What Happens When You Die? Part 1

What happens when we die? What do the scriptures teach about where we go?  Do we go to a heaven or hell?  When is the resurrection?  There are some popular beliefs out there that many have held onto for hundreds of years.  When Jesus appears on the scene, he comes with a "gospel" - a "good news".  What was that good news?  We are going to discuss what the scriptures teach on these subjects.

This study will be a 3-part study.  First, because the aspect of heaven vs. hell is such a commonly held view, we will discuss the Old Testament scriptures concerning the word "hell", as well as scriptures that include descriptions of death.  We are looking for evidence that gives us clues as to what happens when we die.  The second part of the study will be doing the same in the New Testament.  The third part will discuss how both the Old and New testament evidences tie together, what was the gospel of Christ, when is the resurrection, and how these topics fit into God's plan as a whole.

Whenever a study on a particular topic is begun, it is generally a "rule of thumb" to first find all of the scriptures on that topic and read them.  One's opinion must hold consistently with God's plan, as well as with all other scriptures.  When properly understood, the Word of God never contradicts itself.  Therefore, this study began by noting every use of the word hell, grave, and death.  We are going to be discussing the ones that seem to be pertinent to the study. After a careful examination of several scriptures, it will be clear that a cohesive, linear study throughout the Bible teaches that upon death, man returns to his former state of non-existence until the resurrection occurs.



Creation:
Genesis 2:7 - "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."


Death:
Ecclesiastes 12:7: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."


Let us begin with the topic of "hell".  Let us examine the background of the Hebrew word - how many times was it used?  What does it mean? And what other scriptures can be found to help clarify the issue?  Every single us of the word "hell" in the Old Testament comes from the Hebrew word "Sheol", and is used a total of 31 times.  "Sheol", however, is used to translate into two other words as well: grave, 31 times; and pit, 3 times.  Sheol is used in the Old Testament for a total of 65 times.  This is important to know, because we must understand that the words "hell" and "grave" used in the Old Testament have the same meaning.  Why is this?  The only answer is: artistic liberty.  Whoever translated the scriptures simply did their best to translate it as true as they knew how, but of course, their own personal beliefs do come into play.  This is true mainly in the King James Version.  One will find that in other translations, for example the New American Standard, they do not even try to distinguish between the two; they simply use the word "Sheol" instead of translating it into either hell, grave (or pit).  


Here are all of the uses of the word "hell" in the Old Testament in the King James Version:

Deut. 32: 22
2 Samuel 22:6
Job 11:8; 26:6
Ps. 9:17; 16:10; 18:5; 55:15; 86:13; 116:3; 139:8
Prov. 5:5; 7: 27; 9:18; 15:11; 15:24; 23:14; 27:20
Is. 5:14; 14:9; 14:15; 28:15; 28:15; 57:9
Ez. 31:16-17; 32:21; 32:27
Amos 9:2
Jonah 2:2
Hab. 2:5 

Being that this post is already going to be long enough, I shall point the reader to examine each scripture on their own, and my challenge to the reader is to insert the word "grave" in every scripture, asking if it would not fit even better than the word "hell".  Regardless of the conclusion of the reader, the truth of the matter must be recognized - the words grave and hell in the Old Testament of the Bible come from the same word, and therefore in the original text have exactly the same meaning.


From here, we will discuss scriptures of the Old Testament that describe death. As we examine specific scriptures that discuss "what happens when you die", we shall find that almost every description compares death to sleep, and that this idea is consistent throughout the Old Testament.


(All scriptures are used from the New American Standard translation)


Job 3:11 - "Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? (:13) For now I would have lain down and been quiet, I would have slept then, I would have been at rest (:14) with kings and counselors of the Earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves. . . (:16) or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, as infants that never saw light.  (:17) There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary are at rest. (:18) The prisoners are at ease together, they do not hear the voice of the task master. (:19) The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master."


