WHERE DO PEOPLE GO WHEN THEY DIE? Do they cease to exist?  Do they sleep in a state of unconsciousness?  Do they go to Heaven?  Do they wait in Paradise or Hell until their appointed time for judgment?  Is there an intermediate state and a final state of the dead?  What does the Bible say?

In this study we will take a comprehensive look at what we can expect after death.  Rather than merely pitting one argument against another, we’ll endeavor to discover the truth about our eternal destination from God’s stated purpose for death and the abode of the dead.

STUDY SYNOPSIS:

In this study, we begin by looking at the account that Jesus gave of two men who died.  One was a godly man named Lazarus, and the other was an ungodly rich man who knew him.  Upon their death, both were buried, but their spirits were carried to Sheol by angels.

Sheol is identified in scripture as the temporal realm of the dead.  The Greek name for Sheol is Hades.  It’s located deep within the earth and is divided into two compartments that are separated from one another by a great chasm.  The upper compartment is a kingdom known as Paradise, while the lower compartment contains the prisons known simply as Hell.

Both compartments in Sheol/Hades are temporary.  They exist as an interim between our life on earth and our appointed time to stand before God and give an account of all that we have done, thought, and said.  During our stay in Sheol/Hades we will not be able to observe the living.  We will not know what God is doing among the living or what men are doing in response.  Instead, we will know our reward, be it peace or torment.

When Jesus returns for His church, Paradise will be emptied, and the dead saints will be resurrected to life, never to die again.  Then both the resurrected dead and those who remained alive, will be caught up together to Christ’s side.  The earth will be put under Christ’s rule for one thousand years in accordance with God’s promises.  After this, Hell will be emptied and its dead will stand before God to give account.  Their final judgment will be worse than what they experienced in the prisons of Hell, for all who are not found to be written in the book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity, never to be freed.

Need more details? Not convinced? Continue reading for an in-depth study on this subject.

QUICK ANSWERS:

(mouse over for answer):

• Was Jesus’ account of Sheol a parable?
• Do we lay unconscious in our grave after death?
• Can the dead contact us?  Can we contact them?
• Do the dead watch over us?  Can they see what’s happening amongst the living?
• When Jesus died on the cross, where did He go for three days?
• Why was Jesus dead for three days?  What is the Sign of Jonah?
• Why do the dead have to wait for Christ and the resurrection?
• Are Enoch and Elijah already in Heaven?
• What is Jesus waiting for?  What’s taking so long for His return?
• What does the Bible say about the Second Coming of Christ?  What can we expect?

ACCORDING TO JESUS:

No one spoke more about the fate of men than Jesus.  This is because Jesus had eternity in view at all times.  He was acutely aware of the significance and purpose of our tenure upon the earth.  But few comprehend the reality in which they live, so Jesus enlightened men about the difference between mere existence, and the infinite fullness of God’s eternal life.  He did this by contrasting life and death; the love of God and the wrath of God; theosis and exile; Heaven and Hell.

We do not exist in autonomy, but in subordination to our Creator.  Thus our existence is already defined.  We have a created purpose.  A single purpose.  And that purpose is in God.  And in light of this purpose, we experience freedom of choice only so much as we are free to accept the grace of God’s purpose for our life, or oppose it.  We have this mortal life to decide our answer and our fate, but after death, our fate is sealed.  The judgment of God, for glory or wrath, is final and cannot be overturned.

In fact, it was this finality of judgment that was in view when Jesus recounted the story of Lazarus and the rich man in the realm of the dead.  His account is more detailed and revealing than any other description of the temporal abode of the dead recorded in scripture.  It’s revelation is so sobering that many have attempted to divorce the details of His teaching from reality by suggesting that He was telling a parable rather than testifying of actual fact.  There is great irony in this attempt to lessen the impact of His words by calling them a parable when you consider the definition of a parable.

