THE DOUBLE PORTION
[p. 237] THE DOUBLE PORTION
To have “a double portion” of the Spirit of the Man taken up into heaven is one of the great outstanding wonders which Scripture presents to us. This marvellous gift is set before us as something to be desired in a very distinctive way by lovers of Christ. It is for those who apprehend Christ as taken into heaven, and who wish to be empowered to represent Him here. “Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I am taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee; but if not, it shall not be so” (2 Kings 2: 9, 10). Elisha loved Elijah enough to want a double portion of his spirit. Now the question is, Do we love Christ in heaven enough to want a double portion of His Spirit? Those who have never had much exercise about the Spirit, or any great desire to have Him, cannot be said to have qualified for the reception of the Spirit. There was desire on the part of Elisha, and yet there was an “if” on Elijah’s part, and he told Elisha that he had asked “a hard thing”. This is to let us know that a double portion of the Spirit of the Man in heaven is not a small thing with God, and it will not be upon us apart from genuine exercise.
I believe that the thought of having “a double portion” of the Spirit is that those who have it are distinguished as the firstborn was distinguished (Deuteronomy 21: 17). But it is a distinguishment which is open to every believer who desires it, and who apprehends Christ in heaven as “having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit”. The Lord as risen spoke to His disciples of “the promise of the Father” (Acts 1: 4),
[p. 238] but before that promise could be fulfilled to the disciples Jesus had to receive it as exalted by the right hand of God (Acts 2: 33). The promise of the Father has been received by the exalted Man in heaven. And I believe there must be some apprehension of Him as in heaven, and as receiving the promise of the Father there, to qualify, if I may use the word, to receive a double portion of His Spirit.
Hence Elijah says, “If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee”. It was conditional on seeing him when taken. For us it would imply a definite apprehension of Jesus as taken up into heaven, and as receiving there of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit.
I trust we can all see how great a matter this is. If Jesus were not in heaven He would not have received the Holy Spirit as the promise of the Father, and there would have been no double portion of His Spirit to be upon His lovers here. He imparts to His lovers here who desire it a double portion of what He has received of the Father in heaven — not, of course, that they have twice as much as He has, but they have what He has in a wonderful and distinguishing way. But this is not something to make us important as men living upon the earth, for Elisha had gone through Jordan with Elijah before he asked for a double portion of his spirit. It is as accepting death here that we can be truly distinguished in relation to Christ in heaven, for the Spirit is the Spirit of an exalted Man in heaven. We should think much of the Spirit in this connection. The Lord when here said, “How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him” or, as it may read, “the Father, who from heaven will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him” (Luke 11: 13). He put stress upon the fact that the Spirit would be given from heaven — a conscious, inward link with heaven given by the Father, but given to them that ask Him, showing that the Lord would awaken interest in this great gift, and a desire for it. If it has never been the subject of desire, and of asking, it can hardly be rightly appreciated.
[p. 239] Acts 1 tells us how the Lord was taken up into heaven, and chapter 2 makes known how the Spirit was poured out by Him with the result that such a powerful testimony was given that about three thousand souls were added to the believers in one day. “Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God may call”. They would all understand that this heavenly gift was a present reality; the evidence of it was there before their eyes and sounding in their ears. Each one of them would be intensely concerned to have part in this great “promise”. We cannot suppose that one of them would be content to be uncertain whether he had received the promised gift or not. The apostles were special vessels of the power of the Spirit, and afterwards Stephen and Philip, but the gift of the Spirit was expressly declared to be a matter of promise to “as many as the Lord our God may call”. No believer should think that this wondrous gift is not for him, or that he has no need to concern himself about it.