Do Old Testament Saints go to Heaven After the Cross

Jim let's go ahead and open to second Corinthians 5 during the first hour we looked at the question whether the body of Christ returns with Christ at the second coming and I tried to persuade you that the answer to that is know that even though there are many verses that talk about the Lord cometh with his saints are coming with the armies of heaven those refer to angels and have nothing to do with the body of Christ there's a similar question that people often wonder about and that is this do the Old Testament Saints in other words people who are saved I want to say before the cross do they go to heaven after the cross and the reason I do those two topics as similar is that the resolution to both of those topics is understanding the distinction between the body of Christ and Israel the distinction between mystery and prophecy so the subject we're going to take up this hour is do Old Testament Saints go to heaven look at 2nd Corinthians 5 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 1 for we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Ephesians 2 Ephesians 2 verse 6 visas to 6 and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus second Timothy chapter 4 second Timothy chapter 4 verse 18 second Timothy 4:18 and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom yet Philippians 3 now reading a bunch of verses here but I'll tie them all together Philippians 3 verse 20 for our conversation is in heaven turn one page to the right Colossians 1:5 for the Hope which is laid up for you in heaven now what all those verses did is they demonstrated very clearly that the future destiny of the body of Christ is in heaven above right all those verses are saying that the question we want to consider is whether Old Testament Saints also go to heaven so it's open to where prayer will jump in well God thank you for your word thank you for preserving it for us help us Lord to understand the truth of these matters help us to be diligent students who don't go by simply opinions or traditions or what men say but we search out your Word to find the truth it's in Jesus name we pray amen what is commonly thought and what is commonly taught is that the Old Testament Saints after the cross go to heaven what people will sometimes say about that is that they couldn't go to heaven until the Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross so they were held in the earth until that happened and then once the Lord shed his blood those Old Testament Saints were taken up to heaven and so here's what we're going to cover there's five different sections section one I'll give you some verses that prove that Old Testament Saints did not go to heaven after the cross point two I'll show you some problems with the view that the Old Testament Saints went to heaven point three we'll examine some of the typical verses people use to say that the Old Testament Saints are now in heaven so those will show you why those verses don't say what people think they say point four where did Elijah go point five teleportation so we got a very fun hour ahead of us here so let's jump in Acts chapter two Acts chapter 2 how many times have you gone to church and said hey today we're going to talk about teleportation Acts chapter 2 verse 34 now consider this verse for David is not ascended into the heavens in that profound that's Acts chapter 2 that's post the cross that's post the resurrection that's post the Lord's ascension into heaven and Peter speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit in acts 2 which he clearly does says David is not ascended into heaven what does that tell you about whether Old Testament Saints went to heaven they didn't I don't know I don't know house you get around that first right I mean again that's that's after the cross that's after the resurrection that's after the Ascension that's Peter speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit and he says David did not ascend into heaven hmm get with me John 3 John chapter 3 verse 13 now in looking at John many of the events recorded in John are prior to the cross but if you read the Gospel of John you'll notice that it's clearly written from an after-the-fact perspective and I won't take the time to prove that that's something you can study out on your own but that's simply the way that it's constructed verse 13 and no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of Man which is in heaven see that that's clearly written from an after-the-fact perspective because it talks about the Son of Man being in heaven not on earth and it says no man hath ascended up to heaven so what happens when you take acts 234 in John 3:13 what does that tell you about the idea that the Old Testament Saints went to heaven after the Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross they just didn't those verses are clear as can be so point number two what are the problems with the view that the Old Testament Saints went to heaven get with me Ephesians 1 in Genesis 13 Ephesians 1 in Genesis 13 you in the late 1800s Early 1900s as dispensational thinking was growing in popularity there were some basic distinctions that people started started to see clearly and one of those distinctions was the distinction between the body of Christ and Israel they're different they're not