7 Things the Bible Says about Loved Ones in Heaven

[phkrause]

We all wonder about what heaven is like and what our deceased loved ones are doing there. As God’s Word, the Bible serves as the primary source of guidance and assurance on what happens to our loved ones after they pass away. The Bible doesn’t provide every detail about heaven and the state of our loved ones there. But it does offer valuable insights that provide important glimpses of the divine plan for believers in heaven. It also assures us in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 that, “‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’ – the things God has prepared for those who love him – these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.” Even though we can’t personally see or hear what our loved ones are doing in heaven right now, God has revealed many wonderful realities about heaven in the Bible. Here are 7 things the Bible says about our loved ones in heaven. 

https://www.crosswalk.com/slideshows/things-the-bible-says-about-loved-ones-in-heaven.html?

ps:Does the Bible really say that when you die you go directly to Heaven? And do you believe that??

[Gustave]

Jesus says some do. 

For a Christian the ultimate word comes from Jesus Himself and Jesus openly condemned the Sadducees for not believing in an immortal soul, angels and the resurrection.

Most everyone here knows about the Sadducees attempt to publicly embarrass Jesus by asking Him what would happen with a woman who had been married to 7 brothers when the resurrection took place. For a refresher on this story see Luke 20, 27... / Matthew 22, 23... & Mark 12, 18.... 

The only question the Sadducees' asked Jesus was about the Resurrection - they did this to Jesus because they (the Sadducees) rejected the Resurrection, Angels & spirits. The Sadducees idea was to make a mockery of Christ by stumping Him with a question they fabricated intended to make Jesus look foolish. 

Let's look at Acts 23, 8

"For the Sad′ducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge them all".

Knowing Scripture identifies the Sadducees as rejecting the Resurrection, angels and spirits provides context to the Gospel accounts of the Sadducees asking the question about the Resurrection to Jesus - REMEMBER, the Sadducees ONLY asked Jesus about the Resurrection but for some reason Jesus went on to rub the Sadducees noses in their error with rejecting also the reality of angels and the reality of the immortality of the soul. 

If Jesus had intended to correct error on the part of the Pharisees and common Jew about the reality of Angels and ghosts / spirits He wouldn't have confirmed the reality of them the way He did to the Sadducees. As far as what happens when we die the Sadducees were essentially SDA's whereas the soul of a person is concerned. SDA's believe (Like Doug Batchelor says) a person is like a pile of boards and nails and once it's put together you get a box with the box being "the soul" - take it apart and you just have a pile of boards and nails. This is Sadducee belief. 

[phkrause]

On 10/4/2025 at 9:59 AM, Gustave said:

For a Christian the ultimate word comes from Jesus Himself and Jesus openly condemned the Sadducees for not believing in an immortal soul, angels and the resurrection.

But this doesn't say that Jesus believed that they go directly to heaven when they die!

 

On 10/4/2025 at 9:59 AM, Gustave said:

Let's look at Acts 23, 8

"For the Sad′ducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge them all".

Again this also doesn't say anything about going to heaven directly after you die!!

 

On 10/4/2025 at 9:59 AM, Gustave said:

As far as what happens when we die the Sadducees were essentially SDA's

How can you say this? We believe when you die you rest in the grave until Jesus comes and rises those that have died in Jesus and those that are alive, when Jesus comes, meet them in the air and we go to heaven with him for 1,000 years. So we believe in the resurrection, we believe in angels and also after the resurrection the immortality of the soul!!

 

On 10/4/2025 at 9:59 AM, Gustave said:

This is Sadducee belief

This is not SDA belief!! And as far as DB is concerned I've never heard him but it that way!!

He puts it like it says in Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

[Gustave]

Quote

phkrause said: But this doesn't say that Jesus believed that they go directly to heaven when they die!

You're right, Jesus didn't. At that time someone who died went to the place of the dead sometimes called Hades. In the place of the dead there was a separation of those right with God and those who were not. The teaching at this point of Christ's Ministry was that the Sadducees were wrong in their affirmations that the soul wasn't immortal, there would be no resurrection of the dead & that angels didn't exist. Jesus was explicit that the Sadducees were wrong about all three of these issues. 

Quote

phkrause said: Again this also doesn't say anything about going to heaven directly after you die!!

You're right again, the Scriptures here simply state that St. Paul was a Pharisee and that Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead & that angels existed.  Excepting the Sadducees this was the faith of Jews to include the ultra-conservative Essenes. Statements made by early Christians in the New Testament indicate this. 

Quote

phkrause said: How can you say this? We believe when you die you rest in the grave until Jesus comes and rises those that have died in Jesus and those that are alive, when Jesus comes, meet them in the air and we go to heaven with him for 1,000 years. So we believe in the resurrection, we believe in angels and also after the resurrection the immortality of the soul!!

