Heaven: A Believer's Final Resting Place?

One of the greatest myths ever foisted upon the church... not quite as much as the Church being separate from Israel, is that believers go to heaven when they die.  Did you realize that nowhere in the Bible does it teach that believers go to heaven when they die?  Now there are some believers who were beheaded, seen under the altar in Revelation, waiting for God's justice to be poured out on His enemies.  But that's a weird place to spend eternity.  That passage is primarily teaching about Yhwh's dealings with fallen man and their fallen leader.

In doing a word study on heaven, I went through, and looking at the uses of the word heaven in scripture, and in most cases, it is referring to the atmosphere over our heads.  There are cases where it states that Yhwh lives in the heavens... and there are cases where believers, when they die, are with the Lord, but nowhere in scripture does it say that that is in heaven, above the earth.

Deuteronomy 4:19  (19) "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Exodus 31:17   (17) "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed."

Deuteronomy 9:1   "Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven,

Deuteronomy 11:11  (11) "But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,

Judges 5:20   (20) "The stars fought from heaven, From their courses they fought against Sisera.

And there are many more such verses, but for sake of brevity, I will not include them here.  It would make a excellent bible/word study though to go to your favorite online bible, and simply study on the word "heaven," and I think you will be greatly encouraged and amazed at what you find.


The Bible does teach however that believers in fact go to Abraham's bosom, located in Hebraic thought, under the earth. 

Luke 16:22  22 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.

Another passage we see a glimpse is where king Saul went to inquire of the prophet Samuel by a witch, at En-dor.  1 Samuel 28:15  15 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?"

When the Messiah Y'shua, after his crucifixion, where did he go?  This is probably the most agreed upon by students of the Bible, his spirit descended down into hades, the place of prison of disobedient spirits. 

1 Peter 3:18-20  18 For Messiah also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to Elohim, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;  19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,  20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of Elohim kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

In extra-biblical Hebraic literature, there is a picture of many things that dwell under the earth.  It is taught that under the earth there are indeed two places, both Abraham's bosom, the place of paradise and comfort for all followers of the Messiah, and of Hades or Sheol, a gloomy place of punishment for those spirits who rejected Yhwh's Covenant of forgiveness and life in Messiah Yeshua.  We see a glimpse of this in the already quoted parable of Lazarus and the rich man:

Luke 16:25-26   25 "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.  26 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'

So we can see here the Y'shua believed and taught about believer's being carried to Abraham's bosom.  And this was believed by the disciples, and by the entire early church.  Through the ages there has been a slow departure from these beliefs and teachings of our older, wiser fathers, as man entered into eras of "enlightenment," realizing he could know things apart from the word of Elohim.  But we didn't consider the words of Proverbs: "The fear of Yhwh is the beginning of knowledge." (Pr. 1:7).

There is also a passage I love speaking of the redeemed Israelites in the last days, as they are bought into the kingdom of Elohim, the land of Israel (cf. Ezek. 36), and they report to the Yhwh:
Jeremiah 16:19  19 O YHWH, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility and things of no profit."

In these last days, the Father is exposing corruption everywhere, and has shown us that most of what we have been taught, is wrong, and/or a lie.  I know that this post is far from conclusive concerning the matter of believers, and their final resting place, but I hope that this will spur you on to read, and search, and you too will conclude that a believers final resting place is in the land of Israel, with Messiah, keeping Torah.

Luke 16:16-17  16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.  17 "But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.

Monte Judah: Gathering the Exiles of Israel (Deut 29/30)

This is an excellent teaching I just came across by Monte Judah!  Confirmation is SWEET!  This is what the Father has been showing me, and what I am seeing now as one of if not THE BIGGEST Endtime Prophetic Events, the regathering of the 10 Northern Tribes (Ephraim) to Israel.

Was Hercules a Greek telling of the Exploits of the Danite, Samson?

I am still amazed that growing up, we were never taught this information, even while it was still considered a "Christian nation."  As so much comes to light, and more and more realize the migration routes and later history of the "lost tribes" of Israel, so much seems to fall into place!  So many historical incidences, words, language patterns, etc.

In researching, something I found, that I thought really quite interesting, after reading up on the migration of the Danites northward into Greece, and later via the European coast, up to Ireland(!), is that the tale of Hercules may have not necessarily been a Nephilim descended from the fallen watchers, but rather, a telling of the legacy of ancient Danites of one of their heroes, who was used mightily of Yhwh.

Here is the excerpt from http://www.british-israel.ca/Dan.htm: 

The Mighty Hercules
The legend of Hercules has been told from ancient times till our day today. Many have not made the connection between Hercules and Samson. Yet the similarities between the two are obvious. Samson was a Judge in Israel, and was of the tribe of Dan! The Danites when travelling to Greece and having still commerce and trade with Tyre, who were of the tribe of Asher, still communicating with the Danites of the Promised Land knew and heard about Samson, their Judge and all his exploits. Coming back to Greece, the stories of Samson were told.  Interestingly enough, the "Encyclopedia of the Classical World," states, " The tales of his heroic deeds lend to the supposition that Hercules was originally an historic figure."  Of course that is Samson.
Both Hercules and Samson were incredibly strong, both killed a lion with their bare hands. Both were virtually invincible. One important event in Hercules' life involved his escaping from the clutches of a symbolic woman, who is called "Pleasure." This corresponds directly to the troubles Samson got himself involved in with the harlots of Canaan.
In the book, "God's Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece " by W.H.D. Rouse writes about Hercules slaying of the lion: "Heracles threw down his bow and arrows and leapt upon the lion's back... while he put his hands round the lion's neck ...gripped the lion's throat with his two hands, and bending him backwards, throttled him. There lay the lion dead on the ground." (p. 59). In our Bible, Judges 13:6 says that Samson actually tore the lion in two, but the ancient historian Flavius Josephus in his "Antiquities of the Jews" also tells us that Samson first strangled the lion, which is exactly as Hercules is said to have done. I don't even know if there ever were any lions in Greece. The Biblical Archaeologist Magazine somewhat tersely comments, "lions, we may remark are not frequent in Greece." (59:1, p.17). In fact, the Greek myths explain this one away as the offspring of a monster! But whether there were lions in Greece is not important; Hercules needed to find one anyway. Why? Simply because the Biblical Samson inspired the Greek legend called Hercules, and provided the basis for his life!
Why is he called "Hercules"? The word Hercules in Greek is, "Heracles," which is virtually identical with the Hebrew plural word for traders, "Heraclim," and Heracles is said to have come from "Argos," himself! The Greek myths tell that the people of Argos are from the Danioi were descended from a patriarch "Danaos" who was the son of "Bela." In the Bible, the Hebrew patriarch Dan was the son of the concubine "Bilhah" (Genesis 30:3-6).