Your fleshly body is not you. You are the "breath of life" which your Creator breathed into your body when you became a living, human soul. From Adam's body, Eve was created, and from theirs, we were created... "formed of the dust of the ground". But your life, spirit, or aspiration was breathed into your body by the very life and love of God.
"And the LORD formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Gen.2:7.
Our spirits were given a human, physical body in which we would live this life on Earth and by which we could express our unique, individual personalities, thoughts, actions, decisions, and aspirations, as free will human beings. Free to choose, but fully accountable to our Creator God. God's breath gave physical life capable of spiritual aspiration.
When the body dies, physical respiration ceases and our life ... spirit ... aspiration leaves the fleshly, physical body and the physical world. This, is just as the Spirit of Christ left the the physical body of Mary's child, Jesus, hanging on the cross. And while the dead physical body of Jesus was taken down and buried in a tomb, the Spirit of Christ descended into the heart of the earth to give the fulfilled Gospel of salvation to the O.T. saints in Paradise. They were kept there, awaiting Jesus's prophesied death, the fulfilled payment for their sins, before they could enter the presence of holy God in Heaven. When Jesus Christ arose, they arose from wherever their bodies had been buried and those buried in Jerusalem arose and walked in the city until Jesus finished his business with the New Testament saints there. Then continued on into Heaven to deliver those O.T. saints, who had been "captivated", or securely guarded, in "Abraham's Bosom", or Paradise, in the heart of the earth, across a great gulf from the regions of the O.T. damned, lost in hell.
"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried, and in hell, he lift up his eyes ... and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me .... for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." Lk. 16:22-26.
"... so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matt.12:40.
"Wherefore he (Christ) saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive ... Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? Eph. 4:8-9
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the (O.T.) spirits in prison." 1 Pet.3:18-19.
The word "prison" here means a securely guarded place of keeping. That place was also called "Paradise" and "Abraham's Bosom". O.T. saints could not go directly into the presence of a holy God, at death, until their sins had been paid for by their Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and His blood offered upon the heavenly altar of God, which also applied to the N.T. Christians.
"For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." 1 Pet.4:6.
"And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." Matt.27:52-53.
All of that was the preservation of the O.T. saints' spirits and then a rejoining with, and resurrection of their new glorified bodies. Their spirits had been kept in Paradise (Abraham's Bosom) until the sin debt was paid and Messiah came for them. Those buried in Jerusalem evidently arose and visited while awaiting Christ Jesus to finish his business with the New Testament saints living in Jerusalem: But then, He continued His holy ascension into heaven with the Old Testament saints. Prior to the crucifixion, their sins had not yet been fully atoned for, in fulfillment of their faith in their future, coming Messiah. They looked forward to him, in faith, while they were still serving Him during their earthly lives in the O.T.
Now, our faith looks back to Messiah's first coming when He took on human form, delivered God's truth, was crucified, paid the sin debt, and arose from the dead. Christ's second coming will be in two phases. First He will return "in the air", resurrect us and catch us away into the clouds, delivering us from the Tribulation, which is "Jacob's trouble" according to Jer.30:7, and raptures us into Heaven for the wedding ceremony with His bride, at the beginning of the Tribulation Period on earth.
"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 ...." 1 Thess. 4:16-17.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2.
When the Christians are taken out, God's Holy Spirit, who lives in them, is taken out with them.
"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he (Holy Spirit) who now letteth will let until he is taken out of the way." 2 Thess.2:7. The "mystery of iniquity" is now working but limited by the Holy Spirit until the rapture when he (H.S.) will leave with those in whom He dwells.
It will be at this first phase of His second coming when Christ raptures His bride into heaven, for their wedding, that the Holy Spirit will be "taken out" with the true Christians, in whom He lives. While on earth, Christians and the Holy Spirit gone, there is no Christian witness on earth until in the midst of the 7 years when God sends His two witnesses in Rev.11:3.
The Tribulation Period Begins
After 7 years of Tribulation under the Anti-Christ's ruthless reign, Christ will return in the second phase of His second coming to bind Satan and set up His holy Millennial Kingdom for 1000 years. In this kingdom, the Christians, Bride of Christ, who return with Him will also rule with him as "Kings and Priests".
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2.
When the Christians are taken out, God's Holy Spirit, who lives in them, is taken out with them.
"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he (Holy Spirit) who now letteth will let until he is taken out of the way." 2 Thess.2:7. The "mystery of iniquity" is now working but limited by the Holy Spirit until the rapture when he (H.S.) will leave with those in whom He dwells.
It will be at this first phase of His second coming when Christ raptures His bride into heaven, for their wedding, that the Holy Spirit will be "taken out" with the true Christians, in whom He lives. While on earth, Christians and the Holy Spirit gone, there is no Christian witness on earth until in the midst of the 7 years when God sends His two witnesses in Rev.11:3.
The Tribulation Period Begins
After 7 years of Tribulation under the Anti-Christ's ruthless reign, Christ will return in the second phase of His second coming to bind Satan and set up His holy Millennial Kingdom for 1000 years. In this kingdom, the Christians, Bride of Christ, who return with Him will also rule with him as "Kings and Priests".
"...Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints." Jude 1:14.
"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Rev. 5:10.
"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Jews), the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son." Zech.12:10.
Finally, turning to their Messiah, Christ, the 144,000 Jews who survive the Tribulation, in a new world, without sickness, war or death, will repopulate the entire Earth, exponentially, for those 1000 years of peace and health (Isa.2:4). Refilling the earth with multiplied millions of people.
At The End Of The Millennial Kingdom
"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Jews), the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son." Zech.12:10.
Finally, turning to their Messiah, Christ, the 144,000 Jews who survive the Tribulation, in a new world, without sickness, war or death, will repopulate the entire Earth, exponentially, for those 1000 years of peace and health (Isa.2:4). Refilling the earth with multiplied millions of people.
At The End Of The Millennial Kingdom
"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. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Rev.20:6-9
This final rebellion of men is short lived. And so we see that, in this final failure of man, in the very presence of Christ, on His throne. This will be the 7th dispensational failure of man. From his failure in the first, the dispensation of innocence, in Eden, to the last, in the dispensation of Christ's rule as King of kings. With all humanity in the visible presence of Deity, and knowing He is God, they rebel. And wasn't that also the failure of Lucifer, in heaven, recorded in Isa.14:12-15.Then comes the second resurrection (of the lost), for judgment at the Great White Throne. Those who have remained in the Hell, where Abraham spoke to the man across a "great gulf", who was "torment in this flame". At that judgment, every soul in the universe will acknowledge Jehovah and Christ as Lord. "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil.2:10-11.
Fantastic? Yes, but "Thus saith the Lord". Unbelievable? Without Christ ... yes. But it is He who makes the difference in your eternity.
