What the Bible says about Heaven
*** Rbi8 Hebrews 11:12-16
***
12 Hence also from one [man], and him as good as dead, there were born
[children] just as the stars of heaven for multitude
and
as the sands that are by the seaside, innumerable. 13 In faith all
these died, although they did not get the [fulfillment of the] promises,
but they saw them afar off and welcomed them and publicly declared that
they were strangers and temporary residents in the land. 14 For those who
say such things give evidence that they are earnestly seeking a place
of their own. 15 And yet, if they had indeed kept remembering
that [place] from which they had gone forth, they would have had opportunity
to return. 16 But now they are reaching out for
a better [place], that is, one belonging to heaven. Hence God
is not ashamed of them, to be called upon as their God, for
he has made a city ready for them.
All the other scriptures talked about are quoted at the bottom of this article for your viewing.
*** w89 10/1 15 Do You Condemn the World
Through Your Faith? ***
21 The Scriptures clearly show what is needed to survive the great
tribulation: a strong faith. Noah had such faith, but do you have it? If
you do, like him you will become “an heir of the righteousness that is
according to faith.” (Hebrews 11:7) Noah survived the God-decreed destruction
that came upon his generation. Not only did he live for 350 years after
the Flood but he is to be resurrected with the prospect
of living on earth forever. What a grand blessing! (Hebrews 11:13-16) You
can share in that blessing with Noah, his family, and millions of others
who love righteousness. How? By enduring to the end and condemning the
world through your faith.
Does Hebrews 11:13-16 say that? Where is the Society getting this interpretation from these verses?
*** w83 3/15 21-2 "Be Joyful Forever" ***
TRULY, we can be most joyful that the Messianic King, Christ Jesus,
now reigns in a heavenly “Jerusalem.” This is the city “belonging to heaven”
mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, and for which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
‘reached out.’ They “publicly declared that they were strangers and temporary
residents in the land” of Canaan, for they were earnestly seeking “the
city having real foundations, the builder and maker of which city is God.”
But
as with the “great crowd,” who today have hope of everlasting life on earth,
the “fulfillment of the promise” to those men of old must wait until anointed
Christians have received their inheritance in the heavenly Kingdom.—Hebrews
11:8-16, 39, 40; Revelation 7:9.
Read Hebrews 11:12 it speaks of a multitude & innumerable which would mean the great crowd, now read verse 16 which says “But now they are reaching out for a better [place], that is, one belonging to heaven.” Rev 7:9 speaks of the great crowd before the throne and before the Lamb. Now where is the throne before the Lamb located?
*** w82 2/1 29 "Born Again"-Man's Part and God's Part ***
And there is no question about the spiritual strength of those
men and women of faith listed in Hebrews chapter 11. None of those were
“born again.” All of them looked forward to “a better resurrection [to
life under God’s kingdom]” right here on this earth.—Hebrews 11:35.
Is that What Hebrews chapter 11 says? Again Where is the Society getting this? If they are referring to Hebrews 11:35 where it speaks of a resurrection, then they need to go to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 where it says “and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. 17 Afterward we the living who are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with [the] Lord.” It clearly says you will rise first, a resurrection, then go to heaven.
*** Live Forever 1989, 172 20 Resurrection-for Whom, and Where?
***
18 Who are the “righteous” that are to be resurrected? These will include
faithful servants of God who lived before Jesus Christ came to earth. Many
of these persons are mentioned by name in Hebrews chapter 11. They did
not hope to go to heaven, but hoped to live again on earth. Also
among the “righteous” to be resurrected are faithful servants of God who
have died in recent years. God will see to it that their hope of
living forever on earth is realized by raising them from the dead.
Again Hebrews Chapter 11 does not say this.
*** w94 5/15 30 Coping With Homesickness in God's Service ***
If they had kept remembering and longing for the place they had
left, they would have had opportunity to return. But
they were reaching out for a better place—ultimately life on a paradise
earth under God’s heavenly Kingdom.—Hebrews 11:15, 16.
They were reaching out for a better place called Heaven, it does not say a paradise earth.
*** yw 50-1 2 Why It Must Be Done on Earth ***
31 This hope of an earthly Paradise restored and made earth-wide is
not a materialistic hope, to turn men away from the joys of heaven, which
many religious leaders of Christendom say is the destiny of members of
their religious systems. This hope is no more materialistic than Adam’s
obeying God for a time in Eden in order to remain alive in the first paradise
was selfishly materialistic in its aim. “‘The first man Adam became a living
soul.’ The first man is out of the earth and made of dust.” (1 Corinthians
15:45, 47) Adam’s God-given hope could be no more
than an earthly hope, the same hope that all the holy men of God entertained,
from the first martyr Abel down to John the Baptist, yes, and down to that
sympathetic evildoer dying alongside Jesus.—Hebrews 11:3-40. 32 This
does not conflict with the heavenly hope that God puts in the hearts of
the followers of Jesus Christ. These God makes his spiritual children by
the use of his holy spirit or active force, to start them in a new way
of life, a heavenly life. These comparatively few Christians, pictured
by the twenty-four “elders” in the vision to John, are said to be begotten
or engendered by God through the means of his life-giving
spirit. So they set their affections and keep their minds fixed on
the things above. In the resurrection from the dead they expect to be born
like Jesus Christ into the fullness of spirit life in heaven, changed,
transformed indeed.—1 Corinthians 15:42-54. 33 The
heavenly hope of these 144,000 faithful ones of the true Christian congregation
does not leave the rest of mankind with nothing to hope for. That gleaming
hope of an earthly Paradise, where God’s will is to be done on earth as
well as in heaven, is the blessed hope reserved for them according to God’s
unchanged loving purpose.