(Two things: 1. Job states that if he died, he would have "slept"; and 2. he would have been where both the wicked and the weary are.  He is basically saying that he is where everybody else is; the small and great, wicked and weary, etc.)


Job 14:10-12 - "But man dies and lies prostrate. Man expires, and where is he? (:11) As water evaporates from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dried up, (:12) so man lies down and does not rise. (:12) Until the heavens be no more, he will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep."


(Again, man does not go up or down. He ceases to exist.)


Psalms 146:4 - "His spirit departs, he returns to the Earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."


Ecc. 9:5 - "For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything..."


Ecc. 3:19-21 - "For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. (:20) All go to the same place.  All came from dust and all return to the dust. (:21) Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the Earth?"  (also read Psalms 49:12,20)


Dan 12:2 - (discussing a future time) "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground..."


Psalms 13:3 - "Consider and answer me, O Lord, my God; Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death."


Lastly, all of the following scriptures discuss the death of kings in the Bible.  There are some that were great kings, men of God, such as David.  There are others that were notoriously wicked, such as Ahab.  But when it came to describing their fate, all scriptures read the same thing:

"He slept with his fathers."


1 Kings 2:10; 11:21; 11:43; 14:20; 14:31; 15:8; 15:24; 16:6; 16:28; 22:40; 22:50; 
2 Kings 8:24; 10:35; 13:9; 13:13; 14:16; 14:22; 14:29; 15:7; 15:22; 15:38; 16:20; 20:21; 21:18; 24:6
2 Chron. 9:31; 12:16; 14:1; 16:13; 21:1; 26:2; 26:23; 27:9; 28:27; 32:33; 33:20


That is a total of 36 scriptures discussing the death of kings, in which all, good and evil, "slept with their fathers" upon dying.


The conclusion is that although one can say there is a "hell" technically, the bottom line is that when one dies, they just go to sleep.  The evidence seems to be overwhelmingly in the favor of death being no different than lying down and going to sleep.  Although there are scriptures that mention the word "hell", when it is brought to light that the same Hebrew word is the word used to translate also in "grave" the exact same number of times, it seems clear that the scriptures are not teaching that one lies down to face any kind of torturous fate.  Rather, the scriptures seem to teach that God gives life (Gen. 2:7), and when one dies, they are then returned to their former state of non-existence. (Ecc. 12:7)

What does this mean for mankind?  Upon part 3 of the study, much more will be discussed.  The bottom line is that God never intended or planned for any of our family or friends to be tortured in any kind of fiery pit.  What is a much more reasonable thought, which the scriptures suggest, is that God has had a plan from the beginning of time, and that plan includes a loving result from a loving God.  If the four attributes of God are power, wisdom, justice, and love, then we would be lead to believe His plan includes all of those things.


This concludes the Old Testament portion of the study.  The next portion will discuss the uses of the word hell in the New Testament to find if there are any differences; if the scriptures seem to contradict themselves, etc.

Signs of Israel

The nature of the Nation of Israel and their relationship with God still seems to be an issue of debate. While the trees might be issues of debate, the forest most certainly is not.  For those who think Israel is no longer a favored people of God, as well as those who do not believe there is a God, this is definitely food for thought.
I will discuss three evidences of the Bible that prove both that Israel was, and still is, a people of God; and at the same time, prove that the Bible has prophetic validity. First, that they were always God's people, followed by the fact that God prophesied that they would be scattered as a people, and lastly that only God and a Bible with heavenly authority could both predict and cause their return. Israel is a beacon for where we are in the timeline of God's plan, and their return to Jerusalem is not only proof of their favor with God, but that God Himself exists.

The scriptures clearly teach that the nation of Israel was a chosen people of God from the ancient days, until he cast them out of favor due to disobedience.  Deuteronomy 7:6 - "...the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the people who are on the face of the earth."  We know that because of this favor, God did not have a relationship with any other people. Amos 3:2 - "You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth..." Also, let's keep this in mind:  since the death of Christ, there have been just under 2,000 years.  Before the birth of Christ, there were roughly 4,000 years recorded back to the times of Adam.  Israel had favor from God for a long, long time.  But of course, we all know the story; Israel, "who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her", was cast off as a nation. (Matt. 23:37-38)  However, the story of Israel as a nation does not end there.

