Daily Devotional

“Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). 

Someone smelled smoke. Forty-one passengers and five crew members were flying on Air Canada Flight 797 on June 2, 1983, from Dallas to Montreal when a fire started around the rear lavatory of the aircraft. The experienced pilots noticed the plane’s lavatory circuits had popped, which was pretty common. When a flight attendant investigated a noxious odour coming from the rear of the plane, she was driven back by thick Gray smoke. Another attendant doused the lavatory with fire retardant and assumed the problem was resolved. 

But the smell of smoke returned. That’s about the time the “master breaker” alarm went off in the cockpit. Soon most all of the electrical systems in the plane began to fail. With great difficulty, the pilots managed to make an emergency landing in Kentucky. Half of the passengers quickly bailed out of the plane, but the fresh air in the cabin caused a flashover that killed twenty-three passengers. 

Nobody wants to fly in a burning aircraft. But Elijah did just that when God took him to heaven in a chariot of fire. The flames in this vehicle did not harm the prophet of the Lord. Moses once explained, “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24). Sin is destroyed in the full presence of God but does not harm those who are purified from iniquity. 

Angels, who surround the Lord, are sometimes described as a host with “horses and chariots of fire” (see 2 Kings 6:17). They likely made up this brilliant vehicle to carry Elijah to heaven (see Psalm 68:17). When Jesus returns, the saints of God will be transported by the hosts of heaven to the New Jerusalem, unharmed by the brightness of His coming. Safely they will land on streets of gold, untouched by the noxious sin of this world. 

Lord, cleanse me from all sin and lift me up out of this world of evil and destruction when You return.