Translation
Summary
Translation refers to the transfer of a person from earth to heaven without experiencing death, as occurred with Enoch and Elijah.
☩Biblical Examples
Enoch 'walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.' Hebrews explains that by faith Enoch was translated so that he should not see death, and was not found because God had translated him. Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind with a chariot and horses of fire. These translations demonstrate God's power over death and foreshadow the rapture of believers.
☩Spiritual Translation
Paul speaks of believers being 'translated' or 'transferred' from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's beloved Son. This spiritual translation occurs at conversion, though the bodily translation of living believers awaits Christ's return when the dead in Christ rise first and the living are caught up together with them.
