Heaven when?

I like to think that there can be a heaven right after our passing over. But there are also Bible quotes saying that heaven comes only at the end of times. It confuses me. Is it easy to end this confusion?

All are resurrected at the end of this age. Being resurrected inescapably implies a resurrection from death, as opposed to any other state, though many will contradict this Scriptural truth and even say that dead means alive. It is no wonder people are confused in the face of such twisting of definitions. Keep in mind that there is to be a new heaven and a new earth; the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven, heaven being God's abode. See Revelation 21:3

"But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest
and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age." Daniel 12:13

"And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those
he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is
that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal
life, and I will raise them up at the last day." John 6:39-40 See also John 6:34 and 6:54.

Brothers 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. And so we will be with the LORD forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thesalonians 4:13-18

I cannot speak for all others but I think the resurrection is much like awaking from a good night's sleep. I go to sleep at night, and an instant later I am awakE TO ANOTHER GLORIOUS MORNING, ONLY it is the Morning of the Eternal Day of our Maker.

So the first 'heaven' is only sleeping until that resurrection?

No, I must have read it wrong, my reference is to when we go to sleep with our fathers we awake what seems like immediately to God's Glorious and Eternal kDay………..forgive the slip.

============================================================
our Holy Life begins when we are judged according to our works that we have done while living the life
that we have been blessed with while living on this earth - this is when we will know our place on the
streets of Gold...

Thank You Brother,
for your precious discernment!!!

But I must think of our Christ, who promised the crucified criminal that he would be in Heaven that very day...

=============================================
you might want to 're-read what you have read, - there were no 'commas-periods- etc.- in the writing of this day and age...
was He actually saying, ??? (today)??? or???

The dead go to the grave to await the resurrection. Every single one. Perhaps a word study on Sheol would be helpful to you
Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” John 20:17 Paradise, where Jesus went immediately after death, was a different place than the presence of the Father God in heaven. It is also known as the "bosom of Abraham." Luke 16:22 Many refuse to accept that teaching in Luke as a parable.

Hi HappyFelix, certain cults, like the Jehovah's Witnesses believe in the sleep of the soul during the intermediate state between death and our bodily resurrection. There is also now one Christian denomination that holds to soul sleep, the 7th Day Adventists. But every other church, Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc., has always held that the doctrine of the sleep of the soul is heresy.

Here are some of the verses and passages that convinced all of our churches and denominations to believe and teach what they do.


If our souls are not awake during the intermediate state, how can we die and be immediately "at home with the Lord"? Likewise, how could Paul possibly believe that, "to die is gain", or that we can make anything our, "ambition", after we die, if our souls are asleep until the time of our bodily resurrection?

For that matter, what possible reason could Paul have had for being "hard-pressed" about the choice between living and dying, if dying amounted to nothing more than an unconscious existence? (and why would he consider dying, "very much better", than continuing on in his "fruitful labor" here among us?)

Finally, how could the souls of the martyrs under the altar in Heaven, "cry out with a loud voice", if they were all asleep?

~Deut

The Lord said paradise not heaven. And besides, the Lord did not ascend to heaven until the third day.

A lot of traditions have dominated the theology of many churches over the centuries so the belief that our eternal destination is Heaven has almost 100% acceptance amongst Christians.. But if people pick up the Bible and actually read it then they will see that our eternal home with God is in the great City the New Jerusalem which is revealed in the Book of Revelation..

This Great City shall come out of heaven and down to us at time of the final judgement and the people of God will live there with God..

Revelation 21: KJV
1 "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. {2} And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. {3} And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. {4} And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Now will there be and Are there Saints in Heaven before the New Jerusalem comes out and down to us? Yes..

Revelation 6: KJV
9 "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: {10} And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? {11} And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."

Revelation 7: KJV
9 "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; {10} And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. {11} And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, {12} Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. {13} And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? {14} And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. {15} Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them."

So will Saints be going to Heaven? Yes
Will Heaven be their eternal home? No

The Bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

So the Old Testament saints, and the New Testament saints that died in the Lord, are with Jesus in heaven, which is a temporary heaven, and not the final destination of the saints.

Which the Bible says there are souls under the altar in heaven asking Jesus when He will avenge them, and He said when His saints go through the great tribulation, which then those that remain on earth will be resurrected, and then Jesus will avenge them.

So the saints that have died are with Jesus.

