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It’s Not About Going to Heaven

By Brian Hennessy

In Sunday School we are taught that a good way to share the gospel is to ask someone, “Do you know where you are going when you die?” The understood choices being – heaven, hell or oblivion. If the person confesses he has no clue, then you can tell him that belief in Jesus will assure him a ticket to heaven.

For most of my life I saw nothing wrong with that message. I just took it for granted that heaven was the ultimate reward for believing in Jesus. But one day I decided to look up all the Bible verses that promised us an everlasting life in heaven – and, lo and behold, I could not find a single one! I found lots of verses that mentioned heaven. I saw that our inheritance is “reserved for us in heaven” (1 Pet. 1:4). That we have “every blessing in heavenly places” (Eph 1:3). That our names “are enrolled in heaven” (Heb. 12:23). That we are presently “seated with Christ Jesus in heavenly places” (Eph. 2:16). That our “citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). And that one day we will receive “a heavenly country” (Heb. 11:16). But nowhere did I see we are promised an eternal life in heaven – or even a temporary one.

When I finally took off my heaven-tinted glasses I saw the only afterlife promised to us in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a resurrected life here on earth. And by resurrection is meant that believers will receive a new physical body designed for life in the visible created universe, and only when Jesus returns. Nor should resurrection be confused with ascension. Jesus was resurrected before he ascended to heaven. Why would we assume we will ascend before we are resurrected?

Like most Christians, I suspect, I had never given resurrection much thought. I’d just assumed it was what occurred immediately after death when my soul or spirit “ascended” to heaven. And that my resurrected body was the spiritual body I put on when I arrived there. But as I discovered that is not what the Bible means by resurrection at all.

Think about it. If going to heaven is counted as our resurrection, what’s the point of Jesus coming back to earth to raise the living and the dead? The dead in Christ would already be resurrected, and the living believers could just join the rest in heaven when they died. And once in heaven, who would want to come back to earth – ever? But since the Bible says we will, that means our stay in heaven, at best, will be a temporary one. So don’t get too comfortable.

Let’s think further. When Jesus comes back to earth, we are told that those who are alive will be instantly changed into their new bodies. And unless you subscribe to the Rapture teaching that has Jesus doing a U-turn and going back to heaven, it means that living generation will never see heaven. That means the ones who died earlier will have experienced something wonderful the living never will. That doesn’t seem right.

To me the whole heaven thing makes no sense whatsoever in light of our physical resurrection. And since I don’t find life in heaven taught in the Bible, I have to assume it is a man-made teaching.

Resurrection is salvation

What I do find clearly taught in the Bible is that without a physical resurrection on earth our salvation is incomplete. For Scripture tells us, “He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Heb. 9:28). And when it says “to those who are waiting for him,” it doesn’t just mean those who are alive when he comes. But also those who died in faith believing in the promise they would one day be physically resurrected. And that includes all the faithful Old Testament saints who had died in faith believing in Jesus through the types and shadows.

The physical resurrection of our body is such a critical component of our salvation that without it our faith in Jesus atonement actually becomes “worthless.” That’s what Paul told the Corinthian Christians when some of them said they didn’t believe their bodies would be raised physically.

“How do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised....And if Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ Jesus have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this [present] life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” (1 Cor. 15:12-19)

Paul was inextricably linking Christ’s physical resurrection to our own, showing you can’t have one without the other. Paul didn’t want us to treat Christ’s dramatic exit from the tomb as an isolated, singular event (which is sort of what we’ve done with it by our annual Easter celebration). Instead, we are to see that Jesus was just “the first fruits” (1 Cor. 15:23) of what is to come. That “He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with him, and will present us with you” (2 Cor. 4:14) – alive on planet earth!

But why is physical resurrection so important? Why couldn’t Jesus, or we, just be taken directly to heaven after death – as I thought – without having to be resurrected on earth? Because without a physical resurrection on earth it would mean death still reigned in this life, and therefore our sin is not forgiven! Death has always been the direct result of sin. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom 5:12). Resurrection signifies that our sin has truly been atoned for and its penalty of death abolished. If death remained the final and eternal arbiter of human life, a necessary portal through which we must all pass to come into our reward, the gospel is a fraud.

