by jimwalton » Thu Sep 13, 2018 7:18 am
Thanks for asking. You can still be a Christian, because Jesus didn't lie.
Though Elijah is said to have gone up in to heaven, we have to remember that the Hebrew word translated "heaven" can also refer to the sky, and therefore does not clearly suggest that Elijah was taken into God's presence. It's also noticeable that the people of the day didn't assume he went into heaven (God's presence) because in 2 Ki. 2.16, just 4 verses later, the sons of the prophets wondered where Elijah had been put back down. In other words, they didn't know what had happened to him.
Now, we can be certain that Elijah ended up in heaven, as did all the Old Testament saints. Are you thinking that because Jesus said "no one has ever gone into heaven," that heaven was empty?
Let's look at Jn. 3.13. If you studied the Greek, you know that ἀναβέβηκεν is the prefect active indicative of ἀναβαίνω. The perfect tense connotes "no one has gained the heights of heaven..." Jesus is talking with Nicodemus about how to gain eternal life (a point that is not part of the Elijah story or Malachi). People cannot raise themselves to heaven and gain it by their own goodness or knowledge. "Ascent to heaven" is only possible by the Spirit by new birth. It isn't possible for a human to attain on one's own. Even Enoch and Elijah did not achieve heaven by meriting it.
What Jesus is saying is that He alone knows the mind of God. He alone was with the Father from eternity past. He alone has unimpeded access to the mind of God. He alone is qualified to speak of heavenly things and how to rightly attain salvation.
John 3.13 has nothing to do with what happened to Enoch and Elijah. Jesus didn't lie. They are completely different teachings. The story of Elijah in 2 Kings is about prophetic power passing from one prophet to another. Malachi 4.5-6 is a prophecy about John the Baptist as a forerunner to Jesus (Lk. 1.17). John 3 is about how to find salvation.
Thanks for asking. You can still be a Christian, because Jesus didn't lie.
Though Elijah is said to have gone up in to heaven, we have to remember that the Hebrew word translated "heaven" can also refer to the sky, and therefore does not clearly suggest that Elijah was taken into God's presence. It's also noticeable that the people of the day didn't assume he went into heaven (God's presence) because in 2 Ki. 2.16, just 4 verses later, the sons of the prophets wondered where Elijah had been put back down. In other words, they didn't know what had happened to him.
Now, we can be certain that Elijah ended up in heaven, as did all the Old Testament saints. Are you thinking that because Jesus said "no one has ever gone into heaven," that heaven was empty?
Let's look at Jn. 3.13. If you studied the Greek, you know that ἀναβέβηκεν is the prefect active indicative of ἀναβαίνω. The perfect tense connotes "no one has gained the heights of heaven..." Jesus is talking with Nicodemus about how to gain eternal life (a point that is not part of the Elijah story or Malachi). People cannot raise themselves to heaven and gain it by their own goodness or knowledge. "Ascent to heaven" is only possible by the Spirit by new birth. It isn't possible for a human to attain on one's own. Even Enoch and Elijah did not achieve heaven by meriting it.
What Jesus is saying is that He alone knows the mind of God. He alone was with the Father from eternity past. He alone has unimpeded access to the mind of God. He alone is qualified to speak of heavenly things and how to rightly attain salvation.
John 3.13 has nothing to do with what happened to Enoch and Elijah. Jesus didn't lie. They are completely different teachings. The story of Elijah in 2 Kings is about prophetic power passing from one prophet to another. Malachi 4.5-6 is a prophecy about John the Baptist as a forerunner to Jesus (Lk. 1.17). John 3 is about how to find salvation.