ABSENT OR PRESENT

From a message of 02Jun1994 from a Curious Questioner--
>CQ> Subj: WHERE AFTER DIE?

re: 2Cor.5:8

>>Previous Person> The Bible states, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."

Correction: Not "is", but "and", in the Author's Version (AV 1611).

>CQ> It does not say what you siad, but it says "we would rather be absent from the body and present with the Lord" (This is from the NIV)>

No, the corrupt NIV says "prefer to be away from the body..." etc. The Author's Version in 2Cor.5:6-8 says:

6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

It is "far better" to depart, and to be with Christ. It is apparent (to those who look at the things which are not seen :) that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord! (Besides past, present and future tense in the Bible, there is also eternal-tense! Did you "look" at the smiley-face in verse 7, in plain "sight"? :)

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2Cor.4:18)

>>PP> Another case is the man who died along side Jesus. As I recall, Jesus said, "This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."

>CQ> We know that this cannot be true, because Christ himself rose from the dead three days later, and He said, "I haven not yet ascended to My Father" (John 20:17, NKJ). Obviously, since Jesus hadn't been back to heaven since his death on the cross, He could not have been there with the thief.

Your error is in not discerning the difference between being in paradise in the spirit, and being in heaven "in the body." The Lord Jesus had not yet ascended bodily to the Father in his new glorified body, but on the cross he plainly commended his spirit into the hands of the Father, and gave up the ghost; and went to paradise! When the (not thief, but) "malefactor" gave up the ghost, he left his body and was present "with" the Lord in paradise that very day!

Paul did not bodily ascend to paradise when he was stoned, and his BODY was dragged outside Lystra and left for dead; but he was certainly "caught up to the third heaven", (though he couldn't "tell" at the time, whether he was in the body or "out of the body." :)

Remember that Jesus is the Lord who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world by the power of God. Grace be to your heart in the love of the truth. Amen. --Richard

"APPEARED"

From a message of 16Jun1994 from a Curious Questioner--
>CQ> Subj: RE: WHERE AFTER DIE?

Mt.27:50 ¶ Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
Mt.27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
Mt.27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
Mt.27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

>>>First Person> Read Matthew 27:53.

>>Second Person> Maybe you should read it too! That was after his RESURRECTION, not after Jesus was CRUCIFIED!

>CQ> Read it again. When he was crucified, they arose from the dead. After his resurrection, they were seen walking in the streets.

There is no mention of either "walking" or "streets" in the account. When Jesus appeared to the apostles, he didn't walk into the room: The doors were SHUT: He just APPEARED and STOOD in their midst!

Now Matthew is clear, that the bodies "arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection". (Mt.27:52p,53p) Jesus rose from the dead "in the end of the sabbath". After that, the bodies of many saints came out of the graves and went into the holy city and were seen by many that evening, (the 1st Saturday Night LIVE! :)

Remember that Jesus is the Lord who gave himself for our sins and was raised for our justification through faith in his blood. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Grace be to them that receive the love of the truth. Amen. --Richard