the same thing the body of Christ is not part of Israel the body of Christ is not a replacement for Israel it's something entirely different now notice something with me if you would Ephesians chapter 1 Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings notice what it says in heavenly places in Christ if life on Earth is a challenge for you you know the reason why you're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places until you get there can this life be a mess well it can and it will be right because the earth is just a mess Ephesians 1 the blessings of the body of Christ are spiritual in nature and there in heavenly places which is why when people get on TV and they talk about if you send me money God's gonna open the windows of heaven and he's gonna pour out showers of blessing just wrong I'm tempted to use the word lies but lies it reflects a judgment about motives so I'll just say that it's wrong right but it doesn't work that way it doesn't work that way because it's not what God's doing with the body of Christ members of the body of Christ suffer all kinds of problems all the time because they live on a sin cursed earth and sin cursed bodies now compare that to Genesis 13 Genesis chapter 13 notice what God says to Abram in verse 15 Genesis 1315 for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed what are the last two words forever how long is Israel going to get the land forever if they're going to get the land forever guess where they're going to reside forever in that land so the first thing I would tell you as to the problem with the view that the Old Testament Saints went to heaven after the cross is you are completely confounding confusing the distinction between the body of Christ and Israel the body of Christ is promised all spiritual blessings in heavenly places was Abram promised spiritual blessings in heavenly places Lynn put it this way if you had asked Abram in Genesis 13 or afterwards Abram where are you going to be forever would he have said well I'm gonna be in a holding pit in the earth and then after the cross I'm gonna go to heaven he never would have said that God specifically told him you're gonna receive this land on the earth a specific parcel of land and how long are you going to receive it for forever so where did Abraham think he was going to spend eternity in that land it would have made no sense to him or any Old Testament Saint to say well after the cross you're going to go to heaven that's not what was promised them that was not God's intention for the nation of Israel give me Acts chapter three so the first problem with the view that the Old Testament Saints went to heaven after the cross is it confuses God's promises for Israel with God's promises for the body of Christ when you die your soul will go to heaven but that's not what happens for them now I mentioned this at the beginning but let me just repeat it because we're about to look at a verse that's relevant what people will typically say is the Old Testament Saints couldn't go to heaven before the cross because the blood had not yet been shed but after the blood was shed the veil was ripped and now they could go to heaven well that's preacher talk read acts 3 verse 19 repent ye therefore and be converted notice what this says that your sins may be blotted out when well that means their sins haven't been blotted out that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord so if you read acts 3:19 it's right in here Peter says repent be converted and if you do that your sins will be blotted out not now in the future their sins are blotted out when the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord well the presence of the Lord doesn't occur until the second coming and the times of refreshing occur after that when he sets up the Millennial Kingdom so let me ask you this question in early acts was there any member of the kingdom Church that had had their sins blotted out not if acts 3:19 is true so think about that with me then for a minute so when people say Old Testament Saints they couldn't go to heaven because the blood had not yet been shed and then the cross happened in the blood was shed so now they could go to heaven what does acts 3:19 say about that the exact opposite of that in the early part of the book of Acts in fact the entire part of the book of Acts even to this day Israel has not had their sins blotted out because they don't receive that until after the second coming Old Testament Saints could not have gone to heaven look at me at Daniel chapter 12 Daniel chapter 12 I don't know if you found this to be the case this is one thing I've found to be the case you know what happens as you go through life you hear stuff and you're taught stuff and it makes sense as far as you know so you believe it you stored away in your collection of knowledge and oftentimes we let things sit there and we don't examine them and they just sit there and you know the truth of the matter we've packed a lot of stuff in there that just doesn't make any scriptural sense it's just not true and if we were to study those views that we hold against the scripture we would have to abandon many of them because they're just wrong look with me at Daniel 12 verse 1 and at that time shall Michael stand up the Great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time by