The Lord is changing
my thinking again and it’s even more startling,
exciting, and mind-expanding than the first
time. Years ago at summer camp, the guest
speaker had preached on eschatology to us
squirmy, mosquito-bitten, sunburnt campers.
Of course, the word ‘eschatology’ was lost on a
bunch of kids. Toward the end of the week,
a time was set aside for a Q&A session.
The movie A Thief in the Night had
recently come out, so many of the questions
dealt with the Rapture. (The movie can be
watched online at lionandlambministry.com.)
Someone asked something like this, “Do you think
the Rapture will happen in the morning, like in
the movie, or at midnight?” The guest
speaker, who spoke calmly and solemnly, (that’s
not a euphemistic way to say boring, because his
measured, authoritative manner had my full
attention) replied, “Yes.” At first we
didn’t understand. He continued, “It will
happen at morning where it’s morning and it will
happen at midnight where it’s midnight.”
We still didn’t get it. At this point, I
don’t recall his further explanation, but I very
distinctly remember my thought process. I
had been thinking incorrectly! The coming
Rapture was not a made-for-movie event; it would
be a real-time, in every time zone occurrence.
It seemed so simple, so logical, so previously
lost on me. That realization set me
repeatedly asking myself throughout my life,
what else have I gotten wrong? In some
regards, I think of it like having cold water
splashed in my face, but my Lord gently,
persistently, lovingly leads me along, teaching
me what I can handle, when I need it.
I’d love to tell you all the special ways He has
taught me what little I know—the precious
promises He has given to comfort and soothe me,
the assurances He has given as anchor holds.
I’d love to take you along my path of Him
changing my thinking about time and its
creation, the Oneness plurality of God, the
beautiful intertwining of picture-lesson themes
repeated throughout the Bible, the seemingly
contradictory descriptions of Christ, the music
and dance of New Testament complimenting Old
Testament, Gentile complimenting Jew, wife
complimenting husband. My God is big, and
out of the box, and not at all a safe lion, but
good beyond my understanding. Every
believer has a path and I’d love to hear your
story as much as I’d love to tell you mine.
How many ways are there to the Father?
Only one. How many ways are there to
Jesus? The number of how many believers
there are.
He has recently changed my thinking again.
It’s been right there in front of me all along
and I didn’t understand. I love patterns
in the Bible, but they can be lost from view
unless one looks for them like a treasure hunt.
As it has happened so often, I had these
thoughts skirting around the edges of my mind,
until I formed them into a specific question.
Sometimes I think the Holy Spirit has to ready
me for months or even years, positioning me just
right, before He gives me a swift kick in the
pants to get me moving. So how many
resurrections have there been and what can be
learned from them?
The first resurrection recorded in the Bible is
in I Kings 17, the son of the widow of
Zarephath, a Sidonite, who was raised through
the ministry of Elijah. Starting at verse
17 (NIV), Some time later the
son of the woman who owned the house became ill.
He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped
breathing. She said to Elijah, "What do
you have against me, man of God? Did you come to
remind me of my sin and kill my son?"
"Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him
from her arms, carried him to the upper room
where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.
Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God,
have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I
am staying with, by causing her son to die?"
Then he stretched himself out on the boy three
times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let
this boy's life return to him!" The LORD
heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned
to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the
child and carried him down from the room into
the house. He gave him to his mother and said,
"Look, your son is alive!" Then the woman said
to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man
of God and that the word of the LORD from your
mouth is the truth."
Underlined emphasis is added.
The second resurrection recorded in the Bible is
in II Kings 4, the son of the Shunammite woman,
who was raised through the ministry of Elisha.
Starting at verse 16,
"About
this time next year," Elisha said, "you will
hold a son in your arms." "No, my lord," she
objected. "Don't mislead your servant, O man of
God!" But the woman became pregnant, and
the next year about that same time she gave
birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.
The child grew, and one day he went out to his
father, who was with the reapers.