The scriptures clearly teach that the nation of Israel shall be scattered abroad, and then come back into favor with God at a later time.  Jeremiah 22:5-9 explains that because they were a nation that continued to worship other gods, they would be left desolate.  Jesus echoes this in Matt. 23:37-38.  The last two scriptures in the book of Amos, 9:15, states that God will restore the nation of Israel, (:14) and "they will not again be rooted out from their land.." (:15).  Some debate this issue, stating that this is a symbolic scripture which is not talking about the literal nation of Israel, so let us quote another passage that let us know the literal nation of Israel is being discussed.  Romans 9:30 through 11:27 discuss how the literal nation of Israel was cast aside, and how the Gentiles were now able to become Sons of God through faith, for the first time since the promise was given to Abraham.  Here is the specific passage that tells us Israel shall again be God's people: Romans 11:25 - "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, (:26) and thus all Israel will be saved..."  The casting off of Israel is only temporary.  God shall make a "New Covenant" with the house of Israel, "not like the covenant which (He) made with their fathers..." Jer. 31:31-34. Being that God only made covenants with the literal Nation of Israel, it then makes sense to assume to at least some degree that this "New Covenant" shall again be made with them.  The scriptures also state that in the future, there will be a time in which the world will approach Israel because they realize that God is with them. (Zech. 8:23)  Although it would take a much more in-depth study in order to fully understand these scriptures, it is evident that God has had a plan from the beginning (Is. 46:10-13) to deal once again with the Nation of Israel, despite their being cast-off.

Lastly, historic and current evidences prove that Israel gives merit not only to a God with a plan, but a Bible that has proved to accurately predict future events.  Observing the world as we see it today, it is obvious that the scriptures discussing their return has come true.  The Jewish people began to return to their homeland of Jerusalem in the late 1800s.  They survived an attempt at genocide from the Germans to the likes which the world has rarely seen, as nobody could ever contend that the holocaust is one of the most horrific events in the history of man.  In 1948, just a few years later, Israel was declared a state of the Jewish people for the first time since 70 a.d.  The next day they were declared war on by five countries for one year before a ceasefire was declared, and they survived just fine.  In 1967, they were then threatened by several actions of their Arab neighbors, and decided to "take the first swing."  Here is a quote from Wikipedia on the page of "Israel."  "On 5 June 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. In a Six Day War, Israeli military superiority was clearly demonstrated against their more numerous Arab foes."  To ward-off four countries in less than a week in a highly sensitive military-prone part of the world was such a feat that they simply named it "The 6 Day War", because it only took them six days to win.  Now, there might be some that do not find any one of these incidents to be that extraordinary, stating that other countries have had similar experiences.  The only appropriate response to that would be that no, there have not been.  No other nation in the history of the world has been scattered from their homeland for over 1800 years and then returned to it, let alone dealt with all of the other acts of hatred throughout history as well.  Let us close this paragraph with the following scriptures that appear to be very specifically prophesying not only the return of Israel, but that they shall defend themselves easily against all opponents.

Zech. 10:6, 8, 9:

"And I shall strengthen the house of Judah,
And I shall save the house of Joseph,
And I shall bring them back,
Because I have had compassion on them;
And they will be as though I had not rejected them,
(:8) I will whistle for them to gather them together,
For I have redeemed them;
And they will be as numerous as they were before.
(:9) When I scatter them among the peoples,
They will remember Me in far countries,
And they with their children will live and come back."

Zech. 12:9 - "And it will come about in that day that I will set about to destroy all the nations the come against Jerusalem."

