Who went to Heaven before Jesus was born?

Question

I keep seeing statements from people belonging to certain religious groups stating that people who have not accepted Jesus in a certain way will not go to heaven. This apparently includes people who belong to other non-Christian religions. I am wondering if anyone went to heaven before Jesus was born? Obviously no one who died B.C.E. would have been Christian in any way. So does that mean no one who died B.C.E. could have gone to heaven? What about Moses and Elijah, who according to the Old Testament were actually transported up to heaven? What about Abraham? Was heaven empty B.C.E.?

Answer 1

THAT is a great question! Although I was born into Christianity and have studied Islam, I don't agree with the dogma of either of them and I definitely don't believe in heaven or hell, but that question never occured to me :"> It will be really cool to see what kind of answers you get to this one!

Answer 2

According to John chapter 3, no one did, so apparently neither Moses nor Elijah went to heaven when they died. That makes sense because Jesus hadn't yet redeemed mankind, so no one could have been saved prior to that. So BCE, no one went to heaven.

But Matt 8:11 shows that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be in the kingdom of the heavens. And Hebrews 11:16 says that God has prepared a heavenly city for Abraham as well as others who lived before Jesus. So based on that, it sounds like they will go to heaven at their resurrection, now that Jesus has opened the door.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Who went to Heaven before Jesus was born?
I keep seeing statements from people belonging to certain religious groups stating that people who have not accepted Jesus in a certain way will not go to heaven. This apparently includes people who belong to other non-Christian religions. I am wondering if anyone went to heaven before Jesus was...

Answer 4

The word "heaven" in the bible is home only to God and the angels (which are not dead people, btw.) It is also used to refer to the place where stars are. It is never, ever, ever referred to as the place that good people go. The hope of a Christian is the resurrection in a real body to live on a real planet. The resurrection hasn't happened yet, so no one is yet in their final place. The judgement comes first. Dead people are referred to as "sleeping" or "unclothed" (as in, don't have a body at the moment), or as being with God. Most of what Christians think is a biblical idea of heaven/hell is actually out of greek tradition and doesn't hold up if you actually read what the Bible says.

I guess this isn't your question, though. The only way that anyone has every been set aside for resurrection to life is by trusting God to save them, rather than by believing they were good enough or could do enough good stuff to earn it. The Bible is clear that this applied to even those before Christ.

Answer 5

I am gonna say many of the people who are answering on here have the right idea as far as it goes with dogma. I feel that for the most part we do a pretty lousy job of interpreting what God really wants for us to do. We even warp and confuse the messages of his greatest profets and messengers on earth. The way i understand it is that the official understanding is that Jew's in the old testement times were bound by a unbelivable ammount of laws that if completely followed granted you a reprieve of the eternal cycle of birth and death. This repreve left them in a kinda waiting area called Sheol where the wicked would go as well, a basically crappy place or just a grave. There they wait, with Jesus the three days he dissapeared from his tomb and was also not seen by anyone, the christian dogma states, he stormed the walls of Sheol and conquered death for the rightous dead and brought them back to the lord. The bible does make mention of people like Enoch, Elijah, and even old Methusala who God took back directly from earth to heaven thus bypassing death. This is interesting but could well be explained, through dogma again, that these individuals were in part divine thanks the the intermingling of angelic DNA with humans in early Geneisis. Elijah who came later could have been completely divine to begin with an actual delivered and later taken messenger of God. Enoch, according to Jewish dogma, became the Metatron.

Answer 6

Jesus was the first to go to heaven. King David who was a man "agreeable to God's heart" did not go to heaven as Acts 2:34 states: "For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,
" 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand."
Elijah did not go to heaven either. When he was taken up towards the heavens in a windstorm, he did not die at that time. He was transported by God to another prophetic assignment. A number of years after his ascension in the storm, Elijah was still alive and active as a prophet, this time to the king of Judah. Because of the wicked course taken by King Jehoram of Judah, Elijah writes him a letter expressing God's condemnation, which is fulfilled shortly thereafter. ( 2 Chronicles 21:12-15)
Another Scripture that shows Jesus was the first to ascend to heaven is John 3:13: "No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man(Jesus)."NIV
Jesus opened up the way for a "little flock" of his faithful followers to receive heavenly life with him and these become co-rulers in his Father's Kingdom.
All those who died before Jesus went to heaven, are still sleeping in death, awaiting a resurrection back to life on earth. They will be counted among the millions of meek ones whom Jesus said will inherit the earth and live forever upon it.