The Society says only the 144,000 have such an heavenly hope, they get this from Rev 7:4. What is hard to believe is the Society takes this number as a literal number from symbolic numbers in Rev 7:5-8, 12 tribes times 12,000. The Society also takes the scripture in Rev 7:9 as symbolic when the Great Crowd is before the throne before the Lamb. Now I ask who says you can pick and choose this is symbolic, this is literal, etc. Why is Rev. 20: 1-9 is literal but verse 10 is symbolic? Makes you wonder.
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*** Rbi8 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ***
13 Moreover, brothers, we do not want YOU to be ignorant concerning
those who are sleeping [in death]; that YOU may not sorrow just as the
rest also do who have no hope. 14 For if our faith
is that Jesus died and rose again, so, too, those who have fallen asleep
[in death] through Jesus God will bring with him. 15 For this is
what we tell YOU by Jehovah’s word, that we the living who survive to the
presence of the Lord
shall in no way precede those who have fallen asleep [in death]; 16
because
the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with
an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in
union with Christ will rise first. 17 Afterward we the living who
are surviving will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to
meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with [the] Lord.18
Consequently keep comforting one another with these words.
*** Rbi8 Revelation 19:1 ***
19 After these things I heard what was as a
loud voice of a great crowd in heaven. They said: “Praise Jah,
YOU people! The salvation and the glory and the power belong to our God,
*** Rbi8 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 ***
35 Nevertheless, someone will say: “How are the
dead to be raised up? Yes, with what sort of body are they coming?”
36 You unreasonable person! What you sow is not made alive unless first
it dies; 37 and as for what you sow, you sow, not the body that will develop,
but a bare grain, it may be, of wheat or any one of the rest; 38 but God
gives it a body just as it has pleased him, and to each of the seeds its
own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same flesh, but there is one of mankind,
and there is another flesh of cattle, and another flesh of birds, and another
of fish. 40 And there are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies; but the
glory of the heavenly bodies is one sort, and that of the earthly bodies
is a different sort. 41 The glory of the sun is one sort, and the glory
of the moon is another, and the glory of the stars is another; in fact,
star differs from star in glory.42 So also is the
resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in
incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised up in glory.
It is sown in weakness, it is raised up in power. 44 It
is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body. If there is
a physical body, there is also a spiritual one. 45 It is even
so written: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The last Adam became
a life-giving spirit. 46 Nevertheless, the first is, not that which is
spiritual, but that which is physical, afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is out of the earth and made of dust; the second man is
out of heaven. 48 As the one made of dust [is], so those made of dust [are]
also; and as the heavenly one [is], so those who are heavenly [are] also.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the
one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one.
50 However, this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s
kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Look! I tell
YOU a sacred secret: We shall not all fall asleep [in death], but we shall
all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, during the
last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised
up incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this which is corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality.
54
But when [this which is corruptible puts on incorruption and] this which
is mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will take place that is
written: “Death is swallowed up forever.” 55 “Death, where is your victory?
Death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting producing death is sin, but the
power for sin is the Law. 57 But thanks to God, for he gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 Consequently, my beloved brothers, become
steadfast, unmovable, always having plenty to do in the work of the Lord,
knowing that YOUR labor is not in vain in connection with [the] Lord.
*** Rbi8 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 ***
12 I have to boast. It is not beneficial; but I shall pass on to supernatural
visions and revelations of [the] Lord. 2 I know a man in union with Christ
who, fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the
body I do not know; God knows—was caught away
as such to the third heaven. 3 Yes, I know such a man—whether in the
body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows— 4 that he was caught
away into paradise and heard unutterable words which it is not lawful
for a man to speak.
*** Rbi8 Ephesians 4:4 ***
One body there is, and one spirit, even as YOU were called in
the one hope to which YOU were called;
*** Rbi8 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 ***
5 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, should be dissolved,
we
are to have a building from God, a house not made with hands, everlasting
in the heavens. 2 For in this dwelling house we do indeed groan, earnestly
desiring to put on the one for us from heaven,
3 so that, having
really put it on, we shall not be found naked. 4 In fact, we who are in
this tent groan, being weighed down; because we want, not to put it off,
but to put on the other, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now he that produced us for this very thing is God, who gave us the token
of what is to come, that is, the spirit. 6 We are therefore always of good
courage and know that, while we have our home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord, 7 for we are walking by faith, not by sight. 8 But
we are of good courage and are well pleased rather to become absent from
the body and to make our home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we are
also making it our aim that, whether having our home with him or being
absent from him, we may be acceptable to him. 10 For we must all be made
manifest before the judgment seat of the Christ, that each one may get
his award for the things done through the body, according to the things
he has practiced, whether it is good or vile.
For
further information on what the Bible says about BornAgain.