Do
You Go Directly to Heaven When You Die?
“So
it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's Bosom. The
rich man also died and was buried.” Luke 16:22
I have asked this question
in the past at some of my classes and usually the response is “Yes, I do” or
“To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” I definitely believe that when I die I will
be in the presence of Jesus, but in heaven I don’t think so. Now don’t get upset about this, but let me go
on to share what the Bible says.
Let me begin by saying that
all who think they are Christians because they said a few words and go to
church Sundays does not constitute a Christian.
Let’s go to Matthew 25:6-13 “And
at midnight a cry was heard:
'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are
going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough
for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.'
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went
in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord,
open to us!' But he answered and said,
'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch
therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is
coming.”
Why did Jesus say such a thing; they were
Believers and they had purity (a virgin is symbolic of purity)? So what was the
problem? They weren’t ready and they
weren’t watching because they didn’t have enough oil in their lamps. We aren’t always ready because our hearts and
minds are on other things. The light
within us can grow dim when we are overcome by so many other things in our
lives. We have been warned by the Word
of God to keep our eyes on him; trust him to take care of your burdens; have
faith that He will find you waiting and watching on that day when he comes.
Now about heaven. Jesus spoke to Peter in Matthew 16:18 and
said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
church; and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it.”
What did he mean by [the gates of
hell]? This may sound really off the wall to you, the Bible clearly tells us
that down deep in the earth were two places;
one is hell and the other was a holding place for those who lived before
Jesus came. The latter was called,
“Abrahams Bosom” and the other place was Hell.
In Matthew 12:40
Jesus prophesied about himself. “For as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth.”
He used the scripture of Jonah to show that when he died, he
would spend three days and nights in the heart of the earth where Hell is.
The in Ephesians
4:8-9, Paul writes what took place after Jesus died and before he was taken up
into heaven. “Therefore He says: "When
He ascended on high, He led
captivity captive, and gave
gifts to men." (Now this, "He
ascended"--what does it mean but that He also first descended into
the lower parts of the earth?” This scripture also says that he led those spirits from their
captivity and took them as his own. The gifts he then gave men were freedom
from death and the grave.
Then
in I Peter 3:19-20, Peter confirms it all by saying, “So he went and
preached to the spirits in prison— those who disobeyed God long ago when God
waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved
from drowning in that terrible flood.” So we know that
Jesus did indeed go down to preach to those who were in this waiting place.
Jesus proclaimed the victory himself in Revelation
1:18, “I am
he that lives and was dead; and, now, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have
the keys of hell and of
death.” What were these
keys for – they were the keys for the gates of Hell and the Gate of Abraham’s
Bosom. You may wonder what that has to
do with going directly to heaven or not.
Let’s read further.
Luke 16:19-31 is the parable of the rich
man and the beggar. Read it all to help understand the whole thing. But the beggar died and was carried by angels
to ‘Abraham’s Bosom. The rich man died
and was in Hell and wanted some water and called out to Father Abraham, but
Abraham replied that there was a great gulf between them and neither could
reach each other. That gulf was between
Hell and Abrahams Bosom which was deep in the earth.
When Jesus was crucified and hanging on the cross, a
thief hanging next to him said to him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And
Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” [Luke
23:42-43] From that time on, we hear nothing about Abraham’s Bosom, but only
Paradise. In 2 Corinthians 12:4, Paul
spoke of being caught up into Paradise.
Where we are, Jesus will also be there to greet us. This study also ties in with the Marriage
Supper of the Lamb and when that will take place.
I only know that when I take my last breath angels will carry me to
Paradise and I will be with Jesus forever and ever.
I will continue next week with “Is Hell Real?”
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