Translation
"Translation" is a termed used for the everlasting entrance into the kingdom of God. First one was Enoch, before the flood, "By faith Enoch was translated so as not to see death, and was not found because God translated him. For before his translation he had obtained witness to have been pleasing to God." (Hebrews 11:5). An important point in this verse is that had "obtained witness...", meaning Enoch worked at righteousness, "to have been pleasing to God.". The second, after the flood was Elijah, "And it happened as they were going on and speaking, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire came. And they separated between them both, and Elijah went up in a tempest to Heaven." (II Kings 2:11). These two men pleased God and did not see death, according to God's word. These are the only humans that have passed from earth to Heaven without tasting death; all others have experienced death, and remain that way until their resurrection, either first or second, despite what is sometimes taught in some Christian churches, but that is another topic. The purpose of this paper is to point out that there is another step for man, beyond where Adam was, as he stood with God in the garden.
Before sin was introduced to man, Adam was given a choice, to reframe from eating from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil", this was for Adam to demonstrate his faith and obedience to the Father and God of his existence. You already know he failed at obedience to this one command, and we are all living that mistake with a sinful nature, as it is termed, even though its not present in the Bible, but we do live in a world surrounded with sin. The question I need to ask: Was Adam's sin part of God's plan? Considering, when those written in the Book of Life will be taken up into Heaven, translated, the dead in Christ and those that faithfully experienced the tribulation, right before Christ second return, they will be made permanently righteous. ”The one acting unjustly, let him still act unjustly; and the filthy, let him still be filthy; and the righteous, let him still do righteousness; and the holy let him still be holy." (Revelation 22:11). And the next verse shows the timing of this, "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each as his work is." (Revelation 22:12). Those written in the Book of Life are not judged, any more. Those ascending to meet Christ in the air differ from Adam's state, because they have been tested throughout their life and they passed the test, they kept the faith and walked accordingly; Adam still needed to be tested after he failed his first test. As Revelation 22:11 says, "...let him still be holy." as to the righteous ones that cleansed themselves during this time we are living now, they are made to be righteous for an eternal existence in the presence of God and His Son.
It seems, through logic that this was part of God's plan from the very beginning. He wanted Heaven and His entire kingdom to be pure and without any future contamination. We can determine that Heaven was a pure home for all until Lucifer was found to desire more then what he was already given, being the most exalted angel, but he wanted more, even to be equal or above God and he influences one third of God's angels to also be dissatisfied with God's kingdom. This would indicate that the created angels also had the responsibility of choice, as we now have. The unfortunate result of this was that God had to exiled Satan and one third of God's angels that Satan deceived, casting them from Heaven forever, because Jehovah's kingdom must be pure. I wander: are the remaining angels still in that state of choice or have they been transformed to righteousness because they went through their period of making their decision in commit themselves to God and His righteous system, present in His kingdom? This answer is not available.
God, knowing the beginning and the end of all things, Did He expect and knew
that Adam would step away from obedience, having the freedom of choice, as we all
have? I do believe Jehovah God needed Adam to make this disobedient choice in order
for this next important step to take place, for the cleansing of the hearts of the
oncoming human population, for each soul to individually make their decision to know
and love their God Jehovah. Adam's situation was different because he was pure and
was expected to choose to sin, so he could later understand why he needed to discard
every transgression against God's perfect system. I understand this to be the case
because the Garden of Eden only a portion of earth, "And Jehovah God took the man
and put him into the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it." (Genesis 2:15) and because
the name of that special tree was called "The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil"
which indicates the need to know both sides, in order to make his decision later
on wisely, hopefully for good. Adam and Eve were both expelled from the garden after
Adam sinned. The extention of humanity is now born into a sinful environment, and
just as Adam after he sinned, we are to learn, for the purpose of understand the
evil nature of transgressing God's laws of righteousness and to choose to reject
every evil thing, and to know why His government is just, correct and wise, and to
choose to love Jehovah and His perfect system, because of our acquired understanding
of God's perfect way. Then, once we come to know God and choose to love Jehovah and
His righteousness, through the teaching of Christ in the Book He gave us, of Jehovah's
words, and to do accordingly, we will then be "translated" in that state to live
in the kingdom of God shortly after Christ's second coming. It seems only logical
that we must make our many life choices willingly and completely, by reasoning for
ourselves, because of the sure results of un-
Some Christians seem to think that righteousness is acquired by faith, and that only faith in Jesus is needed. Faith is certainly needed, "But without faith it is impossible to please God. For it is right that one drawing near to God should believe that He is, and that He becomes a rewarder to the ones seeking Him out." (Hebrew 11:6), but this verse does not stand alone, "So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself." (James 2:17). Faith that God Jehovah is the Creator and designer of our existence directs us to learning of His ways, and the understanding of His just and perfect way is the internal force that ignites our actions to do righteousness. Our actions display our righteousness, or our unrighteousness; our thought of being righteous have no meaning without our righteous actions, James said, "You see that faith worked with his works, and by the works the faith was made complete." (James 2:22).
Again, "translation" into God's kingdom doesn't purify the unrighteous; that
is our job right now, during this earthly life. What needs changing is our heart,
departing from our worldly self, having been born into a sin filled environment,
to convert and commit our heart to do according to Jehovah's ways, which is driven
by His commands and statutes, and as Christ explained it, being born again, "Jesus
answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth
from above (born again KJV), he is not able to see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3).
We are responsible for our heart, its our efforts that make this change to righteousness,
no one else, but what is surely needed to make this change is the strength Christ
desires to provide for us, by our asking, along with all our personal efforts. The
transformation is the change of our nature, and the condition of our existence, but
only after we reorganize our heart to be acceptable for Jehovah's pure environment,
first for a thousand years in New Jerusalem, and then to live in the new earth, within
God's kingdom for an eternity; our heart should be changing now to be accepted. Enoch
and Elijah were translated and did not experience death, but both walked with God
by their efforts according to their choices in this life, the others around them
didn't choose to seek God, "And if you shall seek Jehovah your God from there, then
you shall find Him, if you seek Him with your whole heart and with all your soul."
(Deut. 4:29), "Blessed are those keeping His testimonies, who seek Him with their
whole heart." (Psalm 119:2). We are to walk with God, "The humble who seek God, your
heart shall live." (Psalm 69:32). Abraham was translated to Heaven but He did taste
death and this was stated in Jude, "But Michael the archangel, when contending with
the Devil, he argued about the body of Moses -