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I – Introduction

John’s Gospel records a promise made by the Master to His disciples a short time before His crucifixion. He said unto them, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

In spite of the simple “face value” interpretation of what is said there, some groups have come to understand that promise in a number of different ways. Although most read those words with the understanding that the Messiah will come at the end of days and take the saints with Him to Heaven, two other beliefs dealing with this event have been accepted, and this article intends to examine them through the use of relevant Scriptures.

The two beliefs are these:

1) Human beings will receive eternal life for their faith in the Son of Yah, but will all live that life here on earth. No one with a material body has ever been to Heaven, and never will.

2) At the time when Christ comes, there will be a thousand years of peace in which the righteous dwell on earth. At the end of this time, only some of the redeemed go to Heaven, but at no time are all the saints taken to the abode of the Father.

Both of these statements do appear to be supported by certain Scriptures, however the question is never to be whether one or two statements appear to support a claim, but whether or not the belief is in harmony with the total picture of Yah’s dealings with men as revealed in the course of the 66 books. Single-statement theology, or “proof texting” often does a great disservice to the message of the Bible, and it is only when we examine a large number of passages dealing with the same issue that we can begin to get an accurate picture of what our Father is really telling us.

II – An Earthly Inheritance?

It must be noted, of course, that the Bible does teach us that the “inheritance” we have been promised is here on earth. The Scriptures record of the time of regeneration:

“For, behold, I create new Heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith Yahweh.” (Isa 65:17, 21, 25)

This paints a picture of life here on earth, in a redeemed creation, where animals dwell in peace, and where physical beings perform physical functions such as eating and building houses. It is therefore a mistake to claim that when someone dies, their disembodied soul goes to be with the Master forever, and that Heaven is the final place in which all the righteous dwell. The Scriptures record that it is on the day of judgment, when the Son of Man returns, that rewards and punishments are given (Rom 2:5,6) and until then the dead are in “hell,” or a place of silence, (Psa 115:17) not currently being rewarded or punished for the quality of their faith. The fact that all the dead – even those declared righteous such as David – dwell in the same place, Sheol (which is interpreted in some versions as Hell), should be sufficient to establish that there is no distinction made between the holy and unholy until the day when judgment is actually decreed. “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” (Psa 16:10) But this matter is dealt with more fully in other articles.

We see therefore that the inheritance of most will indeed be upon the earth, with humans in a glorified state, and animals returned to their former peaceful nature, for in the beginning the Creator said, “And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat.” (Gen 1:30)

The belief that no humans have ever been to Heaven, or will ever go, that is another matter.

The most common Scripture used to support this belief is probably found in the Gospels. The Master is recorded there saying, “And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, even the Son of man which is in Heaven.” (John 3:13)

How are we to understand this verse? The answer to that is to look carefully. First, Christ was not there saying that He was once in Heaven, but that the “Son of man ... is in Heaven.” This interesting wording invites us to look more carefully at the context from which this statement was taken, and by doing that we do see indeed some interesting things.

First, the person unto whom Christ was speaking was Nicodemus, a teacher of the Law, and one who was familiar with the Old Testament. The question was not about where the Savior had been, or where people go when they die, but about who has the authority to speak about the Father with confidence. The quote itself is a partial recitation of Psalm 30, which reads, “Who hath ascended up into Heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in His fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if thou canst tell?” (Psa 30:4)

This in turn is a reference to an even older passage, and the pattern should quickly become clear. The concept is parallel to, and was originally taken from, the book of Deuteronomy in which Moses says of obedience to the Law of Yahweh, “For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in Heaven, that thou shouldest say, ‘Who shall go up for us to Heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?’ But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (Deu 30:11-14)

As we shall shortly see, there are some very clear reasons for looking deeper into the passage from John 3, and we see even in just these three sections of the Bible that deal with “going up and coming down” that there is a constant thread. The thread is this – No one is qualified to speak to human beings of Heavenly things unless they have experienced Heavenly things themselves. The commandments of Yah came down from Heaven, and are near to us. The other two passages speak of the Son Himself who, having been in Heaven, is able to speak to us of Heavenly things. He Himself said that this was His meaning in the very passage from John: “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? “ (John 3:12) His purpose was to speak to us of Heavenly things, although some were so darkened by sin that they could not even comprehend the earthly parables He was using as illustrations.

