When Paul stated in 2Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Master,” he was simply saying that he would prefer to be with the Master, not that he was or could. He was not even sure of his own salvation, 1Cor. 9:27. The common misquotation of the passage is, “To be absent from the body IS to be present with the Master.” The two are not symbiotic. Being without a body following death is not the same as being with Yahshua, as the misquotation suggests. Besides, not everyone without a body (in death) will receive salvation.

When Yahshua stated in Luke 23:43, “Verily I say unto thee, today shall you be with me in paradise,” we understand He was saying, “I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise.” It was an emphatic statement and the Greek did not have punctuation to bring that out. Yahshua was assuring the thief that very day that upon His return that the thief would be with Him in paradise or the kingdom.” We use the same terminology when we say, “I’m telling you right now…” Punctuation was added by English translators based on their understanding of the context. We know that the common misquotation of the verse is in error because Yahshua never went to paradise that day. He was in the tomb three days and nights before He resurrected from death.

The resurrected saints will definitely see Yahweh as they serve Him in His Kingdom. Note the following:

In Psalm 17:15 David wrote, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” In Matthew 5:8 Yahshua said, “Blessed [are] the pure in heart: for they shall see Elohim.” Revelation 22:3-4 tells us: “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of Yahweh and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name [shall be] in their foreheads.”

The Sadducees came to Yahshua in Luke 20 and asked Him whose husband a woman would be if she remarried seven times with seven brothers after each had died. He answered in verse 35: “They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of Elohim, being the children of the resurrection.”

His answer tells us these truths: He raised the point of marriage, which occurs only between a man and woman. The woman (any righteous woman) was therefore included in the first resurrection. This is clearly the first resurrection because those in it will not die any more, while those in the second resurrection, which is a resurrection to physical life, can be killed in the lake of fire if they prove unworthy, Revelation 20:15. Indeed, 1Thessalonians 4:16-17 makes no distinction between sexes in the first resurrection.

We further read in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Messiah Yahshua.” If righteous women are considered one in Messiah along with righteous men — and in fact those of any race who have been called — how can any one of them be excluded from the first resurrection?

Yahweh’s Word does not promise heaven to anyone. Yahshua in John 3:13 said no one had gone to heaven, not even after 4,000 years of human life and death on earth. All who are written in the book of life will be in the Kingdom on earth, however.

Revelation 21:27 reads, “And there shall in no wise enter into it [the Kingdom] any thing that defiles, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Contrarily, those who are not in the book of life will be the ones worshiping the beast. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” Revelation 13:8

The account of EliYah in 2Kings 2:11 is often used to justify that man goes to heaven after death. With careful study, however, one will find that EliYah never traveled to heaven. One reason we know is the fact that King Jehoram received a letter from EliYah after this incident (2Chron. 21:12).

We believe that the chariot of fire and whirlwind described in this passage were likely manifestations of Yahweh’s Spirit (compare with 2Kings 6:17) and the reference to heaven simply refers to the “first heaven,” which by definition in Strong’s Concordance is “the visible arch in which the clouds move.” Three heavens are spoken of in Scripture.

No conflict exists between John 3:13 and 2Kings 2:11. Yahshua, our authority on heaven, stated that no man had gone to heaven except for himself who also descended from heaven. Additional understanding can be gleaned in the Biblical concept of death and the resurrection. Scripture clearly states that upon death that one loses all thought (Ps. 146:4) and is only awakened to consciousness at the resurrection (Dan. 2:12, 1Thess. 4:13-16).

The passage reads, “And the smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receive the mark of his name.” Some interpret this passage to say that the wicked burn in hellfire forever.  First, notice that it is “smoke” of their torment, not the fires, that lasts forever. Smoke results from something burned. This indicates that they were consumed and all that remains is smoke. Jude 7 speaks of the “vengeance of eternal fire” that burned Sodom and Gomorrah. But these cities are not still burning. They are an everlasting reminder, however, of Yahweh’s wrath.