What happens to humans when they die?

The simplest, easiest to understand answer is given in Eccl 12:7.

Eccl 12:7 the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

To understand this we must understand the formula that God used when he created man given in Gen 2:7. Here it says that he created man’s body using the same elements he used in creating the earth (the body was initially an inanimate object) and then he breathed “the breath of God” into the body and it became a living being (a soul). This says that man’s soul, his living being, is composed of a spirit inhabiting a body. This spirit is in the image of God. The “breath of God” that God places into the inanimate body in Gen 2:7 is Strong’s word 5397 and means the following:

the spirit of man and

the breathe of God.

Psalms 146:4 says “When their , they return to the ground.” This says that we become a living being when the spirit enters our body and we die when the spirit departs our body.

The word spirit in Eccl 12:7 is Strong’s word 7307 and in context it means the following:

A disembodied being,

The seat of mental acts and

The seat of moral character.

When we put this together we see that when God places the breath of God (Strong’s 5397) into an inanimate body the result is a living being with a spirit (Strong’s 7307) within it. This spirit is in the image of God; it is from the very breath of God. This spirit departs the body at the time of death.

The definition of the spirit as “the seat of mental acts and moral character” sounds very much like the part of us that we today refer to as our subconscious mind and as our conscience. A close examination of the way in which the word heart (of man) is used throughout the Bible reveals that it is the “mind” of our spirit. This tells me that our subconscious mind is part of our spirit, the mind of our spirit so to speak. Heb 10:22 says “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” This verse associates our conscience with our heart, the mind of our spirit throughout the Bible.

The next question that comes to mind is this; If the spirit departs the body at the time of death just where does it go? Again Eccl 12:7 tells us that it returns to God who placed it in the body to begin with.

What does God do with this spirit when it returns to him? As we will see below the situation was different for believers in him before and after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Before his death and resurrection the spirits of the righteous were sent to Abraham’s Bosom in Sheol/Hades (Hades is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Sheol) awaiting the time that Jesus would buy their pardon for sins by his death on the cross. During the three days between Jesus’ death and resurrection he went to Abraham’s Bosom and took the spirits that were there to heaven. That could be done because they were now redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus. Abraham’s Bosom was then permanently closed and now when believers die their spirits immediately go to heaven to be with God forever. They will be there with spiritual bodies only until the time of the rapture when they will receive glorified resurrected bodies for their spirits to dwell in. These bodies will enable them to inhabit both spiritual places, heaven, and physical places, earth. Believer’s spirits do not need resurrected bodies to function in heaven, however. 1 Cor 15 gives an extensive description of the bodies that we will eventually receive. Our spirits apparently can function in heaven before we receive our resurrected bodies but they cannot function on earth without them.

Again, the situation is different for the unrighteous. The situation did not change for them when Jesus died and was resurrected. Their spirits went to Torments in Hades before Jesus’ death and resurrection and still go to the same place after his death and resurrection. No change. They remain there until the time of their judgment after the 1000 year millennium. Read on for many of the details and defining scriptures.

How was the abode of the dead presented in the Old Testament?

In the Old Testament those who died were said to go to Sheol. The definition of Sheol, Strong's word 7585 is as follows:

Sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit ( or dungeon)

1. a) the underworld
2. b) Sheol - the OT designation for the abode of the dead

1) place of no return

2) without praise of God

3) wicked sent there for punishment

4) righteous not abandoned to it

5) of the place of exile (fig)

6) of extreme degradation in sin

What conclusion can we draw from this? We see that this is consistent with the picture painted for Hades in Luke 16:19-31. Again, what do we see here. We can conclude the following:

Before Jesus resurrection everyone went to Sheol, Hades when they died.

The wicked, the sinners were there in exile for punishment. It was a place from which they could not escape. There was no praise for God where the sinners were being held.

The righteous were also in Sheol, Hades but only temporarily. They were not abandoned. God still had a plan for them in the future.

A large collection of the Old testament scriptures on Sheol are presented on the last page of this study. It seems that the Old Testament authors generally knew that the spirits of the righteous and unrighteous both went to Sheol at the time of death, but with a difference. They seemed to recognize that the unrighteous would stay there while the righteous would one day be redeemed. Most references to Sheol were of the place that we refer to as Torments from Luke 16:19-31. This is the abode of the spirits of the unrighteous dead and it is not a pleasant place to be. They recognized that God was not there. However, they did recognize that God was in the place where the spirits of the righteous dead went. They referred to both as Sheol in places. This can be quite confusing, and the King James Bible usually just translated Sheol as the grave. That further added to the confusion in many people understanding exactly who went to Sheol. Fortunately, Jesus did a wonderful job of clarifying this for us in Luke 16:19-31. We must assume that Sheol and Hades were the same place. We find Jesus telling us that Hades had two compartments for the spirits of the dead, one for the righteous which we generally refer to as “Abraham’s Bosom” and one for the unrighteous which we generally refer to as “Torments.” Again, in the Old Testament most of the references to Sheol seemed to be for Torments and it is clear that they did not want to go there. It seems that God was available to those in Abraham’s Bosom in some way. We will present the differences in much more detail below, using Like 16.