PARABLES:

A parable is a story that coincides with the truth in order to illustrate through comparison.  The English word parable is a transliteration of the Greek word parabole. It’s a derivative of paraballo, which comes from two Greek words para and ballo. Para means “alongside or by the side of” something.  And ballo means “to place, or lay down beside” something.  Therefore a parable lays down a true-to-life story alongside reality.  The parable parallels reality like the second rail of a railroad track.  They do not deviate from one another but remain forever in tandem so as to keep from derailing the message.  Thus the truth of the message rests equally upon the parable and reality, which is to say, what is true in the parable is true in life.

Naturally, if a parable is not properly identified, it can easily be mistaken for a testimony about real people.  Therefore, true parables never give proper names to the people in their illustrations.  This, then, is one of the primary identifiers that separates a  parable from a testimony.  Whereas a parable allows for the identities of the characters involved to be attributed to the listener and their circumstances for the purpose of teaching a lesson, a testimony bears record of fact and history.  Thus, as soon as proper names are given, and or historical figures involved, a story can no longer be called a parable, for it bears witness to a real event.

So when Jesus spoke of a conversation between Abraham, a poor man named Lazurus, and an unnamed rich man after they had all died, it cannot be said to be a parable.  It must be understood to be a real conversation that Jesus witnessed in His preincarnate state (which is to say, something God the Son witnessed prior to being born in Adam’s flesh as Jesus Christ).  After all, to claim that Abraham said something that he did not say is to bear false witness.  Jesus does not bear false witness.

So listen to what Jesus testifies about Abraham, Lazarus, and the rich man, and their state of consciousness in the realm of the dead.

“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. {20} “And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, {21} and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. {22} “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. {23} “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. {24} “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’  {25} “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. {26} ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’  {27} “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house – {28} for I have five brothers – in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’  {29} “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ {30} “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ {31} “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31, NASB)

JESUS’ TESTIMONY:

Historically, Jesus spoke of this conversation prior to His crucifixion.  Thus, for the sake of argument, whatever we extrapolate from this passage will be recognized as being true exclusively of Old Testament saints until we can establish what, if anything, changed as a result of Jesus’ resurrection.

So what can we learn from this teaching?

BEYOND THE GRAVE:

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word used to described the realm of the dead is “Sheol.” It simply means the “place of the dead” or the “place of departed spirits.” In the New Testament, the Greek word that is used for the place of the dead is “Hades.”

Unfortunately, Sheol and Hades are translated into several different words in most English Bibles, and that has led to much confusion in the church.  For example, in the New Testament, the Greek word Hades is sometimes translated as grave.  This has led some to believe that, upon death, we rest in our graves, unconscious and unaware of our state of being.

However, Jesus expressly contrasts the grave with Hades in His account, stating that the rich man died and was buried, but that his spirit did not remain in the grave, but went down to Hades.  Lazarus, too went to Hades, only he was carried by angels to Abraham’s side.  So we see that there are two vastly different compartments in Sheol/Hades; a place of torment, and a place of paradise and comfort.

Jesus’ testimony is confirmed elsewhere in scripture.  For Abraham was not left in a grave, but was gathered to his people just as Lazarus was.

“Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people.”  (Genesis 25:8, NIV)

When it says that Abraham was gathered, we must ask, “by whom,” and “from where to where?”  Scripture teaches that God sends his angels to gather both the wicked and the saints to their appointed judgments (Matthew 13:41; 24:31).  That agrees with Jesus testimony about Lazarus being gathered by the angels.

And with regard to “where” people are gathered, it’s quite clear that men are gathered to a place beyond the grave.  We know this because Abraham’s grave did not contain his people.  Because Moses and Aaron were also both “gathered unto their people,” and neither of them were buried in the same cemetery (Numbers 20:23-29; 27:12-14; Deuteronomy 32:48-52).

This distinction between the grave and Sheol/Hades is also seen in the account of Joseph, son of Jacob.  Joseph’s brothers conspired against him and sold him into slavery which eventually landed him in Egypt.  However, the wicked brothers who did this told their father, Jacob, that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal and eaten (Genesis 37:26-36).  They then produced Joseph’s torn coat, which they had stained with animal blood, as evidence.  Jacob was inconsolable.

