What does John 3:13 mean? Did no one go to heaven before Jesus?

from the old testament

• In John 3:13, Jesus is potentially alluding to an expression found in the Old Testament, which gives us some insight into what He meant. In Deuteronomy 30:11–14, Moses said that the commandment to obey God is “near to you” as opposed high up in heaven or across the sea, which was a way of saying the furthest point away from them. He was saying that the message had come near, so that they didn’t need to travel to extremes to find it.
• In the book of Proverbs, Agur wrote how God is not like a man by providing a series of questions. The first one was, “Who has ascended into heaven and descended?” (Proverbs 30:4a). His point was that God is the only One who ascends and descends from heaven at will.
• Those verses provide some background context to Jesus’ statement. Additionally, there are passages in the Old Testament that tell us that some did ascend, which could possibly be to heaven.
• In Genesis 5:24, there’s a brief account of a man named Enoch who was so righteous that God took him up without dying (c.f., Hebrews 11:5). Though Scripture only says that he “went up,” we can presume that was to heaven. However, it is, admittedly, possible that it was to a temporary place of rest.
• Another man, also righteous, was taken up without dying. That was Elijah the prophet. As he was talking with his predecessor, Elisha, we read “behold,a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). The word “heaven” here could refer specifically to heaven or what the observers saw of him ascending into the sky and out of sight.
• The Old Testament talks about Sheol, a place that both believers and unbelievers go to because it is the realm of the dead. For example, Jacob, a believer (c.f., Hebrews 11:21) anticipated that death would take him to Sheol (Genesis 42:38) and yet the men who rebelled against Moses were also said to have gone down alive to Sheol when the earth opened up and swallowed them (Numbers 16:33). Job, for his part, desired to go to Sheol and away from his sorrow and pain (Job 14:13). All of these and other verses suggest that there was not a clear expectation of entering into heaven at death but rather a kind of temporary place that held all the dead with a place of torment and a place of rest.

from the new testament

• John 3:13 reads, “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.” The context of the passage shows that Jesus was not talking about Him being the first person to go to heaven. Jesus was not focused on His future resurrection (ascension) but on the fact that He had descended. When considering the context and related passages, it is clear that Jesus was talking about bringing the message, not about being the first into heaven.
• The context of the conversation was that Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus, a Jewish teacher who had come to Him with questions about the kingdom of God. Jesus was saying that He had the authority to teach on eternal life because He had come down from heaven to earth. Only God ascends and descends (c.f., Proverbs 30:4a). Therefore, the authority of Jesus’ message was that it came from God.
• Paul teaches something similar to John 3:13 and Deuteronomy 30:11–14 when he says that no one can “ascend into heaven” or “descend into the abyss” to find salvation. Instead, the Gospel (“word”) had come through Jesus, and the word was now “near you” (Romans 10:6–13). In both Deuteronomy, John, and Romans, the focus is on the nearness of the message.
• In Luke 16:19–31, Lazarus died and “was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.” Because Abraham was already there, that indicates that he had been there long before Jesus even came to earth. Note that the passage doesn’t specifically use the word “heaven,” so Abraham could either be in heaven or, at least, a place of rest in Sheol.
• Additionally, Hebrews 11 lists many Old Testament saints who followed the Lord by faith. Though not explicitly said, these individuals were noted as God’s people who lived for Him and who now dwell with Him beyond earthly life.
• What we do know for certain is that all dead believers at this point in time are with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
• We also see that martyrs are in heaven, which implies that dead believers are currently in heaven (Revelation 6:9–11).
• Regardless, John 3:13 is not a good passage for making an argument regarding where people went when they died before Jesus, since Jesus was talking about the source of His authority (from heaven), not about whether or not He would be the first one to go to heaven.

implications for today

Many people died and were in the presence of the Lord before Jesus ascended to heaven (Hebrews 11). That means that they, at the very least, went to a place of rest. Were they in heaven, proper, before Jesus completed His work? That is unclear. However, what Jesus was talking about in John 3:13 was that His message of salvation was authoritative. He was also implying that He was more than the messenger—He was God, since only God ascends and descends from heaven.

Since Jesus’ message is divinely authoritative, it is important that we seek to understand it so we respond rightly to it. The message was summed up in Jesus: “so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:15). Therefore, we are called to believe in Him. Jesus is God’s “only Son” (John 3:16), which means that Jesus is also God. Jesus came to die as a propitiation—a substitute who dies for our sins—for all men who believe in Him (1 John 4:10). So, believing in Jesus means that He is the Savior from God’s wrath (John 3:36; c.f., Romans 5:9). God’s wrath is coming because “people loved darkness” (John 3:19). Indeed, all of us love darkness (Romans 3:9–18) and are deserving of the coming judgment. However, “the Light (Jesus) has come into the world” (John 3:19b). When we believe in Him as God’s Son, Savior, and a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God (1 John 4:10), then we believe His message and are given salvation!