Has anyone ascended to heaven?

Many will tell us that when Christ was resurrected that he carried captivity from hades to heaven. From then on all who die in the Lord go to heaven when they die. Can we know from the Scriptures whether this is true or not?

Ephesians 4 is often referred to as support for the righteous dead from hades being taken to heaven at Christ's ascension. But a look at the context around it tells us Christ ascended back to heaven from which he previously descended to earth at his birth. The lower parts refer to the earth. The captives referred to all mankind who have been held captives to death. He was now freeing us from everlasting death since he would be back one day to resurrect all from the dead. Had it not been for his resurrection and promised resurrection for mankind at his Second Coming, we would all remain captives and as such would die and remain perished (First Corinthians 15:17-19). Paul is saying that we are to be pitied if we only have hope in this life, but this is not the case since we now have hope in the resurrection to come at Christ's return for us. The leading of captives is making this point in a figurative sense. The fact that he was not literally taking anyone to heaven with him at his ascension is supported by Acts 2;29, 34.

In Acts 2:29, 34 regartding Christ's resurrection and ascension, Peter said that David, beloved of God, is both dead and buried and did not ascend to heaven. This verse assures us that even after Christ's sacrifice for our sins and his resurrection and ascension, that David is dead, and not in heaven. Death is not a good thing, but a curse, but it will be undone at the resurrection when Christ returns. Ephesians 2:4 says that in the meantime God figuratively has raised up believers with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realm. This verse refers to our moral, spiritual resurrection involved with our conversion and repentance in this earthly life, and foreshadows a literal resurrection to immortality in the future at his Second Coming.

Another problem that should be pointed out is that humans are not souls in a body but are rather living souls, human beings, persons or individuals.. God made man and breathed into him and he became a living soul, or human being as some translations render this.. He has a spirit within him but not a soul. Some use the words “soul” and “spirit” interchangeably but the Scriptures never do.

Some would say that when Christ died he went in the spirit to hades. Remember that the spirit in man is a spiritual element that God gave all humans but it is not the person itself. When Christ was about to die on the cross he commended his spirit to the Father. He as the person, Jesus, was dead when they placed him in a tomb. When Mary Magdalene saw him on that resurrection morning, he told her that she could not touch him, as many translations put it, because he had not gone to the Father yet. He meant that she would not be able to cling to him since he had not ascended to heaven yet. He could not have gone to an underworld in the spirit since his spirit had left and ascended to the Father. It was at his resurrection when he was no longer dead that his spirit had returned giving him life again.