings up another important truth about the works of service. These works are not the “Good works” some are accustomed to believing are needed, even for salvation, or to earn an extra jewel in their crown.  But these works of service have the expressed purpose of building up the body of Christ, the church, or others within the church. We are supposed to build each other up until we all reach the unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Jesus. Still, the point of this portion, and with Ephesians, is to know that God continues to call people to be His prophet. We should be open so that we can understand and feel the mantle if God places it on us.