The transfer of the anointing in 2 Kings 2 was in the context of two simultaneous actions in heaven and earth.  Elijah was translated and Elisha transformed.  Elijah had already escalated the heights by the Carmel victory, by stopping and opening the heavens and will return to earth as one of the two witnesses in Revelation 11.  (See Malachi 4:5 where the contest is immediately prior to the return of the Lord Jesus).  The prophetic farewell was so unusual – a whistle stop tour of Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho and Jordan – on the very day of his departure.  As Elisha followed the man of authority a deep silence and solemnity distilled as dew upon them.  Often God does the deepest things in our lives when we say nothing.  Glibness, flippancy, much talk over trivial things spoil our walk with God.  Pray to the place of breakthrough into the sanctuary stillness, where revelation flows.  Stillness precedes knowledge and knowledge precedes revelation precedes the mantle of the anointing.  The will of God cannot be achieved without the anointing, that makes us do what we cannot do by human means. 

(a)He concentrated on the essential will of God refusing to be diverted………choosing to be fixed on the condition of spiritual discernment (v.10);
(b)He didn’t stay at Gilgal, Bethel or Jericho, but pressed on to the perfect will of God.  He didn’t want to miss the full benefit of the relationship with the older man;
(c)He refused to live in the emotions of excessive sorrow in losing his mentor. As a true prophet he lived by the word of the Cross.

GILGAL

That was where the filth of the world rolled away and you became born again, washed in the blood of Jesus.  Also a place of renunciation of sin and the world-spirit that refuses to acknowledge Jesus as Lord.  So many believers stay here with the basic truths of salvation and never move on.  They argue doctrine or enjoy entertaining services or refuse the call to discipleship, remaining unchanged, untamed, untrained. Elisha could pastor the flock!  He could introduce them to some liberating truths, but he must concentrate on the essential and travel on to

BETHEL

Here was the house of God, where Jacob got the dream of reality. The Bible college students seemed to be in the know of the momentous event.  The youths, however, verbally abused him there (v.23 – v.25) by wanting him to disappear into heaven.  Here is a picture of an apostate church refusing new truths and a fresh move of the Holy Spirit.  How painful the persecutions, when believers refuse to enter more fully into their inheritance.  I have suffered this and rather than wipe the dust from your feet and move on, the temptation is to stay and prove you are right.  Elisha was a prophet not a teacher-pastor, so he had to travel on to 
 

JERICHO

Jericho means fragrance and charismatic renewal can be very lovely……..the presence of God, people falling down, and doing “carpet time”, healings and deliverances and gifts of the Holy Spirit.  However, what begins well can end badly with barrenness (v.19 – v.22).  The salt of holiness must be branded on our spirits if blessing is to be permanent.  Elisha could be a conference speaker spellbinding crowds to displays of power, and full of mind-boggling teaching, but he must travel on in together guidance to
 

JORDAN

Here they crossed on dry ground, reminding them of Joshua when the waters were heaped up as far as Adam.  Jordan means “descent” and death to self changes a person from functioning in the gift of prophecy to a prophet or prophetess.  Here is the threshold of the new anointing where Elisha made the daring request

“Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

Elisha was of double significance.  If you are over 50, and really love God, you will want to prepare the next generation and be a FACILITATOR.  You will not feel threatened or envious.  
They want to be used twice as much as you!
At Jordan there is the exchange of the mantle – that equipment in relation to the will of God.  The sons of the prophets dissipated the sublime moment with chat (v.15 – v.17).  The facilitator is a man of God, dead to self, delivered form the diseases of his mind, determined to pass on the anointing.  

Is there nothing else in your life except the will of God?
Do you discern what God is doing in your life?
Are you fixed on the conditions that surround the anointing?

 When I read biographies of AW Tozer and Watchman Nee recently it amazed me how two much older women took their young charges and daily encouraged them with Bible study and prayer.  This became a solid foundation in their lives.  Elijah nurtured Elisha and in 1 Kings 19 : 19 we read the younger man was humble – in the twelfth position with the plowing oxen.  Today pride pushes many young ones too far forward too quickly, and pride brings shame and destruction.  Sodom was destroyed because of pride (Ezekiel 16 ; 49), and this abomination always links to self – idolatry; the very sin that caused Satan to fall.
 
 Look for humility in a young believer and give your life for such in discipling.  After humility, honour comes as day follows night. 

The modern stamp of getting saved in order to get, will never produce a prophetic people.  Moses mentored Joshua for 40 years.  Timothy was under Paul for many years.  Who will be submissive and learn?  Who will humble themselves to receive the mantle of a proven ministry?  Who will be faithful in what belongs to another man?  Who will submit to authority with a humble heart?  Only the Elisha generation who desire to be mentored, who desire beyond anything else the purpose of God, and who desire to govern their lives by the living Word of God.  The yearning ambition to be of double significance in the Kingdom than the older generation comes at a cost of being pruned for leadership and promotion.