The Sadducees didn't believe that "the spirits of Just people who had been made perfect" were in the presence of God Almighty in the heavenly Jerusalem with countless angels. I did say in my post "whereas the soul of a person is concerned". I believe fully that SDA's believe in the resurrection of body and in angels. I also believe that SDA's believe that after the resurrection of the dead that the righteous (saved) will be immortal. If I gave the impression that SDA's didn't believe in those things that wasn't my intention at all. I'm only speaking of the period of time between death of the body and the resurrection and that the Sadducees rejected that the persons spirit continued on after death and was aware and also that the Sadducees didn't believe in angels and the resurrection. 

The article you shared about this topic is affirming the direct opposite of what Doug Batchelor would say about it, right? 

I was thinking the reason this article was posted was to start conversation, right? 

[phkrause]

On 10/5/2025 at 6:19 PM, Gustave said:

The article you shared about this topic is affirming the direct opposite of what Doug Batchelor would say about it, right? 

I didn't get that impression!! He has a Q&A radio program where he, obviously, answers questions about the Bible. I was looking through his website but have yet to find where he mentions what he believes about this. I will keep looking and when I find it I will post it!!

[Gustave]

2 hours ago, phkrause said:

I didn't get that impression!! He has a Q&A radio program where he, obviously, answers questions about the Bible. I was looking through his website but have yet to find where he mentions what he believes about this. I will keep looking and when I find it I will post it!!

Page 2 of the article says;

"2 Corinthians 5:8 offers insight into the state of believers when their earthly lives are over: “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” This verse suggests that when believers die, we are immediately in the presence of Jesus. It gives us confidence that our loved ones’ absence from this world means they are with God in heaven. While their absence creates a painful void in our lives, we can be encouraged by the fact that they are enjoying God’s presence."

Jews at the time of Christ (with the exception of the Sadducees) believed the dead were conscious in the place of the dead. This belief was confirmed as truth by Jesus Himself in His answer to the Sadducees question about the resurrection. The belief in the early Church is also stated in various other places in the New Testament. 

This sort of thing as well as the article you posted appears (at least to me) to be the direct opposite of what Doug Batchlor would say about it. If I'm not mistaken Doug claims that Jesus, upon His death on the cross entered a vegetative or unconscious state and only became self-aware upon His being resurrected by someone other than Himself. I may be wrong here but the videos I've seen of Doug seem to be along those lines.

 

[Gustave]

Quote

3rd point of the posted article: 

3. A Place Prepared for Us

SLIDE 3 OF 7

Jesus provides comforting words about heaven in John 14:2-3: “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  I read that verse in my dying mother’s hospital room, and it gave me a strong sense of Jesus’ personal care for all of us in relationships with him. Jesus knows what we each need, and he carefully prepares a place for each of us in heaven. We can trust that our loved ones have the very best heavenly homes. When we visit their graves or other final resting places for their bodies (such as cremation urns), it can be inspiring to think about where their souls are in heaven right now. 

 

I'd say that the author of the article you posted presents the position of historic Christianity (Catholic & Eastern Orthodox) & the Reformers. I grant that some "Restorationist" groups teach that at death the person is separated from God and remains in a vegetative or unconscious state until the resurrection of the body. This is because (from my understanding of some restorationist groups) that there ISN'T a soul apart from the living body - the concept here appears to be that at the creation of man God breathed into a clay or mud man and the combination of God's breath and the mud man caused man to become a "living soul". Thus a "soul" is understood in the sense that during a shipwreck it can be said that 81 souls were lost - this is because it's believed there isn't such a thing as "spirits" or "souls" apart from a living person because a living person is a spirit or soul. 

This is why I brought up the Gospel account of where Jesus rebukes the Sadducees for not believing those who previously died were very much alive. 

[phkrause]

On 10/10/2025 at 6:22 PM, Gustave said:

“We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” This verse suggests that when believers die, we are immediately in the presence of Jesus.

Interesting point, but you can't create a doctrine from one verse. I see that throughout scripture it shows that we die and go into a rest and wait there for the return of Jesus.

Also from what I understand Paul seems to be letting them know that when they die in Jesus that the next thing will be that when Jesus comes that's what they will know, that they will be with Jesus??

[Gustave]

it's not based off one Bible verse but many.

When reading the Bible we should consider what passages meant to the original people who heard them. 

In the case of this topic the primary reason for believing is because Jesus said we should believe.

If the Jews believed the spirit survived the death of the body they would have only been confirmed in that belief when Jesus spoke of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16, 19-31) which clearly conveyed Lazarus and the rich man's spirit survived death & were conscious. If the intended teaching was the way you say it is I find it odd that Jesus would have confirmed a false teaching by using it Himself.

