The closest verse that states something like that is …
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Thankyou.
Now the translation supplies
"us" in that passage. That would include Paul the writer of the epistle.
Was Paul literally in heaven when he wrote
Ephesians? Neither the writer Paul nor his audience the saints in
the city of Ephesus were literally in heaven sitting there.
If this is the closest verse teaching "going to heaven" in the Bible it is far from conclusive.
We (believers) are in the heavenly realm in Christ (spiritually) as part of the one body.
Now I am all for this statement, that we believers in Christ are (or ahould be) in a heavenly realm in our
spirit. In our innermost spiritual being we are one with a heavenly realm. That we can see.
That because we are
"one spirit" with the Lord and He is in heaven, I can see part of our being is in touch
with a heavenly atmosphere and transcendent above all realm.
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. (1 Cor. 6:17)
The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. (Rom. 8:16)
Why do we not rather stress to fellow believers that we are
"one spirit" with the Lord?
Why do we not stress more that the Lord in heaven is with our spirit?
The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. (2 Tim. 4:22)
Indeed the Apostle Paul's prayer was not that we go to heaven. It was that we be strengthened INTO that heavenly realm
in our
"inner man" our regenerated human spirit.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, . . .
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, (See Eph. 3:14-16)
It is degradation to take the lazy way to emphasize instead the flimsy idea of "going to heaven."
This is sweet candy in place of healthy teaching.
Christian should instead be taught how to be strengthened into thier spirit in the inner man
that Christ may make His home in our hearts for the building up of His Body the church.
The rest of Paul petitition for the Ephesians and all the rest of us is . . .
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man,
That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
May be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are
And to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.
But to Him who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us,
To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:16-21)
But
1Th 4:17 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 shall we ever be with the Lord.
This passage says
"caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air".
If the Lord is near the surface of the earth "in the clouds" and He catches up Christians to be with Him, that says nothing about
going to heaven.
It will be wonderful for Christ to be near the earth and catch up His people in the clouds to be with Him.
But that is not going to heaven but to the clouds hovering over the surface of the earth.
Some may assume to be with the Lord then always means He takes them back to heaven.
However it doesn't say specifically that He takes them BACK with Him from the clouds to heaven.
Rather His next move is to come down to the earth for His millennial kingdom.
After the gathering together unto Him... it says …. so shall we ever be with the Lord.
It does not say in heaven ….We may spend a little time there…. but as far as I can tell by reading the end of Revelation… our digs are going to be on the new earth.
Thankyou. I agree.
Way too much talk there is about "going to heaven" which is the lazy way of "sweet candy" of natural religious concepts
instead of healthy teaching about being one spirit with the Lord and being energized into that real for the building of God's house.