Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Where Do The Soul Or Spirit Go At Death

Past (Old Testament Saints before the Resurrection of Christ)
The soul goes to Sheol (Hebrew, Old Testament) or Hades (Greek, New Testament).

Before Christ’s resurrection, Sheol or Hades was divided into two parts, a place of comfort where Lazarus was and a place of torment where the rich man was (Luke 16:19-31).

Jesus went to Sheol or Hades after His death.
Acts 2:27 ESV
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
Acts 2:31 ESV
he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
Ephesians 4:9 ESV
In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?

He was with the thief.
Luke 23:43 KJV
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Old Testament Saints who died were captives of death. Upon His death and resurrection, Jesus set them free and took paradise up to heaven with him.
Ephesians 4:7-8 NIV
When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.
2 Corinthians 12:4 KJV
How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

Present
At death, a believer "present with the Lord".
Luke 23:43 ESV
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
2 Corinthians 5:8 KJV
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Philippians 1:23 ESV
I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Future - The Rapture
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Future - Millennial kingdom
The believers will come to life and reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Revelations 20:4
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Future - Destruction of the old heavens and earth
2 Peter 3:10 NASB
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
Revelations 20:11 NASB
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

Future - New Heaven, New Earth and New Jerusalem (Revelations 21:1-22:5)
The believers shall stay in the new earth with our glorified bodies (1 Corinthians 15:35-58).
2 Peter 3:13 ESV
But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Revelations 21:1 ESV
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

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