What Happens After We Die?

This is a question that I’ve pondered for some time. It may appear simple to most because, ever since we’ve been children, we’ve been taught that we go directly to Heaven if we’re good and we go to Hell if we’re bad. So, we grew up believing this without checking the source of all truth, the Bible.

A Christian shouldn’t believe something simply because mommy and daddy said it’s true. Parents often have an ulterior motive for sharing this information. They want Billy or Suzy to be good and not be a burden on them.

What does the Holy Bible say about this topic? After all, we’re all going to die someday, so we want the right answer. That’s unless Yeshua comes back during our lifetime. That simplifies the matter.

The Bible is undoubtedly the true word of God. It’s infallible, inspired, and clear on this point. I find it hard to fathom why there are so many theories. That’s what brought me to study the word concerning this topic. Some theories tell us we go straight to Heaven or Hell. Some say we go to a place called Purgatory to complete our cleansing. Some tell us that we can pray for our dead friends and relatives who are waiting at the Pearly-Gates waiting for us to pray for them to go through.

Then there are the Biblical experts who contend that we don’t go anywhere. They believe we die, our bodies go to our graves, and our spirits go back to God. Then, Yeshua returns, and our bodies are resurrected to join our spirits. After diligent study of the scriptures and consultation with several concordances, the Holy Spirit guided me.

Starting with Genesis, where death is mentioned by the serpent. He was speaking to Eve in Genesis 3:4 when he said, “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.

The serpent, or Satan, is a liar. We all know that from dealing with him and his minions over the years. When he told Eve she wouldn’t die, was he referring to physical death or spiritual death?

Genesis 3: 19 tells us, 19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

That sounds like physical death to me! When people from the Old Testament died, their bodies returned to the earth to sleep.

They had no memory of life. Ecclesiastes 9 :5 – 6 5 The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered. 6 Whatever they did in their lifetime—loving, hating, envying—is all long gone. They no longer play a part in anything here on earth.

This is reinforced by the next verse, Ecclesiastes 9: 10 10 Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

The next verse, from the book of Job, expands on this theory of sleep. It’s as if the person is sleeping during surgery under an anesthesiologist's care. Anyone who has had surgery knows the feeling. They knock you out, and the next second, you're awake in recovery. Hours may have passed, but to you, it was instantaneous. Job 14: 12, 12 people are laid to rest and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep.

Under anesthesia, we wake up after the surgery is completed. In the world, they awake when Yeshua returns.

Psalms 6: 5, reinforces this teaching of a non-thinking sleep after death, 5 For the dead do not remember you. Who can praise you from the grave?

Psalms 115: 17, and again, 17 The dead cannot sing praises to the LORD, for they have gone into the silence of the grave.

However, never fear. Psalms has a prophecy that tells us that those who are sleeping and righteous will rise at the Messiah's arrival,

Psalm 17:15, because I am righteous, I will see you.

When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.

Psalms 56: 13 continues this teaching, For you have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping. So now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light.

Also from Old Testament writings, Daniel concurs, Daniel 12: 2, Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace.

He expands on this teaching to say that the righteous as well as the unrighteous will arise in the end times. What does the Lord mean by shame and everlasting disgrace? Daniel was writing to the Jews, but it refers to mankind, Jews and Gentiles alike. As Christians, we have the blood of Yeshua to cover our sins. We have had the opportunity to accept His salvation. Still, people who lived and died prior to Yeshua didn’t have the chance to receive salvation. Or did they? According to Daniel 12:2, it says, 'Some to everlasting life, and some to shame.' So, God has his own way of judging those, and, as I’m not God, I don’t know how He is going to do that. I can only guess. Thank God, we have Yeshua to support us!!

The New Testament continues the teaching of sleep. The raising of Lazarus in the Book of John is telling. John 11: 1 – 44, I don’t want to print the entire story of the raising of Lazarus here, please go to your Bible and read it. The interesting point here is that Yeshua had not yet been crucified or risen from the grave at this point. So, Lazarus was sleeping like all the others who died before him. When Yeshua brought him from the grave, there was no mention of an afterlife. Lazarus didn’t rip off his bandages and exclaim that he met God or his ancestors. If he had, the scriptures certainly would have included that. Yeshua had not yet paid the price for Lazarus’ sins yet!

My favorite writings in Scripture come through John. In John 3: 13 – 16, he further explains the teaching,

13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man[a] has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.[b]

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave[c] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

He tells us that no one has gone to heaven yet. He’s referring to all who previously died. The reference from Moses is enlightening.

In Numbers 21: 8-9 a prophecy of Yeshua’s sacrifice for us is shown.

8 Then the LORD told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” 9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

The message from Yeshua instructs his followers on how to attain eternal life and experience it now. John 5: 24 – 29

24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

25 “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. 26 The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. 27 And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man.[a] 28 Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, 29 and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.

Again, I go to John for the answer about what is called the Church Age. Yeshua promised his followers that those who believe in God and accept Yeshua as their Savior will now have eternal life. When he said, ‘the dead will hear my voice,’ He is referring to us. All those alive then and from that point on, we are dead in our sins; He is life. He has the power to give us eternal life.

In verse 28, He tells us that the dead, in their graves, will one day rise to eternal life or experience judgment. That will be at Yeshua’s second coming.

Acts 2: 29, 34. Here again, Luke tells us that the Old Testament prophets aren’t yet in heaven. If anyone qualified for heaven, it certainly was Daniel.

29 “Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us.

34 For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said,

‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand.”

After Yeshua’s resurrection from the grave, he has paid for our sins, so we will go directly to heaven when we die.

2 Corinthians 5: 8, 8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15: 22 – 23, But we won’t be bodily with the Lord. It will be our spirits who go to Yeshua and wait for our bodily resurrection in the end times.

22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

Paul explains it better in 1 Corinthians 15: 50 - 54

50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.

51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,[a] this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory

Paul also wrote to the believers in Thessalonica and told them this in,

1 Thessalonians 5: 9 – 10

9 For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. 10 Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever.

So, the bottom line is this. Those who have died prior to Yeshua's coming the first time are asleep in their graves, or wherever their remains are. In the end times, when Yeshua returns, God will judge them by their acts.

For those of us who accepted Yeshua as our Lord and Savior, our names are in the “Book of Life” and will be ushered into an eternal life with God. Those who turned their backs on Yeshua’s salvation will be judged.

See to it that your name is in the “Book of Life.” Repent of your sins. Meaning turn your back on your sinful nature and ask forgiveness for them. Yeshua will forgive them and offer you his Holy Spirit.

Pray!

Dear God, I am a sinner and need forgiveness. I believe that Yeshua (or Jesus Christ) shed His blood and died for my sins; I am willing to turn from sin. I now invite Yeshua to come into my heart as my personal Savior.

Amen