People who go missing, later to be found alive, are stories that capture people’s attention whenever they break. Some stories are inspiring, some are devastating, and some are downright eerie and bizarre. But narratives of men and women who are discovered after years of absence are all-around fascinating.
Carlos De Salazar was Discovered on a Remote Beach
When Carlos Sanchez Ortiz De Salazar went missing one day in 1995, many suspected the worst. Described as severely depressed, many friends and family assumed he had committed suicide. De Salazar was officially declared dead in 2010. Nearly 20 years after he went missing, two mushroom pickers wandering a remote Tuscany coastline stumbled upon De Salazar's secret encampment inside a nature reserve. The two men were startled when De Salazar walked out of the bush, and they ran for help. When they arrived with a ranger hours later, Salazar explained that he had been on this coast since 1997.
De Salazar asked to be left alone, but Spanish officials contacted his family. But when they arrived in Italy to reunite with De Salazar, he had already packed up his things and disappeared again.
A Woman Accidentally Joined a Search Party Looking for Herself
When an unidentified woman left her tour of an Icelandic volcano to freshen up and change her clothes, she was reported missing. It appeared no one had a clear look at the woman, however, because when she returned, she actually joined the search party. The woman, described only as "Asian, but fluent in English, about 5'3, and wearing dark clothes," helped her tour group feverishly scour the area.
It wasn't until it clicked in the woman's mind that she was also Asian, fluent in English, about 5'3, and was previously wearing dark clothes that she made the connection. Following her ground-breaking revelation, the woman reported herself as the "missing person."
A Man from My Home Town
All these cases I found on media sites, but in my home town there was a man who went missing, never to be heard from again. My home town has a population of 100 people, so if someone goes missing, everybody within 100 miles knows about it. His case was kept quiet from us kids, but later we heard the story, and it was intriguing. He was married to a lovely woman, had two bright children, with whom I went to school, and was one of the main businessmen in town, owning a profitable general store. He disappeared in Albury and has never been heard from to this day, 30 odd years later. His wife and family were devastated, and they held a memorial for him years later, but his son is convinced he simply left town and started a new life.
Have you ever thought about doing the disappearing act yourself? You could start a totally new life in some exotic region of the world. There is nothing illegal about it. But if you did it, it would be best to let someone know, so at least your family and friends would know you were alive and hopefully well. I wouldn’t want my family or friends fretting themselves into an early grave over me, and I certainly wouldn’t want the embarrassment of finding myself in a search party for myself, like the lady in our earlier story!
Why am I recounting stories of people who disappeared and some who re-invented their lives? Well, it is a possibility that one of the characters in our sermon today did something similar.
We’re looking at three biblical missing case stories. We are going to consider what happened to Enoch, Moses and Elijah. You may not have realised that they were missing person cases, but it looks very much like it.
But before we look at their individual cases, I want you to hear what Jesus mentioned in his conversation with Nicodemus, in the gospel of John.
John 3:12–15 (NRSV) — 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Is Moses in Heaven?
Jesus tells us no one has ascended into heaven except himself. The point to note is that immediately after saying this he mentions Moses, the very man, along with Enoch and Elijah, many Christians say went to heaven.
Many claim that at the Transfiguration Peter, James and John saw Moses and Elijah in person, speaking with Jesus, and they assume that these two came from heaven to be with Jesus, and the story is that they represent two groups of people. Moses representing those who will be resurrected at Jesus return, and Elijah representing the living saints who will be translated at Jesus return.
But this cannot be the case, because of what we read in scripture. Moses and Elijah were not resurrected when Peter, James, and John saw them talking with Jesus. We know this firstly because nine hundred years after these men lived, Jesus said, in John 3:13, that "no man hath ascended up to heaven," and secondly, because of what Jesus told them at the time of the Transfiguration, in Matthew (c.f. also, Mark 9:2-10, Luke 9:28-36).
Matthew 17:3–9 (NRSV) — 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
After this the three men cowered in fear because of the Father’s voice from heaven, and we read in verse 7,
...7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Notice that Moses and Elijah appeared unto them, and later Jesus refers to it as a vision.[1]
Visions appear throughout the Bible. They are not physical things, but something that happens in the minds of those experiencing them.