Another related word that is often used in the Bible concerning death is the word “sleep.” Sleep is a time of rest for the body but the subconscious mind remains active as we are fully aware of when we dream. Likewise when the word sleep is used in the Bible relative to death it means that the body goes into a state called “sleep” while the spirit goes to either heaven or Torments in Hades. When a body goes to sleep it will awaken in a short time. The same applies to ‘sleep’ at death. The dead body turns to dust, it goes to “sleep,” so to speak, as a perishable body but it will “awaken” one day as an imperishable body, 1 Cor 15:51-53. Also see Dan 12:2-3.

What clarifications do we get about Hades/Sheol in the New Testament?

We get a much clearer picture of Sheol or Hades in Luke 16:19-31. We learn the following new details:

The wicked, the sinners, the unrighteous, the unbelievers were being held in an entirely separate compartment from the righteous, the believers.

The unrighteous were very uncomfortable, seen as very thirsty, very hot and in torment. This thirst may be figurative language for a thirst for God, for the Light of God which was not there. They were in darkness. The torment may have been mental anguish since they did not have physical bodies with which to feel pain.

The righteous and the sinners were aware that they were in separate places in Hades but could not go from one place to the other. The unrighteous were aware that they had made a very serious mistake when they were living in not doing the things which would have permitted them to be in the place where the righteous were. They were seen appealing to those in the abode of the righteous to in some way get a message to their families and friends still living on earth to not make the same mistakes that they had made. Unfortunately for them this communication was not possible.

Jesus was painting this picture of Hades while he was still on earth. We see that at that time those who had recently died and those who had died two thousand years before, namely Abraham, were all there together. In fact all the righteous dead from Adam to those in Jesus day were all there together.

The righteous dead were being comforted in the place in which they were temporarily living.

From the context, scholars have given the two compartments in Hades names, Abraham’s Bosom for the home of the righteous and Torments for the abode of the unrighteous.

We see that those in both compartments were fully conscious, aware of their situations and able to communicate with others, even very shortly after their deaths.

What eventually happens to those in each compartment in Hades?

Revelation chapter 20 tells us that there will be two categories of resurrections of the dead. First let us look at what the Bible tells us about resurrections.

The Bible teaches that upon death of the body the spirit continues to live. After Jesus’ resurrection believer’s spirits go directly to heaven while unbelievers spirits temporarily go to Hades. This is a disembodied spirit and it can only exist in the spiritual world; it cannot function in the physical world. At some future “resurrection” event, the spirits of all who have ever lived will be given new “resurrected” bodies which they can then use to again inhabit the physical world. The Bible tells us that this resurrected or glorified body will be like the body Jesus had after his resurrection, Phil 3:10-11, 20-21. For believers in Jesus this resurrection will take place at a “rapture” event and for followers of Satan it will take place just before the “Great White Throne Judgment,” the one and only judgment of unbelievers. (Jesus seems to be telling us in John 8:42-47 that there are only two categories of people, those who follow him and those who follow Satan; either a person believes and follows the truth, Jesus, or he does not. There are no other options.) The Great White Throne Judgment takes place at the end of the 1000 year millennium. See Phil 3:10-11, 20-21, 1 Cor 15:20-23, 2 Cor 5:1-5, Rom 8:23, Rev 20:4-15.

For much more discussion on resurrections see my study on the glorified, resurrected body.

There are two categories of resurrection events mentioned in Rev 20:5-15. These are called the first resurrection and the second resurrection. The first resurrection is the resurrection of believers in Jesus and it takes place in phases. These always seem to be at rapture events. The Bible mentions two specific rapture events and there are likely at least two others. The two specifically mentioned take place at the beginning and at least five months after the middle of the tribulation period. The other two likely resurrection events for believers are at the end of the tribulation and the end of the millennium. Believers do not go through the Great White Throne Judgment. In fact they are judged separately at a judgment seat of Christ, 2 Cor 5:10. This is a judgment of rewards only, 1 Cor 3:8-15, and has nothing to do with punishment since there will be no punishment of believers, but only an infinite future of joy, peace, comfort, honor, service, ruling, worship, etc. all centered in the will of God.

Next we will address the second resurrection. Acts 24:15 tells us that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. That means that the wicked will also receive a resurrected body when they stand before God at the final judgment.

Acts 24:15 and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

This resurrection of the wicked is called the second resurrection. This will be a resurrection of all the unrighteous of all ages, from Adam to the final judgment at the end of the millennium. It is described in Rev 20. We find the following related to this judgment:

All wicked will be judged according to what is written in books in heaven.

Everyone who does not have his name written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire. This is called the second death. Since death is defined in the Bible as the time when the spirit leaves the body that means that the resurrected bodies of the wicked dead will be destroyed in the lake of fire and only their spirits will survive. Their spirits will then spend eternity in outer darkness.

Who are the wicked, the unrighteous who will be a part of the second resurrection and be thrown into the lake of fire?

