Mission Venture Ministries

The question is what happens once you are no longer alive? 

Jesus told us, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6) 

Death is inevitable, but most people give that reality little thought until it is too late. Now as you’re reading this, is the moment to think seriously about what follows our earthly existence, while we still have the opportunity to make a decision that will affect our ultimate destination. Second Corinthians 6:2 tells us that “now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”    

We need to realize that this life is not all there is, since eternity awaits all of us. Some will live eternally in God’s presence, but the alternative is to experience everlasting torment, forever separated from Him. If we receive Jesus as Savior, our penalty for sin is paid, we are adopted into God’s family, and heaven is our eternal home. But if we suppress the truth and reject Jesus, we remain alienated from God, under condemnation for our sin, and destined for unending agony. Jesus told Nicodemus “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18). 

Sadly a number of preachers instruct their flock that there are many ways to get to heaven, but that is not what Scripture teaches. They teach that there is just one way, through the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6). 

Consequently, what happens when we die depends on what happens before we die. The Bible classifies the whole human race into two categories, the saved and the lost. The saved are those who have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and have made Him the Lord of their life. The lost are those who haven’t. Therefore, what happens to the saved is radically different from what happens to the lost. 

When the saved die, they go directly into the presence of the Lord. As Jesus told the thief on the cross, “I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). This is a straightforward promise that at the moment of death the repentant thief would pass from his life of crime and his agonizing death on the cross into the realm called “paradise.” 

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that he would be pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. What this means is that at the moment a believer dies the soul goes to be with the Lord in heaven, while the body is buried until the day of resurrection when Jesus returns in the clouds for them. Paul told the Thessalonians that “the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This is a clear promise of future bodily resurrection for the believer. 

And in 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 Paul adds the crucial fact that our bodies will be “raised imperishable” and that once our bodies are raised, we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Wherever He is, there we will be, rejoicing, praising, singing, and celebrating with Him throughout eternity. 

Jesus reassured His disciples that: “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3). 

At the moment of death the soul enters a new realm while the body is prepared for burial. For the believer, the moment of death brings him into the personal presence of Christ, while for the unbeliever; death begins an experience of unending conscious punishment. So, let us take a look at what Scripture reveals about this reality. 

• In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus told of a rich man who upon his death, went to the place called Hades where he was being tormented in the fire. 

• Mark 9:43-48 speaks of the fire that is not quenched and the worm that does not die. 

• Revelation 20:11-15 describes the awesome scene as the unsaved dead are raised to stand before God and receive their final sentence of doom and are cast into the lake of fire where they will reside forever, eternally separated from the presence of Almighty God. 

The lake of fire is the final destiny of those who do not want to accept Jesus Christ’s love gift of salvation, unless by a conscious choice they change their mind and put their complete trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior before they dye. 

If you know Jesus, and have accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, you have nothing to fear when death knocks at your door. Death comes to all of us; it will come for you and me one of these days. Death may be quick or slow, painful or painless, but when the moment comes, the believer will find themselves ushered into heaven where they will see Jesus face to face. 

Death is not the end of the journey; because, for the believer, death is the doorway to heaven. For the unbeliever, it is a passageway into unimaginable suffering. 

Consequently, what happens when you die depends on what happens before you die, so make sure you’re ready so that when the time comes you won’t be surprised by the irreversible outcome of what happens next. 

Presently there are approximately 8 billion people on Earth and you are one of them, and you need to realize that you matter to God. Why? Because, you are created in His image, are cared for by Him, and most of all loved by Him: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). 

Jesus is not only the Savior of human kind; He can be the solution to your depression, worries and fears if you let Him in. Jesus said: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with Me” (Revelation 3:20). You need however to ask Jesus to come into your life and ask Him to forgive you of your sins and turn away from them and start following His will for your life each day. 

So always remember what Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25). 

We are here to help you, and to walk with you. 

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