This is a well known passage of Scripture to many of us who are familiar with and are students of the Word of God. It records the transfer of the mantle from Elijah to Elisha. At this moment in Biblical history, the ministry of Elijah was coming to a close. The aged prophet would be taken off the scene by ascension. He would be supernaturally transported by a fiery chariot into heaven yet, clearly, his work was not nearly at an end.
In obedience to the command of Jehovah, Elijah was looking for a successor who would inherit a double portion of his anointing where the actual ascension took place. Hiding in the shadows was the one who God had chosen, a man by the name of Elisha. The knowledge of his master's coming ascension was not kept secret from him. He would be chosen and fitted to carry on his master’s ministry. He would pick up Elijah’s mantle where it was laid down.
It was while meditating on this passage that the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to me and said, “the man was to be taken, but his mantle was to remain.” Though it was time for Elijah to be taken off the scene, his mantle and anointing would remain for the new generation to take up. Elisha was to receive the double portion mantle of the Spirit, but only in the wake and aftermath of Elijah’s ascension to heaven. I understand clearly: men come and go, but their mantles remain in the Earth. Why? They are reserved for a seeking generation to pick up and wear as a garment of favor and authority.
This transaction between Elijah and his servant Elisha has great relevance for the believer today. When I consider the transfer of Elijah’s tangible anointing, I see it as a spiritual type and shadow of Jesus Christ passing on His anointing, power, and enablement to an end time generation of prophetic warriors called the Church. Just as Elijah was searching out a successor for his anointing, a heavenly Elijah is with us today looking for successors of His ministry and anointing. He is looking for a people that will follow Him over the Jordan of death and possess their double portion anointing.
There is the same Kingdom principle working in Christ that worked in the life of Elijah: The God Man was to be taken, but His mantle was to remain. As Jesus ascended into the Heavens and took His place at the right hand side of God, His double portion mantle descended upon a corporate people who would carry it to the nations and wreak havoc upon their enemies, bringing great victory to the Kingdom of God! To this end time remnant He said, “As the Father hath sent Me so I send you.”
As I’ve studied the Bible, I’ve come to realize by revelation that ascension almost always marks and signals a great transfer of anointing. The bodily rising of a chosen man of God into heaven often ushers in a new season of heightened supernatural activity in the earth. It is a Kingdom principle, and it will continue to operate until Christ returns to planet Earth.
Let me explain further: There were three ascension men in the Bible. All three were taken up into heaven while alive and in physical form. The first ascension man was Enoch, who walked with God and was not (Heb 11:5). The second ascension man was Elijah, who had a mantle to impart (2 Kings 12:13 – 15). The third ascension man was Jesus, the anointed One, who also had an anointing to impart. In the case of the latter two, there was a transference of ministry and Spirit: the man was removed, but the mantle remained.
In light of this truth, it is important that we know where we are positioned in time. Just as Elisha lived in wake of the ascension of Elijah, the Church lives in the wake of the ascension of the resurrected High Priest of a new creation, Jesus Christ. It is staggering! We live in the wake of the greatest ascension event in human history! This unique positioning is our empowering. We who are living in the aftermath of Christ’s ascension are the recipients and benefactors of Christ’s double portion anointing.
Elijah’s desire to transfer his mantle of anointing to a successor cannot be compared with Christ’s overwhelming passion to impart his mantle to the Church of the new millennium⎯the rightful heirs and successors of His anointing. We don’t have to wrestle for Christ’s double portion anointing. There is no reluctance or hesitation in Him to impart it. He wants to encompass your heart with the full force of His Holy Anointing. He is so willing to make the transfer to us right now. He wants us to Step out of mediocrity, press into the Fire of His Presence and take in and absorb as much as we’re hungry for!
Jesus operated for three and one half years in an anointing that knew no bounds and had no limitations. This Yoke Destroying, Burden Removing, Debt Canceling Anointing rested upon Jesus to destroy the works of the devil. The entire nation witnessed the power of His anointing effect in miracles, healings, and deliverances as His fame spread throughout the land.
Our spiritual shoulders, too, will be mantled with this promised anointing as were Jesus’ shoulders and those of the apostolic era of the Church. It will look upon us as it did upon Jesus and His band of intimates. The Gospel of Mathew sums up the works of the Anointed One;
- Mat 4:23 = And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
- Mat 4:24 = And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
We are the people that live in the final hour of Christ’s ascension, right before His return to planet Earth. Until then, His emphatic declaration is still in effect. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go (in ascension glory) unto my Father.” (John 14:12) It is time for us to run and grab the mantle.
(From "The Double Portion Anointing")