people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book well that time of trouble is obviously Daniels 70th week that's the context now read verse 2 and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake we'll consider what that just said that's a reference to Israel being resurrected into the kingdom does Daniel 12 say after the cross members of the Old Testament Saints they went up to heaven what Daniel 12 says is no they're sleeping in the earth says the exact opposite of what is commonly taught they remain in the earth to this day get with me Ephesians chapter 4 so with all that as background I want to show you that what is the most common verse that people use to say that Old Testament Saints went to heaven after the cross Ephesians 4 verse 8 wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men and that leading of captivity captive is what people say was the Lord Jesus Christ taking the Old Testament Saints up to heaven so let me draw something for you because I think this will be helpful the very core of the earth I want to meet we're going to draw what the earth looks like if we start at the very beginning at the very core if you will the center that's where hell is located it's sometimes referred to as a pit it's obviously referred to as a place of fire when you read Luke 16 Luke 16 is not a parable it's an account it's the account of the rich man and Lazarus both of them died the rich man goes to hell and Lazarus goes to a place that's described as Abraham's bosom and what it says there is there's a great gulf fixed between the two of those so there's a hell section there's a great gulf a great separation if you will and then beyond that there's a place called Abraham's bosom now I've drawn these as concentric circles you could draw them differently I draw them that way because I think that hell tends to be in the center of the earth that the the core that what's fascinating course is science says that the earth has a molten core well there's some truth to that isn't there by the way I don't know if you have a redness but um if you google this this is fascinating if you look at the deepest that man has been able to drill into the earth there's a place in Russia where they attempted to do this and what they found was the farther they dug into earth the earth was hotter than science predicted so they they had an estimation of what they thought it was like and they knew it would was was hot what they found is it was hotter than they thought and they actually they ran into the difficulty of they they got to a depth where it was hot enough that they couldn't dig further because it would destroy essentially the implements they were using to dig so that's just fascinating it's one of those things where God has evidence throughout the universe where man runs on in his philosophies and men you know comes up with these ideas and God just has testimonies all over the place that what scripture says is true so then outside of Abraham's bosom I'm just gonna call this dirt and there's you know miles and miles of that and then you have the surface of the earth that's essentially what the how the earth that that's its structure now get with me if you would we looked at Ephesians 4 verse 8 where it talks about he led captivity captive get with me Psalm 68 Psalm 68 so I'm 68 verse 18 what Ephesians 4:8 is is it's a quotation of Psalm 68 so Psalm 68 verse 18 thou hast ascended on high thou has led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men gave for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them now I want you to notice something careful about Psalm 68 so Psalm 68 is the verse that's quoted in Ephesians 4:8 so if we're going to understand what's going on in Ephesians 4:8 and be helpful to understand Psalm 68 so notice this the first word of the verse is thou is thou singular or plural it's singular you may recall this maybe not in modern English we use the word y-o-u for second person pronouns both singular and plural both subjective and objective so in other words just as you recall first person is I me my we us third person is he/she they them their second person is you you yours we use the word you why oh you to me you singular or you plural we also use you as the subject of the verb as in you are happy or the object of the verb I love you there's a big difference between being the subject and the object a verb what I just want you to notice is when people complain about the King James Bible using archaic language and you know the stuff they say what the King James does that's very helpful is it has four different pronouns so when you is used as a singular in the singular form as a subject as in How Great Thou art thou is what's used when it's a singular object it's thee I love thee when the plural form is used as a subject its ye and the object is you okay so that's you know people complain the King James is archaic because it uses the endow well everyone knows what the entire that needs you but it's extremely helpful because what happens in modern English is modern English is you you you you and you can't even tell whether the thing is singular or plural so I would tell you that the modern usage is less helpful to comprehension than the King James usage okay so now that can Psalm 68 thou has to send it on high thou is singular so can thou refer to the