1. Elijah prepares for going to Heaven
We are reading the books of Kings since the beginning of the year. Today¡Çs lecturing part is about the end of the earthy life of Elijah who had struggled for long time to ban the idolatry from Israel. We will also learn how his fight was succeeded by Elisha, one of his disciples.
In reflecting on those events, we will refer to today¡Çs our events. The first one is that we observe the last Sunday worship in this church building 38 years old. And we launch construction work of a new building. The second event is the baptizement for a new church member. He decided to be Christian after looking for the right path to the faith those 10 years. We tory to understand today¡Çs passage within those contexts.
Previously, we learned that Elijah fought against the idolatry which was conducted by Ahab, the king of Israel, and his wife Jezebel. Jezebel was a daughter of a Phoenician king. Just after the arrival to Israel, she ordered to kill prophets of God and compelled Israelites to worship Baal.(see 1 Kings 18:4)
But Elijah challenged prophets of Baal. To begin with, he predicted a draught as a punishment of God. Then he successfully defeated prophets of Baal in a duel on the Mount Carmel to restore Israelite faith in God.(see 1 Kings 17:1, 18:39)
Nevertheless, Jezebel gave the order to kill Elijah to prevent the people from worshiping God. Elijah escaped the chase the authority and went to the Mount Sinai. God gave him the new mission there. ; - The Lord said to him, “Go back on the road that leads to the desert around Damascus. Enter that city, and pour olive oil on Hazael to make him king over Aram. Then pour oil on Jehu…to make him king over Israel. Next, pour oil on Elisha … to make him a prophet in your place. … I have seven thousand people left in Israel who have never bowed down before Baal and whose mouths have never kissed his idol.¡É(1 Kings 19:15-18)
The words of God mean that Hazael, Jehu and Elishah would win ultimately the fight against idolaters by succeeding to Elijah. Elijah understood that the battle won¡Çt be finished by himself but by his successors.
After getting back from Sinai, Elijah started to instruct young prophets as his disciples in Bethel and Jericho. Since then 5 years passed. Ahab was killed in the war against Aram. His throne was taken by Ahaziah then Joram, his sons (see 1 Kings 22:40, 2 Kings 3:1)
However Jezebel still kept the ruling power over the nation. Under such circumstances, the governing power of the nation waned. The future of Israel seemed hopeless. Elijah then knew that his physical death was not so far. So he set out on a journey to say farewell to his disciples. The episode is told in 2 Kings chapter 2.

It begins with the conversation between Elijah and Elisha. ; - Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here. The Lord has told me to go to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I won’t leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. …Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha, because the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you live, I won’t leave you.” (2 Kings 2:2, 4 )

So they went together at first to Bethel where they met future prophets instructed by Elijah as . (see 2 Kings 2:3) Then they went to Jericho for the same purpose. Then to Gilead, the home region of Elijah. Elijah was about to get ready for the upcoming death. (see 2 Kings 2:7-8)

On the other side of the Jordan River, Elijah and Elisha resumed the conversation. ; - After they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “What can I do for you before I am taken from you?¡É Elisha said, “Leave me a double share of your spirit."(2 Kings 2:9)

The response of Elisha suggests that he asked for the right of first born son of Elijah, as it was decreed in Deuteronomy 21:17.

But Elijah didn¡Çt give a direct answer because God must decide it, not Elijah. ; - Elijah said, “You have asked a hard thing. But if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours. If you don’t, it won’t happen.¡É(2 Kings 2:10)

The crucial moment has come. The book describes the scene. ; - As they were walking and talking, a chariot and horses of fire appeared and separated Elijah from Elisha. Then Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw it and shouted, “My father! My father ! The chariots of Israel and their horsemen!¡É And Elisha did not see him anymore. Then Elisha grabbed his own clothes and tore them to show how sad he was.(2 Kings 2:11-12)

In that era, ¡ÈChariots¡É and ¡ÈHorses¡É symbolized the power of armed forces which should defend the nation. And Elisha found a zealous patriot in the personality of Elijah. The king and the queen won¡Çt protect Israel as rulers. Instead, they led the nation to perish due to the idolatry. Perhaps Elisha alone saw the image. And the legend was formed by the belief that Elijah died merely on earth and had an eternal life in the kingdom of God.

