There are many things that people who follow Jesus, go to church and even claim to believe the Bible who believe things that are completely unbiblical. This happens because some things are said that sound good, spiritual and biblical and they gain traction because people actually believe they are in the Bible.
“God needed another angel in Heaven, so God called them home.”
This statement is wrong on so many levels but let’s start with the basics.
- Angels and human beings are not the same thing.
(Psalms 8:4-6 NLT) what are mere mortals that You should think about them, human beings that You should care for them? (5) Yet You made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. (6) You gave them charge of everything You made, putting all things under their authority-
- Angels and human beings are both created beings.
(Nehemiah 9:6 NKJV) You alone are the LORD; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.
- Angels have a will but do not have the right to use it. Human beings do have that right.
(Isaiah 14:12-14 NKJV) “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! (13) For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; (14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
Our eternal destiny is determined by what we do with that will during our lives here on earth.
What happens when a person dies?
(1 Thessalonians 5:23 NKJV) Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- While you are living in the body, you have the choice to determine where you will spend eternity.
(Ecclesiastes 8:8 NKJV) No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.
- When your spirit leaves your body, you no longer have a choice in where you go.
Your loved ones that have passed on are either with the Lord or they are not but they are NOT here in the earth.
- In the Old Testament, when a righteous person died, they did not go to heaven.
Prior to Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, Heaven was closed to mankind because of man’s sin.
(Genesis 25:8 NKJV) Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
(Genesis 49:33 NKJV) And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
(Luke 16:19-23 NKJV) “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. (20) But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, (21) desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. (22) So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. (23) And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
In the New Testament, we see something different.
(Ephesians 4:8-10 NKJV) Therefore He says: “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE, AND GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” (9) (Now this, “HE ASCENDED”–what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? (10) He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
- Jesus opened the way to Heaven and into God’s presence. He made it possible for us to go.
(John 14:1-4 NKJV) “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. (2) 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. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (4) And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
(2 Corinthians 5:1-6 NLT) (1) For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God Himself and not by human hands. (2) We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. (3) For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. (4) While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. (5) God Himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee He has given us His Holy Spirit. (6) So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.
The body is the tent that Paul is referring to but we will get an eternal house to live in for eternity.
(2 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV) We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
- A Christian should never fear death.
(1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NLT) (55) O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? ” (56) For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. (57) But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Revelation 21:10-27 NLT) (10) So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. (11) It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone–like jasper as clear as crystal. (12) The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. (13) There were three gates on each side–east, north, south, and west. (14) The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (15) The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. (16) When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. (17) Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (according to the human standard used by the angel). (18) The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. (19) The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, (20) the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. (21) The twelve gates were made of pearls–each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass. (22) I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (23) And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. (24) The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. (25) Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. (26) And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. (27) Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty–but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.