What happens after death?

From Got Questions                              www.gotquestions.org

Within the Christian faith, there is a significant amount of confusion regarding what happens after death.

    1. Some hold that after death, everyone “sleeps” until the final judgment, after which everyone will be sent to Heaven or Hell. WRONG.

    2.  Others believe that at the moment of death, people are instantly judged and sent to their eternal destinations. WRONG.

    3.  Still others claim that when people die, their souls/spirits are sent to a “temporary” Heaven or Hell to await the final resurrection, the final judgment, and then the finality of their eternal destination. WRONG. 

  So, what exactly does the Bible say happens after death?

First, for the believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that at death the soul/spirit is taken directly to Heaven. that's because their sins are forgiven by having received Christ as Savior.

John 3:16, says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

For Christ believers, death is to be “away from the body and at home with the Lord”

 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 say, “⁶ Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: ⁷ For we walk by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

Philippians 1:23 says, “For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.”

If believers go to be with Christ immediately at death, what is the purpose of this resurrection? 

It seems that while the souls/spirits of believers go to be with Christ immediately at death, the physical body remains in the grave for all purposes dead.

At the Rapture when Christ returns to the clouds, the physical body is resurrected, changed to perfection, and then reunited with the soul/spirit. This glorified body-soul-spirit will be united for eternity in the perfected New Heavens and New Earth.

Revelation 21-22 says, “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”

For those who have not received Jesus Christ as Savior, death means everlasting punishment in Hell. Opposite to the destiny of believers, unbelievers will be sent immediately to this temporary holding place, to await their final resurrection, judgment, and eternal destiny.

We read in Luke 16:22-23 about a rich man being tormented immediately after death. Revelation 20:11-15 describes all the unbelieving dead being resurrected, judged at the Great White Throne, and then being cast into the Lake of Fire.

Unbelievers, then, are not sent to the Lake of Fire immediately after death, but rather to Hell, a temporary realm of judgment and condemnation. 

Their immediate fate after death is not a pleasant one. Luke 16: 24 says the rich man cried out, “I am in agony in this fire.”  

Believers will ultimately be granted entrance into the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21:1). Unbelievers will ultimately be sent to the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-15).

These are the final, eternal destinations of all people—based entirely on whether or not they had trusted Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

Matthew 25:46 says, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”

John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”