I have read the
Bible front to back more times than I can remember and this is the one concept
that I am still unclear about.
Heaven, and more
specifically when do we go there?
The normal
perception is that when we die, boom, instantaneously we are with Jesus in
Heaven. Why do we think that? Well for one thing, many a preacher has said
so in funeral sermons. But is that
really the way it works?
The reason I ask is
Revelation 20.
Revelation 20:1-15(NKJV)
Then I saw an angel
coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain
in his hand.
He laid hold of the
dragon, that serpent of old, who is the
Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
and he cast him into
the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should
deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after
these things he must be released for a little while.
And I saw thrones, and they sat
on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been
beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not
worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on
their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand
years.
But the rest of the dead did not
live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and
holy is he who has part in the
first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
Now when the
thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
and will go out to
deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog,
to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
They went up on the
breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved
city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
The devil, who
deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and
the false prophet are. And they
will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne
and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And
there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and
great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was
opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the
things which were written in the books.
The sea gave up the dead who
were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And
they were judged, each one according to his works.
Then Death and Hades were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And anyone not found
written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
So do we go to
Heaven right away or do we lay there in the ground waiting until after the 1000
year reign of Christ on earth? Or do we
go to Heaven right away and then our dead bodies catch up to us after the 1000
year reign?
Seems confusing. I am wrapping up Revelation and then I will be starting the NT all over again. Two things I am going to focus on the next time through. What Jesus said was necessary to be saved vs. what Paul and the other apostles said. The other thing is all that the NT says about Heaven.
Seems confusing. I am wrapping up Revelation and then I will be starting the NT all over again. Two things I am going to focus on the next time through. What Jesus said was necessary to be saved vs. what Paul and the other apostles said. The other thing is all that the NT says about Heaven.
Can't wait!
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