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Believer in Jesus Day 148
Why did New Covenant believers, those from the first century A.D. to the present, "go up?" Why didn't the Old Testament saints "go up" to Heaven instead of going down? It was because Christ had not died. Jesus' precious blood had not yet been shed and therefore no one's sins were forgiven. "The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."1 As that blood had not been shed there was nowhere else for the believers of old to go than down to Paradise, there to await the death and resurrection of Christ. When at last Jesus went down to Hades, as he did after his crucifixion, he preached to those who were on the good side of Hades, that is in Paradise as it then existed.
Today there is nothing to hinder the believer from going up to Heaven when he or she dies. The body of the person remains in the grave. There are three "heavens" spoken of in the New Testament. The first is "the aerial heaven" directly above us. The second is "the celestial heaven" comprising the planetary system. Above and beyond the stars is "the third or Highest Heaven." Into that Heaven all true believers will pass. Jesus at his ascension went "up." "While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven."1
1Luke 24.51
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