There are a few scriptures that summarize the answer to this question for us. I will quote a couple of them. Note that these scriptures describe various lifestyles that if continued and unforgiven will lead to separation from God and eternal punishment. Any sin can be forgiven by God if a person comes to him in true repentance, accompanied by a change in lifestyle.

John 3:16-21 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

1 John 2:23 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

1 John 4:20 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

1 John 5:5 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 5:11-12 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Rev 21:6-8 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

2 Thess 1:5-10 5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

1 Cor 6:9-10 9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Gal 5:19-21 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Are there other scriptures that confirm that believer’s spirits go immediately to heaven at the time of death?

Yes, there are several and we will present a few of them below.

2 Cor 5:8-9 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

In this passage Paul assures us that when we leave our bodies that we will be with Jesus. Of course, the part of us that leaves our bodies will be our spirits.

Phil 1:21-24 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

Again, Paul knows that when he dies his spirit will leave his body and that he will be with Jesus in heaven.

Acts 7:59-60 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.

In this passage Stephen was about to die and he prayed for Jesus to receive his spirit in heaven. He knew from Paul’s teachings that his spirit would go to heaven at his death.

1 Thess 4:14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

The passage is about the coming rapture of believers. The phrase “fallen asleep in him” means “to die as believers.” They have died and their spirits are now in heaven. When Jesus returns to earth at the rapture he will bring those spirits with him to give them resurrected bodies. The verses following 1 Thess 4:14 tell us that the spirits will be given their resurrected bodies before those believers who are still alive on earth receive theirs.

Col 3:4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

This passage seems to say that when Jesus comes back at the rapture, believers will be with him and will receive their glorified, resurrected bodies.

Rev 17:14 They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."

This passage is at the Second Coming at the end of the tribulation and confirms that when Jesus returns to earth to reign for 1000 years that we will be with him and will reign with him on earth through the millennium. We have confirmation of this in Rev 19:14. Since we will then have glorified, resurrected bodies we will be able to fully function on earth. We will be able to see, hear, taste, smell, feel, walk, run, i.e. the things that we can currently do, plus an array of other things that we cannot now do. We will be able to disappear and immediately reappear in some other place for example. Our senses will likely be much sharper, our memories nearly perfect, etc. The things that we will not be able to do are commit sins, reproduce, etc. There will not be bodily disposal functions that are necessary. We will be able to eat and drink but it will not be necessary. We will not sleep because there will be no need for it. Our source of energy will be entirely different. Our ”batteries” will never run down. Sounds so wonderful.

CONCLUSION

The scriptures that we have studied make it very plain and clear. Anyone who is a believer in Jesus and leads a lifestyle that reflects that belief can be absolutely certain that when they die their spirit will immediately go to heaven. They can also be certain that they will one day receive a new glorified, resurrected body and will spend eternity in the paradise like new heaven and new earth with God forever. This existence will obviously have both spiritual and physical aspects to it

SELECTED OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES CONCERNING SHEOL

Job 7:9 As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;

Job 17:16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?"

Job 24:19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.

Ps 6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give thee praise?

Ps 9:17 The wicked shall depart to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.

Ps 16:10 For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit.

Ps 30:3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

Ps 31:17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I call on thee; let the wicked be put to shame, let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.

49:14-15 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; straight to the grave they descend, and their form shall waste away; Sheol shall be their home. But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. [Selah]

Ps 139:8 If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!

Prov 27:20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.

Eccl 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Isa 7:11 "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven."

Isa 14:11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are the bed beneath you, and worms are your covering.

Isa 38:10 said, In the noontide of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.

Isa 38:18 For Sheol cannot thank thee, death cannot praise thee; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for thy faithfulness.

Hosea 13:14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Compassion is hid from my eyes.

CONCLUSIONS WE CAN DRAW ABOUT SHEOL/HADES FROM OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES

Interpreted from the above scriptures in light of things taught in other places in the bible. Remember these scriptures are from a perspective of those living before Jesus.)

Heaven is pictured as being above, while Sheol is below. This is likely figurative language.

Those who go down to Sheol cannot get out by their own effort. It is pictured as a jail with bars.

Those who go to Torments have no hope that God will rescue them; there is nothing that those in Sheol can do to influence God to rescue them. He has no compassion for those in Torments.

It is associated with death.

Those who have sinned go to Sheol. This is as sure as heat melts away snow.

The wicked, those who forget God go to Sheol.

There is neither remembrance of God nor praise for God in Sheol.

The holy will not be abandoned in Sheol, they will not go to the same place as the wicked.

Those living a lifestyle leading to Torments can make changes which will lead God to not send them there. They can then look forward to eventually having resurrected bodies and eternity in heaven.

There are many who follow paths that lead to Sheol like sheep following shepherds; their bodies will waste away to dust and the home of their spirits will be in Sheol. Meanwhile Jesus will buy a pardon for the righteous and they will one day join Jesus in heaven.

When the spirits of the righteous went to Abraham’s Bosom in Sheol God was there and when they go to heaven after Jesus buys their pardon God is there.

If you want to accomplish things you must do it while you are on earth; nothing can be accomplished in Sheol.

Satan will one day be in Sheol because of his pride.