Are they with Jesus now or asleep until he raise them later?

[seeker2122]

Those who have passed away recently or long time ago.....are they with Jesus in heaven right now? Looking down on us?
Or are they still in sleep and will be raised when Jesus returns?

Often times we see in movies or hear in stories and interviews that so and so passed away and they are looking down at them from
heaven right now. Is there any biblical truth to this? Is my grandmother watching over me and protecting me or watching my football games
or....etc etc.

 

[IoanC]

This is a Mystery only God knows. However, what is more important now is that Christ will return to judge everybody according to their deeds (John 5:26-29) (Matthew 25:31-46). So, until then, nobody knows where they are going.

 

[trophy33]

They are with God.

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body."
Phil 1:21-23

Whether they watch our minor life events like sport games, is unknown. I guess they have more interesting things to do.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Those who have passed away recently or long time ago.....are they with Jesus in heaven right now? Looking down on us?
Or are they still in sleep and will be raised when Jesus returns?

Often times we see in movies or hear in stories and interviews that so and so passed away and they are looking down at them from
heaven right now. Is there any biblical truth to this? Is my grandmother watching over me and protecting me or watching my football games
or....etc etc.

There are only a couple examples of people being in heaven right now according to scripture. Enoch, Moses and Elijiah.

Scripture tells us when we die dust we were made, dust we become until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

“The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

The Spirit goes back to God when dying, every living thing but “The body without the spirit is dead” (James 2:26).

When Jesus comes it says...

“All who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth” (John 5:28, 29). The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout. … And the dead in Christ will rise. … And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17).

When we die we return to dust, but this is not a permeant state. The dead know nothing and feel nothing, so they are not in pain. When you die, your next conscious thought will be Jesus Coming and those in Christ will meet Jesus in the air and will reign with Him forever. Those not in Christ to eternal condemnation (death, not eternal suffering) the wages of sin is death, but those in Christ will forever live with Him!

 

[ozso]

And then there's Revelation talking about all of the dead being brought up from the ground and sea to meet Jesus when he returns.

Of course the thing with soul sleep is the transition will always seem instantaneous to the person, no matter how long they had been asleep.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

Of course the thing with soul sleep is the transition will always seem instantaneous to the person, no matter how long they had been asleep.

Are you so sure of this? When I wake up in the morning I am conscious of the passage of time since I fell asleep.

 

[d taylor]

-
​

A person's physical body is asleep until it is resurrected, but the believer is in heaven right now.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

^ Psalms 115:17 The dead praise not the Lord

If one is dead but their spirit is in heaven, wouldn't they be praising the Lord. There is no scripture that says there are dead souls living in heaven. The dead are dead and a body without the spirit is dead. James 2:26

 

[ozso]

Are you so sure of this? When I wake up in the morning I am conscious of the passage of time since I fell asleep.

But are you aware of each hour passing while you're asleep? When I wake up early, I have no idea of what time it is. I don't know if I've been asleep for ninety minutes or it's close to eight hours. And then there are times when it seems like I just went to bed when my alarm goes off eight hours later.

Just for the record I'm not an advocate of soul sleep. I'm just surmising what it would be like.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

But are you aware of each hour passing while you're asleep? When I wake up early, I have no idea of what time it is. I don't know if I've been asleep for ninety minutes or it's close to eight hours. And then there are times when it seems like I just went to bed when my alarm goes off eight hours later.

Do I have to be aware of each hour as it passes? Is this soul sleep something that the sleeper is aware of time passing?

 

[ozso]

-
​

A person's physical body is asleep until it is resurrected, but the believer is in heaven right now.

Good point.

 

[ozso]

Do I have to be aware of each hour as it passes? Is this soul sleep something that the sleeper is aware of time passing?

My guess is if it exists, it would seem instantaneous, even if it had been a thousand years.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

My guess is if it exists, it would seem instantaneous, even if it had been a thousand years.

If it exists then it isn't sleep.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

A person's physical body is asleep until it is resurrected, but the believer is in heaven right now.​

Good point.

A person's recently dead body looks like it's asleep but it is actually dead.

 

[sandman]

Those who have passed away recently or long time ago.....are they with Jesus in heaven right now? Looking down on us?
Or are they still in sleep and will be raised when Jesus returns?

