Luke 9:30-32 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Why were these two men with Jesus in the vision? Is it not because when at length the Church shall reach her state of glory there will be within her two distinct classes? We are told, that when our Lord comes, the "dead in Christ shall rise first," and at the sound of the trump, and at the call of His voice, the "fields of Paradise" shall be deserted, and they shall all be caught up to meet their Lord in the air, henceforth to seek Him in His beauty and to be His daily delight. But what of those who are not in the "fields of Paradise" at the time of the coming of our Lord? Shall they die? Shall they know that mysterious experience which we call death, the separation of the soul from the body? No, for then it would be a purposeless experience. "They shall not die, but shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, and shall be ever with the Lord." Therefore the glorified Church shall be the assembly of those who, some from life and some from Paradise, are gathered into the presence of Christ. And do we not see these two classes represented in the ancient saints who talked with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration? Moses, we know, died; and we remember the cause of his death there in the wilderness, and the mysterious conflict over his body between Michael the archangel and Satan. Elijah died not; he never experienced this crisis of existence, but, we are told, "went up by a whirlwind into heaven." So the two great divisions of the glorified Church are fittingly represented by these two Old Testament characters, one of whom died the most arresting death there recorded, and the other died not. (Canon Body.) Parallel Verses KJV: And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:WEB: Behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah, |
    |