In Matthew 27, when the Lord Jesus resurrected, there were some Old Testament saints who came out of the tombs, entered into the earthly city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people (vv. 52-53). Where did those dead saints go after they resurrected? We can only say that we do not know because the New Testament does not clearly tell us this, and we do not want to assume too much. However, the day of Christ’s resurrection is typified by the Feast of the Firstfruits (Lev. 23:10), because the Feast of the Firstfruits was fifty days prior to the day of Pentecost, and it was on this day that the Holy Spirit descended in Acts 2. In the Old Testament during the Feast of the Firstfruits, God required the Israelites to offer a sheaf of the firstfruits of their produce. The produce that was offered was a sheaf, not merely one stalk. If the offering had been only one stalk, then this would have indicated that the Lord Jesus was going to be resurrected alone. However, the fact that the offering was a sheaf of firstfruits, indicated that besides the Lord Jesus, the saints who came out from the tombs in Matthew 27 would also be resurrected. They became the firstfruits of the harvest along with the Lord Jesus. However, where God placed them after they resurrected is difficult to determine from the Word, and we dare not draw any conclusions.
In simple terms, in order for a saved one to enter into God’s dwelling place, he must be mature, and he must be a complete person with his spirit, soul, and body in resurrection. He cannot be one whose spirit and soul have been separated from the body and whose body has not yet been resurrected. The spirit and soul of a dead person must be clothed with the body in resurrection to form a complete person. Only such a complete person is qualified to come before God’s presence. Even when the Lord Jesus died, His spirit and soul did not go directly to heaven. His spirit and soul went to the Paradise of Hades first. Only on the day of resurrection, after His spirit and soul had put on His body again, did He ascend to heaven to meet God.
Do you think that after the saints die, they can immediately go to heaven to meet God in a state of nakedness, without resurrecting and putting on the body? Suppose that today Paul’s spirit and soul came to visit us. If he had no body and only his spirit and soul came to us, would we not be frightened? The spirit and soul without the body is like a person without any clothing.
Second Corinthians 5 clearly says that the body is like our clothing (vv. 1-4). Not only will we be unclothed of this body, but we will eventually be clothed with a transfigured body. Paul says that if we are clothed with that body, we will not be found naked when we meet God. In other words, suppose we are unclothed of this body, that is, we die. If we meet God without being clothed with a transfigured body, that is, if we are not yet resurrected, we will be naked. This is what the apostle means. No matter how many times we read 2 Corinthians 5, it will always have this meaning. First, we cannot meet God in this body of humiliation. Second, even if we were unclothed of this body of humiliation, we still would not be able to meet God because we would be naked. Only when we are clothed with that body—the resurrected, transfigured, and glorified body—will we no longer be naked. Then we will be able to meet God.
This shows us a principle. For a person who has been saved to go to God in the heavens and to be with God, he must be complete and without any problems. If a saved person dies, and his spirit and soul leave his body, there is still the problem of death in him. As long as this problem of death is not solved, his spirit and soul are still naked. How can such a person go to the dwelling place of God and dwell with Him? Therefore, he must be temporarily placed in the Paradise of Hades to wait there. As an illustration, suppose we come to visit you as you are taking a bath. At such a time, surely you would want us to wait outside until you finished taking your bath in the bathroom, put on some clothes, and could come out to the living room to meet us. If you heard us come and immediately came out from your bathroom without putting on any clothes, we would run away in fright. We must wait until you put on your clothes before we can meet you.