"My head! My head!" he said to his father. His
father told a servant, "Carry him to his
mother." After the servant had lifted him
up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on
her lap until noon, and then he died. She
went up and laid him on the bed of the man of
God, then shut the door and went out. She
called her husband and said, "Please send me one
of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the
man of God quickly and return." "Why go to
him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or
the Sabbath." "It's all right," she said.
She saddled the donkey and said to her servant,
"Lead on; don't slow down for me unless I tell
you." So she set out and came to the man
of God at Mount Carmel. When he saw her in the
distance, the man of God said to his servant
Gehazi, "Look! There's the Shunammite! Run
to meet her and ask her, 'Are you all right? Is
your husband all right? Is your child all
right?'" "Everything is all right," she said.
When she reached the man of God at the mountain,
she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to
push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave
her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the
LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me
why." "Did I ask you for a son, my lord?"
she said. "Didn't I tell you, 'Don't raise my
hopes'?" Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tuck your
cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand
and run. If you meet anyone, do not greet him,
and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my
staff on the boy's face." But the child's
mother said, "As surely as the LORD lives and as
you live, I will not leave you." So he got up
and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and
laid the staff on the boy's face, but there was
no sound or response. So Gehazi went back to
meet Elisha and told him, "The boy has not
awakened." When Elisha reached the house,
there was the boy lying dead on his couch.
He went in, shut the door on the two of them and
prayed to the LORD. Then he got on the bed
and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to
eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself
out upon him, the boy's body grew warm.
Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in
the room and then got on the bed and stretched
out upon him once more. The boy sneezed seven
times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned
Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunammite." And he
did. When she came, he said, "Take your son."
She came in, fell at his feet and
bowed to the ground. Then she took her son
and went out.
The third resurrection recorded in the Bible is
in II Kings 13, the man whose body was thrown
into Elisha’s grave when the Moabite raiders
invaded. Starting at verse 20,
Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite
raiders used to enter the country every spring.
Once while some Israelites were burying a man,
suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they
threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When
the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to
life and stood up on his feet.
This also fulfilled Elisha’s request for a
double portion inheritance of Elijah’s spirit,
II Kings 2:9. Thus, there were three
resurrections recorded in the Old Testament.
The fourth resurrection recorded in the Bible is
in Luke 7, the son of the widow of Nain, whom
Jesus raised. Starting at verse 11,
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town
called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd
went along with him. As he approached the
town gate, a dead person was being carried
out—the only son of his mother, and she was a
widow. And a large crowd from the town was with
her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out
to her and he said, "Don't cry." Then he
went up and touched the coffin, and those
carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I
say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up
and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to
his mother. They were all filled with
awe and praised God. "A great prophet
has appeared among us," they said. "God has come
to help his people." This news about
Jesus spread throughout Judea and the
surrounding country. The
people logically concluded that Jesus was a
great prophet, connecting Him with Elijah and
Elisha.
The fifth resurrection recorded in the Bible is
in Luke 8 and in Mark 5, the twelve year old
daughter of Jairus, whom Jesus raised.
Starting at Luke 8:41, Then a
man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came
and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to
come to his house because his only daughter, a
girl of about twelve, was dying.
Continuing down to verse 49,
While Jesus was still speaking, someone came
from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler.
"Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't bother
the teacher any more." Hearing this, Jesus
said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid; just believe,
and she will be healed." When he arrived at the
house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in
with him except Peter, John and James, and the
child's father and mother. Meanwhile, all
the people were wailing and mourning for her.
"Stop wailing," Jesus said. "She is not dead but
asleep." They laughed at him, knowing that
she was dead. But he took her by the hand
and said, "My child, get up!" Her spirit
returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus
told them to give her something to eat.
Her parents were astonished, but he
ordered them not to tell anyone what had
happened. Mark 5:42
records Mr. & Mrs. Jairus’ response as
completely astonished or in the Greek
ἐξίστημι ἔκστασις
μέγας ἐξίστημι, existēmi
ekstasis megas existēmi,
or “thrown into great
ecstasy”. By the way, the name Jairus
means ‘whom God enlightens.’
