The bodies of born again believers are in the grave when they die, but their spirits are with God after the death of a born-again believer.
2 Corinthians 5:8 "
"But we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."
When Christ went into Sheol to preach to the dead saints of old, they trusted in Him and He took them out. Their spirits were there but their bodies remained in the grave.
Here's the thing, what about those saints who were burned at the stake, their bodies were ashes and they never ended up in a grave? Or those who traveled across the wilderness, died there, and their bodies went to dust? There is no mandate in the Bible on how to bury a believer in Christ.
God told the rich man in hell that there is a great chasm between hell and those who were in heaven, and no one can cross over.
Luke 16:19-31
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, enjoying himself in splendor every day.
20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores,
21 and longing to be fed from the scraps which fell from the rich man’s table; not only that, the dogs also were coming and licking his sores.
22 Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s arms; and the rich man also died and was buried.
23 And in Hades he raised his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his arms.
24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’
25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set, so that those who want to go over from here to you will not be able, nor will any people cross over from there to us.’
27 And he said, ‘Then I request of you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—
28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment as well.’
29 But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’
31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
What makes us think the dead who go to hell immediately after death would go to their designated place at death but those who died in Christ would not go to their designated home immediately after death?
No comments:
Post a Comment