The Meaning of John 3:13: “No One Has Ascended to Heaven”?

That statement is found in John 3:13.

Let’s examine John 3:13, located just three verses before one of the Bible’s most famous verses (verse 16), and discover its meaning and what it teaches us about the afterlife.  

(For more insight into this crucial topic, read “Do We Go to Heaven When We Die?”)

The context of John 3:13

To fully understand the Bible’s teachings, we should consider the context of what we’re reading. 

The context actually begins in verse 1, when Nicodemus, a leader of the Pharisees (a first-century Jewish sect), came to talk with Christ.

In verse 3, Jesus told Nicodemus that a person must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. Perplexed by this statement, Nicodemus asked if a person had to reenter his mother’s womb to live forever. (To explore this topic deeper, read “What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?”)

Jesus’ words are plain and direct—nobody, except He Himself, has gone to heaven. Though we don’t know the details of everything the Pharisees believed, it appears they believed that people had an immortal soul.

They thought that those who lived a bad life would be punished in an eternal prison and that those who lived a good life would be resurrected back to life (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, chap. 1, sec. 3). It seems the Pharisees believed that after death the soul would live on in another state until it would be reunited with the body at a later resurrection. 

But God, through the prophet Ezekiel, said, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4, 20). Not all Jews shared the Pharisees’ view of the afterlife. Another sect, the Sadducees, didn’t believe in a resurrection or any life after death (Acts 23:8). So Jesus’ teaching was contrary to their belief as well.

Amid this conversation about the afterlife, Jesus made this authoritative and dogmatic statement: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven” (John 3:13).

Jesus’ words are plain and direct—nobody, except He Himself, has gone to heaven. 

(To learn more about the Bible’s teaching on the soul, read “Do Humans Have an Immortal Soul?”)

If not to heaven, where do the righteous go?

If people don’t go to heaven when they die, what happens after death? Where have all the righteous people who died gone?  

The Bible clearly states, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). We will all eventually die, and we will all be judged for our actions. However, the question remains: When will we be judged? Will judgment occur immediately upon our death or at a later date?

King Solomon tells us that “the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing” and “there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10).

Scripture also tells us that when one dies, “his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4, King James Version).

So, when we die, our thoughts cease and we are unaware of the passage of time. We are not even aware that we are dead; it is as if we are asleep. God’s Word repeatedly likens death to sleep—unconsciousness! 

The righteous are in their graves—not in heaven

The Bible gives examples of the righteous being in their graves without any conscious thought. We are specifically told that King David, a man after God’s heart, is not in heaven but asleep and decomposed in his grave (Acts 2:34; 13:36).

Jesus’ friend Lazarus had been dead for four days. Just before resurrecting him to physical life, Christ said he was sleeping (John 11:11, 13).

Upon death, both the righteous and the unrighteous are completely unconscious—awaiting the future time when they will be awakened. Christ compared death to sleep.

At Jesus’ resurrection, many righteous people who had died previously were revived to physical life. Scripture points out that they had been sleeping in their graves until then (Matthew 27:52-53).

The apostle Paul also likens death to sleep in his writings (1 Corinthians 15:18, 20, 51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

Upon death, both the righteous and the unrighteous are completely unconscious—awaiting the future time when they will be awakened from their slumber. Billions of people are metaphorically asleep in their graves, awaiting the time when Christ will arouse them.

Jesus Christ will awaken all of us from our sleep

In John 5:25 Christ clearly states that He will awaken all who have died, just as He awakened Lazarus from the sleep of death. In verses 28-29, Christ says some will rise to eternal life while others will rise to judgment.

The righteous will be resurrected at the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. They will be resurrected from their graves, meet Christ in the air and reign with Him on the earth—not in heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17; Revelation 20:4, 6). This is when they will become spirit—or, as Jesus told Nicodemus, be “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6). 

Yet this resurrection of the righteous is only the first. According to verses 5 and 11-12 of Revelation 20, another resurrection to physical life will occur 1,000 years later. At this point, those who are resurrected will be given their first opportunity to know the true God and be judged according to their works. They will have the chance to be judged righteous and be changed to spirit themselves.  

Those who willfully refuse to follow God will be judged unrighteous and sentenced to the second death (verses 14-15). They will not be tortured in everlasting hellfire but will be consumed by fire and cease to exist forever.

(To learn more about the biblical teaching on the resurrection, read “The Trumpet Shall Sound, and the Dead Shall Be Raised.”)

Heaven is coming to earth

If anyone had gone to heaven, he or she would have seen the Father. Yet Jesus said that no one has seen the Father at any time (John 6:46). This further corroborated His claim that no one has ascended to heaven.

Notice what the apostle John saw in a vision: “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband . . . Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:2-3, emphasis added).

The Bible teaches that instead of the righteous going to heaven to be with God, God is ultimately bringing heaven here. From that time forward, the earth will be the home of the Father, Jesus Christ, the glorified children of God and the holy angels.

The meaning of John 3:13

Just like Nicodemus, many people have wrong ideas about what happens after death. Yet the Bible is clear—we don’t go to heaven after death. Instead, we sleep peacefully in our graves until Jesus Christ awakens us from sleep.

Those judged righteous in this life will awaken to a new birth as children of God. Those who never knew God in this life will awaken to a new chapter as physical human beings, also with the incredible opportunity to be born again—into the family of God!

This is the inspiring and awesome meaning of John 3:13.

Date Posted: July 22, 2024