Answer 7

Jesus cannot be compared with Abraham and Elijah and Moses. Remember that Jesus said, "before Abraham, I was," (John 8:58)and that no one has seen the Father but me."(John 1:14-18) Those who live under the law will be judged according to the law but we count it as blessing to live under the grace because the law is difficult to obey.

Answer 8

Only two human beings are documented as being carried up to Heaven prior to Jesus' death: Enoch and Elijah. All other believers -- Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, etc. -- went to "Abraham's Bosom," which was part of Hades; however, they were not tormented there by any means.

First of all, let's clear up a common misconception: "Hell" is actually a place where only unbelievers go; it is a part of Hades, and is in the same location, but separate. (Think of it this way: If Hades was a country, Hell would be a State.) This separation is described in the parable of "The Rich Man and Lazarus" beginning at Luke 16:19 -- note there are three places mentioned here: "Abraham's Bosom," a chasm (referred to as "a great gulf") and "torments." All three are parts of Hades; only two parts are unpleasant. (The chasm is the same "pit" mentioned in Revelation where Satan will be cast for 1,000 years. At this time, the chasm is empty.)

When Jesus went to Hades following his physical death, He entered "Abraham's Bosom," where the spirits of those who earnestly loved God during their lifetimes were.
Some Jewish people today believe in this concept, calling it a kind of "waiting room," where their existance is paused until the Messiah comes; they believe Messiah will free those in this "waiting room" so they can be with God. Messianic Jews and Christians believe this is exactly what Jesus Christ did when He decended to Hades. Having freed these "prisoners" and unloaded His sin, He returned to earth and was seen by Mary at John 20:17. He then ascended to Heaven, where He sits at God the Father's right hand. As far as we know, Abraham's Bosom no longer exists; it became part of "torments" after it was emptied. The spirits of believers now go directly to Heaven, to join those brought there by Jesus Christ.

I hope this helps. Peace and love in Jesus.

Answer 9

People pre-Jesus were able to get to heaven by being righteous and good, and once Moses brought the 10 commandments. God made a covenant with his people through Abraham, and keeping that covenant and following the law allowed people to get to heaven.

In response to the question about Jesus and the first commandment, Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the closest thing to God that we at one time had on earth. Remember that Jesus said "Noone gets to the Father but through me" (paraphrase). Jesus is the means to an end (the end being God), and both are worthy of praise.

Answer 10

Moses and Elijah are the only two stated as going to heaven.

Abraham, was in hell, hell is (was) divided in two sections, one was the lap of Abraham the other real hell.
You can read about it in Luke 16:19 to 31

The side that Abraham was on is now empty! For Abraham and all with him, (and maybe some from across the gulf) were washed clean by the blood of Christ!

Answer 11

My denomination of Christianity believes in soul sleep. Meaning that when you die, everyone enters a state of unconsciousness like sleeping. One day Jesus will return to earth and on that day he will raise everyone for judgement. Then the people will be seperated according to who believed in Christ and who did not. Those who did will enter Heaven and those who did not will be sentenced to Hell.
People who died BCE certainly did have the opportunity to be saved. Before Jesus came to earth you could still be saved through believing in God. Back then sins had to be paid for with sacrifices. Now our sins are paid for by Jesus sacrifice for us on the cross.
By the way Moses was not transported to heaven. The Bible says that God Himself buried him (Deuteronomy 33:5 And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is). I believe that Abraham, Moses, etc are all in that state of sleep right now waiting for Christ's return.

Matthew 24:30-31 They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Matthew 24:42 42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.

Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward everyone according to what they have done.