That's Not What The Bible Says

Chapter one

The Afterlife: A Biblical Perspective on Death

The topic of our mortality and what happens when we die has been discussed and debated for more years than any of us probably realize, both within the realm of faith and outside of it. As Christians, we believe in an afterlife promised to us by God. It is what awaits us on the other side of God’s saving grace. The Bible is clear on this point. The how, the when, and the where, however, stir up quite the debate.

Where does a person go when they die? Is it heaven? If it is, do they leave immediately after dying, or is there a waiting period? Is there consciousness?

First and foremost, asking this multi-part question in this manner presumes that some part of us can and does somehow live apart from the body after the body dies. Therefore, whatever this thing is, we must necessarily conclude that it is immortal. How else can it live beyond the physical body unless it is immortal? Of course, we are referring to the soul.

Also, let us observe the question itself. Purposefully, the question here is being asked in a popular fashion (or in similar words), Where does a person go when they die? Rarely does anyone ask where the soul goes. Instead, they ask where the person goes. Why is that? Could it be because, for most of us, our fuzzy understanding is that our soul is what makes us a person, and so when we say person, we really mean soul?

One of the more popular views on death is that when a person dies, the soul is swept away to a better place. Many Christians believe that this place is heaven. Oddly enough, even some non-Christians believe their destination is heaven. But is that what the Bible says?

The shortest verse in the Bible

The shortest verse in the English-translated Bible is found in John 11:35, where it reads, "Jesus wept." It is located in the story of Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, who dies and is resurrected by Jesus four days after his death.

I once heard someone say that Jesus wept because He was sorrowful that He was bringing Lazarus back from heaven, where the streets are paved with gold, and returning him to this broken world. One could imagine Jesus torn between leaving Lazarus in a state of perfect bliss in heaven or returning him to his grieving family. As touching as that might sound, as we will see shortly, it is not likely the reason why Jesus wept.

Everyone wants to believe that when a loved one dies, they go straight to heaven. Or at least a place that is better than Earth. If you’ve ever attended a funeral ceremony, you undoubtedly heard someone say, He or she is in a better place now. Even if the person had no relationship with God or was far from being what we might consider a good person, loved ones cannot imagine their deceased being anywhere other than somewhere like paradise.

Let us look at a few passages in scripture that will shed some light on where we go when we die, if anywhere at all, and when it is that we get there.

Awakening from the tombs

We will begin with a passage from Jesus speaking about Himself:

Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28-29 ESV)

Notice the similarity between Jesus’ words and those of Daniel in the Old Testament:

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2 NIV)

Both passages speak about the same end-times event and prompt us to ask two questions. If people go to heaven immediately after death, as some believe, who exactly is in the tombs that will hear Jesus’ voice and come out, and who are asleep in the dust of the earth that will awake? The passages clearly refer to both Christians and non-Christians, so the obvious conclusion is that no one goes to heaven, or anywhere else for that matter when they die. Instead, all who die remain in the grave until Jesus’ second coming.

Of course, given the questions that we are attempting to answer, there is an objection here; if indeed the soul is immortal then Jesus and Daniel might be referring to the dead bodies that are in the graves, not the souls. The assumption is that the soul is with God in heaven and that at the resurrection of the body, they will be reunited. But does that even make sense? If the soul is active in heaven, we assume it can hear, and if dead bodies will also rise and hear, then aren’t we talking about two different beings? How can the soul and the body be alive separate from each other? Does one of them rule over the other?

As we continue, we will have to consider this point: the immortality of the soul, something that lives without the body.

The last day

In the Book of John, there is an account of Jesus, Who is in Capernaum, teaching about being the bread of life. During His discourse, Jesus is asked, What must we do to do the works God requires? This is Jesus’ response:

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:40 ESV)

Four times in John 6, speaking of believers, Jesus says, I will raise them up in the last day. Again, we are faced with the same question. If Christians go to heaven immediately after death, who exactly is Jesus raising up on the last day? Claiming that the soul is immortal would allow a person to interpret Jesus’ words to mean that He is raising up dead bodies, not souls.

Concerning the last day that Jesus mentions, it does not mean the last day of a person’s life. The last day refers to the end of this world as we know it. When Lazarus died and Jesus was speaking to his sister Martha, we read this exchange:

Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. (John 11:23-24 ESV)

It sounds like Martha is not thinking that Lazarus is somehow alive somewhere, in heaven, or anywhere else. Her understanding seems to be that Lazarus is dead in the grave and that he will be there until the last day when he will be finally resurrected.