The sixth resurrection recorded in the Bible is
in John 11, Lazarus, whom Jesus raised.
Starting in verse 11, After he
had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our
friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going
there to wake him up." His disciples
replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get
better." Jesus had been speaking of his
death, but his disciples thought he meant
natural sleep. So then he told them
plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I
am glad I was not there, so that you may
believe. But let us go to him."
Skipping to verse 17, On his
arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already
been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less
than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had
come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the
loss of their brother. When Martha heard that
Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but
Mary stayed at home. "Lord," Martha said
to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother
would not have died. But I know that even now
God will give you whatever you ask." Jesus
said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in
the resurrection at the last day." Jesus
said to her, "I am the resurrection and the
life. He who believes in me will live, even
though he dies; and whoever lives and believes
in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Continuing on to verse 38,
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.
It was a cave with a stone laid across the
entrance. "Take away the stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead
man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he
has been there four days." Then Jesus
said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed,
you would see the glory of God?" So they
took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and
said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard
me. I knew that you always hear me, but I
said this for the benefit of the people standing
here, that they may believe that you sent me."
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud
voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man
came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips
of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus
said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and
let him go." Therefore many of the Jews
who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what
Jesus did, put their faith in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees and
told them what Jesus had done.
And finishing up in verse 53 with the
reaction of the Pharisees, So
from that day on they plotted to take his
life.
The seventh resurrection recorded in the Bible
is Jesus’. I encourage you to read the
historical accounts of Jesus’ resurrection found
in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20.
Look for the reactions of the different
witnesses: fearing, shaking, telling,
filling with joy, running to tell, clasping,
worshipping, devising a plan, doubting,
trembling, fleeing, stubbornly refusing to
believe, wondering, remembering, discussing,
thinking they saw a ghost, praising God.
This is only a partial list.
The eighth resurrection recorded in the Bible is
in Matthew 27:52-54, The tombs
broke open and the bodies of many holy people
who had died were raised to life. They
came out of the tombs, and after Jesus'
resurrection they went into the holy city and
appeared to many people. When the
centurion and those with him who were guarding
Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had
happened, they were terrified, and
exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"
Currently, this is the only
documented multiple resurrection. The
number involved is quantitated as ‘many.’
The ninth resurrection recorded in the Bible is
in Acts 9, Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, who
was raised through the ministry of Peter.
Starting at verse 36,
In Joppa
there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when
translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing
good and helping the poor. About that time she
became sick and died, and her body was washed
and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near
Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter
was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged
him, "Please come at once!" Peter went
with them, and when he arrived he was taken
upstairs to the room. All the widows stood
around him, crying and showing him the robes and
other clothing that Dorcas had made while she
was still with them. Peter sent them all
out of the room; then he got down on his knees
and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he
said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes,
and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her
by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he
called the believers and the widows and
presented her to them alive. This became
known all over Joppa, and many people
believed in the Lord.
I wonder, if Tabitha were writing the account
instead of Luke, would she add her own
commentary, ‘And poor Tabitha, though
thrilled to be so well-loved by the people of
Joppa, went back to work, doing good and helping
the poor, and had to wait—again—for her
well-deserved rest.’
The tenth resurrection recorded in the Bible is
in Acts 20, Eutychus, who was raised through the
ministry of Paul, after dying by the ministry of
Paul. Sorry, had to throw that in.
Starting at verse 7, Paul spoke
to the people and, because he intended to leave
the next day, kept on talking until midnight.
There were many lamps in the upstairs room where
we were meeting. Seated in a window was a
young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a
deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was
sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the
third story and was picked up dead. Paul
went down, threw himself on the young man and
put his arms around him. "Don't be alarmed," he
said. "He's alive!" Then he went upstairs
again and broke bread and ate. After talking
until daylight, he left. The people took
the young man home alive and were
greatly comforted. By
the way, the name Eutychus means ‘fortunate.’
