The belief that one goes to heaven or hell immediately upon death is total error. David has not ascended into Heaven because he is still dead and buried as Peter said. There’s no need to twist his words to fit one’s preconceived idea of what happens at death. There is no need to rely on a parable Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus. One cannot possibly think that you start living among Abraham’s chest hairs when you die. The parable had a point and that point wasn’t to teach what Heaven is like. No one ascends into Heaven (save for Enoch, Elijah and Moses) until the Lord returns with a shout and resurrects the dead as it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:
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.
Ever wonder why the Bible refers to death as a sleep so many times? So and so “slept” with their fathers, etc. because there is no awareness in death! It’s like a dreamless sleep. “For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything” Ecclesiastes 9:5.
Timothy is absolutely correct. Scripture makes it very clear we do not go to heaven (or hell for that matter unless you a talking about the true meaning of the word hell – which is ‘the grave’) when we die. One must understand that ‘hellfire’ is different from hell. Hellfire is the event that takes place at the end of time following the millennium when the unrepentant are raised for the execution of their sentence. Since they refused the righteousness of Christ, they themselves must pay the wages for their sin which is death of the eternal kind which is accomplished by being consumed by fire.
There is so much evidence in scripture that we don’t go to heaven when we die and so little to ‘imply’ that we do. We have always thought it a bit odd that if going to Heaven when you die is such a big thing in Christianity then why aren’t the scriptures full of verses to confirm this? The most common verse people use about going to Heaven when you die is when Christ said “Today you will be with me in Paradise” to which I ask the very obvious question…. was he? Christ was in the tomb for 3 days and 3 nights, so the criminal certainly wasn’t in Heaven with Him that day!!
No, it’s very simple really. We are clearly told that Christ is going to return and set up his Kingdom on EARTH. Doesn’t even the Lord’s Prayer tell us that Gods Kingdom is yet to come…..why would we need it to come if we went to heaven when we died?
Right in the first book of the bible we find out very clearly what happens to us when we die. “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:19. No mention of a soul, spiritual, or resurrected body going to Heaven.
If David and all those other faithful men and women mentioned in the bible were in Heaven why wouldn’t it mention as soon as they died ‘they went to Heaven and are now with God? Because they aren’t in Heaven at all, they are asleep awaiting the return of Christ. Hebrews 11 is saying they will be made perfect when WE ARE at the return of Christ. In other words, they are asleep until the return of Christ, and it is only then when they shall truly receive the promise. The Bible clearly tells us the ‘reward’ is with Christ when he returns.
Gods plan is to be back here on Earth (when he will be ‘all in all’) but first he will send back His Son (who defeated the curse of death by never sinning) to set up His Kingdom, judge those who are found worthy of a place in that Kingdom and show the world that there is only One True God.
1 Corinthians 15:52: In a moment, in the twinkiling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, AND WE SHALL BE CHANGED.
Please study the bible and you will find this is the Truth. God’s word makes sense, it doesn’t matter what denomination you are, the Truth is there for everyone to read and understand.
For an in-dept study on death and hell/hellfire:
State of the Dead video presentations