When a Christian dies, most people assume that person’s spirit immediately ascend to heaven to live with God forever. Going to heaven whole, without infirmity, without pain, without the heavy burdens this life generates makes the concept of death less scary and eases the profound grief of loved ones who believe the deceased are now “in the arms of Jesus.”
A dichotomy exists, however, between what the Bible says concerning our deaths and going to heaven, and what Christians believe and churches teach about these two topics. Let us search the Bible, and when we do, we will find God’s plan details a profoundly different scenario.
What does the Bible actually say?
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. (1 Peter 5:4)
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
God is a God of order. Since the beginning of creation, everything He made had a specific order that pleased Him, and everything He plans to do in the future will follow His preset order. The apostle Paul spoke about our heavenly transformation, “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23, emphasis added).
Christ has not returned for a second time. Geopolitical events are leading up to Christ’s return, but only the Father knows the exact day and hour when this will occur (Matthew 24:36). Meanwhile, whether we live or die, our gleaming crowns are held in reserve until Christ returns to establish His everlasting kingdom.
Death is sleep
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. (1 Corinthians 15:51–52)
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. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (1 Thessalonians 4:13–14)
The Bible makes it plain that when we die, it’s as if we are sleeping. We repose in divine dormancy. We rest in peace. There is no consciousness, no thought, no dreams. The body is gone, but the soul, the spirit within us that defines our god-given personalities and character, is kept safe by our loving God until the appointed time—Christ’s second coming. Paul goes on to corroborate the order of death and resurrection:
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [meaning we won’t cut in line] them which are asleep.
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. (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17, emphasis mine)
We sleep in death unaware of the passage of time until Christ returns. The Bible writers from Job to King David to Isaiah to Daniel understood death to be likened to sleep.
• “So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.… If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come” (Job 14:12, 14).
• “Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?” (Psalm 88:10–12).
• “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4).
• “[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 12:5, 7).
• “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead” (Isaiah 26:19).
• “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).
Even Christ Himself refers to death as sleep in John 11:11–14.
In Matthew 27:51–52, after Christ’s crucifixion, we read that the veil of the temple was torn in two, (which allowed us one-on-one access to the Father), and that many saints who slept in death were raised up.
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Matthew 27:52–53)
These people who were brought back to life were not changed into spirit beings, but were raised up physically like Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus, and the son of the widow of Nain (Matthew 9:25; John 11:43; Luke 7:15). They were raised to life to be witnesses of the power of God to the people living in Christ’s day.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39–40)
These two verses in Hebrews make it plain that the faithful who died did not receive the promise, the promise being “a better country, that is, an heavenly” (Hebrews 11:16). They did not receive a better country at their deaths and verse 40 above explains why—“that they without us should not be made perfect.”
Read that again. “They without us.” It is God’s desire, His predetermined order, that all His faithful children awake to immortality at the same time, not one death at a time, scattered here and there. Not be separated, each in different existential planes. But risen together en masse.
What did Christ teach?
While on the earth, Jesus Christ (and His apostles after His death) taught those who would listen precisely when God’s faithful would experience eternal life:
And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. (John 6:39)
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40)
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:54)
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. (John 14:3)
God the Father and Christ the Son have raised no one immortal as of yet, and Christ can’t receive us unto Himself until He comes back to establish His kingdom on earth at the last day.
The last day
The “last day” and other similar phrases such as “in that day.” “at that day,” and “in the day of the Lord,” found throughout the Bible refer to a specific point in time yet to be—Christ’s second coming—a time of rejoicing all Christians look forward to where Christ’s kingdom of righteousness begins.
Martha, speaking about her dead brother, Lazarus, told her savior she knew her brother would live again when she said, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24). This was common knowledge back then. What happened in our modern times to confuse Christians and obfuscate the truth? Let us review this resurrection she and all the writers of the Old and New Testament knew about.