collection of the multitude of Old Testament Saints ascending on high I would say it can't because thou is singular now notice one other thing here so get with me keep Psalm 68 but get x2 X chapter 2x or to verse 33 X 233 therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this so when Psalm 68 talks about thou hast received gifts for men and it's singular in acts 2 that's a reference to Jesus Christ having received of the father the promise of the Holy Spirit the thou in Psalm 68 is not a reference to Old Testament Saints it's a reference to Jesus Christ himself now the go back to Psalm 68 for a minute hopefully you kept it I want to show you one other thing Psalm 68 verse we read verse 18 so let's look at 18 just for a moment thou has to send it on high well that was a pronoun every time there's a pronoun what do you have to have you have to have an antecedent right if I use the word he if I'm writing a book and I use the word he some time before that there should be a sentence that clarifies who that he is right that identifies the he by name well as you look at verse 18 and it says thou there ought to be something right in the context that tells us who the bow is so look at verse 17 the chariots of God are 20,000 even thousands of angels the Lord is among them as in sigh and I in the holy place so in verse 18 who's the foul refer to it's obviously the Lord verse 17 is talking about the Lord verse 18 when it says thou Alex ascended on high it's talking about the Lord when we were in acts 2 and it's referring to that again the vow is the Lord get with me first Peter 3 first Peter 3 first Peter 3 verse 21 start at the end of the verse by the resurrection of Jesus Christ then notice who is gone into heaven so clearly it's Jesus Christ that has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him the who has gone into heaven in first Peter is the same thing as thou has to send it on high and it's a reference it's not the Old Testament Saints it's a reference to Jesus Christ ascending into heaven hopefully you noticed that now get with me judges 5 judges chapter 5 so when Ephesians 4:8 says when he ascended up on high that's that's unmistakably a reference to Jesus Christ what I now want to do with you is I want to look at some verses that talk about leading captivity captive whenever you see a phrase like that what you want to do is you want to search out other verses that tell you how to think about that phrase so get judges 5 verse 12 awake awake Deborah awake awake utter a song arise Barack and lead thy captivity captive now son of AB in oh um well you can see they're very similar phrasing right Barack is told to lead thy captivity captive what does that mean we'll get judges chapter 4 let's read the context and understand what's happening here judges 4 verse 1 and the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord when he had was dead and the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan as you recall here's what happens in the book of Judges Israel gets themselves into trouble and they end up being conquered by an adversary and and this happens again and again and again and what they'll do is they'll cry out to the Lord and the Lord will send them a judge and the judge will lead them out of that captivity out of that bondage that they're in and they'll follow that judge and then that judge would die and what would Israel do they'd go right back to their rebellious ways and they'd be conquered again the Lord would have mercy on him he'd raise up a judge the judge would deliver him during the days of the judges life they would generally follow the judge then what happens the judge dies and it's repeat repeat repeat repeat that's the book of Judges is about the sad reality of man as he doesn't learn from history after the first four judges delivered you and then you they died and you quit following them and you went back to your old ways and you you got conquered shouldn't someone say hey guys I've seen this movie I know how it ends and let's just choose a different adventure right because we're about to make a really bad choice that's what happens throughout the book of Judges and so you see in judges for what's happened is the children of Israel did evil so he sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan verse seven and I will draw unto thee to the river kai-shan Sisera the captain of jebin's army so he's going to bring the captain of jaemin's army there verse 14 and Deborah said unto Barak up for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand so here's what leading captivity captive means in other words in judges 5 when we see Deborah's song and it's a description of what happened in judges 4 in judges 4 Israel is in captivity but God is going to work it so that Israel will no longer be in captive but the folks that were holding them in captivity will be in captivity in other words the folks that were the captors the guards the ones who were in charge they then become taken captive so taking captivity captive is it's a reversal it's the folks that were the guards that were in charge that were the oppressors now taken captive see it again with me yep get if you would Isaiah 14 Isaiah chapter 14 Isaiah 14 verse 2 and the people shall take them and bring them to their place and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids notice