There Are Two Certainties In Life; Taxes And Death. And I'm Not Here To Talk About Taxes

Being diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer back in March (presently at Stage 3), really changed my outlook. I started to declare the Good News of Jesus Christ much more seriously. It also brought me face to face with the fact that I am going to die at some point. Death isn’t now some concept that I could ignore, but a reality that I had to face. My immediate reaction was to ask God for 5 more years so that I could leave my wife in a secure position. I don’t fear death as I know I will be with God. However, facing death brought home the reality, that we all face death.

So today, I want to answer 3 questions:

What does the Bible say after our death?

How can I overcome the fear of death? And lastly,

How can I be prepared to die?

What does the Bible say after our death?

Within the Christian faith, there is a significant amount of confusion regarding what happens after death. Some hold that after death everyone “sleeps” until the final judgment, after which everyone will be sent to heaven or hell. Others believe that at the moment of death, people are instantly judged and sent to their eternal destinations. 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 the finality of their eternal destination. So, what exactly does the Bible say happens after death?

First, for the believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that after death believers’ souls/spirits are taken to heaven, to be with Christ, because their sins were forgiven when they received Christ as Saviour. Jesus specifically said to the thief on the cross "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (John 3:16, 18, 36). For believers, before death, “we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” Death, therefore, means being “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:6–8; Phil 1:23). However, passages such as 1 Cor 15:50–54 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–17 describe believers being resurrected and given glorified bodies. If believers go to be with Christ immediately after death, what is the purpose of this resurrection? Therefore, while the souls/spirits of believers go to be with Christ immediately at death, the physical body remains in the grave “sleeping.” At the resurrection of believers, the physical body is resurrected, glorified, and reunited with the soul/spirit. This reunited and glorified body-soul-spirit will be the state of existence for believers for eternity in the new heavens and new earth (Rev 21—22).

Second, for those who do not receive Jesus Christ as Savior, death means everlasting punishment. However, similar to the destiny of believers, unbelievers also await their final resurrection, judgment, and eternal destiny. Luke 16:22–23 describes a rich man being tormented immediately after death. Rev 20:11–15 describes all the unbelieving dead being resurrected, judged at the throne, and cast into the lake of fire. Unbelievers, then, are not sent to hell (the lake of fire) immediately after death, but they are rather sent to a realm of judgment and anguish. The rich man cried out, “I am in agony in this fire” (Luke 16:24).

After death, a person's spirit resides in either a place of comfort or a place of torment. These realms act as a “heaven” and a “hell” until the resurrection. At that point, the soul is reunited with the body, but no one’s eternal destiny will change. The first resurrection is for the “blessed and holy” (Rev 20:6)—everyone who is in Christ—and those who are part of the first resurrection will enter the millennial kingdom and, ultimately, the new heavens and new earth (Rev 21:1). The other resurrection happens after Christ’s millennial kingdom, and it involves a judgment on the wicked and unbelieving “according to what they had done” (Rev 20:13). These, whose names are not in the book of life, will be sent to the lake of fire to experience the “second death” (Rev 20:14–15). The new earth and the lake of fire—these two destinations are final and eternal. People go to one or the other, based entirely on whether they have trusted Jesus Christ for salvation (Matt 25:46; John 3:36).

How can I overcome the fear of death?

Even the most secure, devout believer can have occasions when he fears death. It is hard-wired into our systems to avoid death. And death was not an original part of God’s plan for His creation. We were made to be whole and holy, living in paradise in communion with Him. The introduction of death was a necessary response to the admittance of sin into the world. It is a grace that we die. If we didn’t, we would have to live in a sinful world for all eternity.