Are people in Heaven?

[He giveth more grace]

Why God want the spirit and soul of a saint to reside in the corrupting and putrefying body of the saint. To absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and Christ shall the saint's spirit and soul of the saint who have departed with him and his coming to the clouds to be rejoined with their body which God glorifies.

As in the following verses.

Paul uses the word "sleep" for "dead"

⁴⁸ As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

⁴⁹ And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

⁵⁰ Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

⁵¹ Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

⁵² In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Their bodies shall rise first to meet their spirit and soul in the clouds.

⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

⁵⁴ So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

⁵⁵ O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:48-57

[paulajeanne]

Thank you all who replied ....

More posting on this subject would be insightful

[Littlelambseativy]

After Jesus died He descended to the dead - to show to those in hades/sheol/hell - those fallen angels who are changed, that they did not win and that hell could not hold Him. He then after He rose showed Himself to Mary to whom He said not to touch HIm ( tho' at this point even if she did touch Him she was covered with His blood/His righteousness) because He had not yet ascended to His Father so that He could apply His blood to the altar in Heaven - the one blood that could pay for all sin from beginning to end of the age.

And as Paul said absent from the body is to be present with the Lord - waiting for the Trumpet sound that will reunite the soul with the body at the rapture. So are the dead in heaven? yes their souls the part that was them is for that is where our Lord is.

[enoob57]

The place of keeping the dead was in the center of the earth... Lk 16:19-31

Jesus at death descended into the earth and led captive out Abraham's bosom Paradise side of center of earth...Eph 4:7-9

The dead await great white throne judgment in hades (center of earth) Rev 20:11-15

Because of the redeeming work of Christ now this is for all that die in the Lord 2Cor 5:6-8 and Christ is at the right hand of The Father Acts 7:54-56

Love, Steven

[missmuffet]

Sheol/hades is a realm with two divisions (

Matthew 11:23, 16:18; Luke 10:15, 16:23; Acts 2:27-31), the abodes of the saved and the lost. The abode of the saved was called “paradise” and “Abraham's bosom.” The abodes of the saved and the lost are separated by a “great chasm” (Luke 16:26). When Jesus ascended to heaven, He took the occupants of paradise (believers) with Him (Ephesians 4:8-10). The lost side of sheol/hades has remained unchanged. All unbelieving dead go there awaiting their final judgment in the future. Did Jesus go to sheol/hades? Yes, according to Ephesians 4:8-10 and 1 Peter 3:18-20.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/did-Jesus-go-to-hell.html#ixzz2TZrlIBEJ

[gdemoss]

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, for all of the texts that speak to the positive of people in heaven, there are those that are in opposition to the idea which make it difficult to reconcile them.

After Jesus had supposedly descended into the lower parts of the earth to lead captivity captive as some people interpret Ephesians to be saying Peter testified that David was both dead and buried having not ascended into heaven in Acts.

My personal position is that these seeming inconsistencies are reconcilable through understanding what part of us is where after our physical demise. Those of us who are born again are new creatures created in Christ Jesus, born of the spirit though we had already been born of the flesh. Our 'old man' is still alive and we must 'die daily' to ourselves in order to live unto God. So there is a duality that most likely is going to play a role in how to interpret these scriptures correctly.

Hbr 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Notice it says the spirits of just men. No mention of their souls. the general assembly and church of the firstborn are said to be 'written' in heaven while the spirits of just men are actually there. There is way more to this than meets the eye. I began to go into an explanation of what I believe is taking place but the complexity of it demands more attention than I can give in detail in a post on a thread. As I said, I by no means have it all figured out, but I do know that there is enough complexity to it that it is quite possible that many people are seeing the various sides of the object in question and are all in some, way, shape or form correct but since they do not understand the others perspective, they tend to end up in contentious debate believe each the other is wrong.

Same thing happens in other major doctrinal debates like the trinity etc.

Know this: If you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for you to pay for your sins and you have placed your faith/trust in him to deliver you from death unto life as you follow him as Lord, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about but can boldly proclaim unto any and all that you know that the end of your physical life merely ends your personal internal struggle against sin that you might live unto God for ever!

Peace.

[ncn]

From the Worthy Statement of Faith.

"We believe in the Messiah, Jesus, God’s only begotten son, God come in the flesh. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified, died and buried. On the third day, He rose again. Soon afterward He ascended into heaven. Now He is seated at the right hand of the Father and He will return to judge both the living and the dead and reign for evermore."

"We believe that immediately upon death, the soul of the believer is absent from the body, and present with the Lord."

[paulajeanne]

From the Worthy Statement of Faith.

"We believe in the Messiah, Jesus, God’s only begotten son, God come in the flesh. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified, died and buried. On the third day, He rose again. Soon afterward He ascended into heaven. Now He is seated at the right hand of the Father and He will return to judge both the living and the dead and reign for evermore."

"We believe that immediately upon death, the soul of the believer is absent from the body, and present with the Lord."

[Sanh]

When Jesus was on the Cross their were two thieves next to Him.One of the thieves responded to the message of salvation and one did not.Jesus said to the one who responded to His message "Today you will be with me in Paradise". He did not say "Your soul will remain in your body and I will see you when I come back in Glory".The thieve's soul was immediately going to be with Christ.

 

Biblically speaking (Luke 16:19-31), our soul or spirit when we die will either be in a place of comfort or in a place of discomfort but not yet with the Lord in Heaven. Same will be there awaiting for the general resurrection, maybe.

[franciskelsey]

Scripture in part

 

2 Corinthians 5:6 and 8 -- while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. (I would) prefer rather be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

 

Hebrew 12:22-23 -- But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God -- to the general assembly and church of the first born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.

 

It is important to note, "paradise" is another term for heaven in the NT. via 2 Corinthians 12:2,4 -- caught up to the third heaven -- was caught up into paradise.  Now we can move on. (PS  this was believed to be Paul when he was stoned and thought to be dead)

 

Luke 23:43  Today you shall be with Me in paradise. (Jesus talking to the other man on the cross)

 

Philippians 1:23 -- (I have) the desire to part and to be with Christ.  (I do not believe I have to quote where Jesus presently resides - in heaven at the right side of the Father)

 

2 Thessalonians 5:10 (Christ died for us) so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. (that is, when we die and are in spirit we will live with Him though He presently does reside in all believers hearts through the Holy Spirit.)

 

There are also passages in Revelation but I will not use those for fear of another rapture debate as those who believe in pre trib believe at the start of chapter 4 the saints are taken to heaven.

 

 

In typing and looking up these passages it amazes me how much I do not know and how much more I want to know of our great God. The biggest thing I wanted to show and give was certainty of believers going to heaven when we die. Even on the internet these days it seems hard to find truthful sites thus I am glad I still resort to books a lot of times.

 

God bless and take care Gods family.