and they shall take them captives whose captives they were you see how clear that is Israel used to be the captives but then they're going to take captive those people that were in charge get revelation 13 revelation 13 verse 10 he that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity you see this same idea expressed again and again and again so now think with me then about Ephesians 4 verse 8 Ephesians 4 verse 8 says this wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high so that's Jesus Christ ascending up on high that's the Ascension that's what occurs right in here when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive now what folks want to say leading captivity captive is where he took the Old Testament Saints and took them to heaven but based upon all the verses we just looked at leading captivity captive is taking someone that used to be the guard used to be in charge and making them your captive well was Jesus Christ held in bondage by the Old Testament Saints and he then overthrew them and made the Old Testament Saints his prisoners that that's just utter madness right think about this carefully who is it that was holding people captive whose power was then broken was it the Old Testament Saints get with me if you would Colossians 2:15 the only thing that makes sense as to taking captivity captive is it's a reference to devilish principalities and powers Colossians 2:15 and having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it see prior to the Lord Jesus Christ work the evil principalities and powers were in charge but what did he do he spoiled them spoiled there is a military term it doesn't mean that you kept the pickles in the fridge too long spoiling there is military conquest in other words he engaged them he defeated them and he plundered them he spoiled principalities and powers that's obviously Satan and his minions that he did that too look with me at Hebrews chapter 2 Hebrews chapter 2 Hebrews chapter 2:14 for for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself flesh and blood that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil you see what's going on there Jesus Christ is destroying him that had the power of death before the legion Jesus Christ did what he did the devil had the power of death according to that verse he had the ability to exercise influence but what happened the Lord Jesus Christ destroyed it look with me at 1st Corinthians 2 1st Corinthians chapter 2 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 7 but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory which none of the princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory just briefly here's what's going on there Satan and his minions controlled the seats of power of the heavenly government when Satan rebelled do you think back to Genesis Genesis 3 but when Satan comes down to earth to tempt Eve he's already rebelled in heaven obviously when he rebels in heaven what he does is he gets the leading angelic powers to follow him when you start a revolution you'd rather have the generals and the admirals on your side than the foot soldiers because they just have more education and power and ability to command things so what happens is Satan and his minions exert control over the heavenly government because God put him in those places and then and then they rebelled against his authority at that point in time god never created new angels Genesis 1 he ceased from creation angels can't reproduce and make new angels so that once once Genesis 1 was complete there was a fixed number of angels in the universe and there would never be any new ones when Satan rebels a bunch of those powerful seats those principalities and powers those mites and dominions they are occupied by guys on the wrong team he controls all those what first Corinthians 2 says Satan is in favor of the cross he's in favor of the cross so much that Luke 22 when Judas is going to betray the Lord what a Satan do he enters in the Judas to make sure that this man of flesh doesn't mess it up because Satan wants the cross to occur when God raises up Paul and gives Paul the revelation of the mystery and then reveals that the body of Christ will replace Satan and his minions in the heavenly places Satan has been totally spoiled of everything that he controlled they held those seats in wickedness because God hadn't replaced them once God forms the replacement for them through the body of Christ then the handwriting is on the wall it's just a question of time so the way that I would wear I would suggest to you is when you look at Ephesians 4 and it talks about he led captivity captive that has nothing to do with Old Testament Saints because the Old Testament Saints didn't have any power to do anything right the Old Testament Saints are here in Abraham's bosom in a place of blessedness resting until they're resurrected into the kingdom but they're not holding Jesus Christ or anyone else captive they're just they're the folks the the people that were holding people captive were Satan in his minions because they had the power of death but the Lord destroyed that and that's what that verse is talking about get Luke 23 in 2nd Corinthians 12 so people frequently use Ephesians 4 to say the Old Testament Saints went to heaven after the cross but that's just not what that's talking about