The bottom line is, if believers are not raised alive and incorruptible in the physical world at some point in time – it means we are still dead! That we are still in our sins. That we have perished! And the joke is on us. As Paul said, “If the dead are not raised [made alive on earth], let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32).

Please understand, I’m not saying there isn’t a heaven (or hell). Clearly there is – but the Bible does not hold it out as our reward. As Psalm 115:16 declares, “The Heavens are the Heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.”

Thy kingdom come

The reason I looked up those Scriptures on heaven initially was because I had been told (mostly by Jewish believers), that as a non-Jewish Christian, i.e. a “gentile,” I was excluded from the promises made to Israel. That unless I was born Jewish I couldn’t participate in the inheritance promised to physical Israel, including the land. I was told I should consider myself “spiritual Israel,” and that my inheritance would be a wonderful life in heaven. And if I should return to earth later with Messiah I would reside somewhere else on the planet besides Israel. Only physical Jews who’d been saved could inherit the earthly kingdom on that piece of real estate specifically promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Yet I knew in my heart that I had been grafted into the olive tree of Israel through faith in Jesus, and assured by God’s Word that, “If you belong to Messiah, you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29). And also that every promise God ever made to His people, whether Jew or gentile, was mine as well. “For as many as are the promises of God, in him (Jesus) they are YES?” (2 Cor. 1:20). So how could I, or any other true born-again non-Jewish Christian, not be considered mishpochah (family), and entitled to share in the promised inheritance to Abraham?

That’s when I sensed that something about my understanding of heaven was amiss and decided to check out what the Bible taught concerning the reward of the Christian. For I had always assumed that when Jesus spoke of entering the “kingdom of heaven” – or “the kingdom of God” – he meant heaven itself.

But that’s not what he meant at all. I discovered this promised kingdom of righteousness was a kingdom coming to earth. And that this kingdom was not just a New Testament concept either, but had begun with the promise to King David that one of his descendants would assume his throne to bring lasting peace and security to Israel. Which Peter referred to on the day of Pentecost.

“Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked forward and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah.” (Acts 2:29, 31)

Later prophets revealed that this descendant would indeed be an extraordinary man. Besides a miraculous birth and an atoning death, his earthly kingdom would become an everlasting righteous kingdom of God (see Isa. 9:7; Dan. 7:13, 14). And that through it God would subdue all the physical and spiritual enemies of mankind. The prophet Daniel was the first to refer to this future king as “the Messiah,” which means the “anointed one” (Dan.9:26),

That promise took a major leap towards fulfillment the day John the Baptist stepped forth from the wilderness, crying, “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:1), preparing Israel to receive her unique righteous son of David – namely, Jesus.

During his earthly ministry Jesus continued to preach about the kingdom of God – and even after his resurrection (Acts 1:3). That certainly puzzled his disciples, prompting them to ask, “Is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1: 3, 6). They understood perfectly well that by “the kingdom of heaven” Jesus meant the restored kingdom of Israel. They were just expecting it to come then – but it was not to be. There was much work still to be done. Generations of gentiles needed to be found and included and the Jews eventually saved.

So there it was. The only kingdom promised to us by God was the one promised to Israel. It would be a heavenly kingdom on earth for all who believed - Jew and gentile alike. Even though it was still invisible, it had established a beachhead on earth to the degree God’s spirit was allowed to rule in our hearts and manifest the holiness and power of Jesus in our lives. But its full manifestation would not come until the future - “when the earth would be full of the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9).

It all made sense when you recall Jesus had instructed us to pray to our Father in heaven that “Thy kingdom come.” (Matt. 6:10) And prophesied that “blessed are the meek [humble, gentle], for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5) And that in John’s book of Revelation we will become priests to our God and “reign upon the earth?” (Rev. 5:10). And that the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven...”to dwell among men?” (Rev. 21:2, 3) And wasn’t Abraham and his chosen descendants promised that we/they “would be heir of the world? (Rom. 4:13)

Although I saw earlier that heaven was not our promised reward, it wasn’t until recently that I realized the havoc this hope of heaven has had upon the gospel itself. It has not only distorted the whole promise of the Bible to redeem mankind through a future restored nation of Israel, of which we were included, but it also obscured our understanding of a bodily resurrection. And the vital role it plays in our salvation.

