Moses and Elijah

On his television program this week, Charles Capps shared some interesting thoughts about Moses and Elijah as relates to the resurrection and rapture. I will try to summarize:

1. Unlike Elijah, who never saw death and was raptured, Moses did physically die and represents the righteous dead since Adam.

2. Moses' life span of 120 years represents 120 Jubilees, or 120 X 50 = 6,000 years since Adam. This is where we are right now--6,000 years since Adam, according to Bible chronology. Both Jewish and Christian scholars agree that the 6,000 year mark occurred either at the beginning or sometime during the current Jewish year 5760.

3. Moses represents the righteous dead who will come out of their graves at the resurrection/rapture. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

4. Elijah did not die but was taken up alive, or raptured. He represents that second group, the church, those "which are alive" who are "caught up" to meet the Lord in the air.

5. Thus, Moses and Elijah represent both groups who meet the Lord in the air at the resurrection/rapture: Moses the righteous dead of the past, and Elijah the church on the earth, those which are alive.

6. Interestingly, both Moses and Elijah were present at the Transfiguration, a glimpse of the coming Kingdom and the glorified Christ together with the raised righteous dead and the raptured church.

7. The voice of the "archangel" is heard at the resurrection/rapture. The only archangel revealed in the Bible, I believe, is Michael (Jude 9), so that voice must be Michael's. Capps believes that Michael, whose voice is heard, will accompany the resurrected/raptured believers to join the Lord. Michael also disputed with the devil about Moses' body (Jude 9).

8. Capps says that God purposely led Elijah to be raptured at the same place where Moses was buried, and that the time of Elijah's rapture was the same time that Michael disputed with the devil about Moses' body. Thus, Michael took Moses' glorified body and Elijah's glorified body to heaven at the same time, representing the resurrection/rapture of the righteous dead and the living believers of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. He explains how the "whirlwind" that Elijah was taken up in really means "cloud," and that that Jeremiah describes chariots as a "whirlwind" (4:13). He believes it was a cloud of angels, perhaps the same cloud we will find at the rapture.

Capps said that the rapture is closer that most people think.

(He does not believe that Moses and Elijah are the two witnesses of Revelation, but Enoch and Elijah. He explains his reasoning and covers the above points in his book, "End-Time Events," Harrison House, 1997).