Against Heresies: Book V

IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THAT BODIES CONTINUED TO EXIST FOR A LONG TIME: as long as it was God's will for them to thrive, let these heretics read the Scriptures. They will find that our ancestors lived to seven hundred, eight hundred, and nine hundred years old, and that their bodies lasted as long as God wanted them to live.

But why mention these men? Enoch, when he pleased God, was taken up in the same body in which he pleased Him, foreshadowing the ascension of the just.

Elijah, too, was taken up while still in his natural form, showing in prophecy the assumption of the spiritual and that nothing prevented their bodies from being taken up. It was by the same hands that formed them at the beginning that they received this translation and assumption. In Adam, the hands of God became accustomed to organizing, guiding, and sustaining His own creation, placing it where He pleased. Where was the first man placed? Certainly in paradise, as the Scripture states, "And God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed." Later, when man proved disobedient, he was cast out into this world.

Therefore, the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were taken to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous people, those with the Spirit; where Paul the apostle, when caught up, heard words unspeakable in our current condition), and there they who have been translated will remain until the completion of all things, as a prelude to immortality.

IF: however, anyone thinks it impossible that people could live for such a long time, or that Elias was not taken up in the flesh but that his flesh was consumed in the fiery chariot, let them remember how Jonah, after being thrown into the sea and swallowed by the whale, was safely brought back to land by the command of God. Similarly, when Ananias, Azarias, and Mishael were thrown into the furnace heated seven times over, they were unharmed, and not even the smell of fire was on them.

As the hand of God was with them, performing miraculous feats beyond human nature, it is no wonder that God also did something wonderful for those who were taken up, in accordance with His will, even the Father's. As the Scripture shows, King Nebuchadnezzar said, “Did we not throw three men bound into the fire? And look, I see four walking in the midst of the fire, and the fourth looks like the Son of God.” Neither the nature of any created thing nor the weakness of the flesh can stand against the will of God.

For God isn't subject to created things, but created things are subject to God; everything obeys His will. Thus the Lord says, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Even though it might seem unbelievable and impossible to people today, who are unaware of God's plan, for someone to live for so many years, those who lived before us did indeed live to such ages, and those who were taken up continue to live as a proof of the future length of days.

Even though it might seem impossible that people could emerge unharmed from the whale’s belly and the fiery furnace, they did, led out by the hand of God to display His power. Likewise, now, although some, not knowing God's power and promise, might oppose their own salvation, thinking it impossible for God to grant them eternal life, the doubt of such people will not negate God's faithfulness.