How in heaven’s name did this happen?

In retrospect, it’s easy to see how over the centuries the message of resurrection got buried, and heaven substituted as our great reward. We saw generations of loved ones lowered into the grave and never come back. It was only natural therefore to comfort those who remained behind that they were now rejoicing with Jesus in heaven, and that one day we too will join them there. I have spoken those very words myself at funerals. But I now see that this is a false assurance. Although temporarily comforting perhaps, it is not the gospel truth. And therefore it will never comfort as much as the truth itself, which is that we have God’s promise that one day we will be raised physically incorruptible and immortal. Just as He raised Jesus. That is the one and only hope given to the Church.

“Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and [then] we [who are still alive] will be changed. And when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Cor. 15:51, 52, 54)

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive will be caught up together with them in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:16, 17)

But there’s another big reason why heaven gained such widespread acceptance as the Christian’s ultimate reward.

It began centuries before when the early gentile Church leadership decided to separate the Church from its Jewish origins and Jewish promises by creating a “Christian” identity - one not found in Scripture. These men, called the Church Fathers, thought God had rejected the Jews for having rejected Christ (He didn’t according to Romans 11; 1, 2, 28, 29). And that we Christians were now God’s one and only covenant people. They determined, therefore, that all the promises made to the Jews had been spiritually fulfilled in Jesus, including the land thing. That left Christians with nowhere else to go but to heaven. That soon became our new “Canaan Land,” and death the new Jordan River that must be crossed to reach it. It wasn’t long before selling time shares in heaven became a very lucrative business for the Church. (And it still is, even if the transfer of funds is now handled more discreetly.)

However, whenever heaven is promoted as even a temporary utopia for believers it soon overshadows the promise of our physical resurrection. In reality, the promise of a blissful life in heaven is not much different from the Moslem belief that they will be rewarded with seventy virgins in the hereafter. Or those poor people in that sneaker-cult, Heavens Gate, thinking they would be transported to an orbiting spaceship after they committed suicide in California awhile back. They are all myths. heaven can be made into whatever happy place you want it to be – because nobody ever comes back to complain they got snookered. And if they did, as Abraham told the rich man in Hades, nobody would believe it.

Now the influence that mostly corrupted the teachings of the Church Fathers was spawned by the pagan Greek philosophers, especially Plato. Greek philosophy, which had a strong religious component, looked at the cosmos from a Persian dualistic perspective. That is it saw the invisible world as “the good.” That is where perfection resided. But the natural, visible world was imperfect, corrupt, evil. So it was man’s goal to endure the visible world as best we can while here, and look forward to the day when the immortal soul (which was part of the good invisible world) could escape the body and fly away to live a blissful life with the Deity. The Church Fathers just made that belief part of Christianity.

In fact, almost all the world’s major religions, both ancient and modern, preach a similar afterlife. They either spiritualize our body into one capable of enjoying a heavenly paradise, or reincarnate us into some weird life form on earth that will be eternally recycled. Only the biblical promise made to Israel speaks of man being physically resurrected on earth in bodily perfection. (Remember the controversy Paul stirred up in Athens when he started preaching that ‘crazy idea’ about a physical resurrection? See Acts 17:22-34).

Not surprisingly, Jews also reject the immortality of the soul and adhere only to resurrection. Here’s a quote from the Jewish Encyclopedia (Kaufmann Kohler, http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8092-immortality-of-the-soul):

“The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture.... Immortality of the soul [positioned as “Hellenistic” thinking] is represented as life with God in heaven, and declared to be the reward for righteousness and martyrdom. The souls of the righteous are transplanted into heaven and transformed into holy souls. According to Philo [a Hellenized Jew], the soul exists before it enters the body, a prison-house from which death liberates it; to return to God and live in constant contemplation of Him is man's highest destiny.... Nevertheless, the prevailing rabbinical conception of the future world is that of the world of resurrection, not that of pure immortality. Resurrection became the dogma of Judaism.”

