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Religion

2009-06-01 10:29:00

Body and soul renunited?

Question: I have always been taught that at the end of time, the soul will be reunited with the body and each will be judged by our Lord. How is it in Matthew 17:2-7, Moses and Elijah appeared to Peter and James during the Transfiguration? How did their souls reunite with their bodies if the end of time has yet to come?

Answer: In researching this question, I was hard pressed to find much written on the subject. There are hints of thoughts we can speculate on, but that is all it is, speculation and conjecture. With those come a host of other questions we can ask, but are left to a mystery until our Lord reveals it. Now we realize that the setting is the highest of all the mountains in the region the two special guests are the greatest representatives of the Laws (Moses the law-giver of which Jesus completely fulfills the law) and the greatest prophet, Elijah (signifying Jesus’ perfect fulfillment of the prophets). Curiously, both of them had unusual death experiences that are surrounded by mystery. Moses dies alone on Mount Pisgah, across from Jericho looking on to the Promised Land because he was not allowed to enter because of his previous disobedience. (Deuteronomy 32:48-52) Then the Bible tells us there was a battle for his body between Michael the Archangel and the Devil (Jude 9) and that he is buried by God (Deuteronomy 34:6) but no one knows where. Elijah dies differently. In fact, he doesn’t die, but the chariot of fire from the Lord comes in a whirlwind (Kansas tornado?) and takes him up into heaven. (2 Kings 2:11). Could it have been their bodies that were just taken into heaven? Another interesting thing that raises another eyebrow is the words used in the accounts given of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3, Mark 9:4 and Luke 9:31). The same word is used when Jesus made his appearance after the resurrection (Mark 16:9). He also resurrected the body of Lazarus while He was on the earth to show His power over the grave even before His resurrection. (John 11:1-44) Could it have been a resurrected body? Another possibility could have been that they were spirits that were recognizable emanations or ghost like figures that were recognizable. We see that possibility when we read the account of King Saul going to the witch/medium at Endor to bring up the Prophet Samuel from the dead. ( 1 Samuel 28:8-25) She describes Samuel in visible form first as a god (v 13) and then as an old man wrapped in a robe of whom Saul bows too (v 14). Then Samuel speaks with Saul and tells him that he along with his sons will be joining Samuel in the spirit world and his army will lose to the Philistines because of his disobedience. Could it have been the spirits of Moses and Elijah? All these in my finite mind are possibilities and there may be more because our Lord is the God far above any impossibility. As the Angel Gabriel informed Mary of the virgin birth in which she would bring the Savior of the world, he also gives her the reason for that taking place in Luke 1:37 when He says, “For nothing is impossible with God!” Secondly, as at the transfiguration, also at the resurrection, God does His great work in changing individuals and brings His glory out visibly for the whole world to see. The word used for that change in the original Greek Bible language is the same word we know as metamorphous. It is a change from the inside out, like the caterpillar who struggles from the inside of the cocoon to become a beautiful butterfly. So it is with us as Paul describes our beautifying process, “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13} May God give us great joy as we experience His process us. (James 1:2} In His Process, Pastor Dave!