No one could enter heaven until after the seven plagues. God's wrath would not be completed until the seventh vial (Rev. 15:8; 16:7f). But God's wrath would be finished AFTER Armageddon. If one places Armageddon in the future, it means that no one actually goes to heaven until the end of a future tribulation!!
The veil was rent at the cross and the way was opened, but the actual entrance into the Holy of Holies wasn't opened until after the destruction of Babylon (Jerusalem) in 70AD. That is why the souls of the martyrs were under the altar, not in the Holy of Holies. I'll explore this more fully in another post but notice when the judgment/vengeance/wrath would be fulfilled in Luke 21:19-24, "But when you see JERUSALEM surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.
For these are the DAYS OF VENGEANCE, that ALL things which are WRITTEN may be fulfilled. 23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and WRATH AGAINST THIS PEOPLE; 24 they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled."
The Day of the Lord, the Day of his wrath, Armageddon, was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 therefore the Holy of Holies is now opened to us.
Hebrews 9:6-10 helps us understand,
6 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the FIRST PART of the tabernacle, performing the services. 7 But into the SECOND PART the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; 8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. 9 It was SYMBOLIC for the PRESENT TIME in which both gifts and sacrifices ARE offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience— 10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed UNTIL THE TIME OF REFORMATION.
Clearly, in the days preceding the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, THEIR PRESENT TIME symbols of the tabernacle were spiritual realities. The first part was opened (the altar, etc), but the Second part, only Jesus, the Great High Priest had passed through... until the time of reformation (the destruction of the entire religious Jewish system).
In the OT, the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies and apply the blood to the mercy seat, but the Day of Atonement wasn’t totally complete until he came out and pronounced the decision that it was accepted and then blessed the people. This is why the Law was still in operation after the cross... the new had come, forgiveness was being declared through Christ, BUT according to Leviticus 9:22-24 it was only AFTER the atonement was made within the Holy of Holies that the High Priest CAME OUT and blessed the people.
The typology is seen when Israel is brought out of Egypt, delivered with the symbolism of baptism in water and the baptism into the Spirit by the cloud. Yet it took 40 years before they entered into the Promised Land. So too, the application of the blood on the mercy seat procured their salvation, people were being baptized in water, baptized in the Spirit, but it took 40 years before any of those who died could enter heaven (one generation, 40 years: Jesus died in AD 30 and then Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70).
THEREFORE, ARMAGEDDON WAS A PAST EVENT BECAUSE 1, IT IS NOT AN ACTUAL PLACE BUT A SYMBOL OF JERUSALEM; 2, IT HAPPENS BEFORE CHRIST'S THIEF IN THE NIGHT MOTIF WHICH WAS THE JUDGMENT OF JERUSALEM IN AD 70; AND 3, IF NOT, THEN NO ONE CAN YET ENTER INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES (HEAVEN) BECAUSE THE ENTRANCE WASN'T AVAILABLE UNTIL AFTER THE WRATH OF GOD WAS FINISHED AT ARMAGEDDON.
Do believers immediately go to heaven when they die?
Answer
Yes, believers in Jesus Christ go immediately to heaven when they die. By “heaven,” we mean a real place of comfort and blessedness where God dwells. Of course, the bodies of believers remain on earth, awaiting the resurrection, but their souls/spirits go to be with the Lord (see
2 Corinthians 5:8).
The biblical teaching that believers immediately go to
heaven when they die differs from what some groups teach. According to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, faithful Jehovah’s Witnesses who die remain in an unconscious state of “
soul sleep” until the resurrection. At the resurrection, Jehovah “remembers” them, and they are brought back to life. The doctrine of soul sleep is also taught by Seventh-day Adventists. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that all believers, Catholic and non-Catholic, who die enter a place of punishment,
purgatory, to atone for the sins not covered by Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. Once these sins have been sufficiently punished, the faithful, now purified, may enter paradise. Proponents of both views make seemingly good arguments in favor of their beliefs, but neither the doctrine of soul sleep nor the teaching of purgatory is biblical.
As our Lord Jesus suffered on the cross, another condemned prisoner sought forgiveness. Our Lord’s response to the repentant thief’s request refutes both the doctrine of soul sleep and the belief in purgatory:
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (
Luke 23:39–43, ESV).
Jesus did not say, “After a determined time of misery and suffering, you will be with me in paradise”; neither did He say, “After an extended period of unconscious stupor, you will regain sentience and be with me in paradise.” According to the promise of Jesus, the repentant thief would join his Savior in paradise that very day.
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (
2 Corinthians 5:6–8, ESV).
Here, the apostle Paul did not say to be away from the body is to cease consciousness until the resurrection. And he did not say to be out of the body was to be at home in purgatory.
In Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar died, and “the angels carried him to Abraham’s side” (
Luke 16:22). This seems to have been an immediate event, with no lapse of time between Lazarus’ death and his being picked up by the angels. In John’s vision of heaven, he sees “under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained” (
Revelation 6:9). As these believers in heaven await vengeance and the resurrection of their bodies, they converse with the Lord. It seems that, as soon as they were martyred, they were in heaven.
At the death of a believer, his or her disembodied spirit immediately enters the joyful presence of our Lord Jesus. At the rapture, the saint’s spirit joins his or her resurrected body—a glorified body impervious to the ravages of aging, illness, disease, suffering, and death (
1 Corinthians 15:42–53). At the close of Jesus’ millennial reign, heaven as it is passes away, and God unveils the New Jerusalem, our eternal home (
Revelation 21:1–4). Our present mortal bodies are not fit for eternity, but our new bodies will never become ill, grow old, or die. We shall live gloriously with Him in perfect bodies throughout the endless ages of eternity.
With this end in mind, the apostle Paul broke out in joyous apostrophe: “‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (
1 Corinthians 15:55–57, ESV).