2. Idolatry as sin
Elijah lived in fighting against worship of idols. Idolatry results from denial of the real divinity, God. In consequence, a human put oneself on the center of the universe. The deification of the ruler of society is related to that attitude. In Israel, the king governed the nation by pretending to be a representative of God. But he or she lost easily the righteousness and they ruled the nation as they wished by abusing their status. They dared to ignore God¡Çs real will. However prophets criticized such a conduct as sin.

In contrast with that, the society without God, consequently without prophets of God, the power of rulers can be absolute. One of examples was recorded in 1 Kings chapter 21, the story of Naboth’s Vineyard, under the domination of idolatry of Baal.

Ahab, the king of Israel, desired a vineyard in Jezreel owned by a man named Naboth. Ahab asked Naboth to give him it in exchange of another one. But Naboth refused the request of the king. The king was disspointed whereas his wife Jezebel gat furious. She said, ; - “Is this how you rule as king over Israel? Get up, eat something, and cheer up. I will get Naboth’s vineyard for you.¡É(1Kings 22:6-7)
And she ordered an elder to stone Naboth. Thus the king could won the vineyard. In a nation of which the ruler has absolute power, any freedom of thinking and criticisms are banned. That is the idolatrous nation against which Elijah launched the war .

The similar situation appeared repeatedly throughout human history. At the beginning of the World War II, Japanese imperial government accelerated invasion into China to divert criticisms about problematic economic politics. In 1931, Imperial army occupied the northern part of China known as Manchuria*1. Then officers plotted and carried out Marco Polo Bridge Incident *2 in 1937 to pave the path to the control over the whole China.

Tadao Yanaihara*3, a professor of the University of Tokyo then, published an essay titled, ¡È Principle of the nation.¡É He criticized there severely the Japanese government for the incident. He wrote:
—The principle of nation must be righteousness and peace. The war, especially against the weak, must never be means of a nation to prosper. Even though a nation flourishes thanks to military powers, it will necessarily collapse.

He lost the position due to the essay. In the nation of imperialism, the ruler is considered to be divine, who must not fail or be criticized. Those who dare to do so were oppressed or persecuted. Yanaihara was one of those courageous persons.

I found another example in the modern history of China: the time of Great Leap Forward*4 which was launched by Mao Zedong in 1958.

After taking ruling power over China, Mao Zedong intended to make chinese economic competitiveness more stronger than UK or US. For that purpose, he ordered to increase iron production. However the program was too radical to realize because chinese economic structure was not yet industrialized. It still depended on agriculture. Nonetheless, Mao forced Chinese people to work in factories instead of in the field. As a result, the people began to suffer from famine due to the luck of harvests.

Recognizing the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Peng Dehuai*5, China¡Çs Defence Minister of the time, criticized and advised Mao to modify the politics. But Mao didn¡Çt listened to him. Thus, Peng fell from favour of Mao and was accused as a betrayer of the communist party. Peng was imprisonment and suffered greatly through the Cultural Revolution, leading to his eventual death. It is said that around 3 millions to 6 millions of people starved to death in 3 years during Great Leap Forward.

Those examples show clearly that the deification of the ruler put the society into misery. So much so, we must fight with the idolatry. Today, a new member of the congregation received baptism. He passed several decades in seeking idols before finding the real faith in God. He has struggled with the fear of blindness and he prayed traditional divinities for the recovery of optic illness. But after those years, he understood that any faith won¡Çt give physical cure in exchange of worship. Then he had peace in mind by trusting his future to God. He even think now that God should give him enough power to cope with blindness. He decided to bear courageously the burden given by God. In short, he overcame the idolatry. I¡Çm sure that today¡Çs lecturing part was given us by God to celebrate the victory of the new member.

*1 Manchurian Incident http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchurian_Incident
*2 Marco Polo Bridge Incident http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_Bridge_Incident#The_Incident
*3 Tadao Yanaihara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadao_Yanaihara
*4 Great Leap Forward http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward
*5 Peng Dehuai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peng_Dehuai

3. Chariots and horsemen of Israel
Today¡Çs invocation verse is Isaiah 31:1; - How terrible it will be for those people who go down to Egypt for help. They think horses will save them. They think their many chariots and strong horsemen will save them. But they don’t trust God, the Holy One of Israel.

