For the purpose of this study, I will assume that the Holy Bible IS the innerrant word of God. I will use only the Holy Bible to reach my conclusion. There are many teachings from other religious sources. I am NOT discrediting them, however, for the purpose of this study, I am NOT consulting them.
1 Corinthians 15: 20-28
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he “has put everything under his feet.”[c] Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1corinthians%2015&version=NIV
I have done research and found many oppossing views on "heaven" and the order of operations...the nuts and bolts. Some say we go directly to heaven and some say we stay here until he returns. I have to say, I have read many beautiful interpretations, each one differant and each one coming directly from the Holy Bible scriptures. Each one thought out and evidently supported with scripture.
Picture a funeral gathering and the christian says " I know Gramma is in heaven", or "I wonder if mom is in heaven" This seems to be a popular christian question and motivator. But, where do we go when we die? The popular christian beleif is: When we die, if we have accepted Christ, then we go to heaven and if we have not accepted Christ, then we go to hell. That is the popular christian beleif is it not? As much as I hate to say it, I do not beleive this anymore.
I beleive the Bible teaches that when I die, I will remain until he returns. Dad is waiting, Gramma is waiting, my friend Dan is waiting and your loved ones are all waiting. All of creation waits.....
I welcome my readership to challenge my statement. Tell me how I am wrong. Is your belief supported by scripture? Show me.
I held a weeping mother in my arms as she struggled with what she had been taught. Her son died drunk and alone. He lived a life of constant sorrow. He did not go to church, though he constantly desired to. He saught help from his addictions but in the end died a tragic and lonely death.
ReplyDeleteShe wept for her son. She wept because her christian doctrine teaches that because her son did not accept Christ as his personal saviour, then he was in Hell. Her mothers heart and hope was broken by her understanding of her religious doctrine.
On her wall were plaques of appreciation. You see, during the war, her family risked death to take in Jews. They hid them and provided safe passage. Not only did they do this, but she herself continued to support works of hope and reconcilliation.
Imagine, a life devoted to the Lord, in simple obediance and love. Imagine the hope as she tried to raise her family to the best of her abilities. Imagine the sorrow as her second son fell into a deep pit after the sudden death of his big brother...her first son. Imagine a mother, praying to God for resolution as her own attempts failed.
Imagine a son, knowing he has a problem, yet being unable to conquer. Imagine the shame knowing his failure. Imagine the hope of some day meeting God, yet the horror of being unable to take that step. Imagine a final, lonely death and a mothers broken heart.
Now tell me. Is he in heaven?...NO...you wernt listening. He is still waiting on the Lord.
Now when he meets the Lord face to face, what do you suppose is going to happen? My bet is Henry is going to run to the Lord as fast as he can. Jesus, upon his return, will wipe every tear from Henrys eyes. The life of constant sorrow will be magnificently resolved to the ultimate glory of God.....because God is a God of restoration and resolution. It is his wish that none should perish, but have everlasting life.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8
ReplyDelete"Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:(For we walk by faith, not by sight): We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."
Note "and willing" This is about not desiring to be "unclothed" (to die) 2 Corinthians 5:4 but to be "clothed upon". When that happens we will be present with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those which are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ will rise first: Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and thus, we shall always be with the Lord."
Note "and thus" = (by the resurrection and changing of our bodies) and "shall"
2 Corinthians 4: 13-14
"We having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed, and therefore I spoke; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you."
Note: "shall present us with you" It's not about death but about resurrection Paul is talking about.
2 Corinthians 4:18-5:4
"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life."
1 Corinthians 15:44-54
"There is a natural [soul] body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual [body] is not first, but the natural [body], and afterward the spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy [the earthly, natural, body], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly [the heavenly, spiritual body]. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 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."
When will death be swallowed up in victory and mortality be swallowed up in life?? When "this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality". So yeah, sleeping is waiting, kind of, but you wanted bible so ;p
Brenda MWAH
wonderful!!!
ReplyDeleteI think Sleeping is a more appropriate biblical choice of words as you noted.
I personalized and stepped up the intesity by saying "waiting". I used this term because in my earthly costume,....I wait. I have knowledge of these things and it brings me a certain excitement and expectation. I do not fear, I am not indifferant.....I am excited for the return of the King....I wait...though I will sleep.
I also used the term wait, because its kinda like a drum roll. It better captured my vision of the process. My father was a beleiver, and though he now sleeps, he entered death with a spirit of waiting expectation. Conversely, my friend Dan entered death without this knowledge, yet died of a broken heart, yearning for reconcilliation.
blessings to you Brenda.....I am heading into town to go to church......
dw
I think everyone will spring up like toast pops from a toaster because it was said of Jesus, "death could not hold him". It had no hold over him and so could not hold on to him. I think that will happen to us also simply because it's not under our own righteousness that we are able to be resurrected, but HIS, and our faith in it.
ReplyDeleteI'll concede to you "waiting" when you're sleeping but i can't let you have "waiting" while you're not sleeping because you should be working!!! haha... Don't let him come back and find you dilly dallying >.< Brenda
Hey pop tarts would be a great way! There are probably no end to the magnificent ways in which God will be glorified through us.
ReplyDeleteDo a quick search on wait or waiting. Very interesting thoughts both pro and con, yet a very strong theme in our human experience with God and a concept which is like a thread through time.
This one brought me some peace today....
"Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains"
As I wait, I promise I wont dilly dally....you know my Spirit... Though the farmer waits patiently...he is far from idle!
Have an awesome day and thanks for the dialog.
Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover season when Nicodemus, a Pharisee, went to visit him one night. Jesus says the following…
ReplyDeleteJohn 3:13 – No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
And…
John 8:21 – Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”
John 6:39 – And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it (on) the last day.
40 – For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him (on) the last day.”
Jesus continued…
John 6: 43 – Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves.
44 – No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.
Mary understood the resurrection at the last day…
John 11:23 – Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 – Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
John writes, long after the death of Jesus, the following…
John 1:18 – no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father he has declared him.
John 6:46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.
1 John 4:12 – No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
Peter, speaking on the day of Pentecost, having received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, rose up and preached to those assembled…
Acts 2:34 – For David is not ascended into the heavens but he saith himself, the lord said unto my lord, sit on my right hand,
35 – Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’
Paul, Silvanus & Timotheus write to the church of the Thessalonians…
1 Thessalonians 1:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?
The analogy of sleep…
1 Corinthians 15:6 – After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
Even after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we still sleep at death.
Daniel, having received a vision of the end time, was told by the angel of God…
Daniel 12:13 “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.
King David writes…
Psalm 115: 17 The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor any who go down into silence.
So, heaven or resurrection, what does it really matter what we believe?
We will all be with God and that's what really matters. Right?
Paul in his letter to Timothy…
2 Timothy 2:16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.
17 - And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,
18 - who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.
And here’s a very, very interesting thing to consider…
Christ spoke to his disciples in Judea, beyond the Jordan, concerning the gift of eternal life…
Matthew 19:30 – but many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first.
And in a parable…
Matthew 20:8 - So when evening had come, the Owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’
What if we are resurrected in reverse order? Think through every possible passing of a loved one scenario and imagine this? The son who dies alone awakens to see his mother there to comfort him. My neighbour who died of cancer in the summer with his wife and son in the house closes his eyes in pain and opens them to the same loving faces free of pain and picks up his bed. Go ahead, imagine a few.
Alex