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Saturday, August 1, 2020

“…Up There Dancing With Jesus”

By A. C. Quinn

   The things people say are always amazing, sometimes surprising. A sweet young lady was speaking about loved ones and acquaintances who had recently passed away, and in the course of that conversation she said of them: “They are up there now dancing with Jesus.” While this statement was intended to be comforting and was, no doubt sincere, it was misguiding, to say the least of it.
   Time and circumstance did not permit an immediate response, but Jesus’ words to His disciples sheds a great deal of light on the question “Where are the dead?” He said: “In my Father’s house are many mansions:…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3). The apostle Paul also addresses this issue: “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven…and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so will we ever be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:14-17). Nothing is said about dancing with Jesus.
   The apostle Paul tells us “…it is appointed to man once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Paul further states “…He (God) hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness…” (Acts 17:30). Jesus discusses the matter of judgment and resurrection this way: “…for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil , unto the resurrection of damnation… (John 5:28-29).
   The theory that one is ushered into heaven immediately following his death is a comforting thought; but it is contradictory to the fact that the resurrection and judgment stand between death and heaven—or hell.

 - A. C. Quinn preaches for the West Main Church of Christ in Wolfe City, Texas. He may be contacted at acuen30@gmail.com


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