What Happens When We Die?
There is a ton of confusion, even among believers, about death. Part of the way I know this is because as a pastor I’ve done quite a number of funerals and memorials, and I hear the things people say about their deceased loved ones…
So much of it is speculative and even silly:
‘They finally got their angel wings….’
‘They’re just up there having a cold one…’
‘They’re just up there playing football with the boys’
It seems that some believers are more apt to get their theology of heaven from some pop-level book written by a child who had a so-called experience of heaven and came back to earth, rather than from the God of the universe in his infallible Word.
Friends, we do not need to use our imagination about this. God has graciously, lovingly disclosed to us everything we need to know about death, in His Word.
And what’s more, in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 it says…
1 Thessalonians 4:13 (ESV): 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
It’s not just about accurate knowledge (which is important)... it’s about hope. When we take God at His Word regarding death, it fills us with hope… and that’s my aim today. That you would be filled with hope.
For the remainder of our time I want to give you the chronology of what happens when we die, as it relates to both believers and unbelievers, and then we are going to close by looking at 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 where Paul lays out for us his perspective (which is God’s perspective) on how we should view death as believers.
So first, what happens when we die?
Here it is, chronologically according to the Bible:
When you die…
Your soul will leave your body and you will have one of two immediate, conscious experiences…
If you are a believer, you will go immediately into the presence of Christ.
If you are an unbeliever, you will go immediately away from the presence of Christ, awaiting judgment.
Of the believer the Bible says this:
2 Corinthians 5:8 – "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."
Philippians 1:23 – "My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better."
Luke 23:43 – Jesus to the thief on the cross: "Today you will be with me in Paradise."
Jesus illustrates what happens to unbelievers in His story about the Rich man and Lazarus:
Luke 16:22-23 “The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off...”
In Hebrews 9:27 it says, it is appointed for man to die once, and after this comes judgment.
So the Bible is clear that there are no second chances. You die, that’s game over. The verdict is in.
This is why Paul was so tormented by the thought of his countrymen who had rejected Christ; he said, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
As a caveat, we don’t know whether an unbeliever rejects Christ all the way to their dying breath… only God knows that. Nevertheless, it is not truthful or helpful for us to give people false hope about a deceased unbeliever; it undermines the gospel when we do that. Instead, people need to be lovingly told the truth about what happens when unbelievers die so that they can repent and be saved before it’s too late.
So what happens to our bodies?
Our bodies go into the earth, from where they came.
Believer or unbeliever, your body goes to the same place: back to dust.
Genesis 3:19 you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
So our bodies all go into the earth and decay, whether believer or unbeliever.
However, that is not the end for our bodies…
At the second coming of Christ, our bodies will be raised and reunited with our souls.
1 Corinthians 15:51–53 (ESV): 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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 (ESV): 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Philippians 3:20–21 (ESV): 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Our resurrection bodies will be glorious, without any of the ailments or limitations of our current ones, just as Christ’s resurrection body is.
1 Corinthians 15… “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.”
(vv. 42–44) “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”(v. 49)“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”(v. 52)“This perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”
What about unbelievers? They’ll rise too…
What many people don’t realize is that everyone’s body (believer and unbeliever alike) WILL be raised when Christ returns.
Acts 24:15 (ESV): …there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.
John 5:28–29 (ESV): 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
In this case, ‘done good’ and ‘done evil’ are euphemisms for salvation or lack thereof.
Daniel 12:2 (ESV): 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Which brings us to our next stage after death:
Final Judgment.
After Christ returns to earth and reunites our souls with our bodies we will stand in judgment before God.
Believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged and rewarded for their faithful service; unbelievers will face the Great White Throne judgment and face condemnation based on their deeds and the fact that they do not possess the righteousness of Christ.
Believers:
2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV): 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Romans 14:10–12 (ESV): 10 …For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” 12 So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Just to be clear: this judgment of believers is not to determine salvation; that has already been determined by having the righteousness of Christ imputed to us through faith. But even though our salvation is secure, we will still have to give an account of how we lived while in the body.
For unbelievers, the final judgment will be quite a different experience.
They will experience what is known as the Great White Throne Judgment, as depicted in Revelation 20:11-15: "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it... and the dead were judged... If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
That final condemnation is based on their sin and their rejection of God, which is the default condition of all of humanity unless God intervenes in our hearts and gives us what we don’t deserve by awakening our hearts to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Lastly, after the final judgment comes…
Final Eternal State.
Believers go into eternal life in the new creation which includes full and everlasting joy, no more sickness,no more sin, no more death, no more anything bad at all, only glorious perfection as God intended it.
Non-believers go into eternal separation and experience eternal, conscious punishment in the lake of fire. Nothing good, no relief, only righteous judgment and separation from God forever.
Matthew 25:46 (ESV): 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
So… This is what God Himself tells us about what it will be like when we die.
How did it come to this?
The Bible makes it clear that death exists because of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, they represented all of humanity. Especially Adam, who was seen as the federal head (representative) of all who would come after him.
Romans 5:12 “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin.. And so all died”.
But thankfully, God, in His magnificent love and kindness, provided a Rescuer in Jesus Christ.
Jesus came as the second Adam.
Where the first Adam failed at a tree resulting in our curse, the second Adam hung upon a tree, bearing our curse so that we could have His life in exchange.
