When do Christian go to heaven?

[B-A-C]

There are some verses in the Bible that some people take to mean that we go to heaven immediately upon the instant of death.
There are other verses that seem to indicate we lie in the ground (or sea) until either the rapture or resurrection.

So I'm curious, when when do you think we will go to heaven?

These verses seem to say we lie in the ground for a while.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
John 11:24 Martha *said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
John 6:40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."
John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day
John 5:28 "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
John 5:29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
1 Thes 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
1 Thes 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
1 Thes 4:16 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.

These verses seem to say we go immediately to heaven.
Luke 23:43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
2 Cor 5:6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord--
2 Cor 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
and of course the story of Lazarus in Luke 16:22-23

So what do you think?

 

[Bobby J]

[h=3][/h] [h=3]Jesus said he gives us eternal life and that if we believe in him we will never die. So if we never die how can we sleep in a grave?[/h] [h=3]John 11:25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: Isa 26.19, Dan 12. 2-3, Hosea 6.2, 13.14 Matt 22 .32 Acts 17.32[/h] 11:26 And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
[h=3]Matthew 17:1 And after six days Jesus takes Peter, James, and John his brother, and brings them up into an high mountain apart,[/h] [h=3]17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.[/h] [h=3]17:3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.[/h] [h=3]17:4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if you will, let us make here three tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.[/h]
As well if you will look it up after Jesus died upon the cross
[h=3]Matthew 27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,[/h] 27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

 

[christbased]

When Jesus was dieing on the Cross and the two thieves were arguing about Jesus Luke 23:32-43, one mocking, the other protecting. One thief said to Jesus "Remember me when you come in to your Kingdom" and Jesus said the thief "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise"

On another side, some of you may be interested in this. My sister was deathly allergect to peanuts. Even a little amount of hazelnuts from a previous cheesecake being cut, before her pain cheesecake is cut, would put her in anaflactic shock. My sister "died" over three times as she was being transported speedly to the hospital, sometimes by ambulance, sometimes by a friend who threw her into his sports car and drove through every light for eight blocks to the hospital! When she made it to the hospital, she would be clinically dead with no breathing. They would give her a shot of adrenaline and very quickly she would awaken.

Not only would my sister come back to life after dieing,... she would tell us "what happened" and "where she went". She would talk about a long tunnel, brightness at the end, the most amazing peace and a presence that would come to her and say "(her name), it's not your time, you must go back". My sister was a singer, and she said the music in Heaven was amazing, and she was soooo upset that she could not stay! She would be glowing when we would visit her in the hospital later. My sister was eventually taken by the Lord some 20 years ago, and her stories of what heaven is like gives me eminence peace. This is apparently not an uncommon experience, nor unfortunately is the experience of going to hell as well, then coming back! Heaven and Hell are real, and by my families experience and by Jesus's testimony to the thief on the cross, I believe we go to heaven (or hell) directly at the time of death.

From what I understand, I believe the Seventh Day Adventest's believe we go to heaven only at end times, on the Day of Judgement. A good friend of mine is a Seventh Day Adventest. He was healed of unopperable brain cancer, and walks today with our Lord daily

We worship a pretty good God don't we!
:announcementfly:
(I wish we had an icon of someone flat on there face before our Lord, because..... that is how I feel right now )

 

[papajim]

Sometimes it is our understanding of what the bible says that is confused. The bible does say that we sleeep when we die. When you go to sleep at night you rise the next morning meaning that all will rise wether to everlasting life or eternal death. In Luke 23:43 the comma was put in the wrong place it should read "truly I say unto you today, you shall be with me in paradise". In the original the punctuations were not there but put there when the bible was translated. When know Jesus died that day but the thief did not, if the thief didn't die that day, to understand the verse as it is written would have made Jesus a liar and we know that Jesus is the way the truth and the life.
Chapters 4 and 5 in 2 Cor. needs to be studied Paul is not talking about physical death here but rather the spiritual battles that we go through. It is the battle of the flesh verses the Spirit. Compare with Romans chapters 6 through 8.

 

[spirit1st]

I have been dead Both ways ! We go to New Jerusalem , right away ! It so quick we do not have time to think even one thought ! after all that our home Now !

We are out of place here !
Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Php_1:23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
Psa_116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Php_1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.


2Co_5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
2Co_5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.


Once born of GOD ? We are no longer of this evil world ! Our home NOW is NEW JERUSALEM ! The place HE went to prepare for US ! our mother !

Joh_17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh_17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Gal_4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

 

[HisFollower]

But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's AT HIS COMING. (1 Cor 15:23)

 

[Kotwebck]

If we go to heaven when we die, it would have been horrible and very unfair for the people that was raised by Jesus and the apostles. But some did go to heaven but the never slept/died

 

[Kotwebck]

We will be raised from the dead and then the new Jerusalem will come down on the new earth and we will go in to live with Jesus there. No mention of us going to heaven (is that a new heaven?)

 

[eldon]

to have some kind of a time delay between death and the resurrection would be agony don't you think?

time itself is an illusion, i can think of one instance where God sped up time for me (though i'm not quite sure)
and i've recieved testemony from a few people that God slowed time down just for them. in another case, made the bullets stop just like in the movie the matrix.

so i would speculate that there is no sense of a few thousand years passing for those who died 3000 years ago. they are where they will be, now, relative to their perspective.