I have to give an open lecture in a few weeks and my topic is Easter. I have been looking up information on several different websites and I came across an article on about.com that I'm not quite sure about. It says that after Jesus died His body was laid to rest in a tomb, but His Spirit was still alive, living in the spirit world. While He was in the spirit world He shared the gospel with those in the spirit prison.
I know that there are many beliefs about what happened to Jesus right after He died. I can't find it, but there is a verse that says that Jesus went down to the depths (or something along those lines) and many people believe that means He went to Hell during the three days between His death and His resurrection (I do not believe this). I thought this would be the verse that the article would quote, but it quoted 1 Peter 3:18-20, which says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water." They also quoted some passages from The Book of Mormon.
It also talked about a "spirit world", when we die our spirits either go to paradise or prison and wait for the resurrection. Is there any Biblical proof for this spirit paradise/prison? I'm not sure about this.
In I Peter 3:18-22, but please read the whole chapter for a clarer understanding. But it speaks about The Spirit of the Lord, not spirit... for even we are spirit, living in bodily form, for God is Spirit and we must worship Him isn His Holy Spirit within our spirit, His Spirit to our spirit. And when we die, we return back in spirit to Him, and for the lost their spirit goes into hell. There are only two choices heaven or hell.
God who made us a living being by His Spirit rather that we return back to Him, this is why Jesus came into the world so that God could redeem us back into His bosom. Mortal into Immortality,.You can read 2 Corinthians chapters 4-5.
I Peter tells us about Jesus who did go into hell and preached to the spirits this means those who were lost souls who were in hell for disobedience and for refusing to accept God's invitation of salvation, and rejected Jesus Christ into their lives, and refused to repent of their sins.
The purpose of this was to show them that Jesus was indeed the only way to eternal life in heaven, and to let them know that satan had been defeated by His death on the cross. These were they who also rejected the preachng of Noah who also called them to repentance and they refused therefore, they experienced thefinal judgment of God which was eternal hell, and this is what is going to happen today if people reject Christ and refuse to repent of their sns.
The Bible teahes us they will be cast into the lake of fire(hell) which burns eternally and they will experience screaming and gashing of teeth and torment forever. Where as Christians will experienec eternal glory and reign with the Lord to judge the world eternally with the Lord, this will be our resurection when Jesus comes. When Jesus's HOLY SPIRIT went into hell, He let it be known that He had won the VICTORY and that the lost were doomed.
If you are seeking to know about Easter, you should read about the Passover because this is the meaning of the word. The resurection of Chirst is our example as to our resurection our deliveranc as believers from the dead when Jesus returns for us and we put on immortality, become spirit again, because there is nothing in heaven in the physical,.
When you read those chapters in Corinthinas we will have a beter understanding. We wait for redemption of the body as Paul points out in Romans chpater 8, even the earth groans. All that God has created on earth waits to be redeemed back to God, it is our resurection from the dead.
Here are a few more chapters you can read that may help you in your presentation Romans chpater 10; I Corinthians chapter 15, John chapter 11. The resurection is our hope and the whole redemption process we expereince when we die. It is deliverance...
Well, let me first say that you should not bother with what the Book of Mormon says, as it is not counted as the divinely inspired word of God by Christians. Only the Bible is...
On to your question; the Bible, such as the Revelation, is quite clear that Hades/Death is a place where the non-believers will be kept until the Day of Judgement comes. Revelation 20 says that even Hades/Death itself will be cast into the lake of fire - so it is clear that Hades and the lake of fire (often referred to as hell, even though that is not very precise) are two different places/entities.
In the Gospel of Luke we read about Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man woke up in a painful place, while Lazarus was resting with Abraham. It is clear that this place (in the parable) was not the lake of fire, since the story reveals to us that the brothers of the rich man were still alive on earth.
It is difficult giving very clear answers concerning this, but if you read Revelation it may help (if you are comfortable with that book). For believers, I believe(!) that there are two corresponding places (a temporary paradise where we sleep waiting for the big day, the other being the New Jerusalem which will last eternally). But my best advice is that you check this out yourself by reading the Bible.
Matt 12 vs 40 : For as Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish , so will the Son of Man be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.
By the intermediate state is meant that realm or condition in which souls exist between death and the resurrection. That there is such a state is acknowledged by practically all who believe in a resurrection and final judgment. The differences of opinion that exist have to do primarily with the nature of the state, - chiefly in controversy with the Roman Catholics, as to whether or not it is purgatorial in character; and with those who, as Jehovah�s Witnesses and the Seventh-day Adventists, believe in soul sleep between death and the resurrection; also to some extent with those who believe in a second chance or the possibility of repentance after death.
The doctrine commonly held by the Jews and by the early medieval Church was that believers after death were in a dreamy, semiconscious state, neither happy nor miserable, awaiting the resurrection of the body. It was in fact not until the Council of Florence, in the year 1439, that the Latin Church expressed outright opposition to this view, and even then it continued to be the prevailing view in the Greek Church.
The Bible has comparatively little to say about the intermediate state, evidently because it is not the ultimate state. It focuses attention not on that which is passing and temporary, but rather on the return of Christ and the new era that shall then begin. We therefore find it difficult to form any adequate idea of the activities that characterize those in the intermediate state.
There are, however, several Scripture passages which teach that it is a state of conscious existence for both the righteous and the wicked, - for the righteous, a state of joy; for the wicked, a state of suffering. This comes out with special clearness in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, where Lazarus is received into Abraham�s bosom, and the rich man is tormented in the flames of hell. Paul�s statements already cited (II Cor. 5:8 and Phil. 1 :23) make it clear that the state of the believer immediately after death is much to be preferred to the present world. While on the cross Christ said to the dying thief, �Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise,� Luke 23:43. For the believer to be in the intermediate state is to be with Christ in Paradise. And Paul�s reference to the vision given him early in his ministry, in which in one instance he says that he was �caught up even to the third heaven,� and in another that he was �caught up into Paradise,� II Cor. 12:2-4, shows that Paradise is to be identified with heaven. And in Rev. 14:13 is found one of the clearest of all references to those in the intermediate state: �Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.�
Eccl 9 vs 7 : Then the dust will return to the dust as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Notice this scripture is a general statement and says nothing about reward or punishment.
In another post I posted scripture that showed a person is unconscience when they die. Also in previous post I posted that the bible clearly shows that Jesus was the first born from the dead. What did Samuel sayto Saul when he talked to the Witch of Endor? He said, " why have you disturbed me by bringing me up." Notice he said up, not down.
Here's one from Hebrews- Talking about the saints of old, Heb 11 vs 39 nand 40 : And all these having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having providede something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. If they are not perfect yet, where are they because the writer of Hebrews is still alive?
I can't find scriptural proof that the bible says when you die you go to heaven. I find lots of scriptures that show the they looked forward to Jesus 2nd coming.
In My Father's hose are many mansions ect. I will come again and receive you to Myself. When? At His coming.
What about Titus 2 vs 13- looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing
or
II Thes 2 vs 1 : Now brethryn, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him
When do we gather to meet Jesus- At His 2nd coming.
I've looked up over 60 scriptures that show we are unconscience at death and will meet Jesus at His 2nd coming.
The resurrection is an event where lots of people are raised from the dead and there are more than one resurrection.
The men of Nineveh will rise and condemn this generation ect... Interested in any scriptures that say when you die you go to heaven if you can point one out to me. I know the one about being absent from the body, or I'd rather be absent from the body and present with the Lord.
