WHERE DO PEOPLE GO WHEN THEY DIE?
When a Christian dies, his spirit goes to heaven, while the spirit of an unbeliever goes to a place called hell.
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (II Corinthians 5:8)
Death to a human being does not mean the end of existence. It means a separation or a transition. Physical death is separation from the body. Spiritual death means separation from God. At the time of death the body is usually buried in a grave, but the spirit and soul of the person continue forever.
In the Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 16, Jesus told about two men who died. One was a poor man named Lazarus, and the other was a rich man who had shown no kindness to Lazarus. Their spirits went into the earth to a place called “Sheol,” or “the place of departed spirits.” There were two parts to this spirit place. The upper part was called “Paradise” and the lower part was called “Hell.” The souls in “Hell” suffered from tormenting fire and hopelessness. When Jesus was on the cross, He told one of the thieves crucified with Him, “today you shall be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
All of those who died in faith before then had the hope of heaven, but they could not go there until the perfect sin offering had been offered for the sins of the world.
Jesus was the “Lamb of God” and our “High Priest.” After Jesus died, He ascended to heaven to offer His blood on the “Mercy Seat” and He took with Him all the souls who were in Paradise. So now Paradise is empty. For a Christian to be “absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord,” because the way to God was made. The souls of the lost will suffer in Hell until after the Millennium—thousand year reign of Christ on the earth—and then they will stand before the Lord at the Great White Throne Judgment. They will be cast into the “Lake of Fire” to suffer eternal separation from God and His love.
The souls of the righteous dead are alive and apparently, are aware of the activities of the church on the earth. At the time of the “First Resurrection” their bodies will be raised from the grave, and they will have an eternal incorruptible body. (I John 3:2)
Jesus said, “I have overcome death, hell, and the grave”.
Trust in Him for salvation! |