“All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.” So his father wept for him.”  (Genesis 37:35, NIV)

Jacob was not intending to be buried in the same grave as his son Joseph because he believed Joseph had no grave, having been devoured by a wild animal.  In fact, Jacob never spoke of going down to a grave, but to Sheol, the place of the dead.  The New American Standard Bible (NASB) renders the verse properly restoring logic to Jacobs statement:

“Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. (Genesis 37:35, NASB).

So men are gathered by angels to one of two compartments in Sheol/Hades.  In Jesus account, we learn that the rich man was taken to the lower part of Sheol/Hades, a place of torment.  We know it was in the lower realms of Hades because he was said to have looked upwards in order to see Abraham and Lazarus in the paradise of the upper compartment of Hades.

The upper and lower compartments of Sheol/Hades are further separated by a great chasm.  It is this chasm that completely cuts off the wicked from the righteous so that none may cross from one side to the other.  Jesus spoke of this chasm a second time when warning the people to “strive to enter the straight gate” of God’s Kingdom.  In death, many people will find themselves in torment, and when they look up they will see God’s saints in the comfort of Paradise.  It will be then that they realize that they are cut off from God’s kingdom by the great chasm, but it will be too late.

“There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”  (Luke 13:28, KJV)

This statement was not a figurative warning, but reference to a reality already experienced by the rich man who, in his weeping and gnashing of teeth, looked up and saw Abraham in the kingdom of God.  Truly, Paradise can be seen from the prisons of Hell, and woe to those who find themselves cut off from the reward of God.

DEAD RISING:

The rich man knew he could not leave his punishment.  But what about those in Paradise?  The saints were not in prison, perhaps they would be free to rise from the dead for a good cause.  So he pleaded with Abraham to send Lazarus to his family.  His family would recognize Lazarus, and would listen to his warning and repent.  Abraham’s response was puzzling and questionable.

“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ {30} “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ {31} “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:29-31, NASB)

This answer gives the impression that Abraham, and God by proxy, believed that raising the righteous from the dead as witnesses is a useless endeavor and therefore not part of God’s plan.  However, we know from scripture that this simply isn’t true.  People were raised from the dead in both the Old and New Testaments.

In fact, the dead have been raised for the express purpose of witness.  Take for example, the account of Christ’s death on the cross:

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.  {51} At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. {52} The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. {53} They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.  (Matthew 27:50-53, NIV)

So why then did Abraham suggest that this could not be done for the rich man’s family?  I believe his statement hinges upon one simple truth – repentance unto salvation is a work of God, not circumstances and preaching.

Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” {29} Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”  (John 6:28-29, NASB)

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.  (Philippians 2:13, NASB)

For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” {16} So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.  (Romans 9:15-16, ESV)

With this revelation in view, we turn again to the rich man’s request.  Could Abraham do as he requested?

“What man can live and not see death?  Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?  Selah.”  (Psalm 89:48, NASB)

Neither Abraham nor Lazarus could rise from the dead by the power of their own will.  They would have to be sent by God.  But even if they could rise from the dead at will, and go and preach to men upon the earth, would it have any effect?  Jesus answered this question when He said:

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.   (John 6:44, NASB)

Men may be astounded at the rising of the dead.  They may attempt to change their lives as a result of such an encounter.  And, yes, they may even repent.  But unless it is by the Lord’s working, it will all come to nothing.

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.  (2 Corinthians 7:10, NASB)

God must grant “the repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18, NASB).  It is not something that man can generate on his own.  Here’s why:

For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  (Romans 7:5, NASB)

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  (1 Corinthians 15:56, KJV)

When a man is confronted by the word of God, he will be convicted of sin.  And even if he is sorry and tries to keep the law of God, it will only stir up more sin within him.  Because sin only gets worse when you introduce it to the law.  The more laws a man is given, the more laws he will inevitably break.  And the more he tries to obey, the more he will fail and come under greater and greater judgment.  That is why “the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10, NASB).  Therefore it must be God Himself who not only gives men the will to repent, but the power to obey.

So then, apart from God’s mercy, and the power of the Holy Spirit, not even a man risen from the dead would be enough to effect Godly repentance unto salvation.  It was for this reason that Abraham contrasted the effectual power of the risen dead verses the effectual power of God’s word.  Sending Lazarus by the will of man would accomplish nothing outside of God’s will.

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