Death

Death. The thought of not existing might be to much for us to handle, but it is inevitable. What really happens when we die? That is the one of the most important questions man has been asking since we came into existing. But what really happens when your “dead?”

The common consensus among most people, including most Christians, is that if your good you go to Heaven, if your bad you go to Hell. That isn’t what the Bible says.

John 3:13. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Some argue that we do because of what Jesus said on the cross to the humble criminal -

Luke 23:43. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

There are two problems with this argument. First, Jesus wasn’t in paradise that day. He was dead for three days, then was resurrected. Second, the translators put the comma in the wrong spot. It should read “ Verily I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.” It is amazing how one little comma will cause so much confusion.

Just as no man has gone up to Heaven, so has no man gone to Hell. Hell isn’t a place where you are tortured for eternity like most people think. It is when your soul is destroyed forever. You will never be granted eternal life with everybody else.

Malachi 4:1. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 5:27. And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 28. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29. 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.

When we die, we return back to which we came from. Since God made us from the dust of the ground, the dust of the ground is where we shall return -

Genesis 3:19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

When you “die” your body ceases to be, but your soul remains in a sleep like state. God spoke to Moses about his sleep -

Deuteronomy 31:16. And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

Jesus even referred to death as “sleep.” When he talked about the rulers maid-

Matthew 9:24. He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.

And when he spoke about Lazarus -

John 11:11. These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

When we die, we can’t come back as ghosts and haunt people. In the grave is where we stay.

Job 7:8. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. 9. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. 10. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

Psalm 115:17.The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.

Ecclesiastes 3:20. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Ecclesiastes 9:5. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Isaiah 26:14.They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

Just as God raised Jesus from the dead, so will he raise everybody from the grave. But not everybody will be raised at once. Only those who have followed God’s will, will be raised to everlasting life.

Isaiah 26:19. 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.

Daniel 12:2. 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.

I Corinthians 15:52. 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. 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

John 5:25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27. And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 28. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29.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.

I Thessalonians 4:13. 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. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15. 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 them which are asleep. 16. 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: 17.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.

Everybody else will raised after Jesus’ millennial reign on earth to judgment and damnation -

Revelation 20:11. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:8. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

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