Soul, Spirit & Body  

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God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.

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We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”

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He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

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I believe scripture is telling us that when we die, Yehovah takes back His spirit the breath of life, our souls sleep and our body decays until we are resurrected either to life or to the second death. If we are resurrected to life, we will be given a new body as indicated in the next verses.

 

Believers Who Have Died

• 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who has no hope? 14 For we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Yeshua those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord Forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

 

Assurance of the Resurrection

• 1 Corinthians 15:49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

 

• 2 Corinthians 5:8 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always confident, knowing that while 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, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust is well known in your consciences.

 

Fifth Seal: The Cry of the Martyrs Revelations 6:9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed? And the spirit will return to God

 

• Ecclesiastes 12:5 For man will go to his home that lasts forever, while people filled with sorrow go about in the street. 6 Remember Him before the silver rope of life is broken and the gold dish is crushed. Remember Him before the pot by the well is broken and the wheel by the waterhole is crushed. 7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was. And the spirit will return to God Who gave it

 

• Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person.

 

• Job 27:3 3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

 

• Job 33:4 4 The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

 

• Ecclesiastes 12:7 7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

 

• 1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God know no man, but the Spirit of God.

 

• Ezekiel 37:5-6 Thus said the Lord GOD to these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live: 6 And I will lay sinews on you and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

 

Who has ascended to heaven?  

There are four occasions in the bible where it appears that individuals have gone to Heaven; Elijah, Lazarus, and Thief on the cross and absent from the body present with Yehovah.

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2 Kings 2:11 Then it happened, as they continued and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

• John 3:13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 2 Chronicles 21:12 Thus says the

Lord God of your father David: Because you have not walked in the ways of

Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

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Rich Man and Lazarus

● Luke 16:19-23 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

 

22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to

Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torment in Hades, he lifted his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Luke 16:29 Abraham said to him, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” 30 And he said, “No, Father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’”31 But he said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”

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Thief on the cross

• Luke 23: 39-42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today,,,,, you will be with Me in Paradise.”

 

Keep this in mind

 

1. Hebrew writings did not have commas.

 

1. It says “paradise”, not heaven.

 

1. The thief said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

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1. John 20:17 Yeshua said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them,” I am ascending to My Father and your Father and to My God and your God.”

2. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man Will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. absent from the body present with Yehovah.

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