2 Kings 2: Elijah Taken into Heaven (2024)

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2Kings 2

“2 Kings 2: Elijah Taken into Heaven,” Old Testament Seminary Student Study Guide (2002), 111–12

When we first met Elijah in 1Kings 17, he already held the power and authority to seal shut the heavens, creating a drought in Israel. But unlike Isaiah, Jeremiah, or another of the well-known prophets, Elijah left no writings that we know of to tell us more about him. We do know that the prophet Malachi said Elijah would come before “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:5) to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah.Because of Malachi’s prophecy, people of some other faiths today still await his coming. The New Testament records, however, that Elijah, as a translated being, appeared on a mountaintop to Peter, James, and John, three of Jesus’ Apostles (see Matthew 17:1–4). In addition, Elijah, as a resurrected being, appeared in our dispensation on 3April 1836 in the Kirtland Temple shortly after it was dedicated. He said he came in fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, and he restored the keys of the sealing power to the earth in preparation for the coming of the Lord (see D&C 110:13–16).No one could be resurrected until Christ came forth from the tomb. So Elijah, in order to perform his special mission, needed to be translated. Translation means to be changed in a way that your body is no longer subject to sickness, death, or physical pain. Translation is not resurrection. This condition allows individuals to continue performing ministries that require a physical body, such as the laying on of hands for priesthood authority. Later, translated individuals will be “changed” again to be resurrected. In 3Nephi 28:36–40, Mormon described some Nephites who were translated. In 2Kings 2 we read the story of Elijah being translated.

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