RESURRECTION AND RAPTURE ROUGHLY BETWEEN APRIL 2023 AND APRIL 2024?

[Retrobyter]

Shalom, @Neighbor.

I'd like to add that, while I don't believe in the common understandings of "Heaven" and "Hell," I CERTAINLY DO believe in the New Jerusalem and the Lake of Fire and Sulfur (or the Lake of Burning Sulfur). These two places are VERY REAL and are VERY PHYSICAL! 

As I've already said, the Greek word translated "heaven" (or "heavens" in the plural) is οὐρανός (ouranos), and it means the "sky":

3772 οὐρανός ouranós, oo-ran-os'; perhaps from the same as G3735 (through the idea of elevation); the sky; by extension, heaven (as the abode of God); by implication, happiness, power, eternity; specially, the Gospel (Christianity):
—air, heaven(-ly), sky.

There's another word that means "of or from above the skies"; that word is ἐπουράνιος "epouranios":

2032 ἐπουράνιος epouránios, ep-oo-ran'-ee-os; from G1909 and G3772; above the sky:
—celestial, (in) heaven(-ly), high.

This word is usually translated as "in heaven" or "heavenly" or "celestial" or "high," and according to Paul's Resurrection Chapter (1 Corinthians 15), it is space, where the sun, moon, and stars exist.

1 Corinthians 15:40-41 (KJV)

40 [There are] also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial [is] one, and the [glory] of the terrestrial [is] another. 41 [There is] one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for [one] star differeth from [another] star in glory.

There are other composite words formed by adding prefixes or suffixes to ouranos:

Mesouraneema (μεσουράνημα) is one such word. It is found in three locations, all in the book of Revelation: Revelation 8:13; 14:6; and 19:17.

Revelation 8:13 (KJV)

13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, 

"Woe, woe,woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!"

Revelation 14:6 (KJV)

6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, ...

Revelation 19:17 (KJV)

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, 

"Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; ..."

While the first two could be about anywhere since it is where the "aggelos" ("angel" or "messenger") flies, the third verse shows us this is MID-SKY, because it is where the birds fly. In fact, birds want to fly high enough to avoid obstacles, like trees and hills, but they can't fly higher than where the thinness of the air can't support them.

Now that I think about it, the first two must be mid-sky, as well, for the messengers couldn't be heard without the atmosphere conveying the sound of their voices!

Ouranothen (οὐρανόθεν) adds the suffix "-then" in place of the sigma. The Etymology of the word is,

"From οὐρανός (G3772) and the enclitic of source."

G3771 οὐρανόθεν ouranóthen, oo-ran-oth'-en; from G3772 and the enclitic of source; from the sky:
—from heaven.

So, this word also means "from the sky."

G3370 οὐράνιος ouránios, oo-ran'-ee-os; from G3772; celestial, i.e. belonging to or coming from the sky:
—heavenly.

By adding the iota, this makes "ouranios" an adjective, and it still has to do with the sky.

SOMEBODY (we don't know who) suggested "the first heaven is 'of clouds,' the second heaven is 'of stars,' and the third heaven is 'God's abode.'" I know this was propagated by the Scofield Reference Bible - a very popular reference Bible of the late 20th Century - in the margin of 2 Corinthians 12:2. However, from the actual words of Scripture (at least in the N.T.), there's only "the sky" and "above-the-sky." And, when one realizes the truth, God is OMNIPRESENT! Where are you going to "limit" Him to an "abode?!" The ONLY purpose for a "Heaven" is to have a place in which to put "departed souls." But, when you realize that a "soul" is an "air-breathing creature," then when a person dies, he CEASES TO BREATHE AIR, and he is NO LONGER an "air-breathing creature!"

Genesis 2:7 (KJV)

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Hebrew:

2:7   וַיִּיצֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן־הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה׃

Transliterated:

2:7 Vayyiytser YHWH 'Elohiym 'et-haa'Aadaam `aafaar min-haa'adaamaah vayyipach b'apaayow nishmat chayyiym vayhiy haa'Aadaam l-nefesh chayyaah:

Translated word-for-word:

2:7 And-formed YHWH God (d.o.->)-the-Red-(man) of-dust from-the-red-(ground) and-He-puffed in-his-nostrils a-puff of-living-things and-became the-Red-(man) into-an-air-breathing-creature living:

"Nefesh" (נֶפֶשׁ) (often written "nephesh")is the noun form of the root verb "naafash" (נָפַשׁ):

H5315 נֶפֶשׁ nephesh, neh'-fesh; from H5314; properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental):
—any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, × dead(-ly), desire, × (dis-) contented, × fish, ghost, greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, × jeopardy of) life (×in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, slay, soul, tablet, they, thing, (× she) will, ×would have it.

H5314 נָפַשׁ nâphash, naw-fash'; a primitive root; to breathe; passively, to be breathed upon, i.e. (figuratively) refreshed (as if by a current of air):
—(be) refresh selves (-ed).

This is why I don't believe in the "continuity of life" in that a "soul" goes off to some "Heaven" to await the Resurrection there. Instead, we read throughout chapters 5 and 11 of Genesis the words "and he died!" Once dead, a person is DEAD. He (or she) will remain DEAD until the Messiah of God changes that state in the RESURRECTION!

However, there SHALL be a new earth after God purges this old earth with fire, and upon that new earth will come to rest the New Jerusalem. A city that I believe, based on the Roman mile markers determining how long a "stad" was ("stadion" in Greek and translated "furlong" in the KJV), will be about 1,380 miles long, 1,380 miles wide, and 1,380 miles high, pushing its height outside the limits of the earth's atmosphere! It would be visible (if sitting centered at the current location of Jerusalem) from Norway to Zimbabwe, from Morocco to China, and its light will reach much farther than that!

[Neighbor]

9 minutes ago, Retrobyter said:

Shalom

Shalom.