Many people feel that when a person dies they will immediately go to heaven. This idea has been held by people since the earliest times of recorded history. Though this may seem to us to be the ideal, the Bible presents to us quite a different concept of death. The lesson below examines the Bible teaching about what happens to people when they die.

1WD Eccl. 12:7 At death the body becomes dust and the spirit returns to God. The word "spirit" is the Hebrew word ruwach, which is literally "air." This would obviously refer to the air we breathe, or the "breath of life" God gave us in the beginning.

2WD Acts 2:29, 34 On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples. Thousands gathered to see what had happened. The disciples preached in at least 16 different languages (the gift of tongues) and many repented. As one of Peter's arguments, that they needed to repent, he said that David had not yet gone to heaven.

3WD Ps. 17:15 David believed that God would save him. But when did he expect to see this happen? "When I awake," he said. So evidently David expected, at death, that he would fall asleep. This is in perfect agreement with many of the Biblical writers, as we shall see.

4WD 1 Thess. 4:16, 17 David and all the saints who have died through all ages will be resurrected at the Second Coming of Jesus. At that time, BOTH the living, and the resurrected dead, will all go to heaven. But when will this happen? At the Second Advent.

5WD 1 Cor. 15:16-18 Paul plainly reveals that all life after death depends upon the resurrection at the Second Coming of Jesus.

6WD Eccl. 3:19, 20 Solomon points out that both humans and animals return to dust when they die.

7WD Ps. 146:3, 4 At death the breath departs and man becomes dust. His thoughts (NIV = "plans") perish. In Gen. 2:7 when God created man, He united the dust of the ground with the breath of life. When He did this, man became a "living soul (NIV being)." The "soul" of Gen. 2 corresponds to "thoughts" of Ps. 146. This, then describes the person, his conscious self. At death, this ceases to exist.

8WD Job 27:3 The "spirit" that leaves the body at death (Eccl. 12:7) and the "spirit [breath] in my nostrils" (Job. 27:3) BOTH are translated from Hebrew word ruwach.

9WD Ps. 115:17 All those in heaven praise God (Rev. 5:13). But the psalmist tells us that the dead are silent. The Bible calls death a sleep 54 times. When a person is asleep, he cannot praise the Lord. Cf. Eccl. 9:10; Isa. 38:18, 19; Ps. 6:5.

10WD Eccl. 9:5, 6 When a person is dead he doesn't know anything. He has no further contact with the living. When things happen to those he knows and loves, he doesn't know about it. He sleepsuntil the resurrection. cf. 1 Thess. 4:13-18.

NOTE: In Gen. 2:7 "breath"=Heb. nishma; in Isa. 2:22 "breath . . . in my nostrils"= Heb. nishma; in Job 27:3 "spirit . . . in my nostrils" and in Eccl. 12:7 "spirit"= Heb. ruwach. Evidently "spirit" (ruwach) and "breath" (nishma) refer to the breath of life given by God at the beginning, and which returns to God when we die.

Many people feel that the parable of the rich man and Lazarus is an accurate description of what happens after death. But consider the following study into the subject:

LUKE 16:19-31

A parable is a story to illustrate a point. The story itself may or may not be true. Parables cannot always be taken literally (cf. Judges 9:8-15).

Read Luke 16:19-31. This parable cannot be accepted literally because:
      • Abraham's bosom is NOT the home of the saved,
        (Hebrews 11:10, 16). Abraham's bosom is a
        FIGURATIVE description of heaven. The description of
        hell is also FIGURATIVE. BOTH MUST BE
        LITERAL OR BOTH FIGURATIVE.
      • Those in heaven CANNOT talk with those in hell, for
         the former things will not be remembered (Isaiah
         65:17); they will have passed away (Revelation 21:4).
         The former things includes hell, Revelation 20:15.
      • The Bible indicates that the dead (good and bad) are
         now in their graves, (compare Job 17:13 and Job 21:30-
         32). They will hear Jesus' voice FROM THEIR
         GRAVES (John 5:28, 29) and not from Heaven or hell.
      • People will receive their reward at the Second Coming,
        and not at death (Revelation 22:11, 12; Matthew 16:27).
      • It would make Jesus contradict Himself (compare
         Matthew 13:38-42, and Matthew 16:27).
      • Note that even if taken literally, this parable would
         refute the idea of disembodied souls going to hell, for it
         says the rich man has eyes, tongue, and lips. If taken
         literally this parable would prove that men are cast into
         hell, soul and BODY, at death.

Bodies of the dead have been exhumed after having been dead for months. It is a well-known fact that the eyes, tongue, and lips are still part of the body even then; hence the absurdity of taking the parable literally is further seen. The "eyes, tongue, and lips" are in the grave, not in hell-fire.

In this parable, Christ was simply using a common belief of the day to illustrate the truth of Luke 16:31: if we refuse to believe the Bible, we wouldn’t believe if one were to rise from the dead and tell us its message. And if we don’t believe, there is no hope for us.

[It's interesting to note that some time later, after Jesus raised the real life Lazarus from the tomb, the Jewish leaders wanted to kill him too. Why? Because of his resurrection many people were believing in Jesus whom they wanted to kill. These leaders eventually got the Romans to crucify Jesus; but there is no record of any harm coming to Lazarus. (John 12:9, 10).]