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NASB | Colossians 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Colossians 3:3 For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. |
Bible Question: What happens after a christian dies? Does he/she go to heaven right away or is there a place in the middle where we wait until Jesus comes back? |
Bible Answer: Hi mthompsn, This can be a very confusing issue, because the Bible speaks of this in two different ways, summerized in 1 Thes 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. In this passage we are told that those who "sleep" in Jesus God will bring back with Him. And then it goes on to say that the dead in Christ shall rise! Huh? The key is in 1 Thes 5:10, of Jesus, "Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him." Sleep is a term used in the NT and OT of those who have died. True death will come at the final judgment, and until then, it is often called sleep. Dan 12:2 "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Whether awake or asleep, we live with Christ. Col 3:1 "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Eph 2:5 "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" We have died with Christ, we have risen with Christ, we are seated in heaven with Christ. This is an accomplished fact. The Greek verb tenses bear this out. Now, let's look at II Cor 5. 2 Cor 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. In what way are we currently absent from the Lord? He is in us, He is with us. Vs. 7 tells us. We walk not by what we see (or don't see), but by faith in what God has said and done. We are in heaven with Christ, we just don't see it yet. Why? Because we are still in our material bodies, using are material senses - eyes - ears and such. What happens when we sleep? We close our eyes, we stop using our physical senses. When we die in Christ, fall asleep to this world, we will be no longer limited by our physical senses. I think that we merely become cognizent of our spiritual life in and with Christ. When we "awake" in our resurrection bodies, we continue to have our spiritual awareness, because those bodies are made that way. Jesus' story of Lazarus and the rich man gives us the understanding those who "sleep" have awareness, sensation, recognition, memory, and so on. I imagine this is something like what it will be inbetween dying in this world, and waking in our new body, but not to be considered limbo or unconsciousness. Imagine the most intimate fellowship with our Lord, and with each other, that you can, and you will have the barest glimmering of what it will be like. I hope this helps. If you have further questions, please let me know. Love in Christ, Mark |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Col 3:3 | Author | ||
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mthompsn | ||
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mark d seyler | ||
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lee18344 | ||
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seekinghim |