The passage from which Christ quoted, for the benefit of one who knew the passage, makes the meaning unmistakable. This statement from the Messiah was not intended to establish a doctrine on Heaven; but He was referring to a Psalm to inform Nicodemus that He, as the Son, was qualified to expound all doctrine, and that the symbol He was then using, of being “born again,” was meant to illustrate a spiritual concept.

Regarding the letter of that partially-quoted statement, some have gone to Heaven, as we will see very shortly, and one was distinctly promised that he would go, but none have “ascended and descended,” that is, come back to tell what they have seen, therefore the Son of Man “who is in Heaven,” that is, who is both eternally in union with the Father and was yet somehow here with us, is qualified to teach of the Father, and Nicodemus needed to understand that “the Word is very nigh unto thee.”

Speaking of writings such as the Psalms, there are those who try to use a particular verse from the book of Proverbs to prove that the redeemed never leave the earth. The quote is this one: “The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.” (Pro 10:30) It appears obvious that if the wicked shall never inherit the earth, and the righteous shall never be removed from it, then the Bible teaches that even the saints never go to be in Heaven. This passage is cleared up quite simply. The Hebrew-English Tanakh translates that passage as follows: “The righteous shall never be shaken; the wicked will not inhabit the earth.”

This is the most true meaning when considering the original language of the passage, for the word translated there as “removed” is the word mote which means shaken, tottered, dislodged or overthrown. It is not used, in the 39 times the word appears in the Hebrew texts, to mean “taken away.” The Bible records, for example, that “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.” (Isa 24:20) The verse before it explains just how the earth will be “removed.” “The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.” (verse 19) In no sense will the earth be “taken away” from itself, and similarly, in no sense can the Book of Proverbs be used to back up the belief that the Righteous will never be taken from a “broken down” earth to the Heavenly Kingdom.

While the King James Version uses an archaic (although not incorrect) word that may give the wrong impression to modern readers, and although the newer translations do little to clear up the meaning, the Hebrew makes it clear what our understanding of the passage is to be.

One of the incidents recording in Scripture that invites us to look deeper into the meaning of John 3 is the record we have of Enoch. It is written of him that “Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” (Gen 5:24) Some have contended based on this passage that Enoch was simply moved from one place to another on earth, however there is more to the story than this for the New Testament, written much later, adds to our knowledge of the events surrounding the patriarch:

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Heb 11:5) We know that Enoch was taken “that he should not see death,” but even with this, some say that the human were merely taken to a safe place so that he would not be destroyed in the Flood, and in this sense alone he did not see death. What makes this an unreasonable assumption, however, are the dates involved.

Enoch was translated in the year 987 after the creation, at which time he was 365 years old. The Flood did not break forth upon the earth until the year 1656, 669 years later. At this time, Enoch would have been 1034 years old. This is older than even Methuselah, whom the Bible records as having lived 969 years. If Enoch was simply moved to a safe place to avoid the destruction of the watery judgment, it was not only done almost seven hundred years prematurely, but also for a person who would not likely have survived until that point anyway. While it is certainly true that the Almighty can preserve the lives of His faithful friends as long as He desires, it is far more consistent with the Biblical record to understand Hebrews 11 as it reads – that Enoch was translated so that he should not see death at all. The Flood is not so much as mentioned in that chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, even though Noah is.