In the time of Isaiah, the super power Assyria had the ambition to occupy Palestine. Assyrian army forces invaded in the South KIngdom of Judah after defeating the North Kingdom of Israel. The people of Judah were upset and asked Egyptians for supporting troops. But Isaiah opposed relying on Egyptians because, under the similar situation of Israel, they had ignored the request of Israel and hadn¡Çt sent reinforcement. As a result, Israel was defeated by Assyria. Furthermore, Isaiah said,; - ¡ÈThe Egyptians are only people and are not God. Their horses are only animals and are not spirit.¡É ( Isaiah 31:3)

In that way, Isaiah told the people to trust in God and wait calmly for His help. But the people didn¡Çt listened to Isaiah. Seeing the powerful Assyrian army, they panicked and cried for human aids. Egyptian forces seemed to them stronger than Assyrians¡Ç. Isaiah called their attitude, ¡ÈIdolatry.¡É Egypt didn¡Çt help Israel, regardless of the alliance. It is rather natural that a nation won¡Çt help its allied if the act might put the nation itself at risk. That historical fact seems to symbolize the present situation of Japan and US concerning the Treaty*1. Though they signed it, I think that US army won¡Çt come to deffend Japan facing real aggressions of other countries. It must be important to know that trusting in the Treaty is a sort of idolatry.

I present you Eric Liddell*2 as one of persons who fought against idolatry. Eric Liddell was born in Tianjin in North China as the second son of the Rev. and Mrs. Liddell, who were Scottish missionaries. Liddell became well-known for being the fastest runner in Scotland while at Eltham College. Then he ran the 100 yards and 220 yards races for Edinburgh University and played rugby. He had such a real gift in sports. In 1942, he gat a chance to participate in Olympic games hosted by the city of Paris. But, as a devout Christian, Liddell refused to run in a heat held on Sunday and was forced to withdraw from the 100-metres race, his best event.

Instead, he participated in the 400 meters race though it was not one of his competitive genres. However, despite a disadvantageous course, he wined the gold medal with a new world record. The episode was filmed and titled ¡È Chariots of fire.¡É The title alludes to the chariot which appeared at the last moment of Elijah. Liddell lived in running like a ¡Èchariot of fire¡É which displays the glory of God.

After the event of Olympic games, Liddell took a very important decision. He quitted the carrier of athlete and became a preacher. He came to China as a missionary. But the World War II broke out during his ministry. Japanese army invaded into China and Liddell was interned at one of Japanese internment camps. He took care of parentless children of war in the camp. Steve Metcalf*3 was one of them. Matcalf was born also in China as a son of a couple of preachers. Children in the camp saw Japanese solders conducting cruelly towards inmates. Naturally, they hated those Japanese and said that they would never forgive them. But Liddell told to those children, ¡ÈPray for those oppressors as the Gospel teaches. We will pray for those who love us, even without being asked. But Jesus compels us to pray for our enemies. Therefore we must make effort to pray also for those cruel Japanese. Prayers alter the direction of our mind. When we hate someone, we concentrate on our won entity. But, when we pray for others, our mind is oriented towards God. And we cannot hate any humans because all of them are loved by God. Prayers renew our living stance.¡É

Matcalf said that Liddell was like a saint. Liddell died in the camp at the age of 43. At the time of his death, Matcalf made his mind to become a preacher. He decided that he would go to Japan to spread the Gospel, if he could get out of the camp alive. He prayed God for the realization of the aspiration. And God listened to him. Matcalf dedicated to Japanese Christianity 38 years of his life. We see there another ¡ÈElijah and Elisha.¡É And the aim of our church is to instruct Christians who are willing to follow the calling. We are now carrying out construction of the new church building. We will demolish this old one which is already out of use. In that way, we aim at fulfillment of the mission given by God, as better as we can.

*1 Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan.
*2 Eric Liddell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Liddell
*3 Steve Metcalf http://www.omf.org/omf/canada/resources/books__1/search_by_titles__1/i_l__1/in_japan_the_crickets_cry