Answers on the State of the Dead

Answers on the State of the Dead

Virtually people have wondered at some signal in their life about death, the afterlife, and where they will end up. As humans we know that one day we will die. No one on this world lives forever.

It's not something nosotros really like to think about. It may fifty-fifty feel like an uncomfortable bailiwick. Only the question remains.

The good news is, we do have a reliable source that tells us how to navigate this tough subject. Seventh-day Adventists uphold what the Bible says most what happens when we die and after nosotros die.

We'll look closely at:

  • What death actually means
  • Why death exists
  • The mass resurrections at Jesus' 2d Coming
  • How all this fits into humanity'south whole story

Belief 26: Death and Resurrection

The wages of sin is decease. But God, who alone is immortal, will grant eternal life to His redeemed. Until that day death is an unconscious land for all people. When Christ, who is our life, appears, the resurrected righteous and the living righteous will be glorified and caught up to meet their Lord. The second resurrection, the resurrection of the unrighteous, will take identify a thousand years later. (Job 19:25-27; Ps. 146:3, 4; Eccl. 9:5, 6, 10; Dan. 12:ii, 13; Isa. 25:8; John five:28, 29; 11:11-14; Rom. 6:23; six:xvi; 1 Cor. xv:51-54; Col. 3:four; ane Thess. 4:xiii-17; 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 20:1-10.)

Flowers blooming with headstones in the background.

What really happens when we die?

The Bible says those who have died know nada. That ways we aren't enlightened of the passage of fourth dimension afterwards expiry. We aren't aware of what's happening in the earth.

Expiry is like a deep sleep. Your body and spirit rests as the breath of life—which makes body and soul one, and alive—has returned to God until the resurrection.

Whether you've lost a loved i or want to know what happens when you die, it's a question that weighs on everyone's mind at some point.

"For the living know that they volition dice, but the dead know nothing, and they accept no more than reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun" (Ecclesiastes nine:5,half-dozen , ESV).

" and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7, ESV).

In the beginning God made man in the Garden of Eden from the dust of the earth. So, He breathed the breath of life into Adam'southward nostrils.

In that moment Adam became a living being.

" Then the LORD God formed the homo of grit from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature" (Genesis 2:seven, ESV).

Notice the poesy says Adam became a living creature when God breathed the jiff of life into his nostrils. The King James Version says it this mode:

"And the LORD God formed homo of the grit of the footing, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis two:seven, KJV).

Close-up of a woman's face with her eyes closed.

His breath is what made him a living soul – a living creature. When nosotros die, nosotros end breathing and nosotros remainder. Nowhere in the Bible does it say the soul is separate from the body.

A soul is a living creature (see Genesis ii:vii above). A soul is the combination of a body plus the breath of life. The soul cannot be without the torso or the breath.

"… the torso apart from the spirit is dead" (James 2:26, ESV).

"as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils" (Job 27:3, ESV).

We tin can run into this idea illustrated by looking at a light bulb. Without electricity, a light seedling has no light. In society to produce calorie-free, both the lightbulb and the electricity are needed. Similarly, the body has no life without the breath of God. Your soul is not a separate beingness.

Some religions or denominations teach other ideas well-nigh what happens when we die. For instance, some people believe in purgatory, reincarnation, immortality of the soul, the afterlife, etc.

It is important when looking at different ideas almost the state of the dead to counterbalance each teaching according to the Bible.

"If they do not speak co-ordinate to this word, it is because there is no calorie-free in them" (Isaiah 8:20, NKJV).

The Bible says decease is like a sleep and the dead know nothing. There is no need to worry nigh a loved one who has passed away. They are resting peacefully in the grave. They are not in pain. They are non somewhere else existence tormented. They are simply waiting in the grave until Jesus comes back.

A close-up of a rained on apple in a tree.

Why exercise we die?

The Bible tells us the wages of sin is death. In other words, the cost of our sin is death. Sin entered this world in the Garden of Eden at the very first of time.

" For the wages of sin is death, merely the complimentary souvenir of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23, ESV).

"Therefore, but as sin came into the globe through one homo, and decease through sin, and so expiry spread to all men because all sinned" (Romans v:12, ESV).

God had told Adam and Eve they could eat from every tree in the garden except for ane. He said if they ate from the Tree of the Cognition of Adept and Evil they would die.

" merely of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you consume of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17, ESV).

Unfortunately we read in Genesis 3 that Eve ate from the Tree of Noesis of Good and Evil and shared some of the fruit with her husband, Adam, who besides ate it.

" So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the optics, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she too gave some to her married man who was with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6, ESV).

Because of our sinful natures we all face physical death ane day. The proficient news is death does not have to be the end. We accept hope for salvation and eternal life through Christ Jesus.

Mother and her son holding hands while walking in the nature at sunset.

The First and Second Resurrections

The Start Resurrection

When Jesus returns at the stop of time, all who have died believing in Christ will have a bodily resurrection and become to Sky with Him. This is the first resurrection.

