Many churches commemorate the people who died in the past year. It is a common belief among Christians that when a believer dies, they go straight to heaven. This is a comforting thought for the bereaved.
But the Bible teaches us that things are different. In this blog I would like to share with you Bible verses on this subject to study what happens after death.
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13.
God offers us hope and comfort, even when we lose a loved one.
Spirit of life
At the creation of Adam we discover what life is. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7. A soul, a living being, is therefore the body together with the breath of life given by God.
‘The breath of life’ is the Biblical term for everything that is alive. And when Job wants to say ‘as long as I live’ he uses the words: "All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils." Job 27:3.
“While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. … His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Psalm 146:2 and 4.
The last chapter of Ecclesiastes says: “because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:... Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:5b and 7.
The Hebrew word translated spirit in these two texts is ruach. Ruach can also be translated life or breath. In the New Testament, the Greek word pneuma is used in a similar way to ruach. As in these Bible passages:
“For as the body without the spirit is dead …” James 2:26a. A body without breath is not alive.
Jesus gave His Father back His breath of life. “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” Luke 23:46.
The last word "spirit" is another Greek word, namely ekpneo. This word also has to do with air: to exhale. The spirit of life left Jesus with His last breath.
Sleeping in the grave
What happens to the deceased after life has left him? Abraham, David and Solomon are said to have rested with their fathers. Jesus also calls death sleep. Just think of His friend Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus (John 11 and Matthew 9:24).
It is striking that none of the people who have been raised from the dead has anything written about their experiences. There are no words or reactions from them to read. That is proof of the state of forgetfulness and total unconsciousness.
The Bible describes that the dead cannot or know nothing. They do not praise God, they have no consciousness, knowledge or feelings.
“What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?”
“The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.” “For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.” “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. … Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there isno work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
Psalm 30:9, Psalm 115:17, Isaiah 38:18, Ecclesiastes 9:4-6 and 10.
Eventually people will wake up again from this sleep. “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.” Psalm 49:15
Second Coming
The Bible tells us more about our resurrection at Jesus' return. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”
“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”
John 14:3, Revelation 22:12, Matthew 16:27.
We see in these texts that Christ is preparing a place for us in heaven. Then He will come back to earth to collect us. He comes with His angels and the judgement. The verdict in the court case before God is therefore not pronounced immediately after the death of a person, but at the Second Coming. The rapture into heaven is therefore not directly after death.
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-53.
Paul describes our change in our last moments on this earth. Those who are alive at the Second Coming are clothed with imperishable. The dead are raised as incorruptible people. Nothing is mentioned here about a soul coming back from heaven or the rejoining of body and mind. They are simply awakened from their sleep immortal.
At the Second Coming, the then living with those who had already died will meet Jesus in the air to go to heaven together.
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.
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