What Happens to You When You Die?
By Joyce Webb 2010
1. What happens to you when you die?
___Nothing. You go in the ground and that is the end.
___Your body goes in the ground and your spirit goes to heaven or hell.
___You do not know if you will go to heaven or hell.
2. What is the judgment?
___It is for bad people only.
___There is a judgment for bad people and for people who are forgiven and follow Christ.
Which of these sentences are true?
In question one: the second sentence is true.
In question two: the last sentence is true.
Hebrews 9:27 “It is decided by God that men will die once and after that the judgment.”
We will die only one time. Then we are judged by God.
Some religions—like some from India—believe people die and then they go into some other animal or other person and they live again.
The Bible says that we die one time. Then we will be judged for how we lived.
People who have not asked Jesus for forgiveness and who have not stayed true to Him —-will go to hell.
Revelation 20:11–15 “I saw the great white throne, and him that sat on it.
(Jesus) verse 12 I saw the dead–small and great—stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened which was the Book of Life; and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, as to their works (what they did).”
Verse 13 “….death and hell were brought up and the dead that were in them. They were judged every man as to his works (what he did).”
Verse 14 “And death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
Verse 15 “And whoever was not found in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
It seems that people in hell are brought before God the Father and Jesus at the end of time. Verse 13 Death and hell are brought before God to be judged. All people who died (death) and those in hell are brought before God in the end of time.
Death and hell are thrown in into the lake of fire. Verse 14
This seems to show that dead people in hell are not yet in the lake of fire. They are in hell which is a hot place, but at the end of time they are thrown into the lake of fire.
In the Old Testament, when people died they went to a waiting place. If they were believers in God and obeyed God—they went to a waiting place called Abraham’ Bosom.
If they did not obey God, they went to a hot place called hell.
Jesus told of a rich man who was in hell. Luke 16:19-31
Jesus told stories to help explain heaven. He never used real names in these stories (parable). But this story about the rich man and Lazarus,– Jesus used real names of real people. So this story must be a true and not just a made up story. The hot place is real.
Jesus said many times about people ending up in a place of darkness and a place of pain and grinding of teeth.
People who do not ask for forgiveness or obey Jesus go to hell. Right now it is not the place of the lake of fire. Later they will be thrown into the lake of fire that was made for Satan and the evil angels that went with him.
Names are marked out in the Book of Life. Revelation 3:5 “The person that stays true to God will be given a white robe to wear. I will not blot (mark) his name out of the Book of Life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”
This verse seems to tell us that everyone’s name is in the Book of Life to start with. Only those who have their sins forgiven and stay true to God to the end will have their names stay in the book.
Sin is the reason names are marked out of the book.
Jesus’ blood covers our sin—so our names can stay in the book.
If Jesus’ blood does not cover our sin—our name gets marked out.
That means we have to stay with Jesus all our life until the end —so that His blood keeps covering our sins.
Revelation 2:10 “….be faithful until you die, and I will give you the crown of life.”
People who have asked Jesus for forgiveness and have stayed true to obey Him will go to heaven.
John 3: 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish (die) but have everlasting life.”
Some of the verses above from Revelation tell that the ones who believe and obey will have eternal life.
Paul talks about how God will judge believers for the work that we do for Christ.
In I Corinthians 3:9-15, Paul talks about his starting churches of new believers.
He says that he has begun a foundation for others to build on. When you build a house, you put in a basement or a cement floor or large cement blocks to build the house on. This is called the foundation. It holds the house so the wood walls do not sit on the dirt.
Paul was making a foundation for believers to have a church. There were just a few people. Paul wanted other preachers to come and bring in more people to the church. He wanted the preachers to teach the people and keep the group of people growing in Jesus.
Paul said that he worked hard and was honest and truthful. He built a good foundation for God. It was like gold and silver and precious stones (ruby, pearl).
Paul said that when others come to work with the churches and believers they need to be careful to be honest and do a good work. They should not give time to do foolish things that had no value or worth. Because God would judge what they did some day.
If they did foolish empty things that had no eternal worth–it would be like wood, hay or plant stems that would burn up.
God would some day test what we did. He would put our works in a fire to see if they were lasting things. Gold, silver and stones do not burn up. They last. Wood, hay and stems will burn up.