What makes this even more clear is the word used in the passage: translated. When it says “Enoch was translated that he should not see death,” the word used in Greek means “to be taken from one place or state to another.” The other word from which we get the English term “translated” is found here, “[Yah] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” (Col 3:3) In both these cases we have the concept clearly conveyed that the individuals involved are moved from where they were before, and brought into close association with the “kingdom of His dear Son” who is Himself the “resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) Both the Greek words used to give us the term “translated,” metatithemi and methistemi, have nearly the same meaning and the same implications, they mean to be “removed,” the very idea which is thought to be conveyed by the word in Proverbs 10:30! In other words, contrary to how a few take the Proverb, the actual teaching of Scripture is that the righteous are removed from the earth: first by faith as Colossians 3 points out, and then fully, as taught by the example of Enoch, and the letters of Paul such as 1st Thessalonians.

Another record which must be understood in conjunction with Christ’s statement in John 3 is that of the prophet Elijah. He, like Enoch, had an extraordinary experience at the end of his time here on earth. It is written of this event as follows: “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven.” (2Kings 2:11)

Again, some have said that the word “Heaven” there means only the sky, (which is allowed by the Hebrew text) and was set down somewhere else, never to return to that place. What does not allow this understanding is that we find Elijah alive and well, having come to speak with the Messiah on the mount of transfiguration, many centuries later. “And after six days Yahshua taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him.” (Mat 17:1-3) Elijah, along with a bodily resurrected Moses, (Jude 1:9) was sent to the Master for a special purpose that day, to show the very principle that was spoken by Him to Nicodemus in John 3. “And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son: hear Him.’” (Luke 9:35) Christ is the only one who has been in Heaven and come down to teach; He is the only one qualified to speak to us of the Father, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Yahshua.” (1Tim 2:5)

The fact that Elijah sent a letter to king Jehoram some time after his translation (2Ch 21:12) shows only that he continued to have dealings on the earth, either after the manner of Matthew 17, or by having written of the matter before it came to pass as Isaiah did, mentioning Cyrus by name before that Persian king was even born. (Isa 45:1-4) This letter hardly establishes that he continued to dwell on the earth, although he was certainly alive somewhere, as the Gospels record.

But the end of the matter comes from the Messiah’s own words. He himself declares that the redeemed will be, at least for a time, in the kingdom of Heaven. The passage is found here, in the great and precious promise made to the thief on the Cross:

“And Yahshua said unto him, ‘Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.’” (Luke 23:43)

The Messiah here is inarguably promising that some time after his death, the thief will be “in Paradise.” The only question that remains, therefore, is where Paradise is. The word translated as Paradise, paradeisos, is found only three times in Scripture, all in the New Testament. The passages are Luke 23 as quoted above, and two others:

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; ‘To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.’” (Rev 2:7)

“I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third Heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (2Cor 12:3-4)

These are the only places in which the word “paradeisos” appears, and therefore to understand how the word is used in the Bible, we can work with only these. We see from the Revelation verse that “Paradise” is the place where the Tree of Life is, and this is nowhere on earth today. In fact, we know that the Tree of Life is currently in New Jerusalem (Rev 22:2,14) and that this will, in the New Heavens and New Earth, be found “coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev 21:2)

Paradise, in which the Tree of Life is planted, is currently in Heaven. It will also be in Heaven on the day when the thief is resurrected to go to this Paradise, as I discuss in the next section.

We see from Paul’s writings that Paradise is in fact equated with “the Third Heaven,” meaning that it cannot be merely the sky, which is the first Heaven (Gen 1:20) and it cannot be outer space, which is the second Heaven (Gen 1:14). Rather, Paradise is the dwelling place of the Almighty, and it is to this place that the Savior promised the thief on the cross access. He did not promise him access merely to the New Jerusalem, or the Tree of Life, both of which will someday be on earth, but rather Paradise itself, in which these things are currently situated. Whether the traveler of 2nd Corinthians went there in physical form or only in vision does not matter. The location is what has been fixed in the Biblical record by the words written about the experience.

We see therefore that not only have some people been to Heaven (and live there eternally even now), but we are promised at least a temporary stay in that place, which for some may well become permanent. For the timing and duration of this Heavenly journey, we now turn to the second passage up for examination.

