[Rick Shabi] Did you know that Jesus didn't go to heaven when He died? He didn't, but we do know what happened. What happened to Him is the same thing that happens to us after we die. And knowing what happens after death can provide a comfort to all of us who face that with our loved ones and even for ourselves. Years ago, when I was just a teenager, my uncle died unexpectedly of a heart attack. My cousins were all around my age, and I remember the funeral. There was crying. There was wailing. There were questions about where he was. Was he in purgatory? Was he in limbo? I remember our cousin talking about he had just had an argument with his dad just the day before, and he was suffering from that. We were even asked, you know, "Would you light some candles to help him move out of purgatory more quickly into heaven?" There were all sorts of things going on that day and all sorts of grief. And I remember thinking, "If my cousins just knew what the truth of God was, if they knew what really happened after death, there wouldn't be all these questions. There would still be grief. There would still be mourning. Those things are appropriate. But there would be a comfort into knowing what really happens after death."

Mankind has devised all sorts of theories about what happens after death. Some believe in reincarnation. Some believe you may come back as an animal or someone else. Others have thoughts about will you be burning in eternal and painful hellfire for the rest of your life. All those things because no one seems to really know what happens after death. What happens when you die? What happens when Christ died? What happened to Him? When Christ was crucified and died, He was laid in a tomb, and the stone was rolled in its place. The Jewish leaders who wanted Jesus crucified knew what He had said about His death. In Matthew 27, it says, "On the next day, which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate saying, 'Sir, we remember when He was still alive how that deceiver said, 'After three days, I will rise.' Therefore,'" they say, "'command that the tomb be made secure until the third day lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away and say to the people He's risen from the dead. So the last deception will be worse than the first.'"

They said, "After three days, He will rise." We know that Jesus Christ was resurrected by God after those three days and three nights, but what happened to Him when He died? Did He immediately go to heaven? He was a perfect man, the Son of God, and though He was flesh, no one would be more qualified to go to heaven than Jesus Christ. And we follow His pattern, right? We're told that in the Bible. We follow His example. He set the pattern of what our lives would be. Now, the plain truth is Jesus Christ did not go to heaven right after He died. When He was resurrected and appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb on that first day of the week, three days after He was crucified, notice what He said to her as recorded in the Bible. Jesus said to her, "Don't cling to me, Mary, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.'" Do you notice that? He said, "I have not yet ascended to my Father." "Not yet," He said, but He added, "I am going to ascend to my Father and your Father." It didn't happen until later that day.

You might be saying, "What? So where was Jesus those three days and three nights after He died? Was He in Purgatory? Was He in limbo somewhere?" You know, it's not just Jesus who didn't ascend to God the Father after He died. David didn't either, and he was a man after God's own heart. Notice what Peter says in the New Testament in the book of Acts, "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day, for David did not ascend into the heavens." David didn't ascend into the heavens either. In fact, early in His ministry before He ever died, Christ said, "No one, no one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven." And He was speaking about His death and resurrection and when He would go to heaven. You simply can't dispute this. It's all over the New Testament and the Old Testament what really happens after death. We don't have to speculate or have theories. We can know.

Paul gave us a good clue in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 when he wrote this about death. He said, "But I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep lest you sorrow as others who have no hope." There is hope in God's truth. You believe Paul, right? He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was the apostle to the Gentiles, and he taught them all things that he was taught by Christ as he says in Galatians 1. "Sleep," he said, "Don't sorrow as others do for those who sleep." We know what he's referring to because he says in the same thought, "And the dead in Christ will rise first, will rise just like Jesus Christ was risen, given life by God the Father." Jesus Christ was like us in all ways when He was in the flesh. He suffered, He died, and God resurrected Him to life. Christ didn't go to heaven before He was resurrected. The fact is when we die, we're asleep. We know nothing, and we do not go to heaven or hell. We just sleep, waiting for the resurrection that God and Jesus Christ promised. You know, the Bible says the dead know nothing.

Notice this in the book of Ecclesiastes, "For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward." Another verse in Ecclesiastes, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going." When Adam and Eve sinned and they earned death, God said to them, "For dust you are, and unto dust you shall return." And Paul talked further about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. There he writes, "But, now, Christ is risen from the dead, and He has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep," the first one who died in the flesh and then was resurrected. "For since by man, Adam and Eve, came death, by man, the man Jesus Christ, also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ first, and afterward those who are Christ's at His coming." When you die, you're asleep. All are waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. Then the resurrection of all who have ever lived, whether they knew the name of Jesus or not, will come back to life. Until then, they know nothing.

"No man has ascended to heaven," Jesus said. He didn't when He died, neither do we. After He was resurrected, He ascended to heaven. We will live again. That's the hope of salvation. All who have ever lived will live again. The next thing for those who die is the resurrection, nothing else. No consciousness until then when God brings them back to life. Again, that will be for all mankind, no matter when they lived or if they ever heard the name Jesus during their lifetimes. The salvation that Jesus Christ made possible for all mankind is for everyone who ever lived. Note that. Salvation is for everyone who ever lived, but it is at the resurrection just as Jesus Christ said. He said it in plain words in John 5. There He said, "Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation." It all happens at the resurrection in the future for all mankind.

There is so much more to God's plan for mankind than you can imagine. And it is the perfect plan that only God could have devised. Only His true followers who truly follow Jesus Christ and study and live by the Bible know this plan. You can too. Learn what happens after death as taught by Jesus Christ through the United Church of God which teaches the truth directly from the Bible. You can find us at ucg.org.