Dr David Jeremiah Q&A : The senior pastor of the Shadow Mountain Commuinity church and the founder of Turning point ministry, Dr. David Jeremiah has come up with a wonderful answer to this helpful and insightful question thrown to him on Instagram by one Phillis ”When I die, will I go directly to heaven or will I wait until the Rapture?”.
This is a question so many of us have in mind but finding it difficult to get an answer. Finally, here is David Jeremiah’s answer on this.
Responding to the question, Pastor David Jeremiah wrote on instagram :
Today’s prophecy question comes from Phyllis on Instagram. Phyllis was wondering:
Q: When I die, will I go directly to heaven or will I wait until the Rapture?
A: Before the Ascension of Christ, the souls of believers went to an intermediate heaven called “Paradise” when they died. But when Jesus ascended after His death, He went into Paradise and took its inhabitants – all the Old Testament saints – with Him to the third heaven (Ephesians 4:8-10).
In other words, believers no longer pass through the intermediate heaven upon death. The soul and spirit of today’s believers go immediately to the third heaven because Paradise is now with God (2 Corinthians 12: 2-4).
The body goes to sleep, awaiting its resurrection at the Rapture, while the soul immediately arises to join our Lord in heaven.
Writing further on this , Dr David Jeremiah wrote on his offcial Turning Point Ministry website :
Before the Ascension of Christ, the souls of believers went to an intermediate heaven called “Paradise” when they died. But when Jesus ascended after His death, He went into Paradise and took its inhabitants—all the Old Testament saints—with Him to the third heaven (Ephesians 4:8-10). In other words, believers no longer pass through the intermediate heaven upon death. The soul and spirit of today’s believers go immediately to the third heaven because Paradise is now with God (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).
Our bodies are a different matter. When a believer dies today, their corpse enters the grave and “falls asleep” as their soul goes to Paradise (Philippians 1:23; Luke 23:43). In Scripture, “falling asleep” refers to the believer’s death. For instance, when Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers, he said, “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Paul wasn’t talking about the falling asleep we do each night. He was describing the death of Christians.
The body goes to sleep, awaiting its resurrection at the Rapture, while the soul immediately arises to join our Lord in heaven.
In the New Testament, “to fall asleep” comes from the Greek word koimao, which means “to recline.” The same term could describe someone who slept in a hotel for a night and continued their journey the next day. This definition gives us a beautiful image of what happens to a believer’s body when they die. The body goes to sleep, awaiting its resurrection at the Rapture, while the soul immediately arises to join our Lord in heaven.
When Jesus returns in the clouds to call His people home, the spirits of all who ever confessed Him as Lord and Savior will reunite with their bodies—recreated, incorruptible, and whole—as the Lord created them to be (Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 15:52-53). Our flesh and spirit will join together to spend eternity in the Lord’s presence, untainted by sin (Revelation 21:4-5; 22:1-5). That is every Christian’s hope: to be transformed into the image of Christ! “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
May God bless his words in our hearts throgh Chrust our Lord.
Credit : davidjeremiah.org