Subject: An interesting discussion/question |
Bible Note: 2nd continuation, Tamara Who was the first man to go to heaven? Jesus. When did he go? John 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'" Acts 1:3,10 To these present He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was been taken, will come up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him to into heaven." Jesus never ascended up to heaven until 40 days passed after He rose on the third day. Jesus was the first man to go to heaven When did the inhabitants of the Paradise compartment of Hades who are all the OT saints and all the saints who believed in Jesus and died before He did, and the criminal, go to heaven? Ephesians 4:8 Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high; He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men." This is a quote from Psalm 68:18 The rest of the verse goes Even among the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell there. The context is about unity in the Spirit in the baptism of Jesus, and the gifts according to the measure of Christ's gift. Verse 8 is about the gifts in the body according to the measure of Christ's gift. But, now what is the measure of Christ's gift? The measure of Christ's gift is what He has accomplished by entering the holy of holies, Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high". "He led captive His captives.", all those in that compartment of Hades where the OT saints were, where the criminal was, where everyone who was a saint who died while Jesus was a live, was led out of that compartment and Jesus paraded them to the whole universe and showed off His captives to the host of heaven while He led them to heaven, having made a way into the veil, into the holy of holies. Hebrews 9:11,12 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. When Jesus ascended on high leading captive His captives He led them into the holy of holies having obtained the redemption of thier souls. It was not until Jesus ascended to heaven that heaven became open to men, being separated from God by a wall of sin, they were ushered right into the presence of the holy Father God by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is why Paul was then able to say; II Corinthians 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be home with the Lord. Jesus opened up the door to heaven and Paul was talking about going in and being present with Jesus. Paul is not talking about a gap of time either, he is talking about right away. Philippians 1:23 But I am hard pressed from both directions, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. Paul was desring to depart and go straight to Jesus. more to come, Tamara |