THE PROMISED LAND NOT A TYPE OF HEAVEN

 

THE PROMISED LAND NOT A TYPE OF HEAVEN

Some Christians thinks this promise land is Heaven. They believe they will move from this world to the Promised Land [Heaven]. This is why a lot of Christians like to sing the song. “We are marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion.

In their minds when they sing about Zion like this, they are actually thinking of heaven. But this is not because the promise land which is Zion is not a type of Heaven.

THE PROMISED LAND NOT PRARDISE

Some also think the promise land must definitely refer to paradise. But this is also not true. Jesus at his crucifixion turned to the repentant thief who was being crucified with him, and said... today shall thou be with me in paradise. [Luke 23:43]

So where is Paradise? May be the question really should be, where did Jesus go to immediately he gave up the ghost. [Ephesians 4:8]

These were the old saints whom Satan had kept captive in Hades. Hades is the place where the dead are taken to. It was formerly divided by a great gulf into two sections; Hell and Abraham’s bosom. The saints of the Old Testament were all taken captive by Satan upon their death, though they could only be taken into Abraham’s bosom.

Lazarus, the righteous beggar when Jesus spoke about in Luke 16: 19-31 was taken there, so were all the righteous saints before him. But after the death of Jesus on the cross, he first went to Hades that is to Abraham’s bosom to set them free. These are the captives he took to Heaven referred to in Ephesians 4:8.

So this answer our question, Jesus first went to Abraham’s bosom after his death, to liberate the saints that had been taken captive by the devil all along. He did not go straight to Heaven, because after his resurrection when Mary Magdalene tried to touch him, He stopped her and said Touch me not: for I am not yet ascended to my father [John 20:12].

That means we can conclude that when Jesus told the repentant thief that “To day shall thou be with me in paradise [Luke 23:43], He was referring to Abraham’s bosom, so the Promised Land is not paradise. It is not Abraham’s bosom, neither is it a purgatory, because some people claim that Abraham bosom is a purgatory.

ZION- THE PROMISED LAND

Hebrews 12:18-24. The children of Israel came unto Mount Sinai, but we have come to mount Zion. This is the city that Abraham and the rest of those men of faith in Hebrews 11 were looking forward, a city whose builder and maker is God!.

The Promised Land is where God is, Zion is the promise land. Abraham did not get there, but now he also has entered into Zion because after the resurrection of Jesus, He led captives in his train. He took all saints in Abraham’s bosom and ascends with them.

Do you know that he actually brought them out of Hades and took them into Zion? Heaven is part of Zion. The first man to get into this city is Enoch [Hebrews 11:5]. He disappeared.

Another man that went into that city without dying is Elijah, he was taken away alive by a chariot of fire [2King 2:1] before him was Moses, though Moses died, God did not allow the devil to take his body to Abraham’s bosom in Hades where the rest of the Old Testament saints are. The arch-angel Michael prevailed against Lucifer and took his body to heaven [Jude 1:9], which explains why during the transfiguration of Jesus on the mount, Moses and Elijah appeared with Him. Moses did not come back from the grave but from Zion. [Psalm 50:2].

WE ARE IN ZION

Hebrews 12:22

We are not trying to get into Zion; neither are we getting there after rapture we are already there now. In fact we are not adopted children of Zion, but we are born there: we are born there when we were born again. Glory.

When Jesus came and gave himself us a sacrifice for us, that great sacrifice he made on the cross went backwards to pay for the sins of the people that were in the Old Testament and those afterwards. This is what qualified the old saints to be taken into Heaven.

When Jesus went into Hell, He went as our representative. He was man’s representative before the father. When he hung on the cross, He was man’s representative before the world and there in hell He became man’s representative before the demons and devils of hell. Praise the Lord. He fulfills justice before the father, the world and before the devils.

Romans 3:24-25

Hebrews 9:15

And when Jesus defeated Satan, we were the ones who defeated Satan because we were in Him when He did it. Jesus took the keys of hell and of death, and brought all those dear Saints.

At the resurrection of Jesus, the Bible records that the graves opened and the saints came out and he took them to Heaven. Read it yourself in Matthew 27:51-52.