there's something else that people often use and I want to look at that with you Luke 23 verse 43 Luke 23:43 and Jesus said unto Him verily I say unto thee today today shalt thou be with me in paradise so what the Lord says in Luke 23 to the thief on the cross is today I'm gonna be with you here in Abraham's bosom and he calls it paradise now since he says today that's the only place it could have been because he spends three days and three nights in the heart of the earth right we can't be talking about hell's paradise so obviously he's talking about Abraham's bosom as paradise now get me second Craig get with me second Corinthians twelve second Corinthians chapter 12 second Corinthians chapter 12 verse 4 2nd Corinthians 12 is Paul's famous vision where he's caught up to paradise look with me at 2nd Corinthians 12 verse 4 how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter now here's what folks say if Paul was caught up into paradise then paradise has to be up right and the Lord Jesus Christ went to paradise in Luke 23 so Abraham's bosom therefore must have moved up right I don't agree with this but I'm trying to show you the argument you know there's the argument is this Jesus Christ says to the thief on the cross today this very day I'll be with you in paradise and that paradise had to have referred to Abraham's bosom because what else could have been yet Paul then says later on that he was caught up into paradise so paradise must have moved right paradise can no longer be here if Paul was caught up to it so what's the answer to that get with me revelation 2 revelation 2 verse 7 revelation 2:7 he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life and then notice what it says which is in the midst of the paradise of God so according to revelation 2 verse 7 what exists in Paradise the Tree of Life get with me revelation 22 revelation 22 revelation 22 is a description of the New Jerusalem and you can you can tell that because in Revelation 21 verse 2 and I John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven and that's what's being described in chapter 22 you should read that on your own and just confirm that look at verse 2 in chapter 22 in the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the Tree of Life so revelation 22 verse 2 says that the Tree of Life is in the New Jerusalem but revelation 2:7 said that paradise is where the Tree of Life is so let me ask this we've now seen three different things that are said to be paradise Jesus Christ said Abraham's bosom was paradise Paul said he was caught up to paradise and up is up there but it's clear from revelation that paradise is in the New Jerusalem so what's the answer did the holy spirit just get it all wrong I would tell you what the answer is it's rather simple paradise is not a single geographic location it's a disc it's a word that is used to describe different places of blessedness where God's people are it's not that God is moving the thing all around it's that because by the way was the tree of life here in Abraham's bosom the tree life was not in Abraham's bosom paradise is simply a word that is - that describes different places of blessedness that God has it's not a singular location all right get second Kings chapter 2 yeah just because just because the alarm goes off doesn't mean I'm going to quit I mean I'm sorry but that's not how it works get second Kings too now one of the things you may be thinking is this wait a minute so we looked at verses earlier that said no man had to send it up at any time no one's gone into heaven but then you're probably thinking yourself we'll wait a minute scripture specifically says that Elijah went to heaven so let's look at that and we won't get to teleportation today so you're gonna have to come back if you want to hear about teleportation second Kings chapter 2 verse 11 and it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder and Lajja went up by a whirlwind into heaven well that verse seems clear doesn't it elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven I'm going to just draw something for you here there are three different heavens in the scripture there's the first heaven the second heaven and the third heaven the first heaven is essentially the Lord's it's the Earth's atmosphere it's where you would find birds the third heaven is where God dwells and the second heaven is what Scripture would call the firmament firmament means expanse it's just a massive open area or what we would call space so there's three different things that heaven in the scriptures can mean Elijah in second Kings is caught up to heaven but it doesn't say which one of them does it people take it to mean he's caught up to the third heaven but I'll prove to you he wasn't get 2nd Kings chapter 3 verse 1 now Jehovah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel and Samaria the 18th year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah what that verse tells you that's important for our purposes is Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah at the time the events in second Kings too happened okay second Kings to Elijah's caught up to heaven we don't know what that is yet Jehoshaphat is the king of Judah now look at verse six and kingj Ahura went out of Samaria the same time and numbered all Israel and he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah