No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man
And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing.
So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David
For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and
the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord
These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and
they lived and reigned
with Christ a thousand years. 5But
the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and hall reign with him a thousand years.
Understanding that we are as asleep when dead -knowing not the passage of time similar to when sleeping -helps in understanding many other things.
Christ told the thief on the cross the thief would be with him in paradise that day. However, Christ did not ascend to heaven or leave the Earth that day -and did not ascend to heaven when he died (except that his spirit returned to God -though not in an aware state).
The thief on the cross IS STILL DEAD/ASLEEP. However, when he awakes "in paradise" (not heaven) and inherits the Earth as it says, the great amount of time which has passed since his death will not have been experienced by him. Though long dead, to him it will seem as though he shut his eyes and immediately was awake again -and he will be with Christ -in the paradise the Earth will become -THAT DAY.
Edited by
Unknow
on Wed 12/16/20 09:34 AM