Mantle

I Kings 19:19 (TLV). 'So he departed from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Then Elijah crossed over to him and threw his mantle (addereth: a large over-garment, A representation of Elijah's office as prophet of Israel; mantle) on him. '
 
A mantle is an office, role, or responsibility that passes from one person to another.  In this case the office of “Prophet of Israel” was being passed from Elijah to Elisha.  This mantle is represented by special, peculiar clothing which was probably sheepskin.  The prophet Elijah “threw his mantle upon Elisha” as a symbol of Elijah’s ministry being passed on to Elisha. The prophet’s mantle was a symbol of his authority and responsibility as God’s chosen spokesman.  Elisha was not confused as to what Elijah was doing; wearing his mantle made his appointment official and clear.  Biblical Prophets were known for wearing mantles as a sign of their calling from God.  The prophet Samuel wore a mantle:
 
I Samuel 15:27 (TLV). As Samuel turned about to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe (me'il: robe, mantle, outer garment, garment worn over a tunic by men of rank, a garment of the high priest) and it tore. '
 
The mantle served a symbolic purpose to the people, in the case of the prophets, showing they were wrapped in God’s authority.  Like all imagery in the Tanach, the mantle presents a visible representation of a Brit Chadesha principle. The mantle can be seen as a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit whom God so graciously gives to all believers, those who call upon the God of Israel in Yeshua.  
 
I Thessalonians 1:5–6 (TLV). 'because our Good News did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Ruach ha-Kodesh and with complete certainty—just as you know what kind of men we proved to be while among you for your sake. 6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having accepted the message in much tribulation, with the joy of the Ruach ha-Kodesh . '
 
We, the modern Messianic Movement, have a very specific prophetic mantle awarded, appointed, and given to us by Yeshua and confirmed by Sha’ul.  There are some very specific points to our mantle:
 
Matthew 5:14-19.  "You are light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don't cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine (lampo {lam'-po}: radiate, shine, radiate brilliancy, beam, give light) before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven. 17 "Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. 18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah -- not until everything that must happen has happened. 19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
 
We are the Light, Or in Hebrew!  The same illumination that Adonai separated the upper and lower waters, the beginning of creation!  We are to radiate that light, to beam to those around us!  Before we move on, I started with the passing of the mantle from Elijah to Elisha.  To see where we’re going we must answer a few questions.  What was Elijah’s purpose?  What was his calling?  What did He pass along to Elisha?
 
Elijah’s time frame of service is around 870 B.C., about one hundred years after the reign of King David, who’d set a high standard of trust, honor, loyalty, faithfulness, and integrity in serving the God of Israel.  After the sins of Idolatry his son Solomon committed the kingdom of Israel was divided, split into two kingdoms.  A king of the Northern Kingdom, A.K.A Israel, Ephraim, or Shomron arose; a wicked king named Ahab (whose wife was Jezebel) who did more to provoke God to anger than all the kings of Israel who had come before him
 
I Kings 16:33. Ach'av also set up the asherah; indeed, Ach'av did more to anger ADONAI the God of Isra'el, than all the kings of Isra'el preceding him.
 
The apostasy during Ahab’s reign was the result of many years of corrupt kings and increasing evil, until wickedness filled the land. A majority of the people of Israel had succumbed to apostasy through worshipping the Canaanite gods Baal and Ashtoreth.  Any religion, expression of worship, or lifestyle that is not in line with or reconcile to the Word of God is apostasy-period.  Yet God had a remnant (like the modern-day messianic movement) that remained loyal to Him, 7,000 Israelites that had not bent a knee to or worshipped Baal during this wicked time of sin and apostasy.  
 
God, in grace and mercy routinely sent warnings with a call to return to Him.  He waited patiently for His people to turn, repent, perform T’Shuva from their apostasy, from their worldly influence, their Babylonian/Hellenistic expression of worship.  He beckoned them to return to Him in Spirit and Truth.  
 
I Kings 14:15-16. ADONAI will strike Isra'el until it shakes like a reed in the water; he will uproot Isra'el from this good land, which he gave to their ancestors, and scatter them beyond the [Euphrates] River; because they made sacred poles for themselves, thus making ADONAI angry. 16 He will give up on Isra'el because of the sins of Yarov'am, which he committed himself, and with which he made Isra'el sin as well."
 
The sins of Jeroboam are alive, well, and present today within the greater body of Messiah!  Manmade religion, manmade practices, and manmade worldly expressions of worship.  To announce and warn of His pending punishment God sent a messenger, Elijah the prophet to warn the people to perform T’Shuva, to turn back to God which of course they didn’t!  Our mantle is the same!  Like Elijah We are to walk, live, and share the Kingdom of God within the confines, submission, and obedience of God’s word, His whole word!  
 
Colossians 2:16-17.  So don't let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in regard to a Jewish festival or Rosh-Hodesh or Shabbat. 17 These are a shadow (skia {skee'-ah}: shade caused by the interception of light, a sketch, outline of things that are coming) but the body is of the Messiah.
 
Remember what actually works against HaSatan:
 
Revelation 12:17. (TLV) 'So the dragon became enraged at the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring—those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Yeshua. '
 
So Yeshua, backed up by Sha’ul, has given us a precedence to our Mantle as Elijah had for His which He passed along to Elisha. You are soldiers of God and were at war!  It’s time to use every weapon He has given us in the war chest!  Every strategy, every weapon, every scripture, what every it takes!  Radical times call for radical people!  It’s a time for great boldness, to be on the offensive, not holding our own!  It’s time for the revival of Israel, the land and the people!  Yeshua gave us the order of battle:
 
Matthew 10:5-8. (TLV) Yeshua sent out these twelve and ordered them, “Do not go to the Gentiles, and do not enter into any Samaritan town. 6 But go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near!’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with tza'arat, drive out demons. Freely you received, freely give. '
 
And again in:
 
Matthew 15:24. He said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra'el."
 
