Where In The Bible Will I Find:

The Spirits Of The Righteous Ascending Direct To Heaven?

While on earth, Jesus taught many lessons in parables. A parable is a parallel or representative of that which is real and that to which it has a spiritual meaning. When Jesus spoke of the rich man and Lazarus it is believed by some to be a parable, but to others it is real.

Whether it is real or a parable it still teaches that after death there is a place prepared by God for the spirits of the dead while awaiting the judgment day. This place, in Hebrews is called "Sheol," and in Greek it is called "Hades." It is a place of disembodied or unseen spirits, both righteous and unrighteous., although they are separated by a great gulf fixed: so that no one can pass from one to the other (Luke 16:26).

At death, the spirit is no longer in the body: for the death is the separation of body and the spirit (James 2:26). The body returns back to the dust from whence it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7). In this verse, many believe that this means that the spirit returns to God in heaven, but they fail to understand the omnipresence of God: for God is everywhere at the same time (Psm. 139:7-12).

Therefore, the spirits in Hades are still with God. The righteous spirits are in that part of Hades designated as paradise or Abraham's bosom. Whereas the wicked spirits are retained in that part designated as tartarus, a place of torment as experienced by the rich man in Luke 16. "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" (John 3:13).

This was written by the beloved apostle John at the close of the first century and at that time only the Lord Jesus Christ had ascended direct to heaven. According to the Scriptures, no spirits of the dead has ever ascended direct to heaven. King David, who lived and died one thousand years before Jesus came to the earth had not ascended to heaven (Acts 2:34). This simply means that his soul or spirit was still left in Hades where the spirits of all the dead must remain until the judgment day.

At that day, the Scriptures says, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thess. 4:16-17).

This shows that the spirits of the righteous must await the resurrection of the body before they are delivered from the Hadean realm. "Then cometh the end..." (I Con 15:24). Christ at this time will deliver up His kingdom to His Father in heaven and time shall be no more. We must make every effort possible in our obedience to the Lord's teaching that our Spirit will be with those in paradise awaiting the judgment so that we can eternally be with Him in heaven.