Luke 20:37-38
37 "But even Moses showed in the [burning] bush [passage] that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 38 "For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”
Genesis 15:6
"6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."
Romans 4:3
"3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." …
Romans 4:5
" 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, …
Romans 4:9
"9 [Does] this blessedness then [come] upon the circumcised [only], or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness."
Galatians 3:6
" 6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
At the time Moses spoke to God at the bush on top of Mount Sinai, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all physically dead. The Word tells us in Genesis 15:6 and again in Romans 4:5 that Abraham believed God and that this belief was counted to him {Abraham} for righteousness. Notice it was not counted to Abraham as righteousness but for righteousness. I believe there is a significant difference and implication in the word the Holy Spirit used to describe this. Abraham’s choice to believe God enabled him to walk by faith in God, it opened the door so that God could give to Abraham the measure of faith that he would need to act on what he believed. Furthermore, Abraham’s choice to believe God and to subsequently act on what he believed caused Abraham to be made alive spiritually in earnest. That is to say that God held Abraham aside after he died physically so that when Jesus came to redeem mankind, Abraham was made spiritually alive and translated into heaven. It is the same concept that we experience now in the church age. We believe that God sent His only begotten son so that He could become sin for us and then He was crucified and raised again the third day, so we act on this belief and God counts it to us for righteousness also. Then He causes us to be spiritually alive but tells us that we are, in God’s mind as Jesus is in this world, and seated with Christ in heavenly places before we actually are there. God has to count our belief in Him and in His promises for righteousness or we would not be able to act in a way that proved out what we believed. He is He who gives us the ability to do so. Furthermore, God is the God of the living and all live to Him. I believe that this means that no matter which state of existence the human is in, ie: in the flesh or out of the flesh, that human exists for eternity in some topographical location. That of course is up to the human. They can choose to spend all of their time in heaven once they depart from their bodies and prior to returning to them or they can choose not to accept the payment that has been provided by Jesus Christ and spend their time in Sheol nevertheless, they still live-somewhere.
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