When Enoch and Elijah were taken up to heaven, were they taken in their bodies or without their bodies?
One would hesitate to give a dogmatic answer to this question, but we offer the following thoughts. From Hebrews 12.23 we gather a clue as to the present situation of Old Testament saints in heaven. They are referred to as "the spirits of just men made perfect" meaning clearly that Old Testament saints in heaven do not possess their physical bodies. They are of course perfected now in a spirit state, but await the time when they will receive glorified bodies. They are perfected on the ground of Christ’s death for them. Both Enoch and Elijah, being taken up to heaven, exist now in a spirit state. Are they not in company now with other Old Testament saints and in the same condition as them?
The present writer believes that the only person in heaven with a body is our Lord Jesus. This is described as "the body of his glory" (Phil 3.21, RV). In the light of this fact one would assume that Enoch and Elijah shed their bodies on the way up. We need not conjecture where their bodies are, for surely God took care of them and will yet give them their glorified bodies in a time yet future. This is the same as with the two witnesses in Revelation 11.4-12. At the end of their testimony they are like Enoch and Elijah in that they also will be taken up to heaven. It might be asked, "What about the appearance of Moses and Elijah on the mount of Transfiguration; surely to be recognized they must have had a physical body?". We are not told how the disciples knew them, but God was able, in whatever form they appeared, to reveal to the three apostles the identity of these two great Old Testament saints even though they never knew them on earth.
John J Stubbs
In the Upper Room ministry, the Lord Jesus taught, "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (Jn 14.13). Does this mean that we should now pray making our requests to the Lord Jesus?
The Person addressed in v.13 is not specified. However, subsequently we read "whatsoever ye shall ask (of) the Father in my name…" (Jn 15.16, 16.23). Nevertheless, it should be acknowledged that there is some ground for reading John 14.14 as, "If ye shall ask me anything in my name". Then, again, from the context of 2 Corinthians 12.8 it would seem that Paul’s prayer for deliverance from the thorn in his flesh was addressed to the Lord Jesus.
By the time the New Testament epistles were written we find Paul and Peter addressing "the Father" in prayer and thanksgiving, e.g. "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort" (2 Cor 1.3); "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph 5.20); and "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Pet 1.3). This would seem to be the pattern that should be adopted today in our public and private prayers.
To make a request "in my name" (betokening His absence) does not simply mean appending the words, "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" to a petition or prayer; it is to ask in accordance with His mind and will. It will mean praying in the same spirit in which Christ prayed when He uttered those words, "nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Mt 26.39). Whatever His disciples might ask, if sought in His name, He would do - "that will I do"; this assurance is repeated, with a yet more emphatic pledge of His personal action - "I will do it" (Jn 14.14). In the parallel passages in Jn 15.16 and 16.23, the Father is seen to answer the prayer, e.g. "that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you" (Jn 15.16); this expresses the oneness of the Son with the Father in the Godhead.
If the scope is "whatsoever ye shall ask", and the condition is "in my name", then the motive is "that the Father may be glorified in the Son". Personal petitions are not contemplated here, except as far as they are for the glory of God. The Father is glorified in the Son because the Son desires only those things that are pleasing in God’s sight.
David E West
