[Steve Myers] Timothy, one of our BT viewers, sent in a question. He asked about Elijah,
"Did Elijah go to heaven?". He cited 2 Kings 2:11, where it says that Elijah was taken
by a whirlwind into heaven. And then Timothy asked if it contradicted John 3:13, because
in John 3:13 it says, "No one's ascended to heaven, but He who came down from heaven",
talking about Jesus Christ. So what about this -- did Elijah go to heaven?
Well, it really depends on what you mean, because when you examine what the Bible says
about heaven, there's actually three heavens that are mentioned in the Bible. Let's look
at the examples that are given in the Bible. In Deuteronomy chapter 26, we find one example
of that. It's in verse 15, and it describes heaven as God's throne. And so it says there,
"Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven (Deuteronomy 26:15). So God's dwelling
place, His throne, is one heaven that's mentioned in the Bible.
Now, there's also a second heaven that's mentioned in the Bible, and you can find that reference
in Psalm 8:3. Psalm 8:3 says, "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the
moon and the stars which You have ordained." So that points to something different than
God's throne. What is Psalm 8:3 talking about when it speaks of heaven? It's talking about
outer space. So when we talk about the stars and the moon and the sun -- all of those things
are in outer space. Well, did Elijah go to God's throne? Or did Elijah go to outer space?
Or is there another possibility? Well, there is.
There's a third example of heaven that's mentioned in the Bible. And this example -- one of the
places that you can find this -- oh, is not in Exodus -- it's in Genesis, Genesis 7:11.
And this is in the account of Noah and the flood. And in Genesis 7:11 it says, "The windows
of heaven were opened, and the rain was on the earth." Well, what heaven would Genesis
7 be talking about? Well, where does the rain come from? Well, it comes from our atmosphere.
It comes from the sky. And so, earth's atmosphere is also called heaven in the Bible.
So, which heaven did Elijah go to?
Well, remember 2 Kings 2:11 says he was taken up in a whirlwind. Well, if you think of a
whirlwind, what is it that comes to mind? Well, in my mind, it's one of those things
that kind of look like this, kind of looks like a tornado. Was taken up -- would he
have been taken to God's throne, outer space, or into the atmosphere? You're right. He was
taken up into the atmosphere, into the sky.
Now, can we prove that, that he didn't go to God's throne? That John 3:13 is correct,
that no one's ascended to God's throne? Well, there's a couple of things. If we read just
a little bit farther in 2 Kings 2:16, after Elijah was taken up into the sky, it says
in verse 16, "There are fifty of us here, all strong men. Let us go and look for your
master. Maybe the spirit of the Lord has carried him away and left him on some mountain or
in some valley". What did the people think that were with Elijah at the time he was taken
up? What did they say to Elisha? Well, they said, "Let's go look for him". You see, they
didn't have the impression that he went to God's throne or that he went out to the stars
or to the moon or something like that. They understood that he was carried away and put
down somewhere else.
In fact, there's one other proof of that that becomes pretty specific, and that's over in
2 Chronicles. In 2 Chronicles 21:12, we find the story beginning, where the Bible records
that Elijah wrote a letter to one of the kings of Judah. And the interesting part about this
letter in 2 Chronicles is it was written several years after this whirlwind took Elijah to
heaven.
So when you put all of these things together, you put the three different heavens that the
Bible mentions -- becomes very clear, John 3:13 is right. No one has ascended to God's
throne except Jesus Christ. Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind, and he was placed down
somewhere else -- taken up into the sky, into the earth's atmosphere, and then placed down,
where later he writes a letter to the king.
And so, when we put all the passages together, the Bible doesn't contradict itself. And so
we can be assured that the Bible is true, and no one has ascended to heaven.
That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.