Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctively first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. One of the longest-running television series of all time was Star Trek. Created by producer Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s, it made William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy famous.

Then there was Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek Voyager, and Deep Space Nine. But did you know the Bible talks about a spectacular series of Star Treks that began many thousands of years ago? And now to tell us more about it, here is our Bible teacher, Dr. Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: Thank you, and welcome listening friend to another edition of the program. It's good to have you with us today as we continue this series of studies on Star Trek, the original series. You see, contrary to popular belief, space travel is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, the original series of Star Treks is recorded in the Bible.

The first person to make the trek from Earth through outer space and on to heaven in his physical body was Enoch. We talked about Enoch on the last program. Now today we want to look at another biblical space traveler and he's found in 2nd Kings chapter 2. Let's read verse 11 together. It says, "And it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." That's 2nd Kings 2:11.

Now this is a very intriguing passage. Elijah was the great prophet of Israel and Elisha was going to be his successor. Elijah and Elisha were walking down the road one day and Elijah asks Elisha, he says, "The Lord is about to take me out of here, Elisha. Is there anything I can do for you before I go?" And Elisha's response is that more than anything else, he wants a double portion of Elijah's spirit. He wants the power, you see. More than riches, more than worldly wisdom, more than fame, more than recognition, Elisha wants power, spiritual power.

So Elijah tells him, he says, "Elisha, you have asked a difficult thing. But if you'll stick close by me so that you can see me when I'm taken, then you will have your request." And Elisha didn't have long to wait, did he? Because it says in 2nd Kings 2:11 that as they were walking together, suddenly there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire that separated Elijah from Elisha and while Elisha stood there watching, Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind to heaven.

You can imagine what it must have looked like as Elijah was spirited away in a fiery whirlwind, riding that chariot of fire like a heavenly warrior. Now this was no hallucination. There were 50 men besides Elisha who were students in Elijah's school of the prophets who were also eyewitnesses to the taking up of Elijah. And when they saw Elisha pick up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah's shoulders, and Elisha spread it out over the Jordan River and the waters were divided so he could walk across on dry ground, when they saw that, they realized that Elisha had indeed inherited a double portion of Elijah's spirit.

But those 50 prophets didn't realize that Elijah had been taken up out of this world. They thought God had just picked him up and He was going to put him down on a mountaintop or something, or maybe somewhere out in the desert. So they sent out search parties. But Elisha kept telling them, he said, "You're not going to find him. He's gone." "Well we know he's gone." "No, I mean he's really gone." You might say why did God take Elijah out of this world?

Because He had a special mission for Elijah, a mission that required that he still have his physical body. And we'll talk about this sometime if you'd like. We have a tape on that subject by the way if you're interested. It's called "The Second Coming of Elijah." So Elijah was the second human space traveler mentioned in the Bible. Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, it says. You see, heaven is a real place. It's not some fairy tale never-never land where angels float around on clouds playing their harps.

It's a real place, a celestial city with entrances and exits and streets and individual dwelling places, condominiums if you will, for those who live there. It's a place bustling with activity as angels come and go with news about their missions to and from Earth. It's where Jesus is and where the saints are who've gone before us. It's a wonderful glorious place where there is no need for the sun because the light of the city, it says, is Jesus. And the Bible says there's no night there because the Shekhinah presence of God illuminates the city continually.

Now just think, the government has spent millions and millions and millions of dollars searching for extraterrestrial life. In fact, there's a project called SETI, S-E-T-I, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. I heard someone say recently that the real question is not whether or not there is intelligent life in outer space, but whether or not there is intelligent life on Earth. Sometimes we wonder, don't we? But for years this search for extraterrestrial intelligence has gone on. Millions and millions of tax dollars have been invested in SETI.

Harvard University has a SETI program through its Oak Ridge Observatory where they're using an 84-foot radio telescope to scan about 68 percent of the sky. They have a multi-channel spectrum analyzer that simultaneously scans 8.4 million channels listening for messages from civilizations in distant galaxies. This search for extraterrestrial intelligence has been going on since 1960 when it was started by an astronomer named Frank Drake who worked at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. They've been listening for all of these years, 35 years, and do you know what they've heard? Nothing. Zip. Not even a peep.