The fact is no man comes into this world with a shred of immortality. “God alone possesses immortality” (1 Tim. 6:16). We are all quite mortal because all are infected with sin that soon manifests itself as death in both our bodies and behavior, guaranteeing us a limousine ride to the cemetery. That’s why the gospel has so much appeal. For when Jesus came “he abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10). He promised that if we believed in him we would one day “put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:54). Just as he did at his own resurrection

But even though our body and our soul must wait for resurrection to put on this “immortality,” our spirit does come alive the moment we are “born-again” through faith in Christ.

“If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:10).

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor. 4:16).

But just because our spirit – our born-again inner man– is alive now, it doesn’t automatically mean it/we will go to heaven after death to enjoy a conscious utopian life with Christ until the Day of the Lord. If we do, well praise the Lord. All things are possible with God. I just don’t see it pictured, promised or promoted in the Bible.

In scouring the Bible, I find only a handful of scriptures that could be construed as suggesting a conscious spiritual afterlife, whether in heaven or hell. But they are too few, and too uncertain to build a doctrine upon. (I’ll address a number of those Scriptures in Part II.)

So what happens to us after we die?

If we don’t go to heaven, what happens to us between the time of our death and our resurrection? Where do we go? Are we conscious or unconscious?

I cannot say. The Bible doesn’t give us enough information to make any kind of firm doctrinal statement about a spiritual life after death. The only words I find in the Bible that define our situation between death and resurrection is that we “fall asleep.” Over and over the deceased saints are referred to as “those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thess. 4:13; 15; 1 Cor. 15: 6,18,20,51; 2 Cor. 4:14; Acts 7:60, 13:36; 2 Pet 3:4, John 11:11; Dan. 12:2; Isa. 26:19). In the Old Testament, which Jews call the Tenach, 36 times the kings of Judah and Israel are said to have “slept with his fathers.” And the prophet Daniel is told, “Many of those who sleep in the ground, will awake, these to everlasting life” (Dan 12:2).

But what does “fallen asleep” mean? The most popular explanation is that it is just a metaphor to remind us that the dead body has not perished but is like a body asleep, while our spirit is enjoying a full life in heaven. But if so, why not just tell us we are awake in heaven, if that’s where we are? Unless, of course we really are sound asleep until Jesus returns. That it is not a metaphor, but our true situation.

The third possibility is that God deliberately withheld telling us what happens to us after death, or whether we will be conscious or unconscious.

Let’s consider the first possibility, that “sleep” is indeed just a metaphor that applies only to my body, while my spirit – my true self - is wide awake with Jesus in heaven. But then why, I must ask, does not the Bible just say so, instead of saying over and over we have “fallen asleep?” For example, Paul could have said in 1Thess. 4:14, “Even so, God will bring with him those who are alive and well and living with Jesus in heaven?” Instead of putting the focus on the deceased being “those who have fallen asleep in Jesus?”

Besides, how can it ever be said my corruptible, flesh-and-blood body is asleep? Maybe it could be said so in appearance, but only initially. After a few days at best the body goes to soot. Paul goes to great lengths to explain that our body is like a seed which must be sown in the ground to die. “That which you sow does not come to life unless it [first] dies” (1 Cor. 15:36). Only then can it produce a new life form. Like the caterpillar, the seed is just exchanging its outer shell for a better one. “You do not sow the body which is to be” (1 Cor. 15:37). So I have to assume my mortal body will not be asleep, but truly dead and gone.

Which leads me to the second possibility that it is my spirit – the real me – that sleeps. This means that “sleep” is not a metaphor, but our true situation. That like Rip van Winkle we will bed down in a godly slumber somewhere until Jesus returns. And is that such a bad thing? In my experience, and I’m sure yours, sleep is a relatively unconscious peaceful state. We may have dreams, but this is usually due to our overactive minds – or perhaps a late night pepperoni pizza. Generally speaking, when I go to sleep the next thing I know is it is morning. In my sleep I had no sense of time passage. It often feels like I just closed my eyes a few minutes ago. So our experience of death could be very similar. We “die” – and then suddenly we are awakened by the alarm of a trumpet sound, and we are present with the Lord. We see a smiling Jesus telling us to get up - it’s a new day!

In fact, this state of unconsciousness seems to be supported by numerous Old Testament Scriptures.

