Was Elijah Removed To God’s Throne Room?
by Christine Egbert
Many cite 2 Kings 2:10, which reads, “Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind,” unwittingly promoting the pagan doctrine “Immortality of the Soul” that was first introduced into Christianity by the Roman Catholic Church. This ancient Egyptian and Babylonian doctrine, later promoted by the Greeks, taught that man’s soul is eternal and it separates from our physical body at death. (Jewish Encyclopedia, 1941, Vol. 6, pp. 564, 566. But that is not what Scripture teaches.
Genesis 2:7 says, “And the LORD (Yahweh) God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” The Hebrew word translated as soul is “nephesh”. It’s defined as “a living creature.” Man does not possess a soul; Man is a soul, according to Scripture. Our body that is made of earth becomes a living soul (with thoughts, will, and emotions), when God’s lifeforce is breathed into us.
God’s “nâphach”, translated as “breath”, is the life force that animated Adam’s body. From dust we’re made and to dust we return. When God’s breath—His naphach, His animating lifeforce—leaves our body it returns to God and we die. We sleep until the resurrection. Solomon wrote that when we die, “the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) To learn more about believer’s not going to heaven read my article, Your Kingdome Come: https://vineyardjc.com/your-kingdom-come/
No One Has Gone Up To Heaven!
The Word of God made flesh, Jesus (Yeshua) said in John 3:12-13. “If I tell you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has gone up to Heaven, except He that came down out of Heaven, the Son of Man who is in Heaven.”
Since Jesus (Yeshua) doesn’t lie and Scripture doesn’t contradict itself, where did Elijah go? The Bible teaches us that there are three heavens: The first is the earth’s atmosphere (Genesis 1:20, Jeremiah 4:25; 34:20, Lamentations 4:19, Zephaniah 1:3). The Hebrew words “shamayim” and “shachaq” are often translated as “sky, air, and heaven”. Genesis 7:3, “fowls of the air” Genesis 7:23, “fowl of the heaven.” Daniel 4:15-33; 5:21). Shachaq, in Psalm 89:6 and verse 37 is translated as “sky or skies.”
The second is outer space: Genesis 1:14-17; 15:5; 22:17; 26:4, Deuteronomy 1:10; 17:3; Psalm 8:3, Jeremiah 8:2; Matthew 24:29. “Firmament of the heaven” is often used to describe the second heaven.
The third, known also as the heaven of heavens, is the Father’s sanctuary. (2 Corinthians 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22; Deuteronomy 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 2:6; 6:18, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalms 148:4.
So to which heaven did God take Elijah? He took him into the first heaven, earth’s atmosphere. A whirlwind could not exist in the second heaven, outer space, or the third, God’s sanctuary. A removal from one location to another, similar to that of Elijah’s, occurred in Acts 8:39-40. Phillip was snatched by God’s Spirit and taken to a location some thirty miles away.
Elijah’s Mantle
When God commissions a leader or prophet, He releases a mantle over him, which provides the supernatural ability to complete God’s mission. Mantles are not like God’s gifts and callings which remain on a person for life. God’s mantle is attached to the mission. It remains with the mission, not one particular man. Had Elijah died, Elisha could’ve simply assumed Elijah’s Mantle. But God wanted Elijah alive, so He removed him to another place and passed that mantle on to Elisha.
Where Did Elijah Go?
According to 2 Kings 3 and 5, the sons of the prophets already knew that Elijah would be taken away to another location. They feared that the Spirit of God might have dropped him on a mountain or in some valley. (2 Kings 2:16). Elisha knew God would preserve Elijah’s life, so he permitted men to search for him.
How Do We Know Elijah Remained Alive?
The year Elijah was removed, King Jehoram (or Joram) began to reign and Elisha was recognized as God’s prophet. (2 Kings 1:18; 3:1; 3:11). Ten years later, God had Elijah, who was very much alive, write a letter to Judah’s wicked King Jehoram. Its content (recorded in 2 Chronicles 21:12-15) makes it clear that Elijah wrote this letter well after the evil actions he ascribed to the King had occurred. Two years later, King Jehoram’s intestines dropped out. He died exactly as Elijah had prophesied. (2 Chronicles 21:18-20).