Jesus said in his Father's house were many mansions, and that he was GOING TO PREPARE A PLACE for us. This "place" was NOT the mansions - they were already there! The place Jesus was referring to was access to the throne of God through the new temple on earth: our physical bodies, the temple of the Holy Ghost:

Note the word "purified" in verse Hebrews 9:23 above? This is telling us that the heavenly articles of the tabernacle addressed earlier - the table, the altar of incense, the censer, the shewbread, the ark of the covenant, the candlestick - had to be "purified" by the blood of Jesus in heaven. Things that are already PURE do not need to be "purified". It follows, then, that those articles were defiled somehow, and stood in need of purification! Yes, the actual sacred furniture in heaven were DEFILED and required purification - not God or the angels, but the furniture of the tabernacle. When were they defiled? Recall the discussion of Lucifer's rebellion, and the sin of pride, that defiled the tabernacle in heaven. Jesus pure, sinless, royal blood was shed, not only to cleanse the sin of mankind, but also to purify the articles of the tabernacle in heaven of Lucifer's sinful pride! There is an interesting passage in Hebrews 12 that actually tells us there is "blood of sprinkling" in heaven, and there is no possible way this is any other blood than that of Jesus Christ:

Again, this blood is in the HEAVENLY JERUSALEM where Jesus Christ purified the sacred furniture of the tabernacle in heaven. This blood speaks better things than Abel's blood. Jesus himself said Abel's blood was RIGHTEOUS:

So, if Jesus himself calls the blood of Abel "righteous", and the blood of sprinkling in heaven speaks better things than that of Abel, what other blood than Jesus Christ's could this be? The actual blood of Jesus shed on Calvary, therefore, MUST have been collected somehow - possibly by the angels or by Jesus himself - and taken to heaven.

This also explains why the soul and spirit of the righteous people of God, when they died, could NOT enter heaven when they died. They went into a place called Abraham's bosom, a place in the heart of the earth, where they were able to see hell, till the heavenly throne room was cleansed with Jesus' blood. This is explained to us in the account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke chapter 16:

Separating hell and Abraham's bosom was a "great gulf" over which you could not pass. Those in Abraham's bosom could see the people burning in the torment of hell, and vice versa. So, Jesus' purification of the heavenly things not only gives those living the power and boldness to come to the throne of grace with our prayers, but it opened up the heaven throne room to the souls and spirits of the righteous who died in covenant with God PRIOR to the death and resurrection of Jesus. As you may recall, Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be with him in paradise that same day. Paradise is another word for Abraham's bosom:

Next, we need to explore the proof elsewhere in scripture that he not only ascended to heaven to purify the heavenly articles of the temple in heaven, but that he also descended and went down into the earth. A controversial subject? Yes, but completely biblical. Here are the pertinent passages:

Special mention is necessary of the passage from Acts 2. Peter, full of the Holy Ghost, brilliantly expounds on what the psalmist was referring to when he said the Holy One would not see corruption. Peter explains that David, since he is dead and buried, and didn't rise from the dead, saw corruption. Therefore, the psalmist couldn't have been referring to David. Peter convincingly explains how the passage is most definitely referring to Jesus.

Clearly, we see that Jesus spent some time, specifically three days and nights, within the heart of the earth, preaching to the spirits in prison. When did this happen? This happened prior to Jesus ascension to heaven to purify the heavenly temple, prior to his visit with the disciples 8 days after his ascension, when Thomas touched his side - definitely prior to his resurrection from the dead into a glorious, incorruptible body. According to Jesus' own words, in the resurrection, we have bodies like angels:

And we also know that angels can transform themselves to look like human beings:

This will help to explain why Mary Magdalene may not have recognized Jesus in the garden after his resurrection from the dead. Another reason she didn't recognize him was because he may have had white hair. Jesus is described by John in his Revelation of Jesus Christ on the isle of Patmos as having this white hair:

During the three days Jesus physical body was dead in the grave, he descended into the earth, into hell, preached to the spirits in prison, and took the keys of hell and death from Satan. He had not yet, though, ascended into heaven to purify the heavens with his blood when he met Mary in the garden, which is why she could not touch him. But eight days later, after he had ascended to heaven to purify the temple articles, Thomas WAS able to touch him. Praise God for the revelation of his word!

Have you ever wondered why Jesus, after his resurrection and in his resurrected body, still had the scars on his hands and feet, and still had the hole in his side from the spear of the Roman soldier? If we think back to the covenant men of the past, the sign or mark of the covenant was a cutting of the male foreskin - a mark on the body through which the seed of the man passed when conception began to create a new life in the womb of the mother. Well, Jesus Christ was God's new covenant man, and he will bear those marks on his side for ETERNITY, as proof for any potential doubters in that eternal state, that he DID go to the cross, that he DID suffer and die for all of us. No one will be able to say Jesus did not suffer and die for us at Calvary:

Jesus, the new covenant man of the Melchizedekian priesthood, will bear the marks of the covenant for all eternity as evidence of his precious and holy sacrifice for you and I. If you haven't accepted Jesus Christ's new covenant sacrifice for your sin nature and prepared for soul and spirit for eternity, please do it NOW, today! Your never know whether today will be the day you breathe your last breath:

These prophetic insights and ideas are extremely interesting, and pertinent to the future of mankind. I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, written by men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (II Peter 1:21), therefore, I believe that all events prophesied in the Bible WILL come to pass.

The main reason for my presentation of these prophetic insights is to have readers understand that a time is coming when the righteous will be removed from the earth, and the wrath of God will be unleashed on those who did not accept his Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for their sins. Eternity is too long to spend away from God, in eternal hellfire instead of eternal paradise. Please don't delay....click the links below: