Did Elijah Write a Letter From Heaven? 

In the book of second Kings we have a record of one of the most powerful, and possibly unbelievable events in history. We have a story of a prophet who is taken to heaven by God.

Let’s read:

 2 Kings 2:11 (NIV)   

11: As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 

A company of prophets who were watching this event from afar could not believe that Elijah had truly gone to heaven. They thought he had been carried to another part of the country. So they looked for him for three days, but did not find him, because he had been taken to heaven, as the scripture says.

 2 Kings 2:16-18 (NIV) 

 16: “Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.” 

 “No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.” 

 17: But they persisted until he was too embarrassed to refuse. So he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. 18 When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?” 

This is all well, until we go to the book of Chronicles, that shares a story of how king Joram received a letter that had come from Elijah prophesying concerning his judgment.

Let’s Read:

 2 Chronicles 21:5 (ESV) 

 5: Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 

 12: And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13: but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have enticed Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom, as the house of Ahab led Israel into whoredom, and also you have killed your brothers, of your father’s house, who were better than you, 14: behold, the LORD will bring a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions, 15: and you yourself will have a severe sickness with a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the disease, day by day.’” 

The complication is this, Jehoram was the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. He became king after the death of his Father. However, from the book of Kings, we have a story of Elisha the prophet being summoned by King Jehoshaphat before his death, after the story of Elijah being carried to heaven. This would mean that by the time Jehoshaphat dies and His son becomes king, Elijah had already gone to heaven, so how would he receive this letter from Elijah. Did Elijah send a letter to Jehoram from heaven?

 Context 

Before answering the question, let’s establish a bit of historical context which will help us understand the books and the kings being mentioned. After Solomon dies, the kingdom of Israel is given to his son Rehoboam. In the first year of Rehoboam, the ten tribes of Israel rebel against him and the kingdom is divided into two. The Tribe of Judah remains under the kingship of Rehoboam, but the other ten tribes are given to a new king called Jeroboam.

So the nation is now divided into two kingdoms: Judah which is ruled from Jerusalem by the sons of David, and Israel which is ruled from Samaria by Jeroboam.

The book of Kings, mainly follows the kingdom of Israel, which was under Jeroboam and the book of Chronicles mainly follows the kings of Judah based in Jerusalem. Elijah and Elisha were not based in Jerusalem because they were not from the tribe of Judah, but they served the kings of Israel in Samaria. 

Here is a succession of kings from the two kingdoms.

UNITED KIMNGDOM

1.) SAUL

2.) DAVID

3.) SOLOMON

Kingdom Divided

KINGDOM OF JUDAH                                      

1.) Rehoboam                      17 years

2.) Abijah                              3 years               

3.) Asa                                   45 Years             

4.) Jehoshaphat         25 years

5.) Jehoram                          8 years

6.) Ahazia                    

KINGDOM OF ISRAEL

1.) Jeroboam              22 years

2.) Nadab           2 years

3.) Baasha          24 years

4.) Elah                        2 Years

5.) Omri                       6 Years

6.) Ahab                      22 Years

7.) Ahazia           2 Years

8.) Jehoram                

As you can see the last kings had similar names. This is because they were intermarrying and naming their children after each other. Jehoram of Judah is different from Jehoram of Israel, and Ahazia of Judah is different from Ahazia of Israel.

Ahazia of Judah and Jehoram of Israel were all killed by Jehu on the same day in fulfillment to Elijah’s prophecy. The king who married Jezebel and persecuted the prophets in the time of Elijah is Ahab.

Now let’s answer the question.

 THE ANSWER 

Elijah did not write the letter from heaven because he did not have to do that. I am going to give two reasons for this. The first reason will be based on biblical examples and the second will simply be based on the historical context of the text.

FIRST POINT

We are not given an exact time point of when Elijah was taken to heaven, but let’s assume that this letter came after Elijah had gone to heaven. How could that happen?

Elijah was a prophet, and he delivered a lot of future prophecies concerning people who were not yet in power. Some of those prophecies were later delivered by Elisha on Elijah’s behalf because Elisha was anointed to complete the work that Elijah had left in the middle.

Let’s look at this example:

 1 Kings 19:15-16 (ESV) 

 15: And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. 16: And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place 

In the scripture Above, Elijah is given a word that God wants Hazael to be anointed king of Syria and Jehu to be anointed king of of Israel. Elijah is commanded to do this. However, the person who actually delivered these prophecies to the two men, and anointed them was Elisha, after Elijah was gone.

 2 Kings 8:13 (ESV)   

13: And Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.” 

 2 Kings 9:1-3 (ESV)   

1: Then Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tie up your garments, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. 2: And when you arrive, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. And go in and have him rise from among his fellows, and lead him to an inner chamber. 3: Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.” 

So, we can see Elisha delivering Elijah’s prophecies about ten years later, to the people at the rightful time, after Elijah, the person who prophesied these things is already gone.

Elijah also left a prophecy concerning Jehoram of Israel, who was Ahab’s son, that God’s judgment would come in his time.

 1 Kings 21:28-29 (ESV)  

 28: And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29: “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house.” 

So, this letter that came to Jehoram of Judah was most likely written down as a prophecy by Elijah before he went to heaven, and then delivered in the appropriate time, as we saw with other prophecies.

A good example of such a letter, is what happened with Prophet Isaiah and Cyrus.

Isaiah wrote a prophetic letter to King Cyrus, 200 years before Cyrus was king. Cyrus’ father, grand father or great grand father had not yet been born. Cyrus’s ancestors were still a minor unimportant group of villagers. Yet the prophet Isaiah writes a letter to this person who will be born over a hundred years later. And when that man became king, he was given that letter to read.

Let’s look at the letter:

 Isaiah 45:1-7 (NIV)  

 1: “This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 

 2: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron 

 3: I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name 

 4: For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me 

 5: I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me 

 6: so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other 

 7: I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things 

Imagine receiving a letter that was written in 1820, and it’s talking about you and current events, as if it was written in 2021. This is what is happening here. This is how the prophetic works.

If we have a prophetic letter from Isaiah to king Cyrus, written 200 years before Cyrus was born, we should not be surprised by a prophetic letter from Elijah to King Jehoram, written a few years before Jehoram was king.

SECOND POINT

The book of Kings gives the impression that Elijah was alive up until the death of Ahaziah, in the second year of Jehoram King of Judah. Let’s read:

 2 Kings 1:15 – 2:2 (NIV) 

 15: The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king 

 16: He told the king, “This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!” 17: So he died, according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. 18: As for all the other events of Ahaziah’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 

 CHAPTER 2.1: When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2: Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel 

So, in the very least we know that Elijah and Jehoram of Judah were alive at the same time before Elijah was taken by the Lord. So, Jehoram may have received his letter at that time.

 CONCLUSION 

Either way, with these two points, there is no need to doubt the event which scripture gives us clearly. We are told that those things which happened in the past, were written to be examples for us Christians. Now we can know that if God could take Elijah then rapture is real. We can be confident in the promise that Christ will come and take us to heaven, because we have seen an example in the bible of a man like one of us, being taken to heaven.

 You are richly blessed in all areas