A. The word translated “Paradise” comes from the Persian word for a large park or preserve, and was intended to evoke images of the Garden of Eden. It was thought of as a place of peace and comfort.   Before the cross it was widely believed to be the side of Sheol (Hades) where the believing dead went to await the coming Redeemer.  For this reason the Jews often called it Abraham’s Bosom (Luke 16:19-26) since Abraham is the father of the faithful.  It’s where Jesus went between the crucifixion and the resurrection (Luke 23:43). Once He had completed His work as our High Priest (Hebr. 9:11-12), Heaven’s Gates were opened and since then the spirits of believers who die go straight to be with Him there (2 Cor. 5:8).

The notion of a third heaven is from Greek thinking.  They believed the first heaven is what we call the atmosphere, the visible arch of the sky where the clouds drift.  The second heaven is the universe beyond, and the third Heaven is where the throne of God is located.

2 Cor. 12:2-4 appears to connect paradise with the third heaven.  Some say this is because early Church fathers believed that the original Garden of Eden still exists in a heavenly place near God’s throne.  If so, it would mean that like everything else, the Garden of Eden on Earth was a copy of one in Heaven.

A.  2 Samuel 12:18-23 lends support to my claim that in Romans 7:9 Paul was saying children under the age of accountability have eternal life.  And I agree that statistically most people would be saved from hell if they went straight to heaven before being born.

But if abortion providers used this to justify their actions, they would be agreeing that the babies they abort are living human beings. This is something they have always denied because to admit it would mean they are taking a human life, which is against the law.  They would also be agreeing that there is a God, to whom all adults are accountable, and a Heaven and Hell.  This is something else they have always denied.

A. God is outside of time, but man is not.  I believe we were given life primarily to exercise our right to accept the Lord’s pardon and receive eternal life with God.  After we die it’s too late to change our destiny.  For man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

Besides, no one can secure another person’s salvation.  We can pray that they will ask for it, but they have to ask and they have to ask during their lifetime.   As you say she could have made her decision for the Lord unbeknown to you.   If she did, you’ll see her in Heaven.

A.  2 Cor. 12:2 says, I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.  Most scholars believe Paul was speaking of a time when the Lord took him to His throne in Heaven for some special instruction.

As I understand it, Greek thinking in Paul’s time held that the first heaven was what we would call Earth’s atmosphere, the second Heaven would be outer space to us, and the third Heaven was the throne of God.  I believe it’s the only time in the Bible where a distinction of this kind was made.

In Genesis 1:1 the Hebrew word translated heaven is plural although the King James renders it as a singular word. In Genesis 1:6 a different Hebrew word is translated firmament, but in Genesis 1:8 God called the firmament heaven (KJV) or sky (NIV).  Since the Sun, Moon, and stars were placed there (Genesis 1:14-19) it’s probably a reference to what Paul called the first and second heavens.

A.  The New Jerusalem is 12,000 stadia (approximately 1400 miles) high, wide, and long (Rev. 21: 16).  But in Rev. 21:22 John said there is no Temple in the New Jerusalem, and in Rev. 21:27 he said only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life can enter there.  This would exclude the martyrs of Rev. 7 on both counts. That leaves either the Temple in Heaven (Rev. 11:19) or the one on Earth for them to serve in, and I suspect the one in Heaven is more likely.

A. First of all,  John 19:33 tells us when the soldiers went to break the Lord’s legs to hasten His death, they discovered He was already dead.  One of them pierced His heart to make sure.  It would be impossible for a dead man when pierced that high on his upright body to completely bleed out. Without a pumping heart to expel it, gravity would have kept all the blood below the wound inside his body.

But more importantly, Hebrews 9:11-12  says Jesus entered the tabernacle in Heaven by means of His own blood. In the Yom Kippur ceremony, when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies he carried the blood of a sacrificial animal with him and sprinkled it on the mercy seat to atone for the sins of the people. In effect, the writer of Hebrews said that Jesus, acting as our High Priest, did not enter by means of the blood of sacrificial animals but by His own blood.  I take that to mean He sprinkled His own blood there.

A.  The 24 Elders were not mentioned by Isaiah, Ezekiel, or Daniel, all of whom saw visions of the throne of God.  Only John saw them, and he was taken forward in time to the day of the Lord to do so (Rev. 4:1-2).  From this we can reasonably conclude they weren’t there in Old Testament times, and perhaps are not even there yet.  But the patriarchs  were never promised what the Church has been promised.  They won’t be Kings or Priests (Rev. 5:9-10), they won’t be seated with the Lord in Heaven (Ephes. 2:6-7), and they won’t reign with Him as as co-heirs of His inheritance (Gal. 4:4-7).

In Hebrews 11 the writer was recalling the great men of the Old Testament.  Some of the patriarchs were included in his “Hall of Faith”.  He said, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.  God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Hebr. 11:39-40).

A.  Lots of people are confused about this, so let me try to clarify it.  I believe that at the rapture the Church will go directly to the New Jerusalem in Heaven and remain there through out the last seven years.  This is what Jesus was referring to in John 14:2-3.  Then after the 2nd coming the New Jerusalem will come down out of Heaven with us in it.

In Rev. 21:9 we get confirmation of this. An angel offered to take John to see the bride, the wife of the Lamb and took Him to the New Jerusalem.  According to Paul, the Church is the bride (2 Cor. 11:2).  Jesus didn’t marry the city, He married the people who dwell in the city.

A.  Acts 13:2 says the people assembled in the church at Antioch heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, identifying Him as being separate from God or Jesus.  And the Old Testament times the Holy Spirit was thought to be a visible entity.  He was described as being cloud like in appearance (Ezekiel 10:3-5).  The priests coined the term Shekinah Glory to identify Him.  (Shekinah comes from the Hebrew word shakan which means to dwell.)

Of course, no one knows for certain how spiritual beings will appear to us after the rapture, so any opinion I express would be pure speculation. That said, I believe once we’re perfected and in our eternal bodies,  Father, Son, Holy Spirit, the cherubim and the angels will all be visible to us as distinct and separate beings.

A.  Your view of the afterlife is correct. There’s no Biblical support for the belief that departed loved ones can observe us from Heaven.  This idea became popular to help the living maintain some kind of connection with their departed loved ones as a way to ease their loss.

The story of Lazarus is not about Heaven.  It’s about Paradise, a place where believers who died before the cross waited in comfort until the Lord sprinkled His blood on the altar in Heaven to open it for us (Hebrews 9:11-12).

But even if it was, Lazarus could not “look down” and see things on Earth.  The rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus back to Earth to warn his brothers, but Abraham refused, saying the Scriptures are all they need (Luke 16: 19-31).

In 2 Cor. 4:18 Paul wrote that while we’re alive on Earth we can look forward to our eternal life with the Lord,  and are commanded to do so.  But as far as we can tell from the Bible, the connection between this life and the next one is broken at death.