Before we leave this subject, however, it is well to note how clearly this understanding of the Savior’s words correlates with the original promise given in John 14, that “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

The Master here was considering the Church His Bride for which He would return. The pattern of a Palestinian marriage, with which His disciples were familiar, involved the groom building a room unto his father’s house, and taking his bride there to dwell with him. The word translated as “mansions” in John 14 is actually more correctly read as “dwelling place” or “abode,” which is precisely according to the union of bride and groom to which the Savior was referring. He will come as the Husband to take His Bride to the Father’s house for the wedding.

III – The Millennium

Now that we have established that believers can, do and will go to the “third Heaven” where the Father and Son are at some point, the question then becomes: at what point is this done? And who gets to go?

Some teach that only the 144,000 mentioned in the Book of Revelation are allowed to enter Heaven, however this cannot be the case, for the thief on the Cross was certainly not among that sanctified number. He will rise in the first resurrection, before the New Jerusalem comes to the earth, therefore it is apparent that he must go to New Jerusalem before the Millennium of Revelation 20:2-5; that is, while It is still in Heaven, to partake of the Tree of Life in the Paradise promised him.

The prophet Zechariah establishes for us that New Jerusalem does not come down to the earth until after the resurrection of the wicked (after the Millennium), when he records, “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.” (Zech 14:1) This can refer to no time but just prior to the battle of Armageddon after “the thousand years are expired, [and] Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,” (Rev 16:16, 20:7-8) for Zechariah 13:7-9 speaks of the tribulation through which the saints must pass prior to this.

When the nations come up against Jerusalem, we find that New Jerusalem is then established – for New Jerusalem will not be “taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished.” We read, “And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” (Zech 14:4) It is only “in that day” when His feet touch the earth, and not on the day when He comes to gather His saints who “meet the Lord in the air” (1Th 4:17) that these things come to pass. The timing is critical to this point, for “Then shall Yahweh go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.” (verse 3) It is of this New, renewed city after the battle that it is written, “And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.” (verse 11)

It is not therefore only the 144,000 who experience the Heavenly Kingdom, but even the least of all the redeemed, and this comes to pass in Paradise; in Heaven before New Jerusalem descends to the earth.

The main passage used to justify the belief that the 1000 years are spent on earth is this one:

“And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Rev 20:1-6)

Two things lead some people to believe that the 1000 years mentioned here take place with the redeemed still on earth. First, they say that Satan is the one removed, since he is cast into a “bottomless pit,” and second they say that since he can no longer “deceive the nations” the nations are obviously on the earth and free of his influence.

The key to understanding both these issues comes from the nature of the “bottomless pit.” The word used to give us that phrase actually has no such meaning in the language from which it is taken! The word translated “bottomless pit” actually has some scholars a little confused by the translation committees’ choice of words, because the term “abussos” from which it comes means something a little different. Strong’s Concordance gives the definition of “bottomless,” because of the way it is apparently used in the book of Revelation, however this word, from which we get the English term “abyss,” means only a large void.

There is another book that uses the term abussos, and it clarifies the meaning quite well. It is the book of Luke:

“And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when [Christ] went forth to land, there met Him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Yahshua he cried out, and fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, ‘What have I to do with thee, Yahshua, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.’ (For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) And Yahshua asked him, saying, ‘What is thy name?’ And he said, ‘Legion:’ because many devils were entered into him. And they besought Him that He would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought Him that He would suffer them to enter into them. And He suffered them. Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.” (Luke 8:26-33)

The word “deep,” indicating the place from which the demons begged the Savior to keep them, is the same Greek term: abussos. The Gospels tell us exactly what that means. When the Pharisees were questioning the Master’s method of casting out demons, He explained to them: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, ‘I will return into my house from whence I came out;’ and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” (Mat 12:43-45)

A demon, therefore, without a dwelling-place in a person is in “dry places,” and cannot find rest until it re-establishes itself by tempting another host or returning again to the former one. Peter said, “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,” (1Pet 5:8) and John’s Revelation reinforces this, saying, “the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Rev 12:12) Unless demons are busy tempting humans to sin, they are overcome with desperation, knowing the judgment grows closer with every passing day. Unless they lose themselves in the work of temptation, they are in the abussos, the great void.

