Board index Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages 1 Thessalonians

Are the dead in heaven or in the grave?

Postby Kamistra » Tue Aug 25, 2020 4:27 pm

Hello!
Hope all is well with you!

In the Bible it says that in the end God will take all the living believers to heaven and also the dead believers from their grave. So, I’m confused! I was also taught that when loved ones die they go to Heaven. Which that of course gives me comfort. So, I’m confused by what the Bible says!! Can you please explain?

Thank you! :)
Kamistra
 

Re: Are the dead in heaven or in the grave?

Postby jimwalton » Mon Oct 26, 2020 6:28 pm

All is well with me. Thanks for the wish. And with you.

I’m guessing that you’re referring to 1 Thessalonians 4.16-17:
"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.”
And also 1 Corinthians 15.51-53:
"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”


Great question. Let’s talk.

When Christians die, their souls go to Heaven, but their bodies are still in the ground. But in Christian belief, both the body and the soul are important. (Some other groups taught that only our souls count, and so we could do whatever we wanted [i.e., debauchery of any sort] with our bodies. Others taught that only our bodies counted, and forget about the afterlife. Not so in Christianity where it ALL counts.) So when we die, our disembodied souls go to Heaven. At the first resurrection, God will call our bodies forth from the grave to be transformed into spiritual bodies (1 Cor. 15.51-53) and reunited with our souls. We will not have to go through eternity as disembodied souls (i.e., ghosts). We will actually have resurrection bodies, much like the disciples observed that Jesus had after His resurrection.

Glad you’re asking questions. Feel free to ask anytime.


Last bumped by Anonymous on Mon Oct 26, 2020 6:28 pm.
jimwalton
Site Admin
 
Posts: 9108
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:28 pm


Return to 1 Thessalonians

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest