I have to admit that I have a normal curiosity about things I don’t know. In fact, I think we are all this way. It’s just that some of us are more curious than others.

The more I study the Bible, the more curious I become about things not explained or things not revealed. I suppose there isn’t anything wrong with that unless I allow it to affect my faith.

Here are some things that arouse my curiosity:

• Where was the Garden of Eden?
• Where is the Ark of the Covenant?
• What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh?
• Where is the body of Moses buried?
• Why did Satan and Michael fight over the body of Moses?
• What happened to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus?
• Why did Enoch and Elijah not have to face death?
• What caused Satan and the angels to be removed from heaven?

This is my short list. I have more, but these should serve as examples for our study of “things not seen.”

None of these are salvation issues. In other words, I don’t need to know any of these in order to obey the gospel or to go to heaven. I’m just curious.

So why are we not given any of this information? The first possible reason is because none of them are salvation issues. None of these are crucial to making me a believer.

The second possible reason is that knowing at least three of these could be harmful to my soul. Notice that I said, “could be.”

The third possible reason is that God didn’t want me to know. He wants me to accept all things as He presents them in scripture, with or without the details.

So let’s look at the three that are potentially harmful to our souls. All through scripture, we see how God’s people turned their attention to other forms of worship. They worshiped Baal, the sun, moon, and planets. They even worshiped the brazen serpent God had Moses make to heal the people when they sinned and were bitten by snakes. Later, it had to be destroyed because the people made a god out of it (Numbers 21:8-9; Second Kings 18:4).

Even though God specifically told the Israelites they were not to worship other gods (Exodus 20:3-5), they ignored these commandments and set up shrines of all kinds.

People today are no different. The “gods” they worship are just different. They worship statues, individuals, buildings, money, and a variety of other things.

The Garden of Eden, The Ark of the Covenant, and the location of the body of Moses are all prime targets for worship. We see this attitude in the way people were so easily led into idolatry.

In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas preached in the region of Lycaonia. There they met a cripple, and Paul healed him. When the people saw what he had done, “they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’” (Verse 11, ESV).

They called Barnabas, Zeus; and they called Paul, Hermes. The priest of  Zeus brought animal sacrifices and wanted to worship these men. Of course, they stopped the priest and the people; but scripture says, “…they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them” (verse 18).

It doesn’t take much to create the circumstances for people to find an object or a person to worship. The Garden of Eden, The Ark of the Covenant, and the body of Moses could be such for some today.

There is a passage that says it all. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). I am convicted that all of these things about which I am curious are true. Though the exact location of The Garden of Eden, The Ark of the Covenant, or the body of Moses is not provided through the inspired Word of God.

I am convicted that Satan and Michael did fight over the body of Moses, though there is no reason given to explain this event.

I know that Paul had a thorn in the flesh, because Paul, being inspired, tells me that. “So keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceited” (Second Corinthians 12:7).

I know that Elijah was taken to heaven because I can read it in God’s Word.

“And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (Second Kings 2:11).

 I know that Enoch was taken; because scripture says, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).

Peter spoke about the fallen angels. He said, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…” (Second Peter 2:4).

There is nothing in scripture, to my knowledge, that tells us what happened to Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.

I accept these things by faith, because I walk by faith and not by sight.

Sandra Oliver