Past Tense to Future Tense part 2.
We have journeyed together over the wilderness of sin covering the history of 2600 years. According to the Bible (Deuteronomy), Moses ascended The Pisgah mountains to Mount Nebo, the highest peak, in the land of Moab (today in Jordan- probably the Golan heights), and from there he saw the Land of Canaan (the Promised Land), which God had said he would not enter; Moses died there and was buried in an unmarked grave. He was 120. Despite his bitter disappointment, God had a greater plan, because Christ the archangel Jude 9 tells us, contended for the body of Moses and he was resurrected and taken to heaven. There are accounts of three earthly mortals that God made special provisions for that we know are in heaven. Enoch, at the age of 365 it says, “walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24). Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind,( 2 Kings 2:11) and as we have said already Moses was resurrected. The fact that these three special resurrections are highlighted in scripture should indicate to us that the rest of God’s people are ‘sleeping’ (to use the Bibles most common euphemism for death) and awaiting the resurrection when the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ shall rise (1 Thess. 4:16; 1 Cor15:23, 52)
Both Elijah and Moses appeared to Jesus in what is called the transfiguration, where Jesus was transformed and His face glowed (Matt 17:1-8).
Elijah represents the saved: those who will be taken to heaven without seeing death, and Moses those who will be resurrected. My fellow pilgrims, we ourselves stand, metaphorically, on Pisgah’s mountain and we can look beyond to the promised land. A wonder beyond our wildest imagination awaits us! I know not where ‘heaven’ is or how we will get there – except to say this: I watched an astronomy program once where the narrator was discussing black holes and worm holes. While he was making no attempt to make any spiritual applications his explanation of ‘worm holes’ as being like elevators in the universe that can transport “things” from one galaxy to the next via time warps, lit up my life with an ah ha experience, as I said to myself, “that must be how angels get around in the galaxy.” Celestial elevators. Really, I don’t know, but I wonder! God is Almighty and this along with a multitude of other things are moments of learning that we will have in the school of Christ on the other side of eternity.
And so we have arrived at the end. Time is about to turn on its hinge and become eternity. Literally the end of all time! What has been true for the rest of the universe is now also true for planet Earth – time, as we sinful, corrupted earthlings understand it, is no longer of any relevance. It is no more! The long suffering of God’s people truly enter eternity. Yes, it was theirs from the moment Jesus died, but now it is realised at last. The old pattern or order of things has, in John’s words,”Passed away” Revelation 21:1
The war is over, the trinity of evil is gone and the next two chapters open our minds to the immensity of eternity, and a world that we can only imagine. Walk a little further with me, I pray, and let your imagination run wild with excitement and wonder.