In Second Kings, chapter thirteen, bottom verse of fourteen, King Joash, the same chapter, looks upon the strange appearance of the chariot and horses of fire that parted him and his friend. He sees once more ‘the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof,’ the reappearance of the shining armies whose presence had of old declared that ‘the angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.’ And now the same hosts in their immortal youth, unweakened by the ages that have brought earthly warriors to dust and their swords to rust, are flaming and flashing there in the midday sun. What was their errand, and why did they appear? They came as God’s messengers to bear His servant to His presence.
They attested to the commission and devotion of the prophet. Their agency was needful to lift a mortal to skies not native to him. Strange that a body of flesh should be able to endure that fiery splendor! Somewhere in that upward movement, must this man, who ascended to meet the Lord in the air, have been ‘changed.’ His guards of honor were not only tokens of his prophetic work but witnesses of the unseen world and, in some suited to that stage of revelation, of life and immortality. He who ascended where he was before needed no whirlwind or chariot of fire or extraneous power to elevate Him to His home. Calmly, slowly, as borne upwards by indwelling affinity with heaven, He floated thither with outstretched hands of blessing.
The servant angels did not need to surround him but, clad no longer in fiery armor but ‘in white apparel,’ the emblem of purity and peace stood by the disciples and comforted them with hope. Elijah went up to heaven. Christ went. The angels disappeared with the prophet and left Elisha to grieve alone. They lingered here after Christ had gone and turned tears into rainbows flashing with the hues of hope.