Now that all ten accounts have been initially
examined, the patterns—similarities and
differences can be compared.
*By reading the text or the surrounding text,
one will notice seven of the ten incidences
occurred in the spring:
-reapers in Israel would be out working to
harvest barley in the early spring or
wheat in the late spring,
-the Moabite raiders attacked in the spring,
-the disciples were criticized for picking and
eating heads of grain which would
be ripe in the spring while going through the
grainfields on a Sabbath,
-four of them occurred around the time of Jewish
spring festivals.
The other three may
have occurred in the springtime, but the text
does not specifically give an indication of the
season.
*Four resurrections took place around events
involved in a funeral or burial:
-the funeral of the man thrown into Elisha’s
grave,
-the funeral of the son of the widow of Nain,
-the post-burial days of mourning for Lazarus,
-after the body of Tabitha had been washed for
burial.
*Five resurrections occurred after the person
died from sickness:
-the son of the widow of Zarephath,
-the son of the Shunammite woman,
-Jairus’ daughter,
-Lazarus,
-Tabitha.
*The people resurrected are significant, too:
-a gentile,
-a child,
-a Jew,
-a young Jewish girl,
-a young man,
-a beloved friend and brother,
-holy people,
-a woman who was a disciple known for her deeds,
-a young man who had been sound asleep.
*Four accounts mention the resurrected person
being given food to eat:
-Jairus’ daughter,
-Lazarus in John 12:2,
-Paul breaking bread after returning to the
third-story room with Eutychus,
-and at least three occasions where Jesus ate.
*Eight accounts record how the person was
touched after resurrection:
-the son of the widow of Zarephath was picked
up, carried, and then given to his
mother,
-the son of the Shunammite woman was taken by
his mother and then they went
out together,
-the son of the widow of Nain was given back to
his mother,
-Jesus took Jairus’ daughter by the hand,
-Lazarus was released from his grave clothes,
-Jesus was not only touched, but examined,
-Peter took Tabitha by the hand,
-Paul fell on and hugged Eutychus.
*Six of them clearly held unique positions in
their families:
-the only child of a widow,
-the only child who was a specially-given son,
-the only son of a widow,
-an only daughter,
-probably the only male relative of two sisters,
-and, of course, Jesus Himself, the One and Only
beloved Son of the Father.
The others may have
held unique positions, too, but the text does
not specifically give an indication. I
would argue that the many holy people of Matthew
27:52 hold a unique position in prophetic
fulfillment, as I understand them to be the
firstfruits from the dead from which Christ was
raised in I Corinthians 15:20 and the
firstfruits, the second in turn who were made
alive, after Christ and before those who belong
to him when he comes, in I Corinthians 15:23.
The punctuation is rather confusing, but there
was no punctuation in the Greek alphabet until
at least the 2nd century, well after
the original autographs.