“[Man’s] breath goes forth, he returns to the earth; in that day his thoughts perish.” (Ps. 146:4 NAS)

The dead know not anything...their love and their hatred and their envy, is now perished.” (Eccl. 9:5)

“The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” (Ps. 115:17)

Although I am inclined to believe the constant use of the word “sleep” suggests it is our true state after death, I cannot say for sure. Those OT Scriptures could just represent an earthly point of view. But saying our spirit has an immediate afterlife in heaven–or hell–I definitely do not find taught in the Scriptures anywhere.

Then there are these two New Testament Scriptures that discourage us from thinking we go anywhere after death.

1. Acts 3:34: “For it was not David who ascended into Heaven...” Paul clearly tells us that King David did not ascend into heaven – only Jesus. He emphasizes this further by saying, “Brethren I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day” (Acts 3:29). So if David – the man after God’s own heart - did not ascend into heaven, why should we think we would?

2. Heb. 9:27: “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgment...” When does the judgment come? According to Rev. 20:11,12 it comes after the thousand year reign of Christ. This clearly implies that nothing happens in our life between the moment we expire until we are awakened (resurrected) for the final judgment. There is no mention of a trip to heaven or hell in between death and the final judgment. Of course, this is only a general statement, because as the rest of the Scripture indicates (Heb. 9:28) all those who belong to Messiah will be awakened at the return of Jesus to live and reign with him in the kingdom for those 1000 years. Then at the end of that age all the rest of mankind who had died will be resurrected to stand with us at the judgment seat. We will be officially exonerated at that time, but all those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life will receive their just punishment (see 1 Cor. 15:23,25; Rev. 20:4,5).

Therefore, I believe the third option is probably the most accurate one. That God didn’t give us enough information in the Bible to know for certain what happens to us after death. All we are promised for certain is a bodily resurrection on earth. That is our reward.

Our ‘spiritual’ body

Apart from the question of how conscious we might be on the other side of the grave, there is another important matter to consider. In order for us to transition from our old body to a new one means our spirit must be able to live independently of our body until the time it/me is reunited with my new body at Jesus’ return.

Paul clearly shows that to be true when he wrote he had “a desire to depart and to be with Messiah” (Phil. 1:23). To “depart” (Gk: analuo) means “to loosen again,” to “undo,” as in our spirit separating from our body. And as we know, Jesus called out at the point of death, “Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). And Steven while being stoned, said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit...And having said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:59, 60).

Therefore, when our body goes to the grave, our spirit must travel back to God again for safe keeping until our new “home’ arrives. And with this, Scripture agrees. “Then the dust [of the body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7) Apart from the body, it seems our spirit is dormant.

Now whether it is both the spirit and soul that departs I cannot say. I do know the soul and spirit can be “divided” (Heb. 4:12), but whether the soul perishes with the body, or travels to God with the spirit, or if one sleeps, and one doesn’t, who can say? And quite frankly I don’t really care as long as when I wake up I’m all back together again with God and Jesus. That “my spirit, soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:23).

Nevertheless, it is easy to imagine that when our spirit returns to God we will receive some kind of spiritual body in heaven to put on as we await our resurrection. But that would mean there are three kinds of bodies for us to wear. Our present physical body, a temporary non-corporeal body to clothe our spirit in heaven, and a new physical body when we are resurrected on earth. But Paul very says there are only two bodies. The natural, mortal, physical body we have now, and a supernatural, immortal, physical, body - termed “a spiritual body,” which we’ll receive at resurrection (and not before). There is no mention of a temporary intermediate body for walking around in heaven.

“It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body...However the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.” (1 Cor. 15:44).

Well what kind of an earthly body is this new “spiritual body?” Paul anticipated that very question, but in answering he didn’t give us a lot of details. He just assured us that the body we’d be getting in exchange for our old worn-out carcass would be the latest super-duper model with all the bells and whistles. Like the man in the clothing store commercials, who’s always assuring us, “You’re going to like the way you look! I guarantee it!”

