Who Is Jesus Christ
Following, then, the holy fathers, we unite in teaching all men to confess the one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This selfsame one is perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man, with a rational soul and a body. He is of the same reality as God as far as his deity is concerned and of the same reality as we ourselves as far as his humanness is concerned; thus like us in all respects, sin only excepted. Before time began he was begotten of the Father, in respect of his deity, and now in these "last days," for us and behalf of our salvation, this selfsame one was born of Mary the virgin, who is God-bearer in respect of his humanness.
We also teach that we apprehend this one and only Christ-Son, Lord, only-begotten -- in two natures; and we do this without confusing the two natures, without transmuting one nature into the other, without dividing them into two separate categories, without con- trasting them according to area or function. The distinctiveness of each nature is not nullified by the union. Instead, the "properties" of each nature are conserved and both natures concur in one "person" and in one reality . They are not divided or cut into two persons, but are together the one and only and only-begotten Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus have the prophets of old testified; thus the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us; thus the Symbol of Fathers the Nicene Creed has handed down to us.
Where Do People Go After They Die?
Where did Old Testament believers go when they died?
When Old Testament believers died, their spirits went immediately into the presence of God. For example, in Psalm 16:11, the psalmist was anticipating leaving this world and going into the presence of God to find pleasure and fullness of joy forever. Again, Psalm 23:6 shows the psalmist anticipating being in the presence of the Lord after his death. Job expressed a similar idea when he stated "in my flesh I shall see God" (Job 19:25?27).
Furthermore, it is clear from Jesus' words in Matthew 22:23-32 that He taught that Old Testament believers go directly into God's presence upon death. In that passage, Jesus is rebuking the Sadducees, who argued against the idea of a resurrection (22:23). Notice what He said in verses 31-32: “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Those words have meaning only if Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-all Old Testament saints-were presently and consciously living in the presence of God. Old Testament saints will receive their glorified bodies at the Second Coming of Christ which is yet future (Ezek. 37:12?14; Dan. 12:1?2; Matt. 25:46; 1 Thess. 5:1?11; Rev. 20:4-6). But in the meantime, their spirits dwell in the presence of God.
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