In Acts 10, Peter had a vision of unclean animals being presented as food:
“…he fell into a trance and saw… Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean.”
And in Revelation 12 John says he saw a great red dragon in heaven. Do you think he really saw a great red dragon flaying about in heaven? No, of course not, it was a vision depicting Lucifer, later to be known as Satan.
In the case of the transfiguration, it was a prophetic vision of what would take place in the future. Peter, James and John saw the Son of Man as if glorified in the consummated kingdom through a prophetic vision.
Both Moses and Elijah were still in their graves, but in vision both they and Jesus were seen glorified in the coming kingdom. This vision was granted the disciples after Jesus had spoken of the glory of immortality.
So let’s look at these three men and notice what scripture actually says about what happened to them.
What about Elijah?[2]
2 Kings 2:8–13 (NRSV) — 8 Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” 10 He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
Elisha rends his clothes in dismay that he will no longer have Elijah near him in ministry. A ‘whirlwind’ can exist only in the Earth’s atmosphere, sometimes referred to as the first heaven. Space is the second heaven, and God's throne is in the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2).
Since Elijah could not have gone to the heaven of God's throne, because of what we read from Jesus earlier, then to which heaven did he go? He was actually taken up into this earth's atmosphere, the first heaven.
What was the reason for this unusual act of God?
Why did he whisk Elijah away, into the clouds? Was it to make him immortal? No! The Scripture says no word about that, and immortality is not ours until Jesus comes again!
But Scripture reveals the reason for his removal? 2 Kings 2:3 has the answer, and it’s repeated in verse 5.
2 Kings 2:3 (NRSV) — 3 The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?” And he said, “Yes, I know; keep silent [shut up!].”
Elijah was the leader of the sons of the prophets in that day, and God had sent Elijah as his prophet to the wicked king Ahab and to his son Ahaziah. But God had now chosen Elisha to direct His work. We don’t know the reasons, but one may be that Ahaziah the king had died and a new king was ruling, and perhaps because Elijah was ageing. So, what did God do?
He could not allow Elijah to remain here among the people with Elisha directing the work. That would have given the impression of disqualifying Elijah and would have been too difficult for Elisha as the incoming leader of the prophets. The best thing God could do would be to remove Elijah so that his successor could have a clean start at the office.
When he was taken up, Elijah's mantle dropped from him and Elisha picked it up (2 Kings 2:12-15). The mantle was the insignia of his role as the Lord’s anointed prophet in Israel. Elisha was to occupy the prophetic office in Israel for the next fifty years. Ahaziah had just died, and Elijah was already aging. So as not to disqualify Elijah in the sight of the people, God took him away, allowing the mantle which signified the office of Elijah to drop into the hands of Elisha.
Where did Elijah go?
He did not ascend to the throne of God, because Jesus precludes that. And we noticed that Elisha and the sons of the prophets knew Elijah would be taken away by God in advance. They believed that Elijah was going to be taken to another location, which is why they were fearful that the Spirit of God might have dropped him "upon some mountain, or into some valley" (2 Kings 2:16).
Elisha knew that God would preserve Elijah from harm, but at their insistence he permitted men to go in search for him, but to no avail. God did not say that Elijah was to die at that time.
The school of the prophets believed Elijah would be taken by God and relocated somewhere else in Israel. Elisha could have set the prophets straight and told them Elijah was to be taken to heaven, if he knew this to be God’s plan, but he did not. It seems Elisha believed the same as the prophets. Elijah himself did not suggest he was to be taken to heaven, and God did not suggest this. And the chronology of Kings and Chronicles does not suggest this either.
The new king of Israel, the northern kingdom, was another son of Ahab, Jehoram, or Joram, as he is sometimes called. In the fifth year of Joram king of Israel, the son of the king of Judah began to reign along with his father Jehoshaphat (2 Kings 8:16). His name was also Jehoram. So the kings of both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah were both named Jehoram. For nearly six years Jehoram, king of Judah, followed the ways of (his father-in-law) Ahab of Israel and the nations about him and did evil in the sight of God.
