I believe the dead are at rest, unconscious, unaware of the passage of time.
I believe that after death the next thing a Christian will be aware of will be the return of Christ when he will awake, be made alive, be resurrected in a new spiritual body.
Between death and this "awaking" it will seem to be instantaneous. It will happen quickly, in the blink of an eye.I believe this because that is what the Scriptures plainly say!
The Bible says over 80 times that the dead are asleep, that when God calls they will awake. It never says anyone who died went to heaven except for Christ after His resurrection. It says Enoch and Elijah were taken into heaven while they were alive.
If we believe the Bible is God's inspired words then there should be no contradictions. Perhaps there will be minor translation or copying errors but, if in one place Paul says he desires to depart and be with Christ and in another Paul says he expects to be introduced to Christ when He returns and in another he expects to meet Christ in the air when He returns then those scriptures must mean the same thing.
The 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians could not make my position any clearer.
Notice verses 22 and 23.For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
We shall be made alive - when - at the resurrection, at Christ’s coming! Are the dead saints, that are supposed to be in heaven, alive? The usual response is, “Yes, Paul is speaking of the body, not the soul or spirit.” But that is not in Scripture nor is it found anywhere in Scripture. It must be added to make “going to heaven” fit. That expression does more than just distort the Bible. It forces on Scripture a meaning that it does not imply and a doctrine that it does not teach. If that reply is forced upon the verses of 1 Corinthians 15 then Tyndale’s remarks are proven to be prophetic. It destroys Paul’s argument.
Verses 42- 44 again make my point abundantly clear:
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.Two kinds of bodies, a natural body and a spiritual body. We receive the spiritual body at the resurrection. If the departed saints are alive and conscious in heaven then, from this passage in 1 Corinthians, I would ask what kind of a body do the dead have? I would assume that it is still a weak body. I would assume it is still a corrupt body, a dishonorable body. We become alive, powerful, strong, honorable, with a spiritual body AT THE RESURRECTION!
In chapter 15 Paul goes on to explain that THEN death will be swallowed up in victory. THEN this mortal will have immortality. What? We don’t have immortality when we die? Not according to Paul. Not according to 1 Corinthians 15. Death is not finished when we die. Death is defeated when Christ returns and God raises the dead.
Did Paul and the apostles go about preaching of going to heaven? If so I can not find a verse that says they did. What I do find is that they went about preaching the resurrection of the dead. Acts 4:2, 17:32, 23:6, 24:15, Rom. 6:5, 1 Cor. 15:21, Heb. 6:2. As I ask on my Question page, “Where does it say that Paul or anyone preached or taught about going to heaven?” Yet this is what it preached and taught from the pulpits of today’s Christendom while the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead are largely ignored.
And why are they ignored? History tells us that when Constantine accepted Christianity then Christianity came to Rome. I think it would be better explained that it was then that Rome came to Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church has all but forgotten the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. Tyndale’s criticism of the Roman Catholic Moore again applies. Worship of Mary, now in heaven, pray to the saints, now in heaven, apparitions of Mary coming from heaven, indulgences to sweep one from purgatory into heaven. Their profane list is a long one. But worse, because Protestant Christianity has partially bought into this heavenly hogwash their blasphemous doctrines become difficult to refute. All because Christianity learned about the immortal soul going to heaven and mingling with the gods from the pagan teachers of Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome. Judaism and Christianity are unique in that they will have none of this. They alone, of all the religions that are and have been, speak ONLY of a coming Messiah and the resurrection of the dead. But from today’s pulpits we hear the echo of Babylon, Greece and Rome.
When Martha met Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus she did not say she knew Lazarus was in heaven. What she did proclaim was the Jewish hope (Job 3:13-19, 19:28, Psa. 71:20, Isa. 26:19, Dan. 12:2, Heb. 11:18-19), that Lazarus would rise again at the resurrection on the last day. THE Hope! The Blessed Hope of Titus 2:13. Is this the blessed hope of most Christians? Is this the blessed hope preached today in Christian churches?
Judgment takes place after the resurrections, both of the wicked and the saved. How can Christ, the Righteous Judge, send someone to heaven or (especially) hell before He judges them? Psa. 75:2, Mic. 4:3, John 12:48, Acts 17:31, Rom. 14:10, 1 Cor. 4:5, 2 Tim. 4:1, Rev. 19:11.
Rewards are given after the resurrection, no mention of rewards in heaven. Yes, rewards FROM heaven but not in heaven. Isa. 40:10, 62:11, Mat. 16:27, Luke 14:14, Phi. 3:20-21, Phi. 4:1, I Thes. 2:19, 2 Tim. 4:8.
Many of Christ’s parables speak to His second coming and the damnation or reward that will follow it. I will mention just one, the sheep and goats of Matthew 25.
I will quote just part of it:
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory…. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:“WHEN the Son of man shall come…THEN shall he sit upon the throne…”
“THEN shall the King say…inherit the kingdom PREPARED for you from the foundation of the world.”
And what of those mansions that Christ went to prepare for us in John 14:2-3?
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
To me these verses are perfectly clear. Jesus says He is going to heaven. He says he will prepare a place for us. He says He will come again. AND when He comes again He will receive us so that where He is there we will also be.
When He comes again where will He be? For Christians I think it is what Paul speaks to in 1 Thes. 4. We will meet Him in the air WHEN He comes again for His Church. This concurs with all prophesy in both Testaments that deal with Christ’s or the Messiah’s coming.
But why do I hear verse 2 quoted from the pulpit and not verse 3? When one omits verse 3 but emphasizes the “mansions in heaven” the listener can easily assume that he will dwell in those mansions, not when Christ returns, but IN heaven. By omitting verse 3 the passage is not only incomplete it is given a meaning that is not there.
Worse, it is given a meaning that is exactly opposite to what it says.When Christ returns, reconstitutes Eden-like conditions on this earth, and establishes His Kingdom on this earth, we will not be sitting on clouds, strumming on harps and singing hymns through all eternity. There will be a universe to explore, an eternity of work, play and projects to accomplish. It will be a busy, joyful, exciting and useful existence.
Consider the 10 virgins of Matthew 25, all pure, all waiting, but only 5 were ready.
Ready to go to heaven? Absolutely not! They were ready for the bridegroom to appear.
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.Jesus told us to pray for God’s kingdom to come, “…on earth…”
Paul told us to partake of the bread and wine, “…till He come.”
Luke wrote that Jesus, taken up into heaven , “…would come in like manner…”
Peter wrote that our inheritance is, “…reserved in heaven for (us)… ready to be revealed in the last time…”
James told us to be patient, “…unto the coming of the Lord.”Jude told me to “...earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints.”
John, in Revelation, wrote, “…Behold, I (Jesus) come quickly and my reward is with me…”
And finally there is the hope and warning of Titus 2:13 and Hebrews 9:28,
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Now you know what I believe. Now you know my hope.
What is your hope? Are you looking for Him?