How is it that a book written over a two-to-three thousand year period by various people (who did not know each other) is able to predict events yet to occur for an additional period of a few thousand years?  How is it that a nation, who is described as a tiny nation, is destroyed by the arguably the greatest world power of all time (Roman Empire, 70 a.d.) and then rises up over eighteen hundred years later?  How is it that the smallest sliver of land in the Arab part of the world, who has to be outnumbered at least 15 to 1, is still able to defend themselves with ease against its neighbors?  All of these questions point to one answer: God has a plan for them.  That is, as unreasonable to some as it may seem, the only reasonable answer.

Israel is a chosen people of God for a specific purpose.  Their extremely rare circumstances over time suggest nothing short of it.  That such experiences have existed for this people is not only evidence that God has a plan for them, but that there must be a God in heavenly places to orchestrate such an event.

God will finish the work he started in us, and in all the world.

Phil. 1:6 - "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Two things are comforting here. One, that God's work of bringing you closer to Him, of His effort to mold you into the person you were meant to be, will not cease until the work is complete. Two, that it will be complete on the "Day of Jesus Christ." On this day of Jesus Christ, we are told that all things will be summed up in him (Eph. 1:10), and that every knee in heaven, and every knee on earth, shall bow to Jesus. (Phil. 2:10-11)

We are told to pray "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven." That is as if to say "please Father, let thy kingdom come quickly, for that is when your will will be done on earth, just as it is in heaven." We are told in Isaiah 26:9 "For when the earth experiences Thy judgments the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness." This reminds us that there is a day coming in which mankind will know God, truly, for the first time. (Jer. 31:34; Is. 40:5)

Many think that what awaits the earth is a "dooms-day" experience. While I agree that  the scriptures teach there will be a harsh punishment awaiting the systems of this earth (2 Pet. 3:10) and many of it's present-day leaders, many disregard the description of how beautiful it will be when Jesus returns, leads the people back to God, and then hands the Kingdom back over to the Father once he has finished the work he was meant to do. (Ecc. 1:4, Is. 45:18, 1 Cor. 15:24, Rev. 21:3-4) It is during this time, that we are told that there will be, at the time of our Lords return, "the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time." (Acts 3:21) This is definitely a wonderful time to be anticipated, not feared.

There is a reason that we are instructed to eagerly await the coming Kingdom, and to preach the gospel - the "good news", that Christ and his Kingdom are on its way.

Until then, if we are faithful, God will finish the work He began in us, and that we can be confident our efforts and sacrifices are not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:58)

The Purpose of This Blog

In this blog, "let us reason together", I will discuss fundamental scriptural topics that I believe are necessary in order to understand what is the true "gospel", or good news. I am not here to support any given denomination. I am here to read and study what the Bible says, and learn what it is teaching; as opposed to searching the Bible to prove what I already believe. "Christianity" as we know it today covers a very broad array of different theologies, and I believe it is important to examine the Bible with nothing short of a careful, thoughtful, in-depth look into what the Lord is teaching as opposed to what we have believed simply because it is what we are used to. With that said, the most important teachings of the Bible will also simply be the character that the Lord wishes to impress upon us, and the love that we show to one another as a result of our love for the Lord.

It is not my intention to offend, but rather to share this wonderful message of hope and Glory to God, in which He has planned, from before the creation of Earth, the reconciling of all mankind back into harmony with Him. We lost favor with God, as a people, after Adam's sin, and we are told that we are going to receive it again. (Acts 3:21)

If anyone has any disagreements, I would urge you to find scriptural evidence on the contrary. I urge everyone to study each set of scriptures to understand truly what the Lord is teaching. I do believe that if you study what the scriptures teach in their entirety, you will come to a different conclusion than you might have previously believed. If you were to ask yourselves if you have ever truly studied the scriptures as opposed to simply hearing a message in Church, or simply reading passages like you would a normal book, and your answer is "no", then you might be surprised what you find if you study the Bible like you would a college major.

In all my life, there is no more wonderful a thing than the understanding of God's plan for mankind.