In Mark 12:23 and Luke 20:33–35, the Sadducees, a religious sect of Judaism in Christ’s day, told a story of a hypothetical woman who had seven husbands, and then asked the Messiah, “In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife” (Mark 12:23, emphasis added). They understood the prevailing belief that only at the resurrection would people live again, but because they didn’t believe in the resurrection, they worded their question in hopes of tripping Christ up. But He called them out on their error in verse 25 declaring,
Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. (Mark 12:25)
Christ said, “when they shall rise.” Despite the Sadducees’ claim that there was no resurrection, those who’ve died shall rise, but they are not risen yet. He went on to explain:
And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. (Mark 12:26–27)
Christ told them that God is the God of the living and not of the dead. These two verses by themselves might appear to support instant death to resurrection, but all verses need to be read and weighed against other verses so that we get a correct interpretation. Christ already taught in the book of John that the collective resurrection would happen at the same time for all the faithful after His second coming, and therefore, this collective event would make God is “the God of the living” a reality.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:25)
Here too, if we take this verse out of context, we could be fooled into thinking a Christian’s death and their transformation into spirit happens immediately. But we know by comparing scripture with scripture that the above verse does not negate what Christ already taught us. The glorious promise of eternal life will happen, but not before Christ’s second coming.
When is the resurrection?
In Revelation chapter 20, we learn that Christ’s second coming and the beginning of His kingdom occur immediately after the great tribulation and Armageddon when the godless nations (the beast) deceived by Satan fight against Christ and lose (read Matthew 24; Revelation 13; Daniel 7:16–27).
It is at this time that Christ raises up the dead who did not worship the beast (Revelation 20:4), but were true followers of His. He also raises to life all the faithful from the beginning of time till that moment, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob He mentions to the Sadducees in Mark chapter 12. All Christians will be transformed (or resurrected, if we have died before the millennium) into spirit beings immortal and uncorrupted—What a joyful prospect! This is the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4–5).
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
When we interpret the Bible correctly using the Bible’s own verses, we learn the truth about what happens at the Christian’s death—They sleep until the King of Kings and Lord of Lords descends from the heavens with a shout and the trump of God on the last day (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
But what happens to the unbeliever? Missionaries who do a great work of spreading the good news of the hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus also hold an urgent and false belief that if they don’t convert the people they’re witnessing to before they die, the unbeliever will be eternally damned. But there is a second resurrection. Why is this ignored?
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. (Revelation 20:5)
God is righteous and true. He calls whom He chooses when He does. Not everyone who’s ever lived has been called to faith in Christ within their lifetime. But all is not lost for any individual or whole people groups. They will be given the opportunity to learn of God and live in His love in the second resurrection when millions upon millions of uncalled people will be made alive again after the millennium. Some of these people who are given a second chance will choose wisely, and some will fall victim to the enemy’s wiles once more (Revelation 20:7).
And [Satan] shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (Revelation 20:8–9)
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)
Those who fight Christ again and refuse to repent will experience what the Bible calls the second death. The point of no return. They had their chance to surrender to God, but they chose evil instead and will die permanently.
Missionaries and many well-meaning Christians fear for the souls of unsaved people. But permanent death won’t happen until the white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11–15). Until then, they sleep. Else why is there a first and second resurrection if immediately upon death, people go straight to heaven or hell?
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28–29)
Christ speaking to the Jews is covering a time span yet to come starting with the first resurrection and ending at the white throne judgment. Heaven and hell are empty of God’s children now until the events predetermined by the Father.
What Christ taught about the heavenly realm
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18)
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:13)
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. (John 6:46)
Christ makes it clear that no one is in heaven now, and by implication no one is in hell either, and no one has yet seen God. Even the apostle Peter knew “For David is not ascended into the heavens” (Acts 2:34) because he understood God’s proper order as did Paul (1 Corinthians 15:23; Colossians 1:18).
[Christ] Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:16, emphasis added)
If Christians went to heaven immediately upon death, then 1 Timothy 6:16 couldn’t be true because Christ is in heaven and He and the Father alone have immortality and no one has seen either or been in their presence. There’s no point in time after this truth was recorded in 1 Timothy that it became untrue. From Paul’s generation to ours, there is no difference.
Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. (Philippians 2:16)
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8)
All our hard work staying true to God and His ways in an evil world bent on corrupting us will pay off “in the day of Christ” as Paul explained in Philippians chapter 2. And our crowns will be given “at that day” of our Lord’s appearing, at the day of our transformation, and not before. We will not be in heaven waiting around for our crowns to be given to us. Paul knew his resurrection wouldn’t happen immediately, but at that day of Christ’s return. Not on the day of his death.
