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WHERE ARE THE DEAD? - Brief Version
A friend, who is an unbeliever, thought that the original essay on this subject was too long and heavy going. Hence it was decided to do a cut & paste job, and just include the most important parts. If anyone wants more details the original full-length version is in Chapter 16.
If the dead really do go to Heaven, one would expect this to be revealed firstly in the Old Testament. A search of the word “died” reveals around 250 uses. In each instance it just basically says that those who died went to the grave to join their ancestors. No mention of going anywhere else but the grave. If people really do go to Heaven wouldn’t God have mentioned it at least once? Other Old Testament Scriptures reveal more about the subject: -
Ps 6:5” Dead people don’t remember you; those in the grave don’t praise you” (NCV)
Ps 88:5 “I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.” v10 “Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do those who are dead rise up and praise you? Selah” 11 Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction? Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?” (NIV) Ps 104:29: - “When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to dust.
“But your dead will live, your corpses will rise, all you dead and buried, rise and sing for joy” Isa 26:19 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” Ezek. 37:5 “---I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel Then, my people, will know that I am God, after I open your graves and bring you up from them.” Vs12-13. What Does the New Testament Reveal? :-
Christ Himself said: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” John 1:18 NIV. Also, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man.” John 3:13 NIV. In John 5 He stated: - “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be judged.” Can’t make it much clearer can He? 6: 39- “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 44 no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” Three times in six verses Christ said He would raise them up at the Last Day. How’s that for emphasis?! This is not ambiguous! “No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.” John 6:46. “Haven’t you read what God told you about the dead coming back to life?” Mathew 22:31 So, how do some claim that the dead go to Heaven???? Their own Master has made it very clear what happens, but they prefer a lie.