BIBLICAL BRIEFS 113
No, to all of the questions above. Ps. 115:16-17 categorically states this: “The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to mankind. It is not the dead who praise the LORD … ” No dead person ascends to heaven in any way. In regards to David, the man after God’s own heart, who walked completely in His will (Acts 13:22), Peter for example clearly states in Acts 2:34 – “For David did not ascend into the heavens.” In fact, Jesus also categorically denotes it as He stands physically before them: “NO one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” (John 3:13). Jesus is thus in heaven and on earth at the same time while saying this! But what is then meant by 2Kin. 2:11 when the following is being said regarding Elijah, “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven”? And in Rev. 11:12 of the two witnesses: “Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here!’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud.” Hereby one can add the unique experience of Enoch, of whom is being said the following in Heb. 11:5 – “By faith Enoch was taken away without experiencing death. He could not be found because God had taken him away.” Against all of this, 1Cor. 15:50 unequivocally states – “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” What happened to Elijah and Enoch are particular events which we ought to examine. The word which is used in Heb. 11:5 to describe Enoch’s transition is ‘metatithēmi’ in Greek, which consists of two parts: ‘meta’ and ‘tithēmi’. The word part ‘meta’ indicates change, and ‘tithēmi’ refers to positioning. Thayer uses the composition: “to transpose” as (ex)change. The biggest mistake we make in understanding this transition of position is to link it to a change of place. This is not true at all; much rather it is a change of state or condition. Elijah and Enoch did not go to heaven; they merely changed from a fleshly state to a spiritual state, the same that happened to Jesus. The word “ascended” could have been much better translated without the assumed, spatial association, by means of the definition: transition to another position or state. ‘Translation’ would also clarify the action in a language context – Elijah, Enoch, Jesus and, for example the murderer on the cross whom Jesus had promised: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43), have all changed from an earthly material physical reality to an earthly invisible spiritual reality, which the Bible refers to as the cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1). The 82 times the word “ascended” is used in the New Testament, only mere 16 times it suggests “ascending”, which, in addition to a few single verses suggests the translation of people from one realm to another, it mostly indicates a mere movement, (from one town to another, up a mountain, from scents that spiral upwards, and so forth). For the other instances, it merely refers to everyday movement aspects. Within this paradigm, it is absolutely clear that “ascending” can not at all indicate “going to heaven” – the opposite is true. “Heaven” is nothing (else) but God’s state of dominion (Isa. 66: 1; Acts 7:49), independent of place, “(a state) which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:20). This is the authority state in which Jesus is with God. Everyone who is part of the Bride of Christ, already RULES as “conquerors” in this authority in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6; Rev. 3:21). This already takes place in the here and now; we will not ascend one day. It is unbiblical to say we will go to heaven one day; we already ARE in heaven in Christ.
Dr Tom Gouws