The next thing to think about is how the people who heard Jesus answer the Sadducees would have understood what Jesus said. Everyone within earshot of that exchange would have sided with the Pharisees in that they would have believed in the resurrection of the dead, in angels and that a person's spirit survived the death of the body. Remember that the ONLY question the Sadducees asked was about the "The Resurrection" - Jesus answered that and went on to rebuke the Sadducees teaching that denied the immortality of the soul & the existence of angels. Had the Sadducees been right about spirits of people and angels do you really think Jesus would have rebuked them in way??? This doesn't seem reasonable. Mark 12, 18-27.

Acts 12, 12-16 describes that early Christians believed that Peter had already been executed (killed by the sword) so when Peter was pounding on the door and the people on the other side of the door "heard his voice" they assumed it was "his angel" - Jews at that time believed a righteous person who had died could  intercede for those they care about. 

In fact this belief (immortality of the soul) was so common Jesus' own apostles believed when they saw Jesus walking on water - they thought they were seeing a ghost. 

"but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out" Mark 4, 49.

One would think if Jesus believed as Jehovah's Witnesses, SDA's & Christadelphians do He would have rebuked the Apostles for thinking what they saw was a ghost. 

1st Samuel 28,14: And Saul KNEW that it was Samuel. 

That's a factive verb there. 

Now, I realize you reject Sirach as Scripture however it is a fact this book was believed to be Scripture by the Jews at the time of Christ (and long prior) - Sirach was in the Septuagint which was the Old Testament Scriptures used by Jesus and His Apostles. Sirach, in speaking of Samuel says;

"Even after he had fallen asleep he prophesied and revealed to the king his death, and lifted up his voice out of the earth in prophecy, to blot out the wickedness of the people". Sirach 46, 20

Your rejection of Sirach being Scripture doesn't change the fact this Book absolutely confirms that the Jews (EXCEPTING the Sadducees who Jesus rebuked) believed in the immortality of the soul. Remember, Jesus rebuked the Sadducees because they DIDN'T believe in the immortality of the soul - which all the other Jews did believe in. 

I haven't even began to go into what Paul said about this subject - which is quite extensive. So, as you can see I didn't build a belief out of one verse. 

Martin Luther, for a short time, put forth the idea that for the dead a thousand years could pass and they would only believe it was a moment - Luther later dropped this idea as not biblical. 

you are a pleasant person to exchange beliefs with phkrause!

 

[Gregory Matthews]

The book of Sirach is sometimes named Ecclesiasticus.  The following link provides extensive information related to this book.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Sirach

 

[phkrause]

On 10/12/2025 at 5:10 PM, Gustave said:

Jesus spoke of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16, 19-31)

This was a parable.

[Gustave]

4 hours ago, phkrause said:

This was a parable.

The point of a parable is that it's something "reasonable", it COULD HAPPEN. Do you know of any other parables of Christ that are not within possibility? So, this serves the point I was making. The Jews of Jesus' day ALL believed (except the Sadducees) that a wicked person at death went to a not so nice place whereas a good person went to a place called paradise where they would be comforted. 

Is there a parable somewhere in the Bible where Jesus tells a windy about something impossible? 

Jesus, from a lack of being able to think about something better - was reduced to telling a parable that confirmed Satanic doctrines to the people Jesus was speaking to. I'm telling you - a 1st century Jew who heard this parable already believed a righteous person went to paradise at death - and was aware.  

 

[Gustave]

On 10/14/2025 at 9:35 PM, SeventhSaturn said:

The Bible provides every detail about Heaven. It says the new earth will be identical to the garden of Eden. Loved ones in heaven? Not really…. I worry less that someone I actually cared about might go to heaven than that someone I couldn’t stand will show up. 

Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for his followers so that where He (Jesus) was, His followers could be also. Are our loved ones in heaven? IF they were "in Christ" when they "passed-on" they are, according to the Bible. 

[Gustave]

I just brushed up on 1st century Jewish practices within the context of the Pharisees and there is no doubt that they (the Pharisees) believed in the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body & in angels. Prior to His death on the cross Jesus explicitly taught the crowds and His own Disciples to do WHATSOEVER the Pharisees told them to do because they had religious authority to teach - Jesus' caveat came in the warning to not do what the Pharisees did because they (the Pharisees) didn't practice what they preached - they were hypocrites. 

So, when Jesus told the story about the rich man and Lazarus and about how at death each was carried to their reward and punishment this was the common belief of the people who were following / believing in Jesus. To suggest that Jesus gave a teaching that would have compounded a person's doctrinal errors is simply not reasonable. 

From the perspective of a Jehovah's Witness, a Christadelphian, a Word-Wide-Church of God or Seventh-day Adventist this would default into Jesus misleading people and using what Jehovah's Witnesses call "THE 1st LIE OF THE DEVIL" to -  confirm a false teaching the Jewish crowds following Jesus, confirming their belief in something  that they shouldn't have believed in? I don't think so. 

