What Happens When We Die?
Part II - Con’t.
When Believers die, where does their spirit go? To answer this question, we need to look at
several scriptures. When Jesus was still
alive on this earth, he told the story of a beggar who died and the angels took
him to ‘Abraham’s Bosom’; the rich man died and was in Hades (Hell) Luke
16:22-23
When Jesus died, he first went down into the lower parts of
the earth which is called “The Bosom of Abraham.” Prior to Jesus resurrection, when believers
died, their spirit went to that place.
He preached to them and then they were set free. Many came with him out of ‘Abrahams Bosom’ as
it tells us in Matthew 27:51-53 , “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was
torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,
and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep
were raised; and coming out of the
graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to
many.
How could that
be? There are two scriptures that
speak of a place deep in the earth. 1) Ephesians
4:9 Now that he
ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of
the earth? 2)
I Peter 3:19-20 “Through
whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago
when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” And also in chapter 4:6, “For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are
now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body,
but live according to God in regard to the spirit.” Both scriptures are in [NIV ].
While Jesus hung on
the Cross one of the criminals believed in Jesus and asked him to remember him.
And Jesus
said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise ."
After Jesus died and rose again he told Mary, “Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me,
for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to
them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” John 20:17
From this time of his death, Jesus held the keys of Death
and Hell in his hands and Paradise became the place for
the ‘dead in Christ’. Where is Paradise ? Paradise is
in the “Third Heaven.” 2
Cor. 12: 2-5 “I
know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago; whether in the body I do not know,
or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows; such a one was caught up
to the third heaven. And I know such a man; whether in the body or out of the
body I do not know, God knows; how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is
not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will
not boast, except in my infirmities.”
This is why we know Paradise is in
the third heaven. Most Bible scholars
believe Paul was speaking about himself in this scripture. Let’s look at the layers of heaven.
a. The sky above us is considered the
first heaven
b. The
second heaven is believed to be out in space where the stars are.
c. The third heaven is above that and
where Paradise is.
However
it is not where the Throne of God is or within
the pearly gates.
It is believed that Hell, Hades, Sheol; which ever you call
it, is in the lower parts of the world.
Even the Old Testament speaks of this place: Psalm 63:9
“But those that seek my soul, to destroy
it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.” It has long been considered there were two compartments under
the earth; a place for the unrighteous dead and a place for the righteous that
died before Jesus came to set them free.
After he did that they came into Paradise .
To further explain this place, turn to Rev.
9:1 “And the fifth
angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was
given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and
there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the
sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.”
Vs. 11: And they had a
king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the
Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. Sometimes the pit is called the ‘Abyss’
meaning a bottomless gulf.
Now Paul called this a mystery in I Cor. 15:51 “Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
We must remember one thing; our new body will not have any
blood in it. All the blood came out of
Jesus at his death, so when he was resurrected, his body was without
blood. We know we shall be like Jesus
when we return. Jesus had five senses
working and so will we.
1. Sight
2. Feeling
3. Taste
4. Ability to walk through solids
5. Move at the speed of thought.
There are some things that happen
before a person actually is dead. When a baby is born, the umbilical cord that
is attached to the stomach of the baby is also attached to the mother. Only when that cord is cut that separates the
baby from its mother, can the infant begin to breathe on its own. I’ve read many testimonies of people who
thought they died and how they are hovering over their body and looking down at
it. Then they feel themselves floating
upwards, but later on they come back into their body. This is a strange thing to take place, but I
believe there is an explanation. Let’s
go to Ecclesiastes 12:6 “Remember your Creator before the silver cord
is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the
fountain, or the wheel broken at the well.
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will
return to God who gave it.”
I believe that just like the
umbilical cord, until the silver cord is severed, there can be no life in the
spiritual world. This scripture gives
different explanation for the same thing, but there must be a severance from
this world to remain in another.
Eternity is without time and the
marvelous things God has planned for us have no explanation. "Eye
has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things
which God has prepared for those who love Him." I Corinthians 2:9
I know this: Either I will go up in the Rapture and be changed in the 'twinkling of an eye', or my heart will stop beating and two angels will lift me out of this body and carry me to Paradise. I will be given a new and glorious body and will be with Jesus forever.
"For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:53-55 (NLT)
No comments:
Post a Comment