Yes, I think Christ is in Heaven, but if Acts shows David didnt ascend to Heaven when he died, my question was why do we think that when we die we will go immediately to Heaven? Im starting to see the verse more as Daivd didnt ascend for them and Jesus did, but the wording of that verse does make you wonder why do we think we go directly to heaven
No one did until Christ defeated death
I Peter 3:18 "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"
I Peter 3:19 "By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison,"
These spirits that Christ preached to in prison, where the spirits of the saints that died prior to His death on the cross.
I Peter 3:20 "Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering for God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."
Not the word "sometime", they were not disobedient all the time like the fallen angels, but were disobedient while living in the flesh body. Do you think that it was the whether that saved those adamic souls? They were saved from the water, and the reason that God saved them is given in
Genesis 6:9; "
THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."
The key to understanding this verse is in the word "
perfect", for in the Hebrew text, it is the word "
tamin", which means "
without blemish as to breed or pedigree." In
Genesis 6:1-7, when men started to multiply on the face of the earth, daughters were born to them. When the sons of God beheld the daughters of men, they desired them. Many "sons of God" or fallen angels left their place of habitation in the heavens and came to earth and multiplied with those daughters of flesh man, and from them came the Nethinim. This is what the book of Jude is all about.
Jude 6"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."
These were the giants of old, and through the years to the time of Noah, all souls on earth were contaminated by cross marriage, to where there was only Noah, His wife,
and their family that were pure in pedigree, or their lineage blood line. It was the half breed creatures of giants, that came from the union of the daughters of men, and the fallen angels that left their first estate, that were the ones that the flood of Noah's day was to eliminate. Jesus tells us in
Matthew 24:37-39 that in the time just before His coming it will be just as it was in Noah's day.
Matthew 24:37"But as the days of Noe [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
Matthew 24:38 "
For as the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,"
Matthew 24:39 "
And knew not until that flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
The fallen angels are coming back to earth, and when they come they will be as we are, for we are created in their image, which is God's image. The time of their return is set, and shall be when Michael kicks them out of heaven where they are now. When they come to earth, their nature will be of peace and prosperity, just like their leader Satan. They will come to deceive you and anyone that will listen to them into believing that their leader Satan is the true Christ. Many, such as those that believe in the "any-moment doctrine", [rapture doctrine] will be taken by them immediately. They will not be able to wait patiently for the True Christ's return. There will be very few that can resist Satan at his coming, just like there were very few to come through the flood of Noah's time.
Genesis 6:7 "
And the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them." "
Genesis 6:8 "
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord."
In our day, God's elect will be spared from the flood of lies that Satan casts upon the earth. It was the ark that saved Noah and his family from the waters, and there is also an ark in the end times that shall save God's elect from the flood of lies and deception that Satan shall bring upon the entire earth. That ark is given in
Revelation 9:4;"And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men [women] which have not the seal of God in their foreheads."
The ark of the book of Revelation is "
the seal of God in their foreheads" from
Revelation 9:4. That "
seal" is the Word of God, all of it from the beginning to the end, and that allows those with that Word in their minds to understand exactly what is going on in these final days, so that they shall not be deceived. Remember the flood of the last generation is not of water, but deception. It is all the lies, the supernatural acts that Satan will bring with him to this earth when he plays the role of the "instead of Christ", or Antichrist. You will either know it at the instant of Satan's coming, or you will not, and if you do not know that the first Christ coming to earth is Satan, you will accept Him as the true Christ.
The ark became the type of savior to Noah and His family, for they did not have a savior as we do today, in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ had not been born nor died on the cross at the time of Noah. Those people did not have the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven as you and I do today. There was a temporary covering for the year, by burning a few pure animals, but it just didn't get the job done.
Every one that died in their flesh bodies, all the way back prior to Adam [Ha-adam], to the six day creation of male and female of
Genesis 1:27, had not lived a perfect life by the law, for the law was given to convict of Sin, not to save from sin. All that is except three. Enoch was transfigured and taken by God.
Genesis 5:24;"And Enoch walked with god: and he was not; for God took him."
Elijah was also take by God because of His righteousness.
II Kings 2:11; "And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."
Moses went off into the wilderness, and God took the body of Moses, but these are the only men where there is no record of their death in the flesh. However, both Moses and David murdered a man, and that is sin under the law. So can we say that God is fair, if everyone that had died before the cross of Christ would be condemned to hell? This is why Jesus Christ went back to those that had died in their flesh bodies, and their souls were held in prison waiting for the day of judgment, and Jesus preached to each of them. He taught the souls that were held prisoners because of their sins. Even while the flesh of Jesus was still in the tomb, the Spirit of Jesus Christ went directly to paradise, to the wrong side of the gulf in paradise, and taught His children. They are the ones spoken of here in verse twenty, and many of them accepted that opportunity that Jesus Christ gave to them and were part of the resurrection with Christ.
The saints soul never dies
