Elijah and the Chariot of Fire

Today’s reading passage ends dramatically with Elijah, the prophet of God being taken up by a whirlwind into heaven. If one has seen the movie/ drama Star Trek, you will notice that the people can be teleported from the space ship to the planet and vice versa. In this case, Elijah was in a way ‘teleported’ into heaven by a whirlwind. It is probably easy to imagine a whirlwind taking up Elijah, spiraling him up towards the sky but not as easy to image after he spiral up, what happened to him? Did he vanish into the spiritual realm or ‘dematerialize’ as in the show Star Trek? The passage also recorded that the prophets attempted to find Elijah after his disappearance but was to no avail.

In the Books of Acts, it also recorded Jesus ascension into heaven. Jesus ascended to heaven on a cloud and He told us that when He comes again, He would descend on a cloud with His angels.

The chariot of fire was there to prevent Elisha from getting to Elijah to be taken up by a whirlwind. Likewise in the same manner, when Adam was chased out of the garden of Eden, God placed a cherubim and a flaming sword to protect the way to the tree of life; in a way to prevent Adam from attaining eternal life due to his sin. Jesus also said in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus that there is an infinite gulf between Hades and Paradise. It was just not possible to cross over between these two spiritual places.

Therefore the question is, will we ascend to heaven in the future when Jesus come? Will we fly together with the angels that follow our Lord Jesus while He judge the world?

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruits.” (James 5:17-18)

Elder James encourages us that Elijah, this great prophet of God was in many ways like us. If we were like Elijah, this means in future we do have the hope of ascending to heaven be it on a cloud or whirlwind. Elijah was not a robot, but he was man as us. He had times of strength and at times of weaknesses. However, one thing he does possess perhaps more than us is his great faith in God’s Words.  Such faith when put into prayers, will be able to heal the sick and strengthen the faith of other brethren. More importantly, such faith and reliance in prayers continually to our God, will help us in this arduous spiritual journey.

In future, our ascension depends on whether we have been faithful in keeping God’s Words and commandments and our sincere repentance before Him. Only when we are spiritually clean will we be permitted by the chariots of fire to enter the stairway to heaven.