What Happens in the Afterlife After Life?
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Exactly what happens in the afterlife after life?
The Bible doesn’t give us a complete picture of moment by moment transactions after we die in the afterlife. However, the Bible does give us some snapshots of what happens after death. There are several passages in the Bible that give us some fleeting glances as to what transpires. Let’s look at a few of them.
In 1 Samuel 28, Saul seeks counsel from the dead Samuel through a medium. The passages is one of the first that discuss the possibility of life after death in the Old Testament. In Samuel’s confrontation with Saul, he says, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” (verse 15). Samuel was around to be disturbed, and the state that he was in was one of peace, that is, not disturbed. In 2 Samuel 12:23, after David and Bathsheba’s child died, David said, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” David expresses some hope that he would be reunited with this child again after death. In Ecclesiastes 12:7, the Bible says that upon death, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.” While there is not a lot of detail given here, the implication is that the spirit lives on and returns back to God, whereas the body simply becomes dust. In Matthew 22:32, Jesus quoted from God’s visit with Moses in Exodus 3:6 when God said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Jesus then said, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Jesus point was that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had to be still alive for God to be their God in the present when He spoke to Moses. These passages give us some clue that there is life after death, but not a lot of detail.
We get more detail from Jesus when he tells the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. This comes from Luke 16:19-31. Jesus never states that this is a parable, nor do we get the familiar statement “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto . . .” at the beginning of this story. So, I take it that this story was a real illustration that Jesus was using to teach about the importance of using your life to serve God instead of self. We do gain some interesting details about the afterlife, but these are just snapshots. The story isn’t necessarily a complete picture of things. First, we see that when Lazarus died, he was “carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22). When the rich man died, he was buried, but he continued to exist “in torments in Hades” (23). The word “Hades” means the unseen realm. It is also known as the realm of the dead. He saw Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom being comforted (25). There was also a great gulf fixed between the place of torments and the place of comfort (26). This meant Lazarus could not go to the Rich Man and vice versa.
Jesus comments on the place of comfort when he said to the thief on the cross, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). So after death, the spirit returns to God, and then it is placed in either a place of torments or a place of comforts known as paradise. In addition to this, the apostle Paul mentioned in Philippians 1:23 that he had a desire to depart and be with Christ. I take that to mean that after death, we won’t have to wait to be with Christ. When we die we will be with Christ. I don’t really understand everything about how that will work because Hebrews 8:1 and 12:2 tells us that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, but I trust that Paul was telling the truth when he spoke it in Philippians 1:23, and that in some way, we will be in Paradise and with Jesus.
Someone might ask, what about heaven and hell? This is a separate question. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:13 that we “look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” We also know that judgment must take place before the new heavens and new earth can appear. This is Revelation 20:11-15 and Revelation 21:1-4. Peter also tells us that the angels who sinned are currently awaiting judgment (2 Peter 2:4). Additionally, before judgment takes place, Jesus will return and take the dead and living saints with him to live with him forever (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). We will also receive a resurrected body on that day (1 Corinthians 15:51-54). These are some facts that the Bible sets forth about life after death. They raise many more questions, but they are enough for us to know that God will provide for us after death, and that is all we really need to concern ourselves with.