When will we go to heaven?

By Billy Graham

The believer’s passage to heaven is a direct route. As soon as we are dead, we will be with the Lord. Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Paul declared, “I desire to depart to depart and be with Christ”. He affirmed, “Therefore we area always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6-8).

The moment we take our last breath on earth we take our first in heaven. We are absent from the body and immediately present with the Lord. Then in God’s time we receive our glorified bodies at the Second Coming of Christ.

We will be known in our resurrection or heavenly bodies, just as Moses and Elijah had been caught up to heaven in a whirlwind over six centuries before Jesus lived. Here’s what happened all those years later: “Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John to the top of a high and lonely hill, and as they watched, his appearance changed so that his face shone like the sun and his clothing became dazzling white. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with him. Peter blurted out, ‘Sir, it’s wonderful that we be here! If you want me to, I’ll make three shelters, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” (Matthew 17:1-4).

The disciples recognized Moses and Elijah, although they did not yet have their resurrection bodies. They had recognizable bodies; they were not disembodied, ghostly apportions.

We will go to heavenly immediately, and will recognize and be recognized. Do some believers have glimpses of loved ones as they approach the gates of heaven? I believe it is possible.

Death has two stages: first, the separation of the body from the spirit of a person for a purely spiritual existence; and second, reunion with the body and a glorious resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ.

When our body ceases to function and we are dead, the spirit of the believer is not asleep. Our flesh and bones and all the intricate and wonderful parts God has made are the dwelling place of the sprit of the believer. When we leave our bodies, we depart to be with Christ (Phip 1:23), and “wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). Yes, some day our bodies will renewed and changed, like that of resurrected body of Jesus Christ.

If the two stages of death seem difficult to understand, Dr. H.A. Ironsides explained them by using this simple illustration which may help. He noticed a shop in his town which was no longer open for business. One day while driving past the building he saw a sign in the window, “Closed for Alterations.” The owner had suspended his business dealings with the public long enough to renovate the store. After a time the store was reopened with many changes and improvements. This is a picture of the death of the believer. He moves out of his body until it has been repaired, then, at the resurrection, the inward man will move into his renewed body.