As this is the only Biblical definition of the “bottomless pit,” we need only apply this to Revelation and discover the true meaning of John’s words. What he saw was not the Serpent being taken from the earth and removed so that human beings could have peace. Rather he saw the devil being “bound” and “shut up” and “a seal” placed on him “that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled.” What this means, according to the teachings of the Messiah in Luke and Matthew, is that there will be no one there for the demons to tempt. They will thus be in “abussos,” the great void.

When the Savior returns, Paul tells us exactly what will happen: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1Th 4:15,17) The redeemed are either raised in the first resurrection or translated into His likeness; and in this way we will ever be with Him.

At this point, we “meet the Lord in the air.” He does not at this time descend unto the earth to bring New Jerusalem and establish His kingdom. Some use this quote to explain that humans do not go to Heaven at this time: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” (1Cor 15:50)

“Since we are flesh and blood,” some reason, “we cannot be taken with the Son to Heaven, but must remain here on earth.” This shows a misunderstanding of Paul’s letter, for only two verses later he tells us this: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (verse 52) When the Master comes, we are changed, however this does not mean that we do not have real bodies; it means only that we do not have corruptible bodies, for “neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” The nature is what is different. Paul himself says we will have a body, although the nature is spiritual: “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” (1Cor 15:41-44)

Although “flesh and blood” as we currently understand it cannot inherit the Kingdom, nevertheless the Messiah was raised in a glorified body, and He was taken up to the Father. His body, though spiritual in nature, was nevertheless “real.” He ate, He maintained the wounds He had received in His earthly life, and He was able to be touched. (Luke 24:42, Zech 13:6, John 20:27) This was not an illusion. This was a real experience, and He was physically present with His disciples.

We see here clearly that the redeemed are raised or translated, able therefore to participate in the Kingdom of Heaven because they have new, spiritual bodies. But what of the thousand years, and where are the rest of the humans? We read in Revelation 20 that “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” (Rev 20:5) Those who miss the first resurrection must be raised to life after the millennium is up. What that means is simply this: when Christ returns, one is either resurrected, translated, or struck dead. The Bible teaches, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. and then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.” (2Th 2:7,8)

When the Messiah returns to the earth to take His redeemed, the antichrist being spoken of here will be struck dead “with the brightness of His coming.” But it is not this individual alone who will feel the destruction of true light in the face of sin. Paul tells us further, “[I]t is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Yahshua shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Yahshua the Christ.” (2Th 1:6-8)

When the Messiah comes to give out the final judgment, it is written that we have not only helped Him in this process (1Cor 6) but also return from Heaven with Him to witness. When He comes to take us the angels come with Him, as 2nd Thessalonians stated above. When He comes to establish the Kingdom on earth, we are the ones who descend with the Savior. “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” (Jude 1:14,15) The “ungodly” can only be convinced of these things after they rise to this judgment after the 1000 years are ended (Rev 20:5), therefore we find it taught that these saints are in Heaven with the Messiah, where Paul says we “shall judge angels” (1Cor 6:3) until this time.

Some have said that this judgment takes place on earth, because the 24 elders around the Throne, who are taken to represent all of humanity, declare, “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev 5:9b,10) It should be noted, however, that when the elders say this, they are in Heaven already. It is true that after the earth is restored and made new, certain individuals such as the 144,000 will have special roles to fulfil. It is said they will “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth,” (Rev 14:4) indicating a closeness to Him that is not obtained by the others redeemed from the earth. There is something special about this group, “And they sung as it were a new song before the Throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.” (Rev 14:3)

Even so, all the redeemed must be in Heaven during the millennium, because the righteous are raised or translated, the dead are slain and awaiting the resurrection, and Satan is in “abussos” with no one to tempt. The angels and redeemed are in Heaven, and the wicked are slain. The demons are the only ones on earth during those thousand years, as the passages under discussion make plain. it is only after this point that the kings and priests “shall reign on the earth.”