*And finally, and almost so obvious it can be
overlooked—each resurrection was
witnessed:
—the exact moment of resurrection for the widow
of Zarephath’s son was witnessed by Elijah
(unless he had his eyes closed while he prayed)
and then verified by the widowed mother;
—the exact moment of resurrection for the son of
the Shunammite woman was witnessed by Elisha,
with Elisha having direct physical contact with
the boy when the resurrection occurred, and then
it was verified by the mother, and at least
seven years later testified to by Gehazi to the
king, and then by the mother and son themselves,
who ‘coincidentally’ arrived just at that exact
moment;
—although, this is the only resurrection where
no reaction of the witnesses is recorded, the
resurrection of the man whose body touched
Elisha’s bones was at least witnessed by the
Israelites who were in the process of burying
him and possibly by the Moabite raiders;
—the exact moment of resurrection for the widow
of Nain’s son was witnessed by Jesus’ disciples,
the large crowd of people arriving in Nain with
Jesus, the large crowd of people from the town
attending the funeral, the coffin bearers, and
the widowed mother;
—the exact moment of resurrection for Jairus’
daughter was witnessed by Peter, John, and
James, and the girl’s parents, while it would
seem reasonable to assume the former wailers and
mourners, turned mockers, eventually realized
she was no longer dead;
—the resurrection of Lazarus, at least his exit
from his grave after four days of decomposition,
was witnessed by his two sisters, the many Jews
who had come to mourn, and the disciples who had
come with Jesus;
—the resurrected Jesus appeared to the women,
the two on the road to Emmaus, those in the
upper room, again to those in the upper room
including Thomas who had previously doubted, to
those beside the Sea of Galilee, and according
to I Corinthians 15:5-8, He appeared to Peter,
to the Twelve, to more than five hundred
brothers at the same time, to James, to all the
apostles, and finally to Paul, and Acts 10:40-41
gives further information that the resurrected
Jesus was openly shown to the witnesses chosen
by God, but not to all people at that time,
which is juxtaposed against the
every eye shall see him of
Revelation 1:7 and the every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess
of Isaiah 45:23, Romans 14:11, and Philippians
2:10;
—the many resurrected holy people went into the
holy city and appeared to many people, causing
the centurion and the guards to conclude that
Jesus Christ was the Son of God;
—the exact moment of Tabitha’s resurrection was
witnessed by Peter (who did not have his eyes
closed), and immediately evidenced to the
believers and the widows, and became known all
over Joppa;
—the exact moment of Eutychus’ resurrection was
witness by Paul, who apparently had direct
physical contact with the young man when the
resurrection occurred, and witnessed by the
people in the room, including the writer Luke,
and those who picked up the young man.
*In a closing observation, these witnessed
resurrections also had responses, and therefore
a time for these responses to occur:
-the widow of Zarephath knew the truth,
-the Shunammite woman worshipped,
-the people of Nain were filled with awe and
praised God, then spread the news,
-the parents were completely astonished,
-many of the witnesses in Bethany put their
faith in Jesus, while some others told
the Pharisees, who plotted to kill Jesus,
-the variety of reactions to the resurrection of
Jesus has been previously
enumerated,
-the Roman centurion and guards were terrified
and exclaimed their conclusion
concerning Jesus,
-many people of Joppa believed,
-the people of Troas were comforted.
Thus, in this partial list of comparisons and by
examining the pattern set by past resurrections,
one can anticipate a continuation in the set
pattern for future resurrections. The
Bible is its own best commentary.
The most recent change in my thinking focuses on
the coming resurrection of I Thessalonians
4:16-18 and I Corinthians 15, specifically
verses 51 and 52. I’ve had these passages
memorized for decades, but my thinking is
changing about them. Although I appreciate
the movie A Thief in the Night and I saw
how people were affected and challenged by it to
examine their need for a savior, I think the
movie erroneously combines I Thessalonians 4 and
I Corinthians 15. Yes, both passages refer
to a future resurrection, but I believe they
deal with different aspects of events occurring
during that same time.
After the letter to the Galatians, I
Thessalonians, believed to be the second epistle
written by Paul, states in chapter 4, verses
16-18 (KJV), For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise
first: Then we which are alive [and] remain
shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord.
Looking at the resurrection phrase ‘the dead in
Christ shall rise’, the Greek word ἀνίστημι,
anistēmi,
translated ‘shall rise’ means to raise up, to
raise up from laying down, to raise up from the
dead, to cause to appear, to bring forward, to
stand up, to arise, to appear, to stand forth,
as well as simply meaning to raise up in action
or from sleep. The word is repeatedly used
in connection with the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, as in Matthew 17:9, Matthew 20:19, Mark
8:31, Mark 9:9-10, 31, Mark 10:34, Mark 16:9,
Luke 18:33, Luke 24:7,46, John 20:9, Acts 2:24,
32, Acts 3:26, Acts 10:41; Acts 13:33, 34, Acts
17:3, 31, Romans 14:9, I Thessalonians 4:14.
