River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-03-02

A II
W men 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 special subject of our lesson, 1t
is not stated whether he died or
not. But it is our understanding
that he did die.
The heaven to which Elijah was
taken by whirlwind was the aerial
heaven, in which the birds fly. His
taking away after this manner was
in order to complete the typical
features of his 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 assembled up to
| heaven, save he who came down
from heaven, even the Son of man."
| John 3:13.) Although of Enoch it
is declared that he was translated
that he should not see death, it is
| not stated that he was translated to
heaven. And our Lords words as
sure us that he was not. Where he
now is no man knows. We can
merely by faith accept the fact.
The object served in the transla-
ton of 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 be-
cause of sin was it necessary for
Adam and his family to die; that
when sin and death shall be abOl-
ished by Messiah during his King
dom, and when the willing and ODE
dent of mankind shall have been
brought to human perfection again,
they will never need to die. The
preservation of Enoch, an imperfect
man, for five thousand years, by
Divine power, will be an evidence
to mankind and an assistance to
their faith while the work Of resti-
tuition will be progressing. Enoch
himself is one of those Ancient
Worthless who, during the Millen-
mum, will be one of the princes"
or rulers in the earth, representa-
tives Of Messiah's invisible King
dom. "Instead of thy fathers shall
be thy children, whom thou mayest
make princes in the earth"
ELIJAH A TYPE OF THE CHURCH
AS Me1chis ed lee Ga King and
Priest at the time) represented or
typifed the Church in glory, so
Bible students understand that Eli
jah, the Prophet, typifed or repre-
scented the Church in the flesh-this
side the vail--from Jesus to the
present. Thus, long after Elijah's
death God, through the Prophet, de-
clared to Israel. Behold, l 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 curse
"a time of trouble such as never
was since there was nation.-Ma-
lachi 4:5, 6.
John the Baptist, as the forerun-
ner of Jesus in the flesh, typihed |
this greater Elijah (the Church in
the fesh), the forerunner of the
Messiah of glory. AS John the Bap-
fist did not succeed in bringing the
people into harmony with the faith
ers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
etc. J, 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 over
throw 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 inten-
ton to be followed by the world
wide trouble which will humble man |
and prepare the way for the estab-
lishment of the Messianic Kingdom |
in the power and great glory.
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 pro-
vided for the world, but additional |
ly 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
Tac,4S iS +be Haod tThaSn hoUa tba