What will happen to us after we die? Fascinating question, don’t you think?

Popular culture deals with this matter extensively. Ghosts and spirits are common in popular movies and best-selling books.

But is there a consensus about what life after death will be like? Not at all.

Part of this might be due to the fact that we don’t have anyone with us today who has gone beyond the grave and come back. At least, not after an extended period of time. Oh, there are those who have had near-death experiences. Some claim to have seen what the after­life is like. You wonder whether such experiences are induced by the trauma of almost dying, resulting in unusual brain activity. But you never know.

Of course, if we had someone who had not been alive for, say, a year or so, and then came back, we might be able to take what he has to say about the afterlife a bit more seriously. But there’s no one like that around.

The Source for Answers⤒🔗

There is one we can turn to for an­swers. While we may not have any people alive who can accurately tell us from personal experience what it is like to be dead, we do have the word of one who knows exactly what life after death is all about. We have the Word of God, the word of the one who has complete control over life and death. He who holds the keys to death can give us a true picture of what life after death will actually be like.

Be warned though, the Bible’s understanding of the afterlife is dif­ferent than what the unbelieving world imagines it is. The world likes to focus on pitch-forks and harps. It likes to think of floating on clouds. It likes to imagine St Peter standing at the gate going over whether you’ve been naughty or nice.

We are not interested in what the world thinks about the Christian conception of the afterlife. We are interested in what the Bible actually says.

More Questions Than Answers←⤒🔗

 Believe it or not, though, there really is not all that much the Bible tells us about what life after death will be like. At least, not as much as you might think.

Some imagine the Bible is all about how to get to heaven when you die. So, it should have a lot to say regarding what heaven is like, right?

But for every question the Bible answers about the afterlife, you could probably come up with at least fifty questions the Bible does not answer. How will we keep busy for eternity? How will we perceive things? What will our bodies look like? Will we have bodies that are all about the same age?

We know we won’t be given in marriage, but will we be able to rec­ognise our friends and family? Are we going to want to spend most of our time with them? What about our jobs, our gifts, our hobbies? Will anything of that be relevant? Will we eat? Will we drink? There are so many questions, most of which simply cannot be answered, at least not conclusively.

What We Need to Know←⤒🔗

Still, the Bible does not leave us high and dry. As I said before, the Bible is where we go to get real an­swers about what happens to us after we die.

It still is of great importance to at least know something about all of this. After all, the time we spend in this life is nothing compared to eter­nity. And, as Paul said in 1 Corin­thians 15, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.”

But remember this: the Bible deals with this material not for the benefit of the dead but for the living. In other words, our doctrine of the afterlife makes a difference in the here and now.

We do not learn what the Bible teaches us about life after death in order to be able to pass a quiz once we get to the other side. God is not going to sit there ask­ing us questions, making sure we know enough about what heaven will be like.

If we are not washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ, no amount of studying the afterlife will make a difference. And if we are saved, we will get along just fine with God taking us by the hand and enabling us to discover what we need to know.

No, it’s not about being men­tally prepared for what will happen after we die. Rather, we learn about what the Bible says about life after death to strengthen us now, to comfort us now, to help us live now.

What Happens When We Die←⤒🔗

So, to help us live now, to give us a measure of comfort now, let us consider briefly what the Bible teaches us about what is going to happen to us after we die.

Perhaps it would be best to look at this in stages. The first stage being: what happens to us immediately after we die. Our soul will be taken immediately af­ter this life to Christ. When we die, we will consciously go to be with the Lord.

Paul indicates this when in Phi­lippians 1 he talks about his desire to go to be with Christ. Also, in 2 Corinthians 5:8, he says, “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

Jesus, on the cross, said to the penitent thief, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Such texts make it clear that after we die, we go to be with the Lord immedi­ately. We go consciously, and in fact joyfully, because in such a state we will finally be free from suffering and sin.

As great as this will be, though, it will be incomplete. This state follow­ing death is a state of being away from the body. And this is an un­natural thing.

We are physical creatures. We are beings made up of both body and soul, and there is something that is not right about having one without the other.

Many imagine that life without a body is somehow a higher state of being. It’s a life free from material concerns. We’ll be able to concen­trate on purely intellectual matters, floating along without a physical care.

But we are not meant to be souls without bodies. Yet, this is a state we will have to exist in, at least for a time.

Body and Soul Reunited←⤒🔗

This state will not last forever. When Christ returns to judge the living and the dead, our bodies and souls will be reunited.

Mind you, our bodies will be changed, made like Christ’s glorious resurrected body. As Paul says in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians,

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immor­tality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’

We will receive bodies that will last forever.

It’s not that these bodies in and of themselves will be so strong. There is nothing inherent in the human soul that makes it immortal, and there will be nothing inherent in these new bodies that will make them indestruc­tible. Rather, we will receive bodies in which we will experience perfectly the grace of God, a grace that will never end, a grace that will supply all our needs. This grace will last for­ever. This grace will wipe out sin and death. This grace will enable our bodies to last forever.

What will these bodies be like? Will we all be super athletes? Will we all be beautiful? Will we all be able to do anything we could possi­bly imagine? We don’t know. The Bible doesn’t spell out all the details, which means we don’t need to know.

But we do know this much about those bodies: they won’t get sick. They won’t deteriorate in any way, shape or form. They will not be in­fected by sin. But most of all, they will never die. Death will be swal­lowed up in victory.

Eternal Blessedness←⤒🔗

This brings us to the final stage: ev­erlasting life. As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it in Q&A 58 — “so after this life I will have perfect bless­edness such as no eye has seen no ear has heard, no man has ever imagined: a blessedness in which to praise God eternally.”

This is something that cannot even be imagined. It is perfect blessedness, something that we who are still affected by sin cannot possi­bly fully grasp.

One thing we do know: we will be praising God forever. And when you think about how good it is to praise God already in this life, well, praising God for an eternity will be infinitely better. That is what we look forward to.

Strength for Today←⤒🔗

What good does it do us to know all of this?

One obvious benefit: we can be at peace concerning our loved ones who have gone to be with the Lord. We can have comfort in the fact that they are with Jesus.

And we can take comfort in how our Lord by his power will raise his children to be with him, that they may experience perfect blessedness forever.

This truth is of great benefit. While we are here on this earth, we are bound to suffer. Many of us have seen our loved ones suffer. Suffer through disease, suffer through pain, or suffer because of some sin that keeps working its way into the heart.

Perhaps we have experienced this suffering ourselves. Yet, we can take comfort. We can know that those who have suffered while liv­ing on this earth as one of God’s people, will afterward have rest. They will have peace.

We read in 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 —

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eter­nal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are bur­dened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed with our spiritual dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

We have the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come, guaranteeing the future imperishable body that will be ours in the age to come. The Spirit assures us that we belong to God, and he will take us to himself to enjoy perfect fellowship with him and all his peo­ple for all eternity. What a joy, to look forward to our eternal house in heaven!

Concluding Questions←⤒🔗

Do these truths strengthen you? Does the future resurrection of the body comfort you? Does the knowledge of life everlasting strengthen you? Are you assured that Jesus Christ is Lord and that eventually he will take you to him­self? These are important ques­tions to ask.

If you are not destined for eter­nal life, then you are destined for the eternal damnation reserved for the enemies of God. There is no other destination. It’s one or the other.

May God send his Spirit into our hearts, that we may know where we are going. May he grant us the comfort of knowing of our eternal salvation, that we may be strength­ened to serve him as we await his final coming.