Almost ten years had now expired since Elijah was taken up by the chariot from the people. After this wicked rule by the king of Judah, God chose Elijah to write a letter and have it sent to the king! The contents of the letter are found in,
2 Chronicles 21:12–15 (NRSV) — 12 A letter came to him from the prophet Elijah, saying: “Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David: Because you have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or in the ways of King Asa of Judah, 13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness, as the house of Ahab led Israel into unfaithfulness, and because you also have killed your brothers, members of your father’s house, who were better than yourself, 14 see, the Lord will bring a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions, 15 and you yourself will have a severe sickness with a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out, day after day, because of the disease.”
From the wording of this letter it is clear that Elijah wrote it after these events had occurred, for he speaks of them as past events, and of the diseases that were to be inflicted on the wicked king, as future. Two years after this the king became diseased and died, having reigned only eight short years (2 Chronicles 21:18-20).
This shows that the letter was written about ten years after Elijah had been taken to another location by the whirlwind. God possibly used Elijah, rather than Elisha, to convey the message because Elijah had been the prophet of God in the days of this present king's father, and as a senior prophetic statesman he was warning the son that he was not going in the ways of his obedient father, Jehoshaphat.
This letter proves that Elijah was alive someplace else. The Bible does not say where Elijah was because the focus was to be on Elisha. Perhaps Elijah was too old to have any major role, but he was faithfully serving the Lord wherever he was. The Bible does not reveal how much longer Elijah lived after writing the letter, but it does say that it is appointed for all men to die once (Romans 5:12,14, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, Hebrews 9:27).
A similar incident to Elijah's took place in Acts 8:39,40. Phillip was caught up into the first heaven, as Elijah was, and was transported to another location approximately 30 miles away.
We also read of Ezekiel being transported by the spirit of God to another location where he sat stunned for seven days (Ezekiel 3:12-15). This happened several times to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 8:3; 11:24).
As far as being taken into heaven, we know that neither Elijah, Enoch or Moses were taken there, because Jesus said that "no man has ascended to heaven" (John 3:13), and in John 1:18, "No man has ever seen God. But Christ has made God known to us.” (NLV).
What of Enoch?
Some people believe that Enoch did not die but was taken directly to heaven where God is. But according to the author of the book of Hebrews Enoch eventually died, as all humans die.
Hebrews lists many men of faith, including Abel, Abraham, Noah and Enoch, and then concludes,
Hebrews 11:13 (NRSV) — 13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.
Not only does Hebrews rule out Enoch being in Heaven, but in the introduction to his Gospel, John tells us that,
John 1:18 “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is truly God and is closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like.” (Contemporary English Translation)
So, if no one had ever seen God till at least the time when John wrote his gospel, somewhere between 90 and 100 A.D., then obviously Enoch could not have been in Heaven with God.
So, how are we to understand the account of Enoch, since Genesis 5:24 says,
Genesis 5:24 (NRSV) — 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.
Genesis 5:21-24 says that Enoch's days, alive on Earth, ended at 365 years old. The question is, did he die, was he taken to heaven alive, or was he transported to another location on Earth?
Compare Like with Like
The safest way to understand an enigmatic phrase like this one is to compare it with like phrases. The same Hebrew phrase appears in,
Psalm 37:35–38 (NRSV) — 35 I have seen the wicked oppressing, and towering like a cedar of Lebanon. 36 Again I passed by, and they were no more; though I sought them, they could not be found. 37 Mark the blameless, and behold the upright, for there is posterity for the peaceable. 38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.
Psalm 39:13 (NRSV) — 13 Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more.”
The Hebrew for the phrases in bold is the same Hebrew as Genesis 5:24. As in the Psalms, the phrase means the person "passed away" or would eventually die. Let’s look at the same phrase in the book of Genesis.
Genesis 42:13 (NRSV) — 13 They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of a certain man in the land of Canaan; the youngest, however, is now with our father, and one is no more.[One is not – KJV]”
When we get to chapter 44 it becomes crystal clear what they mean by this phrase.
