Are those that have died, already in heaven?

Those who have died and had saving faith in Jesus Christ are with the Lord in heaven. Their bodies are sleeping in the ground (or wherever they were placed after death) until the day of the resurrection or rapture, when those bodies will be raised in a glorified form and reunited with the souls that are in heaven. We will then live in heaven in our glorified bodies until He returns to earth at the battle of Armageddon, when we will return with Him. We will reign with Christ on earth for 1000 years, and then will go with Him to reside in the New Jerusalem.

What a glorious inheritance we have to look forward to!

I don't think so. The reason....the original Greek didn't have commas so when Jesus told the thief "I say to you today you shall be with me in Paradise," He could have meant the comma to be AFTER today or BEFORE. That completely changes the meaning. That's not proof either way, but leaves some doubt. Then there are these verses:

Psa 115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.

(How could they NOT be praising Him if they are in His presence??)

Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

(If the dead know nothing, they must not be floating around in Heaven yet.)

Other parts of the Bible refer to death as sleep. In fact, I believe that in the original languages, the words could have been nearly interchangeable in some places.

I also don't believe that unsaved dead are in hell yet, nor that they will burn forever. I believe that after the resurrection and judgment the unsaved will be burned up and they will burn UP, not burn eternally like the burning bush.

I know that these are beliefs of the Seventh Day Adventist church, but I'm not SDA. Many Christians in other denominations also came to the same conclusions themselves without ever running across any SDA materials.

When a person dies, if they are saved their soul will go straight to Heaven, if they are lost they will go to Hell, however their bodies will remain in the ground until Christ returns for the saved, and until the Great White Throne Judgement for the lost.

A couple of girls earlier are SO RIGHT! If you read your Bible and study it thoroughly you will find that you do wait in your grave until the second coming. Why would a God of love send you up to heaven to float around and wait to get a glorified body, meanwhile you have to watch your loved ones suffering??? Would you want to serve a God like that? Or a God that would burn you or your loved ones forever... What kind of God is that? Sounds like a doctrine of devils to me to deceive the masses. Pray and READ YOUR BIBLES CAREFULLY, for even the elect will be deceived.

The few who have been offered the Plan of Salvation and accepted are in Heaven now.

Those never having had the Plan explained are also in Heaven as well as low IQ's , infants, etc..

ONLY those REJECTING the OFFER go to Hell.

They are in paradise or spirit prison. At the resurrection they will be reunited with their bodies before the final judgement. Then they will be assigned to a heaven or outer darkness.

First - thank you so much for an intelligent question.

Those who have gone on before are not in Heaven or Hell - they are either in Paradise or Hades - these places are described in the Bible.

In John 14:1-4 Jesus said He is going to prepare a place for us and that He will return and take us there - that where He is we may be also.

Please check out my web site - it explains the Bible.

No! They are just chillin in deep sleep or pulling off little mind games such as "Ghostly Encounters" ! They are bored waiting for who knows how ever how long to see the " Big Boss" in "Heaven" just to be pulled up on they're "B.S." from the glorious days here on earth.

No. Not until the second coming of Christ. But those that are dead you may consider them in Heaven, as time stops for them. Just like waking up from a surgery; you just can't believe it is over wheather one hour, or eight hours are passed. When you die it may be a million years but to you it is like a "twinkling" of an eye.

in the bible, Revelations it lets us know that no one goes straight to heaven;that everyone will be judged according to how they lived and the things they did,and only a few will make it in, hopefully the number will be in the millions or billions