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 were 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 we are told that 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 would simplify 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 need to wait at the 'pearly gates' while our friends and relatives pray for us to enter.

Then there are the theories that contend that we don't go anywhere.  They believe we die, our bodies go to our graves, and our spirits go back to God either in His heavenly realm or outside of the Kingdom of God, looking in. 

Going back to the beginning, Genesis, death is first mentioned by the serpent.  Genesis 3:4,

⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

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 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall 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 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing. And they have no more reward. For the memory of them is forgotten.⁶ Also, their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun.

 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.  The anesthesiologists puts you to sleep, then, it seems as though, the next second, you're awake in recovery.  Hours may have passed, but to you, it was instantaneous.

 Job 14: 12,  

¹² So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake, Nor be roused from their sleep.

 Under anesthesia, we wake up after the surgery is completed. For those who lived before the crucifixion of Yeshua, they awake when Yeshua returns.

Psalms 6:5 reinforces this teaching of a non-thinking sleep after death.

 ⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave, who will give You thanks?

Psalms 115: 17, and again,

 ¹⁷ The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor any who go down into silence.

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

Psalm 17:15, ¹⁵ As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.

Psalms 56: 13 continuing this teaching,

 ¹³ For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

Also from Old Testament writings, Daniel concurs, Daniel 12: 2, 

² And many of those who sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake, some to everlasting life. Some to shame and everlasting ^[a]contempt.

 This tells us 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 all of 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, ² And many of those who sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life. Some to shame and everlasting ^[a]contempt.

So, God has his own way of judging those, and, as I'm not God, I don't know how He will 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.  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!

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

 ¹³ No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man ^[a]who is in heaven. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should ^[b]not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting 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 said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

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

²⁴ "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. ²⁵ Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, ²⁷ and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice ²⁹ and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation

  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 those in the grave as well as those of us still living. All those alive, after the dead arise, will join our savior in the clouds.

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

²⁹ "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

³⁴ "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand,"

If anyone qualified for heaven, it certainly was David.

Yeshua's resurrection from the grave finalized His payment for our sins.   So, we will go directly to heaven when we die.

2 Corinthians 5: 8,  ⁸ We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15: 22 – 23,  At the rapture, or plucking away, our bodies and spirits will ascend into the clouds to join our Lord.

²² For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. ²³ But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.

      Paul also explains it in 1 Corinthians 15: 50,  51 - 54 

       ⁵⁰ Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.   

  ⁵¹ Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

In verse 50, Paul states that our sinful bodies from our Earthly lives cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. So, prior to the rapture, our souls dwell with God in Paradise. 53–54 tell us what happens after Yeshua' snatches us away'.

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

     1 Thessalonians 5: 9 – 10

⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

      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 separately.

      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 condemned.

     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 you 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 repent, and I'm willing to turn from sin.  I now invite Yeshua to come into my heart as my personal savior.

Amen

So, what actually happens to those who refuse to accept God's offer of reconciliation? Those who were offered the sacrifice of Yeshua to wipe away our sin will be lost forever. They will never feel the comfort of God's love.

Revelation 20: 10 is a pivotal verse.

¹⁰ The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

 The phrase εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων ("forever and ever") is neither rare nor ambiguous within Revelation. It is one of the book's most theologically loaded expressions.

Revelation 1:18 uses the same phrase, forever and ever, to the risen savior. 4:19–20 is used to describe God the Father, 11: 15 tells us that Christ "will reign forever and ever. " 22:5 uses the phrase to inform the saints, you and I, that we will be living eternally with the Lord. Not temporary or until a certain event occurs, but forever!

When αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων is applied to the duration of time the lost spend in the afterlife of Hell, it has the same meaning, forever and ever. It doesn't mean "until annihilation," but it says and means "never ending." These words are not cryptic symbols to be decoded, but straightforward messages for those who seek truth.

The lake of fire, just as the dragon or the anti-Christ, is symbolic. However, that doesn't mean they are not real people or places. The dragon is symbolic of Satan, a real being, and the anti-Christ is the world leader destined to appear. Again, a real person. Fire is a Biblical symbol of judgment and suffering. So, the lake of fire is symbolic of what the unsaved will be facing in the afterlife.

In Revelation 19:20, the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire; in Revelation 20:10, Satan joins them. In 1,000 years, all three are released back onto planet Earth alive. They were not brought back to life or unfrozen. They were still alive, living in the lake of fire until God freed them. They were not annihilated as some scholars believe.

Revelation 20:14, ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Some people argue that this is proof of annihilation and not eternal suffering. However,  death and Hades are abstractions, not the unsaved of this world. It symbolizes the end of death as we know it.

Annihilationism is defined as the cessation of existence. Biblical scriptures do not bear out this theory.

Revelation 21: 8

 ⁸ But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

This scripture shows that the saved and unsaved will be alive in the afterlife. After all are brought back to life at the second coming of Yeshua, the goats and the lambs will be divided and sent to the places of their choosing.

And again, Revelation 22:12 –15 shows us that eternity is populated by the saved and the unsaved. The redeemed and the unrepentant.

 ¹² "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."

¹⁴ Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Revelation 20:10 must be taken literally. There is a place of torment for the unbelievers. And, please don't say, "How can a loving God send someone to such a place?"

He doesn't! People chose to go their own route and ignore the blessed hope He offered. Christianity is the simplest and only way to the Father. God loved us so much that he took on the body of His son Yeshua. Then, after teaching us everything we needed to know to be saved, He died for us. Not just a simple execution, but the most excruciating way to die that man has invented.

He simply made the offer to cover our sins. If we accepted His offer and repented of our sins, we were given eternal life with Him in His heavenly realm. So, if you are too proud or too arrogant to accept His free gift, who is sending you to Hell? Not God, you are.

Go back up and reread that prayer. Drop to your knees or find a quiet place to pray, and accept the grace of your Father. He is waiting for you.