Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1911 — OLD TESTAMENT TIMES BROOKLYN TABERNACLE BIBLE STUDIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OLD TESTAMENT TIMES BROOKLYN TABERNACLE BIBLE STUDIES

LIFTED BY WHIRLWIND OUT OF SIGHT Experiences of Elijah the Prophet 'll Kings 2:1-11—March 5 "Enoch walked with God and he wae not."r—----i Genesis CHE Bible tells of three notable nj-*:i who disappeared God took them. One of these, Enoch, we are told, did not die. Another of them. Moses, we are told, died and was buried. Of the third one. the sj>ecial subject of our lesson, it is not stated whether he died or not. But it is our understanding that he did die. ? i’be heaven to which Elijah was tiiketi by a whirlwind was the aerial heaven, in which the birds fly His ’taking nway sifter this manner was in order ir complete the typical features of Ijis life, as we shall see. That neither he nor Enoch went to heaven, in the sense of passing into the heavenly or spiritual state and into the presence of God. is clearly testified to by Jesus, who declared. “No man hath ascended up to heaven, save he who came down from heaven, even the Son of man.” (John 3:13-) Although of En<xh it is declared that he was translated that he should not see death, It is not stated that he was translated to heaven Where he now is no man knows. The object served in the translation ot Enoch probably is to show by and by that it was quite possible for God

to have maintained our race in life perpetually—that only lie cause of sin was it necessary for Ad a m and his fami.y to die; that when sin and death shall be abolished by Messiah during his Kingdom, and wh e n the willing and obedient of mankind shall have been brought to hu-

man perfection again, they will never need to die. Elijah a Type of the Church As Melchisedec (a King and Priest at the time) represented or typified the Church in glory, so Bible students understand that Elijah, the Prophet, typified or represented the Church in the flesh—this side the vail—from Jesus to the present Thus, long after Elijah’s death God. through the Prophet declared to Israel, Behold. 1 send you Elijah the Prophet before the great and notable day of the Lord, and if he do not turn the hearts of the Fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, then the earth shall be smitten with a curse—a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.—Malachi 4:5. 6.

John the Baptist, as the forerunner of Jesus in the flesh, typified this greater Elijah (the Church in the flesh), the forerunner of the Messiah of glory. As John the Baptist did not succeed in bringing the people into harmony with the fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, etc.), so likewise the Church in the flesh, as God foresaw, has not been successful in bringing peace to the world. As John the Baptist’s failure with Israel was followed by the overthrow of their national polity in A. D. 70, so we believe, the failure of his antitype, the Church in the flesh, to bring in harmony and righteousness, is by Divine intention to be followed by the world wide trouble which will humble man and prepare the way for the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom. Caught Up In a Whirlwind Many Christians have not noticed that there is not only a difference between the heavenly salvation, which God has provided for the Church, and the earthly restitution (Acts 3:19-21)

which God has provided for the world, but additionally there are two distinct classes of the Church brought to our attention in the Bible. First, we have the faithful Royal Priesthood styled “The Body of Christ,’’ of which Jesus is the Head. These have the promise

that they shall sit with Christ in bis throne and be judges of the world during the Messianic Kingdom. The oth , er class of saved ones on the spirit ! plane the Scriptures designate a “great company, whose number no one knows." (Rev. 7:9.) These will serve before the Throne. Chariots and Horsemen of Fire naving located Elijah as the type of the “elect" class. Bible Students are inclined to consider Elisha as probably a typical character; also a represents five of the greater spiritual class, the antitypical Levites. - The various instances in which Elijah suggested to Elisha that he should tar ry behind are supposed to represent., the trials and difficulties in the path way of the Church here, which will suggest to the “great company.” the Elisha class, that they continue not to follow their more zealous brethren of the Elijah class '

“Tarry here, 1 pray thee."

Elisha receiving the mantle.