What actually happens when the Christian dies? What do we have to look forward to (or to fear)? Can we look toward death with confidence, with trust in God?
Below are a few common myths about what happens when Christians die. The responses to these myths are not everything there is to know, but they may clear up a few things. They all steer toward one truth: The Bible teaches about a gracious, forgiving God who, through the redeeming work of His Son, Jesus Christ, did everything that was needed to be able to receive believers into His arms when they die.
I start with this one, because it is probably the furthest from the belief of the Christian reader but still not unfamiliar. Many people hold to exactly this: There is no heaven, no resurrection (as the Sadducees in Mark 12:18 taught), and this life is the only one we have. And that very often leads to some conclusions: You only live once, meaning do everything you can because you won’t get another chance. I should make this life as good and comfortable as possible, because it’s all there is. Or alternatively, the worst that can happen to a person is that they don’t have material wealth and have to live with some kind of suffering. Then the goal of life is to end physical suffering, either one’s own or that of other people, at all costs. This can take very good forms (like adoption) or very bad forms (like suicide). But its root is the idea that this physical life is all there is. It’s a myth.
There’s a place in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books where this comes up. Young Laura is worried that if she is not good, she won’t become an angel. But Little House on the Prairie isn’t the Bible, and the Bible knows nothing of this teaching (Mark 12:25 says we will become like angels, not that we will become actual angels). Angels are separate beings from humanity. They’re created by God and do His bidding. Christians do consider the end of their earthly lives on the basis of divine promises, but that isn’t one of them. Instead, the promises of eternal life (John 3:16), forgiveness of sin (1 John 1:9), freedom from the troubles of the world (Revelation 21:4), and eternal joy and comfort in God’s presence (John 16:22) are the things that await us.
A Roman Catholic teaching sharply condemned by Martin Luther was that Christ saved us from the ultimate consequence of our sin (hell) but not from the need to be purged (thus the word purg-atory) of our sinfulness before we can go to heaven. The idea that our sin has spiritual consequences that must be borne after this life is what drove the sale of indulgences—a form of good works that could be placed on the scale against our sin, thus reducing the size of those painful consequences. From a biblical perspective, this is simply an example of expecting too little from Jesus. He bore all our sin and all its punishment. To leave any burden for us still to bear, any price for us still to pay, diminishes the glory that we owe our full Redeemer and Savior. Because of His finished work (John 19:30), no additional purging, cleansing, or repairing stands between us and eternal life.
This false teaching is usually called “soul sleep.” It stems from the idea that you can’t go to heaven until after the final judgment. If you can’t go to heaven, and there’s no purgatory, then—so the argument goes—you must sleep until the Last Day, when Christ returns. But even though the Scriptures often refer to this time as sleep (1 Thessalonians 4:13), this is used in reference to the body, which awaits the resurrection at Christ’s return. The fuller teaching is something else. In Philippians, Paul desires “to depart and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23). Jesus famously tells the sinner on the cross, “today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). That paradise is heaven, and it awaits believers immediately when they die.
The Bible, when it talks about the end, mostly actually directs our attention to Judgment Day, when Christ will return to judge the living and the dead (Acts 17:31). This judgment is not just for unbelievers but for believers as well. But believers in Christ don’t need to fear it, because of faith. Their good works that flow from faith will be received by Christ, and their sins that have been forgiven by Christ will already be gone. This is the final, ultimate result of Christ’s saving work for us. Our sins totally removed, we’ll be judged according to our Spirit-given faith and Christ’s righteousness, and we’ll be received as the sheep of the Good Shepherd, once again, for eternal life in heaven.
There is, of course, a lot more to say about what theologians call the “Last Things.” The focus here has been simply on what happens (or doesn’t happen) when you die. It’s good to have this on our minds, because it’s the true horizon of our lives. Looking toward the end of our lives, either by death or Christ’s triumphant return, is a reminder that faith in Christ is the thing today that matters most of all.
Scripture: ESV®.