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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | No, the dead are still DEAD...not alive! | Bible general Archive 1 | goodnewsminister | 85484 | ||
No consciousness in the grave Many people are surprised to discover what the Bible really says about what happens to us when we die. Notice what God inspired King Solomon to write about the state of the dead: "For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Scripture clearly tells us that at death we cease to know anything. The dead are unconscious and unaware. All our emotions, thoughts, knowledge and feelings go to the grave with us. No consciousness continues living in another place or state. We do not have an immortal soul that goes on living somewhere else. In Ezekiel 18, verses 4 and 20, God plainly tells us that "the soul who sins shall die"—not continue living apart from the body. To teach otherwise is only to further the FIRST LIE of Satan to our Mother Eve, "YE SHALL NOT SURELY DIE"! Do you believe him, or the Lord? You must choose! The patriarch Job echoes Solomon's words. He writes: "Man dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last and where is he? As water disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up, so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep" (Job 14:10-12). Job goes on to ask the most crucial question about life after death: "If a man dies, shall he live again?" (verse 14). Death likened to sleep When Christians—or any others—die, they do not go directly to heaven or to any equivalent of heaven. Their bodies simply decay in the grave, returning to the dust from which they were made (Genesis 3:19). Solomon confirmed the fact that the dead are unconscious, knowing nothing. "Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:4-5, NIV). The writers of the Bible describe our experience after death not as going to heaven or hell, but simply as sleep. Notice, for example, how Daniel refers to the state of the dead in this prophecy of the resurrection: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2). When an individual is in a deep sleep, he has absolutely no conscious awareness of the passing of time nor any knowledge of events that are occurring while he is asleep. Paul repeatedly compared death to sleep (1 Corinthians 11:30; 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15). Peter similarly writes of the patriarchs who "fell asleep" in death (2 Peter 3:4). Jesus Himself also spoke of death as sleep. Speaking of a deceased girl whom He intended to raise from the dead, He told the mourners, "Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping" (Luke 8:52; compare Matthew 9:24). Before He resurrected Lazarus, He told the disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." The disciples misunderstood, thinking Lazarus was sleeping because he was ill. "However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep" (John 11:11, 13). When will the dead be resurrected? We can see that the Bible clearly teaches that good people don't go to heaven at death; instead they sleep in the grave awaiting the resurrection of the dead. All of the dead —good and not so good alike—will eventually be resurrected, each in his own time (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). The dead in Christ will be resurrected to immortal life at Jesus Christ's return to earth, and those faithful servants who are still alive at that time will be changed from mortal to immortal. Specifically, this happens at the sounding of "the trumpet of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), called "the last trumpet" in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and corresponding to the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15. This event is called "the first resurrection" in Revelation 20:5. In John's vision of the future, those in this resurrection came to life and "reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (verse 4), during the period commonly known as the Millennium. Notice that they do not go to dwell in heaven—they live and reign with Jesus on earth, to which He has returned to establish God's Kingdom! Verse 6 goes on to explain: "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." Revelation 5:10 confirms that they will be "a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth" (NIV) Since Christ is coming back to earth (Zechariah 14:3-4), it makes good sense that that's where we will be. (John 14:3; compare Isaiah 11:1-9). Clearly, Jesus is coming back to earth and we will reign with Him here, not in or from heaven. |
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2 | Will be be above or here on earth? | Bible general Archive 1 | Desiree Fields | 85572 | ||
If we will reign with Him here on earth, would you explain 1 Thessalonians 4:17 "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord" Are we meeting Him in the air to return to earth? If we are going to be on earth why don't we wait right here instead of going up to come back down? |
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3 | Will be be above or here on earth? | Bible general Archive 1 | Cowboy61 | 85598 | ||
The dead in Christ will rise first. Those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior and have died or been killed will rise first, then we who remain on the earth. (ie., the born again people) will meet Jesus in the air. We will go with Him for the seven years of tribulation that the earth HAS to go through. No one in their right mind would want to stay here for those seven years of tribulation. They will be so bad that Scripture says it would seem like the whole population of the earth would be destroyed. But God shall intervene and subdue the destroyer. I prefer to meet Jesus in the air, have a banquet with Him. Be judged at the Great White Throne for what I have done in His Name. Then after the seven years are up we will come back with Him, defeat the enemy (Satan)and spend the next 1,000 years on earth with Him, before Satan is released again for another season. Some allude the term 'season' to 4 months. Other to 400 years. Either way, we will be residing with Jesus. You can find this in the Book of Revelation. | ||||||
4 | Will be be above or here on earth? | Bible general Archive 1 | Radioman2 | 85625 | ||
Is there a pretribulation rapture? 'Pretribulationalism 'This view was first known as "the secret" or "any moment rapture." It is a relatively new position which was first taught by the founder of the Catholic Apostolic Church, Edward Irving, in the late 1820's. It was then picked up by Plymouth Brethren pastor John Nelson Darby, and he first preached on it in 1843. It came to America in the late 1800's . . . 'Pretribulationists teach that the return of Christ has been imminent since the days of the early church and that the church will be raptured sometime before the seventieth week begins. Although they have no Scripture that in so many words teaches it, they teach that there are no signs and the rapture could take place at any moment. The seventieth week of Daniel is therefore considered to be a seven-year period of God's judgmental "tribulation" (hence the term pretribulation). This position generally views the seventieth week as the day of the Lord's wrath from which the church is excluded.' 'Prewrath 'The Prewrath position teaches that the true church will be raptured when the great tribulation by Antichrist, inspired by Satan, is cut short by God's day-of-the-Lord wrath, which will occur between the sixth and seventh seals of Revelation, sometime during the second half of the seventieth week. The persecution associated with the great tribulation of Antichrist is viewed as the wrath of Satan, whereas the events that follow, beginning with the seventh seal, are considered the wrath of God. There is another term that is sometimes expressed, "historical premillennialism," which refers back to the teaching of the early church fathers before 325 A.D. who believed that the church would face the persecution of Antichrist and Christ would then reign for 1000 years upon the earth. With the exception of two, Origen and Clement of Alexandria, who were allegorist, they all taught this view. Prewrath is plainly and simply an expansion of this view which was biblical then and biblical now.' (www.solagroup.org/) |
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