The word is used to describe other resurrections
in Matthew 12:41, Mark 5:42, Mark 12:23,25, Luke
8:55, Luke 9:8,19, Luke 11:32, Luke 16:31, John
6:39, 40, 44, 54, John 11:23, 24, Acts 9:40,
Ephesians 5:14. It would be reasonable to
expect the events involved with the resurrection
prophesied in I Thessalonians 4 to follow the
well-established pattern of the previous
resurrections: perhaps in the spring;
perhaps at a funeral; perhaps in a sickroom;
neither age, gender, nor ethnic background would
exclude one—the only prerequisite given is ‘dead
in Christ’, which truly gives the
believer an unique position in the family of
God; the resurrected may be touched and given
food; and, it can be expected that there will be
witnesses to the resurrection.
The next phrase in the passage begins with the
word ἔπειτα, epeita,
translated ‘then’ in the KJV and NASB, and
‘after that’ in NIV. This word appears
sixteen times in the New Testament: nine times
in the KJV as ‘then’, four times as ‘after
that’, and three times as ‘afterward(s)’.
Used twice in I Corinthians 15:6-7, the word
indicates a passage of time in the events after
the resurrection of Jesus Christ and before His
ascension. As used in I Corinthians 15:23,
it indicates a passage of time between
resurrections. Paul uses it in I
Corinthians 15:36 to indicate a proper order
between the natural body coming before the
supernatural or resurrected body. I have
changed my thinking and now believe the word
also indicates a passage of an unknown length of
time between I Thessalonians 4:16 and 4:17.
In the interpretation I have been previously
taught, as in the movie A Thief in the Night,
the time involved is ‘a
twinkling of an eye’ as found
in I Corinthians 15, even though no specific
length of time for ‘then’ or ‘after that’ or
‘afterwards’ is given in the I Thessalonians
passage. For Jesus, the ‘then’ time
between His resurrection and ascension was forty
days, Acts 1:3. If the length of time of
‘then’ between the dead in Christ rising and
when those who are alive and remain are caught
up is so fast it is an instantaneous
disappearance, it would eliminate any
possibility of the resurrected people to be
given food and eat it, to be touched or
examined, and—most importantly—to be verified by
witnesses as alive from the dead.
An examination of I Corinthians 15:51-52
(KJV), Behold, I shew you
a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed,
shows what happens ‘in a flash, in the
twinkling of an eye’ is that ‘we will all be
changed’. The change from our
mortal body to our immortal body will happen in
ἄτομος, atomos,
a unit for time so fast it cannot be cut
in two or divided; it is indivisible.
Neither the I Thessalonians 4 passage nor
the I Corinthians 15 passage says anything about
the speed of our ascension to meet the Lord in
the air. The pattern in the
Old Testament for ascensions is Enoch in Genesis
5:24, who walked with God and was not, for God
took him, and Elijah in II Kings 2:11-12, who
was visibly taken up in a whirlwind, and in the
New Testament ascension of Jesus in Acts 1:9.
No specific information is given on the
mechanics of Enoch’s ascension, but both the
ascension of Elijah and of Jesus were visible,
witnessed events. Even the
word ἁρπάζω,
harpazō,
translated as ‘caught up’ in I Thessalonians 4,
as Philip ‘caught away’ in Acts 8:39, and as a
man (believed to be Paul referring to himself)
‘caught up’ in II Corinthians 12:2-4, indicates
specially taken by force, and not
necessarily by speed. The word is also
used in Matthew 11:12, Matthew 13:19, John 6:15,
John 10:12, John 10:28-29, and Acts 23:10,
clearly denoting force.
I’ve been thinking along these lines only since
May 2, so there is still a lot to work through.
I have many other observations I would like to
have time to share (for example, what the Lord
has taught me about Psalm 12 and Song of Solomon
2:8-13), but I’m tuckered out now and will save
those for another day. Thanks for reading
(or skimming) through this. Maranatha.