While I appreciate a good meme (especially a #maxmeme), this one (that I did not make) does, in fact, present faulty theology.
With the exception of possibly Enoch and Elijah, there is nowhere in scripture that says anyone went to Heaven in the Old Testament until Jesus made his spiritual trip down to Sheol while His body was in the tomb. In fact, it was Jewish tradition that the spirit would go down into Sheol and either be in Paradise (Abrahams bosom), or the burning place of torment called Hades or Hell. The really bad guys (spiritual entities that rebelled) were chained up in the Abyss (Jude 1:6). Now, it’s perfectly reasonable and possible to assume that Abel, like his descendants, were in that waiting area of Sheol until the Messiah spiritually came down, preached to the spirits in prison (1st Peter 3:19) who formerly did not obey, and then lead the faithful spirits out into Heaven.
This is how you get the dichotomy of language in the Old and New Testament, where it says in the OT that people died and slept with their forefathers (in Sheol), and then, in the New Testament, you have verbiage that states that when we die, we are brought into the presence of our Lord. The geography and destination changed with the Resurrection!
With the exception of possibly Enoch and Elijah, there is nowhere in scripture that says anyone went to Heaven in the Old Testament until Jesus made his spiritual trip down to Sheol while His body was in the tomb. In fact, it was Jewish tradition that the spirit would go down into Sheol and either be in Paradise (Abrahams bosom), or the burning place of torment called Hades or Hell. The really bad guys (spiritual entities that rebelled) were chained up in the Abyss (Jude 1:6). Now, it’s perfectly reasonable and possible to assume that Abel, like his descendants, were in that waiting area of Sheol until the Messiah spiritually came down, preached to the spirits in prison (1st Peter 3:19) who formerly did not obey, and then lead the faithful spirits out into Heaven.
This is how you get the dichotomy of language in the Old and New Testament, where it says in the OT that people died and slept with their forefathers (in Sheol), and then, in the New Testament, you have verbiage that states that when we die, we are brought into the presence of our Lord. The geography and destination changed with the Resurrection!
While I appreciate a good meme (especially a #maxmeme), this one (that I did not make) does, in fact, present faulty theology.
With the exception of possibly Enoch and Elijah, there is nowhere in scripture that says anyone went to Heaven in the Old Testament until Jesus made his spiritual trip down to Sheol while His body was in the tomb. In fact, it was Jewish tradition that the spirit would go down into Sheol and either be in Paradise (Abrahams bosom), or the burning place of torment called Hades or Hell. The really bad guys (spiritual entities that rebelled) were chained up in the Abyss (Jude 1:6). Now, it’s perfectly reasonable and possible to assume that Abel, like his descendants, were in that waiting area of Sheol until the Messiah spiritually came down, preached to the spirits in prison (1st Peter 3:19) who formerly did not obey, and then lead the faithful spirits out into Heaven.
This is how you get the dichotomy of language in the Old and New Testament, where it says in the OT that people died and slept with their forefathers (in Sheol), and then, in the New Testament, you have verbiage that states that when we die, we are brought into the presence of our Lord. The geography and destination changed with the Resurrection!
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