![]() Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.įor to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Consider these verses:Ħ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. What the Bible does tell us is that being away from the body is to be present with the Lord. ![]() So, John 3:13 does not really say that no one has gone to heaven, but rather that no one has gone to and returned from heaven except for Jesus.Ĭ. What Jesus is saying to Nicodemus is that if he doesn’t believe what Jesus says about earthly things, which other people who live on earth can verify, how can Nicodemus believe what Jesus says about heavenly things, since only Jesus has gone into heaven and come to earth to testify about it. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man. Take a closer look:ġ0 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. But in the broader context of this passage, Jesus is actually explaining to Nicodemus that no one except Jesus has actually come back from heaven to testify about heavenly things. Some people believe that this verse is proof that nobody has gone to heaven yet. No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man. One argument made for “soul sleep” is John 3:13, which reads: And, while there is some Biblical evidence to support this idea, I don’t hold this opinion, which I will explain a bit later. This concept is called “Soul Sleep,” because it suggests that our souls “sleep” while our bodies lie dead in the grave, waiting for Jesus to raise us back to life. Some people argue that we do not immediately go to heaven, but that we remain dead, or “asleep” until Jesus returns and we are raised to life. But, what about believers who are currently dead? Do they go immediately to heaven, or do they stay dead until Jesus returns? 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.Ĭlearly, all believers in Christ, whether they are currently living or dead, will all be alive and with the Lord forever in heaven after He returns to earth. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. ![]() 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. This is made clear in the passage below, particularly in verses 16-17:īrothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. We know that when Christ returns, all believers in Christ, living and dead, will be given resurrected, perfected bodies and will be with the Lord forever in heaven. This question has been debated for a very long time by many people.
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