More than any other question about Heaven that I have been asked, this one is the most common:
Where do Christians go when they die?
The question is certainly a reasonable one. If we are all due to one day breathe our last breath and depart from the land of the living, most of us would like to know about the next location of our existence. And so let's answer this question on a few different levels.
1. Let us note that there is much that the Bible does speak to on this topic, and yet there are also unknowns. Many people have had near-death experiences where they spoke about a white light or feeling like there were floating out of their bodies. While these are - in some cases - what people truly experienced, we should be slow to let these experiences become the basis for our conclusions about the afterlife. Even if a person did not want to consider a religious answer to the question of the afterlife, it only makes sense to be skeptical about the stories of near-death experiences. Was it a real experience or just a psychological one because of the intensity of the moment? How clearly was the individual thinking when he/she had this experience? All this to say, let's move from what we do know to what we are less sure about. And the Bible will be the basis for my conclusions stated below.
2. In the view of most Christians throughout history, the biblical conclusion is that when a person dies, he or she is immediately in the presence of God. As noted in the last post, this does not mean that we are in the New Heavens and New Earth of Revelation 21 and 22., but the Bible does teach that a person who dies with faith in Christ is with God immediately after death. This would be called unconditional immortality. We will give more information on this in a moment.
3. I want to note that the other main perspective held by some Christians (though it seems to be the minority according to my research) is the notion of a person dying and entering 'soul sleep'. This idea would be that when I die in Christ, I rest (as in "Rest In Peace") until the return of Christ when He will usher in the New Heavens and New Earth. There are a variety of passages that people have interpreted this way, but I think the argument is less compelling. This stance might be called the 'soul sleep' approach or more formally known as conditional immortality.
With these three statement as a foundation, I'd like to make the case for the idea that when a person who has put his/her faith in Christ dies, he/she goes directly into the presence of God.
1. Philippians 1:19-22
"...for I know through your prayer and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two.
My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better."
In this passage , Paul is talking about living on this earth and serving God, or dying and being with God. Notice that Paul's language is either/or language - either stay and serve or go and be with Christ. He doesn't seem to give any hint about going to be with Christ after a time of soul sleep. He speaks to immediately serving or immediately being with Christ. And this theme of immediacy seems to flow through many passages about death and then being immediately in the presence of God.
2. Matthew 17:1-13
This passage is the Transfiguration of Christ as observed by Peter, James, and John. Interestingly enough it is also experienced by two other people - Moses and Elijah. The passage says that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up to the top of a mountain, and there Jesus began to shine like the sun and His clothes glowed white. And then we read, "And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with HIm." At first one might argue that these are hallucinations. But as is often noted about Jesus being seen after the Resurrection, hallucinations are very individualized, whereas this passage seems to communicate that the three apostles saw Moses and Elijah. Another interesting fact is that Jesus was speaking with them, with Moses and Elijah. One as mentally-well as Jesus does not speak with someone who is not there. And so we conclude that it REALLY was Moses and Elijah who were there speaking with Jesus.
This presses us to ask, "Where then were Moses and Elijah from the time of their deaths to this moment on the mountain top?" The Bible does not give a definitive answer but we can conclude that these two saints were not in a state of 'soul sleep'. If they were, they wouldn't have been present since Jesus has not yet died, come back to life, ascended into Heaven, and then returned to usher in the New Heavens and New Earth. That has not yet occurred when we read this story and so we most logically conclude that while Moses and Elijah are not yet fully restored people (as per the end of Revelation), they are still very much present and in a conscious state of existence. And so it should be for all those who die in Christ.
3. 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
This passage contains the well-known phrase, "Absent with the body, present wth the Lord." While we never want to rip a verse out of context, this one line is very much just what it looks like when it is read in context. Paul is contrasting life on earth in our broken bodies with life in the presence of God. The key I find in this passage is that Paul again (as in Philippians 1) seems to be contrasting two immediate states of being - one is being in the immediate state of earthly living and other is being in the immediate presence of God. I would agree if one were to argue that there is more ambiguity in this passage. I don't think this passage standing alone makes the case for entering immediately into the presence of God, but added to other passages I do think it adds to the already strong argument.
There are a few additional passages worth noting.
- John 3 speaks about eternal life, and John does so in a way to describes eternal life not as something that we get when we die, but that - for those in Christ - eternal life begins the moment a person comes to faith in Jesus. Again, the continuing of life with Christ is emphasized. And so if I come into eternal life at age 16 and then I die at age 99, it seems most reasonable that I continue on with my eternal life and that it is not in a 'paused' state until Jesus returns.
- John 11:17-27. In this passage we see the death of Lazarus. It's worth noting that Lazarus has died and when asked if she (Martha) believed that Lazarus would live again, she mentions the final resurrection of all believers. Jesus could have just agreed with her, but He pressed the issue deeper when He said the whoever believes in Him, though they die they will live. Then Jesus presses it even deeper again when he says that everyone who believes in Him will never die. The emphasis appears to be on the continuity of life for the Christian. When person comes to faith in Christ, he or she is IN eternal life, and that eternal state will continue on without pause i.e. without soul sleep.
There are additional passages that I believe make the case for the continuity of the Christian's life, but these 5 speak to it strongly.
I do want to bring up a point here.
Committed, Bible-believing Christians can, have, and do disagree on this issue. But let's ask the question: how does determining who is right about this argument impact my view of the afterlife? If the soul sleep perspective is correct, then I will one day die, be in a state on unconscious soul sleep, and then the next thing I know, I will be with Jesus. On the other hand if it is true that when a Christian dies, he or she is immediately with God, then to a large degree the experience is very much the same. Theology matters and so we should discuss and debate these questions, but it's worth noting that the real question is about process and not the ultimate end-state for all believers.
Since I have made the case that the Christian does go immediately into the presence of God, we will next address the question: where is this 'heaven' that Christians go to in the in-between state before Jesus returns in all His glory.
And that will be our next post. Thank you for reading.
- tC