And then when Jesus puts down the world then He will reign for 1000 years fulfilling the role of King on earth, and the law is fulfilled, which then heaven and earth shall pass away, and shall not be remembered, nor come to mind.

Then the saints will be at their final destination place, the New Jerusalem, where sin has never been, and sin will never be, and sin, and rebellion, will never come up again, and the saints, and the angels, will feel as if they have always been there, and no where else.

Which the saints will have a higher position in heaven than that of the angels, for creation was made for people, the man Christ Jesus, and His followers, and women should have power on their head because of the angels to show their authority above them, and angels are ministering spirits, and the angels desire to look in to the salvation of the saints, and saints will have a glorified body like Jesus, and reign in the millennial reign with Jesus, which the angels will never have that privilege.

Angels are mightier than people in the flesh, but they would not to mess with a saint in a glorified body, but of course they would be in harmony.

All sin must be purged with fire, and the earth has been tainted with sin by people, so it shall be burned up, and the works therein, and the heaven has been tainted with sin by the fallen angels, so it will melt with fervent heat.

Jesus said that the kingdom of God comes without observation, for they will not say here it is or there it is, for the kingdom of God is within you.

When you receive the Spirit then the kingdom of God is within you, and on earth through the saints, for they show the ways of God upon earth.

So the kingdom of God is on earth through the saints.

Then Jesus will reign on earth for a 1000 years, and the kingdom of God is on earth, as Jesus and the saints rule over one sixth of the world that God fought, and put down, and the heathen only acknowledge Jesus, and no one else as their higher power.

Then the kingdom of God will be the New Jerusalem for all eternity.

Also the sky above us is considered heaven, so if you have been on a commercial flight you were in heaven, lol.

I would like someone to explain the difference between heaven and paradise. Are they interchageable or is one separate from the other?

I just Binged the following:


Is paradise the same thing as heaven? What is paradise?
The word "paradise" is used three times in the New Testament (ESV). Each time it refers to heaven or being in the presence of the Lord.

First, Jesus told the thief on the cross, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Where was Jesus going that day? To heaven. The reference to Paradise indicated that Jesus accepted the faith of the man on the cross and provided salvation to him that began that day in heaven with the Lord.

Second, Paul referred to paradise when speaking of a heavenly vision. He wrote, "And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows" (2 Corinthians 12:3). Even Paul was not sure whether he was really in heaven or not. In either case, he described heaven as "paradise."

Third, Revelation 2:7 used the "paradise of God" as a reference to the place where believers would dwell: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

It appears paradise and heaven are the same place according to the Bible. It is also clear from Scripture that every believer who dies today is immediately in this paradise or heaven. Jesus promised the thief on the cross "today" he would be with Him in paradise. In Philippians 1:21 Paul notes that to live is Christ and to die is gain. Why would it be gain? Because Paul would be with the Lord in heaven.

The apostle Paul also taught believers as "at home with the Lord" after death (2 Corinthians 5:6-9). There was no waiting period, but rather an immediate transition from final breath to eternal life.

This is also clear by references in Scripture to where previous saints now live. Abraham is already in God's presence (Luke 16:22). The "hall of saints" listed in Hebrews 11 are all said to already be in God's presence in heaven as well. Jesus refuted the Sadducees by teaching Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are already alive in God's presence (Matthew 22:23-32).

Paradise and heaven refer to the same location in Scripture. All believers who die today immediately enter into this paradise and dwell in the presence of the Lord forever. As Paul wrote, to die is gain (Philippians 1:21

I disagree with this explanation. It is clear that the Lord did not ascend to heaven until the third day. Paradise was located at the heart of the earth, aka Abraham's bosom, and the Lord translated it to heaven on the third day. The current location of paradise is the third heaven, the dwelling place of God, as Paul confirmed.

Ephesians 4
8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended FIRST into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

Acts 2
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

John 20
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

After Jesus resurrected the third, He appeared unto Mary and told her that He had yet to ascend.

There is an INTERMEDIATE STATE. Dont let the christadelphian annihilationists fool ya!

When we pass to the other side, our souls go to heaven to be with the Lord. Our BODY sleeps in the dust. UNTIL the resurrection occurs, at which point BODY and SOUL are re-united again.

Quite an amazing weave. Mine is the product of Binging and the Word. My understanding may be lacking so, I will not argue the point with anyone, but you continue, all, in your endeavor.

The saying here is Spain is, "When the devil has nothing to do, he kills files with his tail."

Are there different levels of heaven, wasn't Paul caught up to the third heaven?