***WILL BE UPDATING THIS JULY 2011***
PART 1: INCOMPLETE without PART 2
i have decided that following popular belief is ignorant, as I am sure most of you have.
Noah was building the ark and his family was the only one that was saved. All but Noah's family was wicked and wrong. It wouldn't have been a good idea to roll with the majority on this one.
The biggest step in not necessarily going with the popular belief is distinguishing whether the popular belief is biblically-based or man-based. Of course, we only want to believe what is biblically based.
Right now, I am trying to find out whether or not people go to heaven immediately when we die. It is FOR SURE popular belief for Christians that they go to heaven. I want to know whether or not it is right to say R.I.P. or 'have fun in heaven' when someone dies. I, personally, have always done the latter, because that is what I have grown up to believe. However, I am going through this exercise to help me (and others) establish a sensitivity for the truth. Because this is not really an issue of matter, (you won't be doing much on Earth if you are dead or in heaven), it is only an exercise. No stress should be created from discovering this. The answer only matters for truth's sake, and not for application's sake (with the exception of the R.I.P./fun-in-heaven application). The exercise should help me to have a sensitivity to the truth and begin to believe in things because of the Bible and not because of tradition.
I am ultimately seeking after truth, so if you have wisdom to lay out, please do.
The 1 Thessalonians Insight
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says: For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
The dead in Christ will rise first - these refer to the righteous dead (which, if people don't go to heaven immediately after they die, could refer to Christians & OT'ers who were obedient and faithful to God) -
After that, we who are still alive and left - the righteous living (which would refer to Christians in any case).
We can conclude that the dead in Christ refers to be literally dead, and not people who 'died so that they may receive life' because earlier, in 1 Thess. 4:13-15 the same words (dead/asleep & left/alive) are used.
There are definitely two different sets of people in this illustration, and I believe the only way two separate groups could go to heaven is if one group was left dead on the Earth as believers and another group was left alive on the Earth as believers.
Also, the fact that 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15 refers to the dead as 'those who have fallen asleep' lends insight to this possibility.
The Acts 2 Insight
v29 says: 'Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.' vv.30-33 explains that David was a prophet who knew God's oath to him and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, and knew that he was not abandoned to the grave. v.34 says: For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, "The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.' "
This can either be taken to mean that David never ascended to heaven, or that David wrote these things without first ascending to heaven. But why even mention that David the patriarch died and his tomb is still here to this day? Personally, because of that verse, I learn more toward David never ascending to heaven.
The Jude 9 Insight
this one is a little bit more tricky. Jude 9 MAY or may not make a direct reference to 'The Assumptions of Moses' which could or could not be entirely inspired. Inspired or not, Jude 9 makes a reference and thus shows that at least this reference is historically accurate. The Assumptions of Moses talks about the account of Moses’ appointing of Joshua as his successor, and a description of the future of Israel during the conquest of the Promised Land, the biblical account of Moses’ death, showing how God used angels to bury Moses. The Assumptions of Moses is sometimes known as the Testament of Moses, but in the cases of two men, Ceriani and Charles, the two seem to be separate texts. Charles argues that the 'Assumption of Moses' should not be called the The Assumption, but 'The Testament of Moses' because it never mentions the Ascension/Assumption of Moses. Ceriani, however, says that the text DOES mention the ascension.
Because of all this ambiguity, I hold this insight EXTREMELY lightly. Jude 9 doesn't scream out 'Moses was specially ressurrected by the archangel Michael after rebuking Satan after Moses' death'. <- (This is what some people claim it says and why this passage is included in my possible insights).
The Psalm 146:4 Insight (not about heaven, but death)
Death is explained to be when your breath/spirit departs (reference to the breath of Life given only by God): 'When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.'
The Luke 23:43 Contradiction
Jesus says to the thief, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.'
From this, the thief and Jesus went to heaven on that very day! This is totally the opposite of all the insight we have received.
Double Contradiction: John 20:17
Jesus appears to Mary Magdelene saying, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the FAther. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
So how can it be that Jesus promised the thief they would be in paradise together that very day if Jesus hadn't even ascended yet 3 days later?!
Contradictions Explained
The Luke 23:43 contradiction is the one that seems to go against all of the other evidence, so let's first look at that.
With our knowledge of the Bible and the making of the canon and the translation of the Bible, we can together understand that the punctuation is added in the English, and is not to be taken as the same divinely-inspired content of the Bible. (The same goes for Chapters in the Bible - the books are meant to be read all at once).
If Luke 23:43 is read as :"I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise", all the contradiction falls away. There is no need for Jesus or the thief to be in heaven that very day. the contradiction of Luke 23 and John 20 are relieved.
The Revelations Contradiction & ExplanationThis one troubled me a lot, mostly because I thought of it on my own and couldn't find too much about it. Usually, this happens because of ignorance...
I remember the vast multitudes of people John saw in Revelations, and all of the praise and worship coming from people who had once filled the earth (Revelation 7:9-17). There is no way that all these people could be here if they were still waiting for the Second Coming of Christ in order to ascend to heaven.
