Hey so I have some questions I'm struggling with lately. My grandpa recently passed away, and I am taking very hard. I always was taught that when we die, we know nothing, we're in the grave until Christ returns. But what happens to our spirits and souls? I have had a few people tell me that my grandpa is near me now, and will hear me if I talk to him. I have also been told that my grandpa is watching over me. Is there any bibical grounds to this?
Take some time to meditate on the following passage as a start to your questions. The "building from God" that Paul is speaking of here is our born again Spirit. What happens after physical death is dependent on whether or not we place our trust in Christ as our redeemer.
�For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord� (2 Corinthians 5:1�8).
Hi rhet, thank you for the words, BUT i believe they have been mistranslated.
The text reads
To be at home in the body is to be abesnt from the LORD.That is completely different than the translations. The body is the body of believers, not ones physical body.
I do not know what happened, but the site i usually use to study the Word, the translation screen was changed. I did not know until i had gone back to the site awhile later. I do not like electronics very much.
If you are a born from above believer and you die your soul or spirit shall be present with the Lord as per 2 Corinthians 5:8. Your soul will sleep in Jesus until the Second Coming of Jesus on the Last Day of the 1260-day Great Tribulation, and then your soul will be **AWAKEN" and you will receive a new heavenly body just like the body of Jesus.
If you are a **MARTYR** like Jesus you will be immediately **AWAKE** in heaven and you will immediately receive your new heavenly body.
I Corinthians 15:50--51: I declare to you brothers, that flesh and blood **CANNOT INHERIT** the *KINGDOM OF GOD*... Listen I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep {Since the Martyrs and 24 Elders will be *AWAKE*}, but we will **ALL BE CHANGED**, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last {And 7th} trumpet."
Philippians 3:19-21: Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship Is in **HEAVEN**. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be **LIKE HIS GLORIOUS BODY**!
The martyrs will talk to God in heaven before the Last Day as per Revelation 6:9-11 but there is no passage in God's Word which shows that the **MARTYRS** will talk to anyone or their relatives on earth until the Last Day.
OP - I'm sorry for your loss. I've lost both grandparents in the last few years and it doesn't seem to be a sadness which ever goes away nor heals. Losing family is much different than a relationship breakup. Not sure anyone can rightly say here that your grandfather is not watching over you - remaining hopeful and open might help you find some peace.
In regards to your question if not answered to your satisfaction yet;
While on the cross, Jesus spoke to the one repenting thief alongside him and said "On this day, you shall be with me in paradise." It indicates no long passage of time, or lag. No waiting.
In 2 Corinthians 5-:8, Paul states " We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (I just read the thread and saw this verse already mentioned.)
I've heard that verse interpreted and read a variety of ways including only "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord". The entire verse indicates willful submission towards Heaven. Internal doubt or being of a divided mind isn't the place I personally know God to loiter about but rather entirely not be present at.
May I present to you 1 Corinthians 13:7 regarding an "agape" kind of love which comes from Heaven. This kind of love.. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Believing and belief - the lifelong courses you never have the option to elect taking.