Now let me show you how silly this is. We've already received a detailed message from outer space. In fact, from the God of the universe. It's called the Bible, and it tells us in detail what's wrong with this world, how it got to be this way, and what God is going to do about it someday. It tells us where we came from and where we're going, and above all, it tells us how each of us can have a personal relationship with the one who made us.

So if you want a message from an extraterrestrial super intelligence, just read the Bible. And when you read the Bible, you learn that this world has been visited by beings from outer space. One of them is God Himself. In fact, that baby who was born in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago wasn't from this world.

Now before our time gets away from us, let's go on to our next biblical space traveler. This account is given to us by Dr. Luke, the physician, the scientist. This is when Jesus had given final instructions to his disciples on the Mount of Olives and then it happened. It says, "And it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven." Luke 24:51. In the book of Acts, also written by Dr. Luke, he repeats the same record with added details.

Again, Jesus had given final instructions to his disciples and then it says in Acts 1:9, "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight." That's it. No fire, no smoke, no tornado as in the case of Elijah. No deafening roar of booster rockets, no countdown from Cape Canaveral, no tracking from mission control in Pasadena. None of that. You see how much more advanced God's technology is than our own?

He just quietly, silently, swiftly soars upward and upward until finally he's out of their sight. Up through the clouds, through the stratosphere. When he gets to an altitude of 50 miles, he enters the ionosphere, the upper layer of our atmosphere, until finally at an altitude of 240 miles, he leaves our atmosphere and enters outer space. And then at some point he's met by an entourage of angels and together they go to warp speed and head in the direction of heaven.

Sometimes people say, well, why doesn't the Bible tell us where heaven is? And the answer is simple: because that's not why the Bible was written. God didn't write the Bible to tell us where heaven is. He wrote it to tell us how to get there. You see, it's not nearly so important for you to know exactly where it is as it is for you to have a ticket to get there. Think of it like this.

I got some airline tickets in the mail the other day. In a few weeks I have to get on a plane and fly from San Antonio to New York, and then from New York to Paris where I'll meet with our missionary in Paris, and then from there we go to Tel Aviv in Israel, and then eventually we come back to San Antonio. Now if you were to say, "Gary, what is the exact location of Paris? What's the longitude and latitude of Paris, France?" I couldn't tell you. I have no idea. But that's not what's really important.

All that really matters is that I have the ticket. It's better to have a ticket and not have the foggiest notion of where your destination is located than it is to have the exact coordinates right down to the square inch but not have a ticket. And if you want to go to heaven, my friend, the ticket is Jesus. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6. He is the way. That's the ticket. And that's the message of the Bible.

The nice thing is this ticket is free. It's not free because it didn't cost anything. It's free because it's already been paid for. Jesus paid for it. It cost him his life. So it's free to you if you're willing to accept it. Well our time is gone for today. We'll continue next time. I'll see you then. God bless you. Take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you Gary, and thank you listening friend for tuning in today. Today we've been listening to our Bible teacher, Dr. Gary Hedrick, talking about Star Trek: The Original Series. Well it's true, the Bible tells us about some very spectacular events, both past and future, which rival the work of even the most imaginative science fiction writer. By the way, if you enjoyed today's study, you'll be glad to know that we've placed all seven of these programs on one convenient CD.

The title is Star Trek: The Original Series and it shows that space travel originated not in recent times, but thousands of years ago. In fact, many instances of human space travel both in the distant past and also in the future are mentioned in the Bible. It's available for your gift of just six dollars or more to help us keep this program here on your station. If you have a friend or loved one who is an avid science fiction fan and needs the Lord, why not give him or her a copy of this series?

It's a unique way to present the gospel in a context that your friend or loved one will understand. Just ask for the program GT-25 entitled Star Trek: The Original Series. Visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397.

And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues his series of studies on Star Trek: The Original Series right here on Messianic Perspectives.