Still, was Martha correct in thinking that Lazarus was dead in the grave, and not somewhere else in an awake or conscious state? Let’s read how Jesus responds:

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26 ESV)

Hmm, well this is confusing. Jesus says that those who believe in him though he may die, he shall live. This confirms that first the person dies, and then they live. But then he says that whoever believes never dies. The first part sounds like a resurrection, but what about never dies? Some might assume that Jesus is referring to the soul as the part that never dies, thereby having a case for the immortality of the soul. But would that be correct?

For this, we need to expand our view beyond the words themselves and consider the writing style and structure. Most of us, especially in the West, are not familiar with the different styles found in Biblical writings, so we fail to consider how they might affect the actual meaning of the words. This often leads us to strained interpretations.

Let us look at Jesus’ first sentence. It has two parts: I am the resurrection, and I am the life. This is followed by two other sentences, each corresponding to the two parts in the first sentence. Broken apart and reassembled, it would look like this:

I am the resurrection . . . He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

I am the life . . . And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.

Do you see it? Because He is the resurrection, He will bring to life those who die, and because He is the life, anyone who is alive when He comes will not experience death. The message here is not that the soul is immortal; it’s that Jesus has authority over life and death.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians

In the first letter to the Thessalonians, we read these words of encouragement from Paul about relatives who have passed away, or as it is commonly referred to, fallen asleep.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 ESV)

The second sentence says that God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. We might be tempted to think that the statement means that He is bringing them from heaven where their souls have been living or awake since the body’s death. But that would be ignoring the first sentence where we can clearly see that he is referring to those who are asleep. In other words, those who died and are still dead.

Paul goes on to explain how God will bring them:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV)

We notice that Paul says that they will rise (future tense) before the living meet up with them. And finishes with we will always be with the Lord. Not that we are always with the Lord, but that we will be.

We also notice that there is no mention of souls. Paul speaks of Jesus coming, the dead rising, and the living being taken up. However, there is no mention of a soul, and certainly nothing about a coming together of soul and body. One would think that this would have been the perfect time for Paul to tell us about this reunion of soul and body if, indeed, there was such a thing. Could it be that when Paul said that the dead would rise, he never imagined such a thing as an immortal soul separate from a body?

There is more to be observed. The idea that we go directly to be with the Lord in some kind of conscious state when we die comes mostly from Paul’s writings. Not that Paul said it, but that people interpret some of his writings that way. Yes, there are a few other passages that seem to suggest the idea, but it is from Paul’s letters that most people extract their evidence. We will cover more of that further below. In the meantime, we must ask the obvious question: if Paul really believed that when we die, we go directly to be with the Lord in some conscious state, then why didn’t he bring that up in this letter to the Thessalonians?

This letter is meant to encourage the Thessalonians. They are concerned about their loved ones who have passed away, wanting to know what would become of them. Why didn’t Paul just say, Hey guys, don’t worry about your loved ones; they are already with the Lord just waiting for you to join them? Instead, he goes into this picturesque account of the return of Jesus, who will, at some later time, resurrect the dead and join them with the living.

The dead don’t praise the LORD

The Psalmist of chapter 115 writes a beautiful poem. Its aim is to give God glory. It calls for Israel, the house of Aaron, and all those who fear the LORD to give Him praise . . . for the dead do not.

The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. (Psalm 115:17 ESV)

If we assume that a person’s soul goes to be with the Lord when their body dies, why would they not praise the LORD? According to this Psalmist, the answer is simple: because they are dead, and the dead have no consciousness. Is that not the point that the Psalmist is making?

David, too, uses the same reasoning in his poem as he cries out to God to deliver his life. Be gracious to me, says David, deliver my life . . . because dead, I have no memory of you; in the grave, I can’t praise you. (Paraphrased.) These are his actual words:

Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? (Psalm 6:4-5 ESV)

Heman the Ezrahite, in his Psalm, takes it a step further as he makes his case before God while in great despair. He is so overwhelmed that he feels like he’s dying. He pleads with God to save him from that death because, like David said in his Psalm, I can’t praise you if I’m dead.

You have put away my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out; My eye wastes away because of affliction. LORD, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You. Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah

Shall Your lovingkindness be