saying the king of Moab hath rebelled against me wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle and he said I will go up I am as thou art my people as thy people and my horses is thy horses and he said which way shall we go up and he answered the way through the wilderness of Edom so the king of Israel went and the king of Judah and the king of Edom and they fetched a compass no those that went in a roundabout way of seven days journey and there was no water for the host and for the cattle that followed them and the king of Israel said alas that the LORD hath called these three Kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab now notice verse 11 but Jehoshaphat said is there not here a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the Lord by him and one of the king of Israel servants answered and said here is elisha the son of shaphat which poured water on the hands of Elijah and Jehoshaphat said the word of the Lord is with him so the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him now what's happening in those verses I just want you to notice is they want to find a prophet of the Lord and so what they end up doing is they end up going to Elisha and they end up going to Elisha because they perceive that Elisha is no longer present in other words he's not there to give them direction now notice with me first Kings 22 first Kings 22 Kings 22 verse 42 first Kings 22 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem so Jehoshaphat reigned a total of 25 years now get second chronicles 21 second chronicles 21 we're almost done just bear with me second chronicles 21 second chronicles 21 verse 1 now Jehoshaphat slept with his father's and was buried with his father's in the City of David and Joe harem his son reigned in his stead so here's what the last two verses told us Jehoshaphat reigns 25 years after he reigns to harem his son reigns in his stead now watch this here's the conclusion 2nd Corinth 2nd chronicles 21 verse 9 so this is obviously after Jehoshaphat is dead and Jehoshaphat lived years and years and years after Elisha was caught up verse 9 then Jahan went forth with his princes and all his chariots with him and he rose up by night and smoked the was compost him in and captains of the chariots verse 12 and there came a writing to him from Elisha the prophet wait a minute the Bible has errors in it well no it doesn't does it do you see what's going on there 2nd Kings to Elijah's caught up to heaven doesn't say in that verse he's caught up to third heaven says he's caught up to heaven when he does that the time parade in which that happens Jehoshaphat is King Jehoshaphat lives years for that and he arranged total 25 years and then he dies then his sons ahora starts raining and then Johan gets a riding from Elijah well was it an email from heaven you know third heaven or was Elijah still alive well Elijah was still alive because what happened with Elijah is he was caught up into the first heaven and then set down on a different part of the earth and he didn't communicate he didn't function as a prophet for years and years but he didn't die and he didn't go to third heaven you know that because there's a writing that sent many years later now I want to show you one more thing get first Kings 18 this is the last verse look at first Kings 18 there's a fascinating there's a fascinating comment that's made to Elijah during his ministry in verse 7 first Kings 18 Obadiah is out looking for Elisha and he finds him and notice verse 11 and now they'll say it's go tell thy Lord behold Elisha is here Elijah tells Obadiah go tell the King that I'm here watch what Obadiah says verse 12 and it shall come to pass as soon as I am gone from thee that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not is that just figurative language or did Obadiah understand that what God did with Elisha is he just move him around pick him up and put him down where he wanted to be to prophesy see that's what verse 12 was talking about and Obadiah knew that and Obadiah was fearful because if he goes and tells the king who's been looking for Elisha hey I found them and the King goes out to see him and the Holy Spirit picked him up and moved him what would have happened to Obadiah the king would have been unhappy that's exactly what verse 12 is saying so I'll wrap this up so when the Old Testament talks about Elijah being caught up to heaven it doesn't say third heaven and what the Bible does all the time is it has these things God wrote that are intentionally ambiguous you can read second Kings to say that Elijah was caught up to the third heaven but what happens is if you just keep reading and you read the other books and you compare verse with verse you realize it's completely impossible for Elijah have gone to third heaven because years later he's gonna write a new writing to the guy that's still alive after that King is dead so do Old Testament Saints go to heaven after the cross no of course not because what they're doing is they're waiting in the earth until they're resurrected into that Millennial Kingdom thank you for your great patience I do appreciate it let's go

Channel: Columbus Bible Church

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Id: bAOGvh_3vUE

Length: 57min 1sec (3421 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 10 2019