The Bodyguard Who Became a Reformer

In the winter of 1546, the Scottish preacher George Wishart traveled from town to town proclaiming the gospel against fierce opposition. At his side walked a young man named John Knox, who carried a two-handed sword and served as Wishart's bodyguard. Knox refused to leave his mentor, following him through hostile territory, sleeping where Wishart slept, standing guard while he preached.

When authorities finally came to arrest Wishart at Ormiston, Knox intended to follow him to prison. Wishart turned to his young companion and said, "Nay, return to your bairns. One is sufficient for a sacrifice." Within weeks, Wishart was strangled and burned at the stake in St. Andrews.

Knox was devastated. But something had transferred in those months of walking together. The fire that burned in Wishart's chest had leaped into Knox's bones. Within a year, Knox himself began preaching — not tentatively, but with a thundering authority that shook the Scottish church to its foundations. He carried forward a reformation his mentor never lived to see.

When Elisha watched the whirlwind take Elijah, he tore his own clothes and picked up the fallen mantle. He struck the Jordan and cried, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" The waters parted. The spirit that rested on the master now rested on the servant. God's work does not die with God's workers. The mantle always finds the next faithful hand.