Is Moses in Heaven?
“And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.”
Matthew 17:3
The Bible teaches that Moses is in heaven. Moses and Elijah had appeared to Jesus at the Transfiguration. This event was a literal incident and not a vision. Elijah was translated to heaven alive in a chariot of fire without seeing death (2 Kings 2:11, 12). And Moses received a special resurrection (Jude 9).
The Scriptures tell us about the burial of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:5, 6, where it is recorded that the Lord buried His faithful servant and that his grave was not known to men. However, there was a dispute over the body of Moses, Satan wanted to prevent the Lord from resurrecting him from the dead.
Jude wrote about this dispute: “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 9). https://bibleask.org/is-jesus-also-michael-please-explain/
From the fact that Moses appeared with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, it may be concluded that the Lord triumphed in the contest with the devil and raised him from his grave, making him the first known subject of Christ’s resurrecting power.
These two saints were living representatives to bear witness to the divinity of Jesus (Luke 24:44). Moses was the great deliverer, lawgiver, and founder of the Hebrew nation, and Elijah the one who saved it in a time of great apostasy and crisis.
The Significance of the Transfiguration
Jesus predicted, “Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28). This prediction was fulfilled in the following manner:
Matthew, Mark, and Luke record the narrative of the Transfiguration immediately following this prediction. “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him” (Matthew 17:1-3).
The Transfiguration was a miniature demonstration of the kingdom of glory (2 Peter 1:16-18). There is theological significance behind the coming of Elijah and Moses, and that is why they were chosen to attend to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. The Transfiguration represented the resurrection at the end of time. Moses represented those who will die and be resurrected and go to heaven, while Elijah represented those who will go to heaven without experiencing death.
The Dead Saints Are Not in Heaven Yet
The fact that these two saints appeared with Christ at this time is therefore not to be taken to prove that all the righteous dead are in heaven. The one raised from the dead and the other translated without seeing death, appeared with Jesus, are merely a type of the new glorious kingdom in which the ransomed of all ages will be with Him in glory (Matthew 25:31; Colossians 3:4; 1).
Paul affirmed the resurrection of the dead in Christ at Christ’s second coming: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 also 1 Corinthians 15:23). The righteous dead will be resurrected in the “first resurrection” (Revelation 20:5, 6).
For more on the State of the Dead, check the following link: The Intermediate State
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