“It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. ” (1 Cor. 15:42, 43)

We can learn a little more by observing Jesus in his post-resurrection body. He apparently could materialize and dematerialize at will (John 20:26; Luke 24; 31). His new body still resembled his old self, even retaining his crucifixion wounds as proof of his identity, but apparently not the disfiguration he suffered (see Luke 20:27). But he could also alter his appearance at times to be unrecognizable (Luke 24:31; John 21:5). But most important, he revealed this new “spiritual body” was not some kind of non-corporeal, Casper-the-Ghost kind of body, but rather a super human body. When his disciples thought he was a ghost He invited them to “Touch and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). Interestingly though, he didn’t say, “flesh and blood.”

We also know, as Jesus told the Sadducees, that in the resurrection there is no more sex. Or as he put it, “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven” (Mark 12:25). That may or may not be good news to some, unless you can trust that whatever God replaces sex with will be even better.

Whatever our new body will have or not have, we know it will be a powerful new kind of physical, supernatural body that will not die or become corrupted by disease ever again. When the trumpet is blown, the righteous – and apparently only the righteous, will awaken to receive their new bodies. All the rest of mankind will stay put until the end of the millennium when they will be briefly resurrected on Judgment Day (whether in a body or not it doesn’t say). “For the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed” (Rev. 20:5).

Paul enumerates that order of resurrection very clearly:

“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by man came death, by a man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s [us] at his coming, then after that comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and authority and power. For he must reign [here on earth for1000 years] until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” (1 Cor. 15:20-26)

For me the silence of the Bible concerning what happens to us after death speaks volumes. It tells me He wants us to have just one hope, namely resurrection. Not two hopes of resurrection and heaven. Therefore all speculation about the afterlife I feel is a distraction from just trusting God to resurrect us. We are to just believe He will not let go of us when we die, anymore than He lost track of us during our creation in the womb. And that one fine day we will hear the trumpet blow, open our eyes, and shout, “Hallelujah!” Or if we are still alive when Jesus comes, “be changed in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:51, 52).

“For our citizenship [official status] is in Heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself.” (Phil. 3:20,21)

The hope of Israel

The more I studied the promise of our bodily resurrection, the more I realized it was the hope all Israel had clung to for centuries. Life from the dead was the hope the Patriarchs had literally pinned their hopes on, which the apostle Paul testified to almost every time he got dragged into court.

“And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our forefathers, the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O king [Agrippa], I am being accursed by the Jews. Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?” (Acts 26:6, 7)

“I have a hope in God, which these men [the Jews] cherish themselves, that there shall be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” (Acts 24:15)

“I am wearing these chains for the sake of the hope of Israel.” (Acts 28:20)

“I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead.’ (Acts 23:6)

“[I preach] the hope of eternal life [by resurrection], which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.” (Titus 1:2)

We are told in Hebrews Eleven that all Israel had gone to their graves for centuries with the promises made to Abraham still on their lips.

“All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the [present sin-fallen] earth. For all who say such things make it clear they are seeking a country of their own...That is they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he has prepared a city for them.” (Heb 11:13-16)

The only way they would ever see this heavenly country, which was a country on earth with the holy character of heaven, was to be physically resurrected. Only then would they be able to enjoy life in this wonderful kingdom where “men would beat their plowshares into pruning hooks, and never again learn war” (Isa. 2:4). Where “the wolf would lay down with the lamb” (Isa. 11:6). And where we “will have no need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine us; and we will reign forever” (Rev. 22:5).

We see that clearly in this exchange between Jesus and Martha after her brother Lazarus has died (John 11:23,24), that Martha believed in a physical resurrection.

”Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’
Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

I finally realized resurrection was the fervent hope of both Israel and the Church. It was a central theme running throughout the whole Bible. How often I had read those NT verses that referenced this “hope” without realizing what they were referring to. It was our physical resurrection unto eternal life all along that was the...

“The hope laid up for you in heaven.” (Col. 1:5)

“The hope of the gospel” (Col 1:23)

“The hope of salvation...so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him.” (1 Thess. 5:8, 10)

“The hope of the righteous.” (Gal. 5:5)

“The hope that is in you.” (1 Pet 3:15)

“The hope set before us, which we have as an anchor of the soul.” (Heb. 6:18, 19)

“The living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 1; 3)

Is it time, Lord?