The Book starts out with John being told what to write to the seven churches in the province of Asia. These chapters, 1-3, are the words of an angel sent to John. Then John 4 starts with John falling into an ecstatic prophecy (I can talk about this later - there is a good podcast on it by a lady who wrote a book on ecstatic prophecy - basically it's when someone immediately falls into the Spirit - kind of like a mystic does). John 4:1 - After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, And I will show you what must take place after this." This is a prophecy of the future, and what heaven will be like. This happens ALL the way till the end. It is not talking about heaven right now, but heaven in the future. Therefore, it is NOT a contradiction.
So for now, my conclusion is that we go to the grave when we die and wait for the Second Coming of Christ to ascend into heaven.
PART 2
Before the Holy Spirit came into believers [or at Christ's death? or at Resurrection? or Ascension? <- i'm not sure about the timing here...] was the age of the CHURCH OF ISRAEL. This includes all of the OT believers and believers while Christ was alive. They received salvation according to obedience to God's law. They lived by the Law.
Believers that died in this time period went to Abraham's Bosom (as described in Luke 16 when Lazarus died and was resurrected).
Non-believers that died in this time period went to Hades/Hell.
After Pentecost [or at Christ's death? or at Resurrection? or Ascension? <- i'm not sure about the timing here...], when the Holy Spirit began to dwell in believers, was the AGE OF GRACE.
Believers' spirits that died in this time period went to Heaven. Non-believers go to Hell.
The OT believers/CHURCH OF ISRAEL believers ascended with Christ during the Ascension. [or at His death? or at Resurrection? <- i'm not sure about the timing here...]
The end of the AGE OF GRACE is the rapture (1 Thess. 4:13-17) in which the dead in Christ rise to meet the Lord in the air followed by the alive in Christ.
I believe the dead in Christ refers to the bodies of the believers during the AGE OF GRACE. The alive in Christ is obvious.
The OT believers who ascended are referred to as 'the great cloud of witnesses' in Heb 12.
This kinda covers all the problems I was having with soul sleep and etc. This is sturdy.
Summary of the rest of the age:
- Church of Israel begins
- "one week" passes
- Rapture
- Tribulation part 1: 3.5 years of false peace (as negotiated by the AntiChrist with the Church of Israel), 2 witnesses,
- Tribulation halfway point: Satan + demons declare war against Archangel Michael and angels but are defeated and barred from accusing saints, AntiChrist is empowered by Satan to rule, a False Prophet comes to persuade the world to worship the AntiChrist and other idols/Images, AntiChrist takes away sacrifices in temple and takes back his agreement of peace with the Church of Israel, the Mark of the Beast is set, AntiChrist wages war against Church of Israel, Israel flees (maybe half die?), AntiChrist beheads believers in Christ
- Tribulation part 2: (last 3.5 years) Bowls of Wrath Judgments (rev. 15-16), Destruction of Harlot of Babylon (anti Christ creates a religious organization) (Rev 17), Destruction of Economic Babylon (economy destroyed as AntiChrist sets up his center-of-power) (Rev 18), Battle of Armageddon (somewhere around Jerusalem - Daniel 11:40-45, Revelation 16:12-16, 19:19-21), Second Coming of Christ/Destruction of AntiChrist & False Prophet (Rev 19:19-21)-Jesus casts the Anti-Christ and False Prophet into the Lake of Fire
- Establishment of the Millennial Kingdom: Christ raptures the martyrs of Tribulation to join the 1Thess4 Rapture as an army that judges the world for a period of weeks (Daniel 12:12)
- Millennial Kingdom established: lasts 1000 years, Satan is at the bottom of the pit, the world lives free from Satan's deception [[*? i think they will still have struggles with sin because under the CHURCH OF ISRAEL, sins were inherited from the parents]]
- End of Millenial Kingdom: Satan is released from the pit for a short while and will probably persuade a some people who were struggling with sin to rebel against Christ, Christ finishes everything off by throwing Satan and the rebellion into the Lake of Fire for eternity. All the dead are resurrected and brought to the Great White Throne (Rev 20:11-15) to be judged (everyone whose name is not in the Lamb's Book of Life will then be thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity as well).
- New Earth and New Heaven for Eternity
Other potential problems to address:
*Why is there a 2000+ year gap in Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy?
Daniel was unaware of the AGE OF GRACE, as were all OT believers. This time period is the 'mystery' referred to in Eph 3. Daniel's prophecy was only a prophecy of the CHURCH OF ISRAEL, not of all time. Of course, at the end of the 70 weeks is the rapture. Afterwards comes tribulation.
*What is the mystery?
The mystery was revealed through prophetic writing to the apostles and prophets (Rom 16:25, Eph 3:4-5) -- it was the fact that the Gentiles were included in available salvation. It was a HUGE deal because Israel was God's chosen people. Now, God's people extends beyond Israel to the 'Gentiles'/non-Jews.
*If Christ's second coming is at the end of the Tribulation, how can the rapture be before Tribulation?
During the rapture, we all meet Christ in the AIR - He never sets foot on the ground. He never 'came' again.
At the end of tribulation, Christ comes (Second Coming) to defeat the AntiChrist. The Tribulation period is described in Revelations cc. 6-18.
*Will the Spirit be around during the first 3.5 years of Tribulation to dwell in believers?
I'm not sure based on Scripture, but I could safely assume that the Spirit would NOT dwell in believers because the Church is under the AGE of the LAW/CHURCH OF ISRAEL again.