This would be like someone coming up to a mentally disabled child who believed they could fly if they had a superman cape and then providing them with a superman cape when you know they are going to jump off the roof of a building. This isn't right. 

 

[phkrause]

Here's a online account of what I mentioned above about the parable of "the rich man and lazarus."

https://www.truthaboutdeath.com/q-and-a/id/1596/t/what-about-the-rich-man-and-lazarus-

ps:This website also has other info about death!!

[Gustave]

On 10/25/2025 at 4:44 PM, phkrause said:

Here's a online account of what I mentioned above about the parable of "the rich man and lazarus."

https://www.truthaboutdeath.com/q-and-a/id/1596/t/what-about-the-rich-man-and-lazarus-

ps:This website also has other info about death!!

That site is hawking "Amazing Facts", Amazing Facts is an anti-Trinitarian Org associated with the SDA Church. The article on this question defaults into Jesus putting a theological lie (that EVERY Jew excepting the Sadducees believed) into one of His (Jesus') parables (if it even was a parable) and to add injury to insult implying that Jesus embarrassed, rebuked then dismissed the Sadducees for believing THE TRUTH on the state of the dead.  I'd really appreciate it if someone here could explain this theological oddity to me. 

Imagine this. A staff member of Amazing Facts climbs into a "time machine" and embeds himself / herself into the crowd that that was listening to Jesus teach when suddenly the Sadducees arrive and attempt to embarrass Jesus by asking a question engineered to make a mockery of the Resurrection of the body. Everyone listening KNOWS the Sadducees disbelieved in the immortality of the soul, the Resurrection and the existence of angels. Jesus addresses the question the Sadducees put to Him about the Resurrection and after that proceeds to educate the Sadducees that the soul is immortal AND the existence of angels. The Sadducees hang their head in shame and go away leaving the crowd to marvel at how Jesus defeated them. Jesus and His Disciples head to the next town to continue teaching about the Kingdom of God.

The Amazing Facts person gets the attention of the crowd (who just watched Jesus confirm the immortality of the soul, angels & the Resurrection) and starts teaching them that's not at all "THE BIBLE TEACHING" - the Amazing Facts person offers everyone in the crowd to sit down for a Bible Study so they can know Jesus didn't just say what everyone listening to Jesus believed He said - but it's ok because Amazing Facts is there to untangle what Christ just said and set the record straight with some Ellen G. White quotes.

Does this sound reasonable? 

 

 

[phkrause]

On 11/9/2025 at 9:57 AM, Gustave said:

Amazing Facts is an anti-Trinitarian Org associated with the SDA Church

Amazing facts is an organization run by Pr Batchelor, who is most definitely a Trinitarian!!!!!

[Gustave]

1 hour ago, phkrause said:

Amazing facts is an organization run by Pr Batchelor, who is most definitely a Trinitarian!!!!!

Decades ago, Oregon State University operated a "Christian Club" that was called OSU Christian Club - this club was tied into Amazing Facts. I participated in a debate on that club shortly after I got my first internet capable device. There was zero doubt those folks were anti-Trinitarian. If Pastor Batchelor advocates that it was possible that either 

• Christ could have sinned & lost His salvation

or,

• due to sin or any other hypothetical situation Christ could eternally cease to exist (or become as if he never existed)

Those two affirmations are absolutely incompatible with the Trinity Doctrine. In the interest of accuracy, I've inquired of Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Baptist, Evangelical and Eastern Orthodox authorities - all of whom were explicit that those two bullet points above are not compatible with Trinitarianism. I acknowledge that I've seen a few SDA's repudiate the two bullet points above and maintain Ellen White was wrong about that part of their theology and if Pastor Batchelor is one of those I stand corrected and offer my apologies. I can assure you that apologists associated with Pastor Batchelor that were running OSU Christian Club were militant about the real possibility of Christ being on probation when He incarnated and that that there was a real chance of failure of salvation for humanity and if failure had taken place Christ would have eternally ceased to exist. This I can assure you is going the other direction from Trinitarianism. 

[Gustave]

In Trinitarianism the Divine Essence, AKA Substance or Nature is simple, meaning indivisible & infinite (eternal). If The Son were to be annihilated / eternally cease to exist, the Divine Essence would have to be "divided" (destroyed). This is why the Nicene Creed is worded the way it is - "True God from True God, Consubstantial (same nature of/) the Father". It's 3 Persons IN ONE BEING (single undivided substance) - Not 3 Beings which are made up of the same stuff (like 3 soldiers that make up one military team) thereby allowing one of the Beings/ team members to eternally cease to exist while the other 2 are left behind. 

I'm trying my best here to explain not such much what God is (because no one really can) but more of explaining what we can know from Sacred Scripture that God is not.