So here we all are some 2000 years later after Jesus rose from the grave. All the Patriarchs, and all the apostles, and all the prophets, and all the generations who died in faith, from both Old and New Testament periods, are still “asleep,” waiting peacefully for the kingdom of God to come. While those who are alive, and believe in Messiah Jesus, are also waiting.

But today we are beginning to see an evil darkness descend upon the whole world, which we know is one of the conditions that would precede his coming in glory.

“”For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you, and his glory will appear upon you.” (Isa. 60:2)

Included in this creeping darkness are catastrophic weather patterns, the specter of a global economic collapse, the potential for nuclear wars, the rise of radical Islam and a renewed Marxist socialism, a dramatic increase in Christian persecution and anti-Semitism, plus a rapidly escalating threat to Israel’s national survival. So in light of all this darkness the question the apostles asked Jesus after his resurrection seems appropriate to ask again: “Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6).

It would certainly seem so. But unlike the Rapture teachers who say no other prophetic condition needs to be in place for Jesus to return, Scripture begs to differ. Starting with the big two that Paul told the believers at Thessalonica:

“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it [the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him] will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God.” (2 Thess. 2:1-4)

The “apostasy” could be defined as the institutional Church officially and forever turning away from the true gospel to embrace some feel-good religious program as the means to salvation. It happened once before when the gospel of faith righteousness was lost to the whole church and replaced by the false gospel of Roman Catholicism. Although the true gospel was graciously restored to the believing church in the Sixteenth Century by God, much of the teaching of Catholicism was still retained by the Reformers. And as we know, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough” (1 Cor. 5:6). As a result we are now seeing that those leavened teachings have almost completely corrupted the gospel and the worship of the church once again.

“He spoke another parable to them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” (Matt 13:33)

The institutional Christian Church is now rapidly emerging from its Christian veneer to become the pagan religious system it always was underneath. It will soon set the stage for the coming of anti-Christ and his terrible persecution of the true believers. It is in this false “temple,” this false body of Christ, where I believe he will take his seat. I don’t believe Paul ever meant a literal seat in a physical temple, but a position of honor and reverence in the only “building” recognized as God’s temple today, the body of Christ. (The only seat in the Tabernacle I know of was the “mercy seat” and that was not a real “seat,” but the covering above the Ark.) But this “temple,” this body of believers, represents a deceived church. That’s why Paul and Jesus, warned us to stay alert, so that we will not be lulled to sleep in that day by false teachers and “the day [of the Lord’s wrath] overtake us like a thief” (1 Thess. 5:3, 4; Matt 24:42-44). This is seen also in the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-10), where believers (the foolish five) who did not have oil for their lamps (God’s spirit) were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But there is another very important event that must take place before Jesus returns. An event that will become the catalyst, I believe, that precipitates the Lord’s return and our resurrection. Paul refers to it briefly when he reminds the gentile believers that God isn’t finished with the Jews yet. That he has a plan of salvation for them to be revealed in the last days.

For if their rejection [of the gospel] is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance [of the gospel] be but life from the dead?” (Rom. 11:15)

In other words, if the Jewish rejection of Jesus was such a huge blessing to the world resulting in the salvation of the gentiles, imagine how gigantic a blessing their acceptance of him will be? He sums it up simply saying, “life from the dead!” What else could that signify but the Lord’s return to resurrect the saints, living and dead, into our new bodies, and to gather us all to himself. I believe this is foreshadowed in Ezekiel’s dry bones and two-stick prophesies found in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel’s book.

If I am correct, we should soon see a huge outpouring of God’s spirit on the nation of Israel, and the Jews in general, before Jesus returns. And when their eyes are opened to see that Jesus truly is/was their Messiah, then the kingdom will be right at the door. (That doesn’t mean all Jews will be saved but only the remnant. Like Ishmael and Esau, not all Israel is chosen Israel.)

“And it will be said in that day, ‘Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited, let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isa 25:9)

But even if Jesus doesn’t come in our lifetime, the Lord wants us all to know that if we die we don’t have to worry. Whether we go to our graves by natural causes or through martyrdom we can rest assured we will be “with Christ” (Phil 1:23), safe and secure in the “bosom of the Father” (John 1:18).

For “neither death nor life....can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38, 39).

June, 2011 www.bhennessy.com