Sha’ul gives further clarification of Yeshua’s profound words in
 
Romans 1:16. (TLV) 'For I am not ashamed of the Good News, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who trusts—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. '
 
Our Mantle is restoration, to be the Messenger of the Good News for the Salvation of Israel, the land and the people!  This isn’t just our mantle; it’s the mantle, the purpose of the entire body of Messiah!  Unfortunately, the Jeroboams, the Ahab’s, and Jezebel’s are in charge right now, the good news is we have the same God who stood with Elijah standing with us!  We’re not alone, there are thousands just like us that haven’t bowed a knee to Ba’al, who are removed from the Hellenistic mainstream expression of worship!  In fact, our mantle is one of the most critical ever in Biblical History.  Let's review some of Yeshua’s last words here on earth before He was crucified on the stake:
 
Matthew 23:37-39. (TLV)  '“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate! 39 For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘ Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai . Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”'
 
I’m restating this again as I have over decades now!  Yeshua is not coming back until Israel, we, the Jewish people call Him back!  It’s not Rome, it’s not the Church, it’s not Orthodox Judaism, it’s a redeemed Israel who become painfully aware of who Yeshua is and how we have scorned him for millennia!  But, the current state of affairs in the greater body is one of apostasy and Yeshua tells us why:
 
Matthew 22:29.  Yeshua answered them, "The reason you go astray (planao {plan-ah'-o}:  cause to stray, to lead astray, lead aside from the right way, to go astray, wander, roam about, to lead away from the truth, to lead into error, to deceive, to be led into error, to be led aside from the path of virtue, to go astray, sin, to sever or fall away from the truth) is that you are ignorant both of the Tanakh and of the power of God.
 
We will mourn and cry out for the lost son of the house of David, We the People-not the Knesset, not the democracy of Israel, we the people will cry out “Baruch ha-Ba B’shem Adonai!”  The heavenly Theocracy, the Messianic reign will begin when we speak these words collectively as the People of Israel and the current state or Democracy of Israel will cease to exist. No more prime minister, Yeshua will be King and God Himself will be the Holy of Holies!  This will usher in a reign of a unified body of Messiah the Yeshua died for:
 
Ephesians 2:11-19. Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth - called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised - 12 at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra'el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God's promise. You were in this world without hope and without God. 13 But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah's blood. 14 For he himself is our shalom - he has made us both one and has broken down the m'chitzah which divided us 15 by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, 16 and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity. 17 Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby, 18 news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers. On the contrary, you are fellow-citizens with God's people and members of God's family.
 
This is our mantle, our destiny!  We not only bring restoration, salvation, and revival, we are to walk in and usher in the One New Man reign!  Like Elijah’s day, we are currently in transition.  The transition between Elijah and Elisha contained two specific elements.  The Mantle and a double portion of Elijahs spirit the Elisha asked for that Elijah said would occur if Elisha was with Elijah when he was taken up and he was.  
 
II Kings 2:11-15. (TLV)  As they were walking along and talking, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 As Elisha was watching, he was crying out, “Avi! Avi! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” Then he saw him no more. So he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 He then picked up (Va’Yarem: pick up, lift up, elevate, raised, lifted, promotion) the mantle of Elijah that fell from him. When he returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan, 14 he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen off him, struck the waters and said, “Where is Adonai , the God of Elijah?” As he indeed struck the waters, they parted here then there. Then Elisha crossed over. 15 When the sons of the prophets at Jericho saw him some way off, they said, “The spirit of Elijah has rested on Elisha.” So they came to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him. '
 
To get the promotion, to walk in a double portion mantle of Elijah, Elisha had to pick it up!  He had to lift it up, he had to pick it up before he was promoted to the office of Elijah!  The Spirit of Elijah didn’t rest upon him until He picked it up!  There is action involved here on Elisha’s part as well as action required on our part to walk in our mantle!  WE must be moving in a double portion of the Spirit, and we must pick up, take, receive the mantle that’s before us!
 
I Corinthians 15:46. (TLV) 'However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. '

First the physical then the spiritual.  The seeds of our Mantle, the “One New Man”, Jew and Gentile reconciliation were planted at the Jamestown settlement 419 years ago in a prayer that was spoken twice a day at the main gate of Jamestown Fort. The following is a direct quote from this prayer exactly as it was written in the book “Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall for the Colony of Virginea”-Printed in the year 1612. “A Praier duly said Morning and Evening upon the Court of Guard, either by the Captaine of the watch himselfe, or by some one of his principall officers”.
 
“Confound thou O God all the counsel and practices of Satan and his ministers, which are or shall be taken up against thee, and the kingdome of thy deare sonne. And call in the Jewes together with the fulnesse of the gentiles, that thy name may be glorious in al the world, the dayes of iniquity may come to an end, and we with all thine elect people may come to see thy face in glorie, and be filled with the light thereof for evermore.”
 
We must pick up our mantel and go forward!  The Modern Messianic Move began in England in 1867 with the formation of the Hebrew Christian Alliance.  50 years later the Balfor Declaration in 1917, 50 years after this Jerusalem is restored back to us in June 1967, and now?  The salvation of our people, ALL ISRASEL!  
 
We’ve been given the greatest Kingdom opportunities in biblical history! Kadima!  Let’s move forward!
 
Blessings and Shalom,
 
Rabbi Eric S Carlson