Now, what should our attitude be about all of this?
For the unbeliever, it’s pretty obvious: you need to repent of your sins and trust Christ as your Savior, so that you can be with Him forever. There is quite literally nothing that will ever matter more than that.
Romans 6:23 (ESV): 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You receive that free gift by repenting (turning away from your sin) and embracing Jesus as your Savior.
When you truly do that, the Bible promises that you will not face condemnation from God because you’ll be in Christ Jesus (Romans 8)
For the believer, now that we are in Christ and immune to the adverse effects of death, we need to shift the way we think about death.
For the believer, death is no longer something to be afraid of. That’s because Jesus effectively put death to death by His own death and resurrection.
Jesus has taken the sting out of death (1 Corinthians 15).
Jesus has made it so that death is gain for the believer (Philippians 1:21-23)
Because of Jesus, death is swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15)
Because of Jesus, the believer has already passed from death to everlasting life (John 5:24)
In 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, Paul explicitly includes death as something that now ‘belongs to’ believers… we are not its slave… it is our slave, since it opens the door for us to be in the presence of Jesus.
Theologians through the centuries have mused about death in these ways:
John Calvin: Therefore we ought to contemplate death, not as something dreadful and destructive, but rather as a deliverance from all miseries, and a passage to the highest blessedness.
John Bunyan: Let death come when it will––it can do the Christian no harm, for it will be but a passage.
Philip Melanchthon, reflecting while on his deathbed: You will be delivered from sins, and freed from the acrimony and fury of theologians… You will go to the light, see God, look upon his Son…
Charles Spurgeon: Your dying hour will be the best hour you have ever known! Death brings us into the immediate vision of our Savior and the increased intimacy of fellowship which it entails.
But my personal favorite perspective on death comes from the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10…
We’ll close with a brief exposition of this text.
5:1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
So he’s contrasting our frail earthly bodies with our resurrection bodies.
2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Paul echoes that idea of ‘groaning’ in Romans 8 when he says, “we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies”.
6 So we are always of good courage.
Really, Paul? You’re always of good courage? Because in chapter 6 you say you faced afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, roits, labors, sleepless nights, hunger, dishonor, slander, sorrow, poverty…
Are you being for real when you say you’re ‘always’ of good courage… and not just you, but “WE”?! This courage is available to me today as a follower of Jesus?
Yes. That’s exactly what he’s saying.
And here’s why.
We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
And so he answers our hypothetical question…
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
He elaborates on this sentiment in his letter to the Philippians…
Philippians 1:20–26 (ESV): 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
So, based on this reality that we have two good options in front of us: to live for Christ on the one hand, and to die and be with Christ on the other (which is far superior), what should our posture be?
Verse 9…
9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
What’s left to do? Live to please Christ. He’s the only one worth living for. If life and eternity is all about Him, what other option are we left with? Make sense?
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
History is replete with men and women who have proved through their life and death that death has no sting for those who belong to Christ.
Polycarp, the disciple of the apostle John, was arrested for refusing to worship Caesar. At 86 years old, he was threatened with death by burning.
When asked to renounce Christ, he famously replied:
“Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”
As he was tied to the stake, he prayed:
“I bless you, Father, that you have deemed me worthy… to be among the martyrs and to drink the cup of Christ.”
Or John Wesley. A tireless preacher of the gospel. In his final days, his physical strength faded, but his joy in Christ remained.
Surrounded by friends, his last words were:
“The best of all is, God is with us.”
Then again, as his voice grew weak:
“The best of all is, God is with us.”
Or Horatio Spafford, who after losing his four daughters in a shipwreck, penned the beloved hymn “It Is Well with My Soul.”
One stanza reflects a 2 Corinthians 5-like hope:
“And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so—it is well with my soul.”
Perpetua was a noblewoman from Carthage and a new Christian. Though she had a newborn son and her father begged her to recant, she remained firm in her faith.
In prison in North Africa, she had a vision of a ladder reaching to heaven and saw herself entering into glory.
At her execution in the Roman arena, she encouraged the others and told the soldiers:
"Stand fast in the faith, and love one another. Do not let our suffering be a stumbling block to you."
She was mauled by wild animals and then killed by the sword—at peace, believing she was going to be "clothed with her heavenly dwelling" (2 Cor. 5:2).
Anne Askew was a noblewoman who converted to Protestantism. She was arrested for her beliefs, tortured on the rack, and burned at the stake in Smithfield, London—all while refusing to deny Christ.
She wrote:
“I am not afraid of what man can do to me. My faith is in God, and in Him alone.”
She faced a cruel death with peace, longing for the “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1).
I think of Joni Eareckson Tada.
She’s not dead yet, but a diving accident at the age of 17 has left her paralyzed from the neck down. She’s now an old woman who has lived a life utterly full of gospel ministry and joy in Jesus.
She once wrote:
“I can’t wait for the day when I’ll be on my feet dancing before the Lord. Until then, my wheelchair reminds me that the resurrection is coming.”
She embodies 2 Corinthians 5:2:
“In this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.”
We could go on all day.
But the real question is, what about us?
Will we choose to live our lives aware of two eternal destinies in front of us? Will we choose to live for Christ so that death is gain?