A thought struck me the other day as I was driving with some students in the car. I thought a thought I'd never thought before, and I am quite intrigued by it.
In Heaven (wherever or whatever that is) there are four earthly bodies that we know of from the Scriptures. Moses, Elijah, and Enoch were presumably assumed into heaven with their earthly bodies very much still intact. And then of course, Jesus Christ, ascended into heaven with His resurrected body. So, are there three non-resurrected bodies living in heaven? Or was their flesh discarded somewhere in the journey? And, for interest's sake, what are those three bodies doing in a world of souls? Do questions like these have any implications on our beliefs and/or thoughts about heaven?
Please, comment!!
Post Scriptum: If you are Roman you would also be including the Blessed Mary in this (?)
2 comments:
Huh. Intriguing thought. I shouldn't think they have new bodies because I believe that Paul or someone says that Christ is the first born of the resurrection. So that would imply that there are at least two mortal coils hanging around with archangels. Or perhaps they are in some holding place... or... ? I'm interested to hear the answer.
Moses however, did die a natural death and was buried in Moab. See Genesis 34.
-Serena
Elijah was assumed in 2 Kings 2:11
Enoch's assumption is inferred from Gen. 5:24 (c.f. Heb 11:5 and Sirach 44:16)
Moses' assumption has been controversial. Perhaps I should have been more clear. In Gen. 34 Moses is said to have died and been buried in Moab, though the text says that they did not know where his grave was. The text also mentions that "His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished" (v. 7).
How can this be controversial? Well, there is a passage in the non-canonical book of Jude that says, "the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses". This, of course, is not to be trusted above the canonical books. However, Moses appeared with Elijah (who was assumed and appeared bodily) at the Transfiguration. This is perhaps the greatest argument for his bodily assumption.
I agree that these 2-3 saints do NOT have resurrected bodies for the reason you stated.
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