Genesis 44:20 (NRSV) — 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead; he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’
Joseph’s brothers recount their previous discussion about Joseph with Pharoah, and it’s quite obvious they thought Joseph was dead.
Let’s look at one more in the New Testament.
Matthew 2:18 (NRSV) — 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
The KJV has, “...because they are not." Rachel's children were dead.
So, the text in Hebrews 11:5, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him," does it mean Enoch would never die?
Because Hebrews 11:13 says, "These all died [including Enoch] in faith." But not only that, verse 13 goes on to say that they did not receive the promises. One of the promises was a heavenly country (verse 16). If Enoch were in heaven, wouldn't he have received that promise?
It must mean something else.
So what does the phrase "should not see death" mean? Notice it is not in the present tense, that he "did not see" death, but that he "should not see death."
Perhaps the best explanation is found in John 8:51, where Jesus says in argument with the Jews,
John 8:51 (NRSV) — 51 Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” [c.f. John 11:26].
The phrase must mean "the second death," since all the Apostles kept Jesus’ sayings and yet died the first death.
Based on Hebrews 11:13, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises," we must conclude that Enoch died the first death.
Are we to believe that Enoch did not sin, when Paul clearly states that “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God”? Are we to believe that a man whose sin was not yet covered by the blood of Jesus could enter heaven and dwell in God's presence? Of course, we cannot.
Enoch’s Translation
But what about Enoch’s translation, mentioned in Hebrews 11:5? Does that mean he didn’t die? The Bible does not say that Enoch went to heaven when he was translated. It says he "was not found." According to several lexicons, "translate" means "to put or place in another place, to transport, to transfer." Nowhere in the Scripture does ‘translate’ mean to make immortal!
The same Greek word is rendered "carried over" or “bought back” in Acts 7:16 where Jacob's body was ‘transported’ to Shechem, where he was buried!
God took Enoch for some reason which is not clear to us, and eventually he was buried somewhere so as not to be found, just as God did with the body of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:6. God hid them for reasons known only to Him.
Paul also wrote about being “translated.” He said that the Father,
Colossians 1:13–14 (NRSV) — 13 ...has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred [translated - KJV] us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Paul says that he has already been translated, that is, transferred, from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God. Although he was once part of the darkness of this world, he was translated, removed from darkness, into the light of the kingdom of God, while he was physically alive!
What a blessed thought. I also have that translation, and so can each one of us, if we claim it, and we must claim it personally.
Prior Resurrections
Now even though Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." (1Cor. 15:20), it does not preclude prior resurrections to that of Jesus himself. Because there had been many anticipatory resurrections before Jesus’ resurrection.
The prophets Elijah and Elisha both performed resurrections during their ministries (see 1 Kings 17:17–22 and 2 Kings 4:32–35). Jesus himself raised three people from death. Individual resurrections throughout history anticipate Jesus' resurrection and the general resurrection at his return. These people who were resurrected must have died again, there is no other explanation when we consider that Jesus says that no man has seen God at any time.
As we have already established, Jesus had to be the first to ascend into heaven and stand before the Father. Jesus also says in John.
Therefore, Moses, Enoch or Elijah could not possibly have been in heaven while Jesus was on earth.
Conclusion
Paul, at the close of his letter to Timothy, charges him,
1 Timothy 6:14–16 (NRSV) — 14 to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16 It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
God alone has immortality at this time. But as we read earlier in John, the time is coming when we who have believed can put on that immortality. As John says,
John 3:13–15 (NRSV) — 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
It is my prayer that all of you will claim that immortality that only resides in Jesus. Let's resolve to be part of that eternal life with him.
[1]3705 ὅραμα [horama /hor·am·ah/] n n. From 3708; TDNT 5:371; TDNTA 706; GK 3969; 12 occurrences; AV translates as “vision” 11 times, and “sight” once. 1 that which is seen, spectacle. 2 a sight divinely granted in ecstasy or in sleep, a vision.[1] [2] Some of this material is from: http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/enoch.html
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