What happens when I die?

Dear church family,

A few weeks ago, a dear older lady sat across from me in my office. She had a piece of paper in her hand. On it were her funeral plans. She wanted a specific song played. She asked that we’d sing As the Deer and How Great Thou Art. She chose Isaiah 40:31 as the reading. She was calm, clear, and confident. She wasn’t anxious at all. No fear. She was ready. She knows what every Believer should know. That death is not the end. That Jesus has gone before us. That He has made a way. That we can face the future with hope.

What happens when I die?

The Bible is clear. You will die. You will be raised. You will face judgment (Hebrews 9:27, John 5:24-30). Your body will return to the dust. But your soul will continue. Your soul will go to a place of conscious existence. A place of comfort. Or a place of torment.

The Old Testament calls this place Sheol. The New Testament gives us more detail. Jesus tells of a great chasm. On one side, torment. On the other side, comfort. Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16). The two places are two destinations. With one great divide between them.

Jesus promised the thief on the cross, Today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). Paul longed to depart and be with Christ, which is far better (Philippians 1:23). To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-9). Believers fall asleep, but they awake in the presence of their King.

But not all rest in peace. Those who reject Christ descend to Hades. Their punishment is conscious, real, and just. Later they will be raised, judged, and cast into the lake of fire. Hell is real. And final. And eternal.

That is why the Bible says, Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). You must not wait. You must not delay. Turn to Christ while the door is still open.

If you trust in Jesus, then death holds no sting. The grave holds no victory. You can say with Job, I know that my Redeemer lives. And with Paul, I know whom I have believed (which I hear being sung at the Saints of Sixty while I type out this message). And with David, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

In Christ,

Mark