What Happens When We Die?
By Ivan Maddox
West End Bible Fellowship
Atlanta, Georgia
The subject of death is a painful one, and many times the Bible speaks of death euphemistically, in order to make the subject easier to bear. Most often, the Bible speaks of death as sleep.
I Kings 2:10.
10 So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
Psalm 13:3.
3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Acts 7:59-60.
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
However, there are times when the Bible speaks about death with almost brutal honesty and clarity. When it does this, it quickly becomes clear death is much more than an extended sleep.
Some of the clearest scriptures regarding death are found in the book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 3:18-21.
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
This passage teaches us that men die the same way that animals die, that the same thing happens to men at death as to animals. Both man and animals were made from the dust, both man and animals share the same breath, which they lose at death, and both man and animals return to the dust at death.
This is not what we want to hear about death. Such teaching seems to offer to us no hope at all.
At first glance, verse 21 seems to offer a way out of this bleak picture. Perhaps, though our bodies die like animals die, there is a part of us that survives death, and "goeth upward." However, another passage in Ecclesiastes makes it clear that this is not the case.
Ecclesiastes 9:3-6.
3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
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.
6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
This passage makes it clear that man’s consciousness does not survive death. The dead have no love, no hate, no envy, and no memory.
So disturbing is the picture of death painted in Ecclesiastes, and so different is it from what is usually taught in churches about death, that some have taught that Ecclesiastes teaches wrong doctrine about some subjects, including death, in order to teach a greater truth. However, Ecclesiastes is not alone in painting this bleak picture of death. Psalm 146 teaches that a man’s thoughts cease when he dies.
Psalm 146:4.
4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Psalm 115 teaches that the dead no longer praise God.
Psalm 115:17.
17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
And Psalm 88 teaches that the dead do not know of God’s goodness.
Psalm 88:10-12.
10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Why is the Bible so insistent in teaching that the dead are truly dead? There are at least two reasons why this is so important.
First, the Bible teaches that there are evil spirits who impersonate dead people. These were called "familiar spirits." They could impersonate the voices of the dead, and knew things that supposedly only the dead person could know. They used these things to gain the trust of people who had no desire to interact with demons, but who might let down their guard if they thought that someone they loved or respected who had died was trying to communicate with them.
.In the Old Testament, God forbade dealing with familiar spirit.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12.
10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
When you understand that the dead are truly dead, and have no consciousness, you cannot be deceived by evil spirits pretending to be dead loved ones. Any supposed communication from a dead loved one is never genuine, and is either wishful thinking or a demonic spirit.
Second, our salvation, and our whole relationship with God, is based on the fact that someone died in our place.
Romans 5:6-8.
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Since our redemption is based on someone dying in our place, if there is a part of us that is eternal, that survives death, then no one can die for that part of us, and that part of us cannot be redeemed. If each man has an immortal soul, then no soul can die for any other soul, because soul’s can’t die.
Likewise, if there was a part of Jesus that could not die, then that part of Jesus could not die for that part of us.
God has resolved these issues for us by teaching us emphatically that the dead are truly dead. However, God has not left us without hope in the face of death. The hope of the Christian is not life after death, or survival after death, or the immortality of the soul. The hope of the Christian, as taught in the Bible, is our resurrection through Jesus Christ.
I Thessalonians 4:13-18.
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.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
When Christ returns, those who are his, both dead and alive, will be caught up together to meet him in the air, and from that point on, we will be with the Lord. It is by reminding each other of this that we are to comfort one another when we are confronted with death.