The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. (2 Timothy 1:18)
Paul told Timothy he hoped God would grant Onisephorus mercy “in that day.” Onesephorus is not resurrected and in a state of limbo wondering if he will be granted mercy at Christ’s return. He is asleep. He will know when he wakes up.
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:8)
As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. (2 Corinthians 1:14)
Those who live in the love of God now will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful Christians who have died are not in heaven waiting around to be blameless, nor is Paul waiting to rejoice with his fellow brethren until the day of the Lord’s appearing. If they were made spirits beings immediately after their deaths, how could they hold back their rejoicing?
How to reconcile Luke 23
We’ve learned directly from Christ when our resurrection will take place and about the current inhabitants of the heavenly realm, and yet Luke chapter 23 leaves us with a conundrum. As our lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross in agony between two thieves, one of them said to Him in verse 42, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” And His response was: “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)
Here’s the problem: the King James Version inserted a comma where there was none in the original Greek manuscript. The Greek translation reads, “Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in Paradise.” If the comma placement were correct like the KJV and all other modern translations show, then that would make Christ a liar because His kingdom did not arrive that day, nor has it arrive since then. He already made clear multiple times in Scripture when Christians faithful to God would be with Him, and that is at the last day, at the end of the tribulation when He establishes His kingdom. Careful study of the Bible and letting the Bible interpret itself helps us with these seeming inconsistencies.
His kingdom is the paradise He spoke of to the dying thief. His kingdom is what the Bible refers to as the heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16), the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22), the continuing city (Hebrews 13:14), and that great city (Revelation 21:10) where we will live eternally in righteousness, peace, and joy. Although 1 Thessalonians teaches that all Christians (living or dead) will ascend to meet Christ in the air, we won’t remain there. This kingdom we are given will be on earth immediately after the tribulation:
But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. (Daniel 7:18)
And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9)
No one is in heaven or hell now. But after Armageddon, the beast and the false prophet will be in hell, what the Bible calls the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20). And more will join them, including Satan himself, at the white throne judgment timeline (Revelation 20:10–15). After evil is purged and only righteousness and truth remain, God makes an entirely new heaven and new earth and the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descends from this new heaven to be our heaven on earth (Revelation 21:1). There will be no sun, nor darkness, because God will be the warmth and light within it.
Precious in the sight of God
As hard as it might be for some to accept, no one is looking down from heaven right now. This commonly held belief might make people feel better, but it’s not the truth. As Christians, we must always strive to know God’s truth and not be led astray by unbiblical consensus.
Death is a mysterious and terrifying event for most of the world. But for the faithful, for those called to be saints, there is nothing to fear in death. If we were to die tomorrow, death for us would be a blink, a flitting moment from one consciousness to the next. Because we won’t register the passage of time, our journey between the physical and spiritual realms will be instantaneous, mortal to immortal, corruptible to incorruptible, in the twinkling of an eye. One millisecond we might be in grave pain from cancer or killed in a car accident, or simply die in our sleep from old age, and the next, we’ll be in the presence of God witnessing unfathomable glory.
But for our loved ones still living, time is moving. It may be ten, thirty, fifty years that we sleep until Christ returns. Loved ones will understandably grieve (as we would them), but we can all be comforted in the knowledge that every one of God’s faithful sons and daughters will rise and be reunited on the same day.
Psalm 116:15 says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” God decides when we are to let go of these physical bodies, and once we do, it pleases Him because we are finally released from the fluid state of mortality with its continuous pull of the world and the deception of the enemy and set in the concrete permanence of God’s holiness.
When Christ died He said to the Father, “into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). When we die we do the same. We hand over our spirits to God for safe keeping. We are saved in more ways than one. We are saved, or salvaged, from our corrupt human state by faith in Christ. But our spirits are also preserved. Like the precious children we are, God holds onto what makes us us until He wakes us up in the day of the Lord never to be fearful, or sad, or lonely, or in pain again.
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13)
Abiding in the Vine,
~ Gleniece
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