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To: realpatriot71
Paul knew that since "the dead know nothing" that the first thing he would see, relative to his perception, after his death would be the face of his Redeemer. For to die in the Lord is akin to being with the Lord immediately after death, as the dead and saved will have no experience after death, save that of the resurrection. Furthermore, if the saved go to heaven at death, there is no need for a ressurection

You are in some confusion here. At death, the believer in Christ is immediately in the presence of the Lord in heaven. His physical body is of course buried in the grave, but every human has a spiritual body also. At physical death, a separation takes place, in which the spiritual body leaves the physical body. This is referred to as the intermediate state. All believers since the time of Christ have died and have immediately been received into heaven, in the presence of the Lord Jesus, in their spiritual bodies. This has been going on for 2000 years.

At some point Jesus will return to the clouds above the earth and raise the physical bodies of the dead in Christ - all believers who have died since Calvary - and transform the bodies of those believers who are alive - and this whole group, called The Church, will be taken up to be with Him in the air (1 Thess 4:13-18). This event is called the Rapture, and it is the next event on the Christian calendar. This is stage 1 of the Second Coming of Christ. It is also stage 1 of the First Resurrection.

Then, 7 years later, after the Tribulation Period (the time of Jacob's trouble) during which the terrible judgements of God will be poured out on the earth, and during which time the Antichrist will reign, Jesus will again return to the earth. This time He comes down to the earth itself to destroy the armies of the Antichrist, to cast the Antichrist and the False Prophet into the Lake Of Fire, and to inaugurate His Millenial Reign (1000 years). The believers whom He previously raised from the dead at the Rapture 7 years earlier will be with Him. This is stage 2 of the Second Coming of Christ. It is also stage 2 of the First Resurrection, for He will raise the dead bodies of the Tribulation saints and the Old Testament saints at this time. The saints will reign with Christ for 1000 years.

Similarly, all lost people since the time of Calvary - and actually, since the time of Cain and Abel - have gone to Hades upon physical death. There they await judgement in their spiritual bodies. Though Hades is awful, it is not the final destination for the lost. Upon being resurrected to appear before God at the Great White Throne Judgement of Rev 20:11-15, which occurs after the Millenial Reign of Christ, and is called the Second Resurrection (the resurrection unto damnation) the lost will receive their physical bodies back and stand before the Lord. He will review their lives and pronounce sentence on each one, from the smallest to the greatest. Each will be judged according to his deeds. The exact degree of accountability and eternal punishment will be firmly established by the Lord, and each one will be cast into the eternal Lake Of Fire, or Gehenna, the final hell.

After the damned are cast into Gehenna forever, the present heavens and the earth will be destroyed and God will make a new heaven and earth. The saints will live forever with God in heaven and upon the earth.

325 posted on 02/05/2004 1:44:08 PM PST by music_code (Atheists can't find God for the same reason a thief can't find a policeman.)
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To: music_code
All believers since the time of Christ have died and have immediately been received into heaven, in the presence of the Lord Jesus, in their spiritual bodies. This has been going on for 2000 years.

All the dead are dead - not in heaven, and not in hell - dead. I posted the scriptures to this point earlier. If you have no problem with your contradictions, what do you want me to say? You were told.

327 posted on 02/05/2004 2:13:51 PM PST by realpatriot71 (It's time to build a freakin' wall!)
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