Secrets from Beyond The Grave

We are certain that after Christ cried, "It is finished," from the cross (John 19:30), His Spirit descended into the righteous chamber, and He preached to the spirits of the righteous dead. We must remember that these spirits in Abraham's bosom would include Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, David, the prophets, and all who had died in a covenant relationship with God. Many of these individuals would have lived and died under the Law of Moses during a fifteen-hundred-year period. Thus, Christ would have preached a three-day message of God's plan of redemption and revealed what He had accomplished on Earth. One man, a repentant thief, was with Him in paradise, confirming the plan was true! After all, this unnamed former thief was the first to be crucified under the Law but to die under grace, since Christ died before he did! The proof that Christ was ministering in this subterranean "prison" was what would occur the morning He rose from the dead. Christ brought these righteous souls out of this underground chamber when He arose from the dead! This is recorded by Matthew: Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. --Matthew 27:51-53 These "saints" were Old Testament saints whose souls and spirits joined their bodies, and they were resurrected and seen in Jerusalem. The Bible is not clear if all believers under the old covenant were raised, or if just a selective number were raised to be seen in Jerusalem. These individuals did not continue to live on Earth in their bodies, as they would still be walking among us today. (A resurrected body lives on without dying.) This brings up two questions: will there be other Old Testament saints resurrected at the second coming of Christ, and what happened to these saints who were raised at Christ's resurrection? Firstfruits of the Dead Christ was crucified prior to Passover, buried at the time of Unleavened Bread, and was raised the Sunday (first day of the week) that began the Feast of Firstfruits. Paul said, "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20). "Those who have fallen asleep" would refer to the Old Testament saints. During the Feast of Firstfruits, the high priest marks the first ripened grain of barley in the field, and on the day after the Sabbath (Sunday) he presents the firstfruits at the temple along with a lamb (Lev. 23:10-12). Offering the firstfruits makes the remaining field holy before God. In the Gospels, several women arrived just before sunrise on the first day of the week (Sunday) at the tomb to anoint Christ's body (John 20:1). To their shock, Christ was risen and was preparing to ascend to His Father in heaven. Christ told Mary not touch Him, as He was preparing to ascend to His Father. Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘ I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.'" --John 20:17

This event of Christ ascending to heaven is far deeper than most Christians realize. First,