Why are people said to "be with the Lord" when they pass

[sickntired771]

I often hear people say that a person who passes is in Heaven or with God but isn't scripture clear that to dust we return and it's only during the 2nd coming when Christ resurrects the dead?

 

[AsperNinja]

Luke 23:43 - Jesus said to the thief on the cross “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” So Jesus went immediately to Paradise when he died.


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

I'm assuming they are speaking of the person's soul.

 

[Bible2]

sickntired771 said in post 1:

I often hear people say that a person who passes is in Heaven or with God but isn't scripture clear that to dust we return and it's only during the 2nd coming when Christ resurrects the dead?

Are you thinking of the idea of "soul sleep"? If so, only the physical bodies of the dead in their graves are euphemistically "asleep" (1 Thessalonians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 15:18,51). And only their dead, physical brains are without any thoughts (Ecclesiastes 9:5, Psalms 6:5, Psalms 115:17, Isaiah 38:18a). For the soul is distinct from the body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). And the soul can remain alive even when the body is dead (Matthew 10:28a). And the soul can remain conscious outside of the body, whether the body is still alive (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) or has died (Revelation 6:9-10).

So the souls of the dead remain conscious, either in heaven with Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:21,23, Revelation 6:9-10, Luke 23:43,46, Acts 3:21) or in fiery punishment in Hades (Luke 16:22-24). At Jesus' 2nd coming, he will bring with him from heaven all the souls of all obedient believers who have ever died (1 Thessalonians 4:14). And they will descend to the earth where the graves of their bodies are, and their bodies will be physically resurrected into immortality at that time (1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:21-23,52-53, Revelation 20:4-6).

Sometime after the subsequent millennium and Gog/Magog rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10, Ezekiel chapters 38-39), the souls in Hades will be physically resurrected, judged, and cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12-15), which will be the 2nd death (Revelation 21:8). This will be the death of both their resurrected bodies and their souls (Matthew 10:28). And yet, even though they will be dead in both body and soul, their spirits, which are distinct from their bodies and souls (1 Thessalonians 5:23), will remain conscious, and will be tormented along with the spirits of Satan and his fallen angels forever (Revelation 20:10,15, Revelation 14:10-11, Matthew 25:41,46, Mark 9:45b-46, Isaiah 66:24).

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Materialists think that consciousness can involve only that which is physical, and that it arises by having a certain number of neuronal connections in one's brain. So some scientists could be trying to create a supercomputer with enough neural network connections so that (they hope) it will become conscious. But the Bible shows that humans are more than just physical bodies (1 Thessalonians 5:23), and that human souls can have consciousness outside of their bodies, whether their bodies are still alive (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) or have died (Revelation 6:9-10, Luke 16:22b-23). Also, angels have consciousness, even though they are referred to simply as "spirits" (Hebrews 1:7).

So consciousness per se isn't something which requires a certain number of neuronal connections, but can be based on something even more fundamental: spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). All consciousness ultimately being based on spirit would make sense, for God is an infinite Spirit and an infinite consciousness (John 4:24, Psalms 139:7-10, Jeremiah 23:24). And if spirit is the same as consciousness, then every kind of created thing can have some consciousness (Revelation 5:13, Mark 4:39-41, Luke 17:6, Matthew 17:20), for everything exists within God (Acts 17:28), having been brought into and maintained in existence by God's Spirit (Psalms 104:30).

A scientific way to think of this would be that the relationship between the spiritual and the physical may be analogous to the relationship between energy and matter. Just as the relationship of energy to matter is summarized by the equation e=mc^2, which means that immense amounts of energy are congealed and compacted, as it were, in order to form each tiny particle of matter, so the relationship between spirit and energy could theoretically be summarized by, for example, the equation s=ec^3, meaning that immense amounts of spirit may be congealed and compacted, as it were, in order to form each tiny photon of energy. And if all matter is based on energy, and all energy is based on spirit, and all spirit is consciousness, then all matter is ultimately based on consciousness, and so all matter can have some consciousness. This would explain how a puff of wind, a wave of water, a tree, or a mountain can obey a human command (Mark 4:39-41, Luke 17:6, Matthew 17:20), and how every kind of created thing can worship God (Revelation 5:13).

 

[sickntired771]

Great explanation Bible2 thank you.

 

[Albion]

I often hear people say that a person who passes is in Heaven or with God but isn't scripture clear that to dust we return and it's only during the 2nd coming when Christ resurrects the dead?

Why has it become popular for people to say that someone has 'passed' when they mean he's died?

 

[1watchman]

As shown in Scripture, a saint of God is in soul and spirit with the Lord when he/she dies, though the body lies in the ground 'til the translation (rapture) of the Church ---the Bride taken up to Christ (the Bridegroom). The unbelievers soul goes to Hades to wait and the body also in the grave. This is the essence of the matter. Note too that a soul shall pass from "death unto life" by faith while in this world (1 Jn. 3:14), and then will pass into the new abode in Heaven when one leaves this world, as God promises.

 

[Mister_Al]

Here's why people say that someone who died is gone to be with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8 King James Version (KJV)

8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

 

[Architeuthus]

Why are people said to "be with the Lord" when they pass

Luke 23:43: Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

 

[Albion]

Or we could ask, "Why are people said to have 'passed' when they die?"

 

[Godislove94]

This is my understanding. We are created in the image of God who is a spirit being, therefore we are spirit beings. Our physical being is not who we are but is merely the vehicle by which our spirit lives and operates. When a person dies in Christ, their spirit, the part that makes us who we are, goes to Heaven with Christ while our physical being returns to the dust. At the last judgment believers who are saved will receive a new body while the unsaved are put back into the body they died in. Hope this helps!