Often times we see in movies or hear in stories and interviews that so and so passed away and they are looking down at them from
heaven right now. Is there any biblical truth to this? Is my grandmother watching over me and protecting me or watching my football games
or....etc etc.

Why have a resurrection/gathering together if the dead are alive…

As of about 80 AD when Jesus gave this revelation for John to write …. there was no one in heaven, save... God, angels, and Jesus….. and since Jesus was there, He should know.
Jhn 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.



Moses and Enoch ….both dead

Enoch (Heb 11:5) died (Heb 11:13) as did Moses (Heb 11:23)....... Enoch did not go to heaven…He, like Phillip (Act 8:39) was moved from one place to another. Heaven/Heavens is anyplace above earth… of which there are 3 heavens mentioned in the Bible … atmospheric, celestial, and where God, Jesus, and the angels reside.

Elijah (2Ki 2:11) also died. He was taken up in a whirlwind into heaven (which is anyplace above earth) God moved him from one place to another that is why they kept looking for him….but eventually he died.
It would be difficult for Elijah to send a letter to Jehoram, King of Judah …”from heaven” 11 years after being taken up in the whirlwind. (2Ch 21:12-15 &19)

 

[Mark Quayle]

Those who have passed away recently or long time ago.....are they with Jesus in heaven right now? Looking down on us?
Or are they still in sleep and will be raised when Jesus returns?

Often times we see in movies or hear in stories and interviews that so and so passed away and they are looking down at them from
heaven right now. Is there any biblical truth to this? Is my grandmother watching over me and protecting me or watching my football games
or....etc etc.

Our time dependent point of view is a vapor compared to the reality of 'what is to come'. WE are the ones thinking in those terms; we are the ones who sleep at night; we are the ones thinking there is a difference to when God spoke the universe into being and when God can 'finally' enjoy the fruits of his labors.

In my poor logic I tend to think that not only are those who have gone before us looking down on us now, but so are we! But that is also temporally dependent consideration of non-temporal principle, applied to how I suppose the judgement of our works to happen. That is, that I suppose our motives and every impinging cause of our every thought will be brought to bear. But how that will actually 'play out', I don't know.

I see no reason to think that any who have passed on before us are in any capacity protecting us. I even doubt very much that they are interceding for us, as I have seen no scripture references to that notion.

 

[d taylor]

A person's recently dead body looks like it's asleep but it is actually dead.

-
​

May be to you, but a dead person's body to me looks dead and not asleep.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Those who have passed away recently or long time ago.....are they with Jesus in heaven right now? Looking down on us?
Or are they still in sleep and will be raised when Jesus returns?

Often times we see in movies or hear in stories and interviews that so and so passed away and they are looking down at them from
heaven right now. Is there any biblical truth to this? Is my grandmother watching over me and protecting me or watching my football games
or....etc etc.

We are surrounded, Scripture says, by a great cloud of witnesses.

The historic faith of the Church is that between bodily death and bodily resurrection there is an intermediate state, of being present with the Lord. As the Apostle speaks of being apart from the body and present with the Lord in 2 Corinthians.

Sleep is a euphemism for death, it is the body that sleeps, and then is roused awake and transformed in the resurrection.

So I am confident that, like the holy angels, the dearly departed and reposed in the Lord are with Him, and praying for us.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Dan Perez]

Those who have passed away recently or long time ago.....are they with Jesus in heaven right now? Looking down on us?
Or are they still in sleep and will be raised when Jesus returns?

Often times we see in movies or hear in stories and interviews that so and so passed away and they are looking down at them from
heaven right now. Is there any biblical truth to this? Is my grandmother watching over me and protecting me or watching my football games
or....etc etc.

John 3:13 that No man hath ascended up to heaven , BUT HE that came down from heaven , even the Son of Man which is in heaven .

In Luke 16;21--31 gives the account of where Paradise and Hell are .

People who die , that are saved by GRACE , go to Paradise mentioned in 2 Cor 12:1-4 which is an intermediate state .

dan p

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

May be to you, but a dead person's body to me looks dead and not asleep.​

You could be right. I have seen only a few dead bodies and all, except one, was post-funeral director handling.