. What if Jesus taught you have to enter heaven before you die, or you won't enter heaven after ? Excepted from "Heaven: a Future Hope or a Present Reality?" by Richard Anthony ""This might go contrary to what you have been taught, but scripture says nobody ascended to heaven. David was dead and buried (1 Kings 2:10), and he did not go to heaven. Some might claim that David did not go to Heaven during Old Testament times because he had to remain in the grave until the New Testament age came, until Christ died. And then after Christ died is when all the Old Testament saints went to heaven. However, this claim is proven false by the fact that after Christ died and the New Testament was ratified, even after the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, the apostles taught that David had not ascended into Heaven! Acts 2:34, "For David is not ascended into the heavens..."
Since the apostles taught this truth after Christ died, this means that David did not go to Heaven even after the current New Testament age came into being. But does this mean that nobody has ascended to Heaven? Well, even Christ himself taught about heavenly things (John 3:12), and He said that nobody ascends up to heaven:
John 3:13, "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven."
In other words, you don't go up to heaven, heaven comes to you! Read the above verse again, and notice what Jesus said about heaven. While he was alive in the flesh, he stated that he "isin heaven!" (Not "was" in heaven, but "is" in heaven). He spoke of heaven as something that he was experiencing in the present while in his physical body; he did not say heaven was something that was yet future. Even when the writers of the New Testament wrote about "heaven" it was something they were experiencing at the moment, while in their physical bodies, and not something that was yet future to them. Before we go into these verses, let us learn more about what Christ taught about Heaven.
Before he died, Jesus told Jews that they could not follow him to heaven:
John 7:33-34, "Then said Jesus unto them [Jews, Pharisees, Chief Priests, Officers], Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him [God] that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am [Heaven], thither ye cannot come."
He even told the religious leaders (Pharisees) directly that even they could not go to heaven:
John 8:21, "Then said Jesus again unto them [the Pharisees], I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go [Heaven], ye cannot come."
Now, some may claim that the Jews could not ascend to Heaven because they did not accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour, but Christ taught the apostles the same thing as well!
John 13:33, "Little children [eleven apostles], yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go [Heaven], ye cannot come; so now I say to you [the apostles]."
As you can see, Christ taught his apostles that they cannot come to heaven. In other words, heaven is not something that we come to, heaven is something that comes to us! But what about verses that seem to teach we will go to Heaven?
John 13:36, "Simon Peter [an apostle] said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go [Heaven], thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards."
As you will see in this article, after they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the apostles spoke of Heaven as something they were experiencing while in their bodies. So, the apostles did follow Jesus afterwards, because Heaven came to them! Once they received the spirit, they did "...follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21).
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."
Compare John 14:2-3 with John 14:22-23. The word "mansions" in verse 2 is translated from the same Greek word as "abode" in verse 23! As a matter of fact, these are the only two places in scripture where this Greek word #3438, mone, appears!
John 14:22-23, "Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
Jesus was saying that those in whom He would come to dwell in were the mansions in his Father's house. Believers are "God's building" (1 Corinthians 3:9), and "as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5). This "spiritual house" is the "mansion, " it is the "place," that Jesus prepared for us in John 14:2-3. (See also Ephesians 2:19-22).
And how will Jesus and the Father come unto us and make their abode with us?
John 14:16, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;"
And who is the Comforter? Jesus tells us:
John 14:26, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,"
The Comforter is the Holy Spirit! It is the Holy Spirit dwelling within us!
You will also see in this article how the apostles wrote that they were "together with Christ in the heavenlies" while in their physical bodies, thus fulfilling this verse as well. Christ did come again, and received them, and Christ was in them, and by Christ being in them, heaven was in them, because that is where Christ is!
2 Corinthians 5:1-2, "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:"
In verse 1, the "earthly house of this tabernacle" refers to the physical body, in which the spirit is represented as dwelling or sojourning for a time, and from which it is to be liberated at death. When our bodies are dissolved, our spirit will return to "a house not made with hands." This house is not a literal house, but spiritual. In other words, we have a "spirit," and it will be housed with God, who is "eternal in the heavens." This coincides with Ecclesiastes 12:7, "the spirit shall return unto God."
In verse 2, it says we desire to be clothed with this house "which is from heaven." Notice this verse does not says this house is in heaven, but from heaven. God's throne is in heaven. Our "spiritual body" will be clothed by God from heaven, not in Heaven. ""
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Peace
Acadian