Things we do for Jesus should be things that will last forever. Telling people about Jesus. Helping people learn more about God and learning to stay true to him will last forever.
Things that have to do with this world will pass away and be over. There are many things that we can do to help people—give them food, clothes, medicine. These are good things, but they do not last forever. We will not need these things in heaven.
That does not mean that we should not do these things to help. We should help. But these things will not last.
Make sure you do some things that will last forever.
Churches today do many things—they have dinners, movies, sell things, have parties—these things will not last.
Things that help our spirits know God better are the things that last. Find things to do that help make that happen. Our good works will be a gift to God some day.
People who believe in Jesus and are living right will go to heaven when they die.
II Corinthians 5: 6-8 “ while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord “…..to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
Paul is saying that when we are alive in our body we are here on earth and are not with God. When we leave our body then we will be with the Lord.
Jesus told the thief on the cross: “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:43
People who are believers and have died will be raised to heaven when Jesus comes at the time of the “rapture”. Jesus will come in the clouds and those who have died in Christ will go up first, then those who are living will go up in the clouds. “ and so will we be forever with the Lord.” I Thessalonians 4:13-17, I Corinthians 15:52-57
This is called the first resurrection of the dead. The second resurrection is for the people who do not believe. They are resurrected second—-after the believers.
The first death is when we die in our bodies. The second death is when “death” comes to our spirits. The “second death” does not mean you know nothing—it means you are in eternal darkness and pain and then the lake of fire forever.
Death does not mean that you come to an end and know nothing. Once God gives you the spirit of life you live forever somewhere. You decide where you will live by choosing to believe in Jesus and obey Him or decide not to.
When we have asked Jesus to forgive our sins we do not have to answer for those sins any more.
The Bible promises that they will be gone away forever.
Psalms 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us.”
God says: “I am he that blotted (marks) out your sins for my own sake and I will not remember your sins.”
Acts 3:19 “Repent (turn) and be converted (changed), that your sins will be blotted (marked) out,…”
Jesus said: “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed (poured out, given) for many for the remission (forgiveness, remove) of sins.”
Micah 7:19 “and you (God) will throw all their sins into the deep of the sea.”
If we ask Jesus to forgive us here on earth—-then our sin is gone—covered with Jesus’ blood.
Jesus is the only one who can forgive sins.
“Without the giving of blood there is no removing of sin.” Leviticus 17:11 and Hebrews 9:22
Jesus’ blood is the only blood that can wash away sin.
In Genesis God told Adam and Eve if they ate from that one tree they would die. They did not obey God. They listened to Satan and decided to do what they wanted to do. They made a choice to do their own thinking and do things that they wanted rather than obey what God said.
The punishment for not obeying was death. God told them before they ate that the punishment was death. They knew. They decided to ignore God and eat from the tree.
God came to them and told them because they ate they would die just like He said.
The God killed an animal and used the animal skin to cover their body so they would not be naked.
An animal died to cover them.
God told them that someday he would send a someone born of a woman who would crush Satan’s head.
That person was Jesus.
For many years God told people to bring a perfect lamb and kill it and let its blood run out—-the lamb die in their place. Every year the people had to bring a lamb to God in their place. God accepted the perfect lamb and they were forgiven their sins.
The lamb was not a person. It was not a complete substitute for a man’s sin.
A person could die for another man. That person who have to be perfect.
Adam was perfect one time, but he sinned. No other man was perfect after that—–they all sinned. Who could die for them?
God had his own son come in a man’s body, born of a woman, but the father was God. The Holy Spirit made the baby grow in Mary.
Jesus grew into a man. He never sinned—not one time. He was perfect. He could die in the place of another man. He did die.
This is why people cannot get to heaven except they come to Jesus. He is the only one who could and did die for sin—-He was the only one who was perfect.
Some people think they can worship some other god, but only God the Father and Jesus can get us to heaven.
When Jesus takes us to heaven in the clouds with him—we will be with him forever.
We will not have to talk about our sins any more. But Jesus will look at our life as a believer and see what we did as a Christian. Like Paul said, He will look at our “works”. Revelation 22:12 “Look, I come soon; and I will have my reward with me to give every man as to what his work is (what he has done).”
It seems that we will have a reward (prizes, credit) for work that we have done that lasts for eternal things.