DOES THE BIBLE REALLY TEACH THAT JESUS WENT TO HEAVEN TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR US? Dr. Josimar Salum

DOES THE BIBLE REALLY TEACH THAT JESUS WENT TO HEAVEN TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR US? Dr. Josimar Salum 

Someone very special asked me:

“So that place is called at the right hand? What does John 14 says? Is it also talking about that place, the Father's place?

I must tell you directly and up front. Jesus is not preparing any place to us. This concept does not even make sense, that He is in heaven after 2000 years preparing a place for us. To think such thing is to blasphemously ignore His complete work of redemption at the Cross. He said at last: “It is finished!” This means that His work is completed and finished, that His blood shed and His death are totally enough for our redemption. He left the disciples a little while while He died on the Cross and three days later He was risen from the dead and He came back to His disciples. 

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.” I Corinthians‬ ‭15:1-8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” Acts‬ ‭1:1-3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Jesus says He went to the Cross to prepare a place (dwelling) for us. In fact in John chapter 13, 14 and in the subsequent chapters He made no reference to heaven. The word heaven does not even appear in these texts. Jesus was going to lay down His life for us. 

“Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.” John‬ ‭13:36-38‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

John 14 says clearly He was going to the Father ... That He would not leave the disciples orphans. That He would come back and He did when He sent His Holy Spirit to live in them. Read carefully with the new understating of the Spirit.

“Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house.”

“God does not really live on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!” 1 Kings‬ ‭8:27‬ ‭NET‬‬

“Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”

“If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you. “I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too.

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. We will dwell in them.” 

You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.” John‬ ‭14:1-7, 15-19, 23, 28‬ ‭NET‬‬

The eternal dwelling of GOD is His people.

 “And I saw the holy city – the new Jerusalem – descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.” Revelation‬ ‭21:2-3‬ ‭NET‬‬

The Father’s place, the place where  GOD dwells is US. 

“Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God – the All-Powerful – and the Lamb are its temple.” Revelation‬ ‭21:22‬ ‭NET‬‬

“But if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” ‭‭I Timothy‬ ‭3:15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

And the following passage introduces a higher revelation about the eternal dwelling of GOD that I prefer not to comment now, but just share the scripture. 

“He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him –” Colossians‬ ‭1:18-22‬ ‭NET‬‬

“I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one – I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.” John‬ ‭17:20-23‬ ‭NET‬

We have to understand what the Bible really teach us and not perpetuate what we have received a tradition. If it is not biblical indeed, we should not be resistant to reject it. We will not go and we will not live in heaven forever. There is no such teaching in the Bible. The Bible teach us about inheriting the Kingdom and not eternal life in heaven. Our lives actually is not about heaven. Heaven is not our goal or our aim. Jesus is. 

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Matthew‬ ‭25:34‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Attention to the fact that the  kingdom has been prepared for us since the creation of the world. There is no ongoing preparation for us in heaven and in any other circumstances. 

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the first-fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:20-26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This false teaching which have been sustained and shared years that the heaven is the place God prepared for us, that heaven is our eternal home must be denounced and rejected. GOD has never promised heaven to men, GOD has given us eternal life and promised His Kingdom. 

“The heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to mankind.” Psalms‬ ‭115:16‬ ‭NET‬‬

Heaven is not the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of heaven is grater than heaven and the whole creation.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.” Matthew‬ ‭19:23-24‬ ‭NET‬‬

“For thus an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided for you.” 2 Peter‬ ‭1:11‬ ‭NET‬‬

“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”” John‬ ‭3:3, 5-8‬ ‭NKJV‬

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” ‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭6:9-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Ephesians‬ ‭5:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:32

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21

This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ Matthew 6:9-10

“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10-11

#ASONE