That the wicked are killed and the righteous are not on earth after the day of Christ’s return was seen long before the New Testament was written, so it is not a teaching that originates with John. The word “abussos” used to describe the bottomless pit is also found in Genesis of the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. When the passage reads, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep,” the word used there for deep is the very same word. The word “deep” as used in the Greek Old Testament means a lifeless state. There was nothing alive on the earth before the Creator made life, and after the day of His return, during the 1000 years, there will be no physical life again until His kingdom is established.

Jeremiah, seeing the day of judgment, points this out with no room for error: “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the Heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the Heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath Yahweh said, ‘The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the Heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.’” (Jer 4:23-28)

Consider this prophecy carefully. Jeremiah sees a time when the earth has been returned to the lifeless condition of being “without form, and void.” This is after the events described in Revelation that give signs of the return of Christ, for “the mountains... they trembled,” (Rev 6:14, 16) and “the birds of the Heavens were fled,” and the “Heavens above be black.” (Rev 6:12, 14) Of the surface of the earth, Jeremiah reinforces that there is no one left alive, for he says, “there was no man,” and the very voice of the Almighty declared, “The whole land shall be desolate.” Although there is a promise of restoration after the time alotted (“yet will I not make a full end”), nevertheless at the time the prophet sees there is only a void (abussos) on earth, and no physical life remains. If there is life until Chirst returns, and life in the New Heavens and New Earth, when is the time in which “the whole land shall be desolate?” It can only be during the millennium, when the nations are no longer able to be tempted by Satan because the righteous are in Heaven and the wicked are slain by “the brightness of His coming” with their master the antichrist.

IV – Conclusion

As we have seen, the Scriptures do record that a few men have been already to the Heavenly kingdom. All are promised time there, with their new, incorruptible bodies. At this time we will go over the judgment of the earth, before we return with our Savior to witness the punishment of the wicked and to behold the establishment of the Kingdom on all the earth. The words of the Savior that “no man hath ascended into Heaven” is a partial quote from the Proverbs, and given to instruct Nicodemus of the Sanhedrin that He, the Son of Yah, was the one qualified to instruct people in matters of the Scriptures. It was not an attempt to establish a new teaching regarding the nature of Heaven and its citizens, but rather to point to a principle first recorded back in Deuteronomy, that although the standards of the Almighty are as high as the Heavens themselves, One has descended with the “wind in His fists” to be near at hand, that we may partake of His divine nature and please the Father by faith. (2Pet 1:4, Heb 11:6)

We note the fact that at that time of His speaking those words, the Son Himself had not “ascended” to Heaven in the physical way implied by those who teach that no man has ever been there. (John 20:17) His teaching was of a spiritual nature, and the Messiah directly instructed His audience to so understand the matter. (John 3:8, 12)

As we have also seen, the Scriptures tell us who goes to Heaven, and when. The righteous do. Even the thief on the cross, who knew little of the sanctified life, because of his trust in the Master will be with us in Paradise. We go on the day when we are changed from our corrupt bodies of “flesh and blood,” and “raised incorruptible” that we may indeed inherit the Kingdom, even as the Savior so ascended in His spiritual body. We understand from the vision described by John that Satan will be bound for a thousand years on an earth which the prophets declare will be completely desolate, as barren of physical life as it was before the Creator called life into being. We look forward to the wonders we will see in our Father’s house when the Master returns for His Bride, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O Elohim, beside thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.” (Isa 64:4)

As the Scriptures say, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Rev 20:6) We know that at this time He will return to receive us unto Himself according to the pattern of the great marriage. He has prepared a place for us in His Father’s house, in which there are many dwelling places, and He will take us home to dwell with Him there until He establishes His everlasting Kingdom on the renewed planet that is our home.

May Yah grant that by His infinite grace that we take hold of these precious promises. Putting away the sin which has marked our time of slavery to the forces of this world, let us walk in eternal victory, preparing to meet the Lord in the air that we may be with Him forever after.

David.

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