This is the Good News! Believers have the hope of eternal life because they place their trust in the Lord Jesus.

" For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a weep of command, with the vocalization of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise showtime. Then nosotros who are live, who are left, volition exist caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 , ESV).

The first resurrection happens when Christ returns. This resurrection is for those who were true-blue to Christ and died. These resurrected people volition bring together all the true-blue Christians who are however living. Together they will go to Heaven.

The Second Resurrection

The 2d resurrection happens after the thousand years accept passed. This resurrection is for those who were unfaithful to Christ. These are the lost people who decided not to follow Christ during their life on earth.

"The residue of the dead did not come up to life until the yard years were ended. This is the showtime resurrection" (Revelation twenty:five , ESV).

Unfortunately, these people are not raised to eternal life, just instead volition face the 2nd death.

What is the 2d Decease?

Those who are raised in the second resurrection volition face up judgement. They will dice a last death that lasts forever.

" Then Decease and Hades were thrown into the lake of burn down. This is the 2d death, the lake of burn" (Revelation 20:14, ESV).

The 2nd death is the eternal upshot of being separated from God. You may have pictures in your listen of eternal torment and suffering for the lost sinners – an eternal hell where fire burns the lost forever and ever.

A young businessman looking thoughtful against a dark background

Just what does the Bible say? Those who dice without a faith in Jesus will face up eternal separation from God – not eternal suffering.

If the wicked were tormented in hell forever, they would be immortal souls. The Scripture says God solitary is immortal, and only those who choose redemption through Jesus will exist granted eternal life (John three:xv-16; 17:three).

"… the Male monarch of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see" (ane Timothy 6:15, 16, ESV).

And when the lost die the second death, they will exist like no more, like ash on the basis. They are destroyed forever, non forever burning.

The burn down is an all-consuming burn. And when all wickedness has been destroyed, the burn down will go out.

"Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no burn down to sit earlier!" (Isaiah 47:14, ESV).

When Jesus died on the cross, He experienced what the 2nd death would be like—the separation from God's presence that all the wicked will experience when they dice the 2d death at the stop of the thou years.

Information technology was a devastating feeling for Jesus and He cried out just before He died:

" And about the 9th 60 minutes Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why take you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46, ESV).

What happens to God's faithful people?

After the terminal death of the unfaithful, God will create a new earth free of sin and death. God'southward people will live free of hurting and sorrow. They volition enjoy a life of eternal happiness where sin is no more."Then I saw a new heaven and a new world, for the get-go heaven and the first globe had passed away, and the sea was no more… and death shall exist no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:ane-4, ESV).

Close-up of a mans hands holding the Bible.

How practise nosotros prepare for expiry and the resurrections?

If you want to exist a part of the kickoff resurrection, you need to seek a relationship with God. Have Jesus as your Savior today.

""For God so loved the world, that he gave his but Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John iii:xvi , ESV).

You tin live a life of religion and be a part of God's faithful people at the cease of time through prayer and Bible study!

"For the Lord loves justice; he will not abdicate his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall exist cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever" (Psalm 37:28,29, ESV).

Through reading God'south Give-and-take you will larn more than about Him. As you report the Bible and pray you will build a relationship with Him. You can take Jesus as your Savior and follow Him in just a few easy steps. It will be the all-time decision you ever brand!

"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your centre that God raised him from the dead, you volition be saved" (Romans 10:9 , ESV).

5 Simple Steps to Salvation

  1. Believe in the name of Jesus Christ.
  2. Recognize that yous are a sinner in need of a Savior.
  3. Acknowledge the penalty for sin is expiry.
  4. Ask God for forgiveness and repent from your sin.
  5. Accept Jesus as your personal Savior and follow him.

Once you lot've accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, it's important to live a life as Christ lived in response to what God has done for y'all. We want to be like Jesus—non as a means of conservancy but out of our love for Him.

Close up on a man and a woman holding hands at a wooden table

Jesus is our example! Nosotros tin can live a Christ-like life by post-obit the guiding principles found in the Bible. Here are a few of those principles:

" But the fruit of the Spirit is honey, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:23, ESV).

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatsoever is commendable, if there is whatever excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think nearly these things" (Philippians 4:eight, ESV).

"A new commandment I give to you, that you honey 1 another: but as I have loved you, you also are to love one another" (John 13:34, ESV).

Christians are to exist a light in the community. Wherever you get, others should see Jesus in y'all. Jesus is love. Permit'south follow His example!

A prominent founder of the Adventist Church once said,

"The Christian pilgrim cannot be sour, gloomy, depressed. It is a misrepresentation of the Christian religion to exist bearish, unreasonable, or sour in spirit. My brethren and sisters, no longer cherish such a spirit. Mind the apostle'due south admonition to provoke one another unto love and adept works.

How tin you do this?—Past conscientious, consistent behavior. Occasionally pause to sum up the results of such a course, to define whether information technology is the wisest class to pursue. Y'all volition find that careful regard for one some other's needs, kindly words of sympathy, and thoughtful assistance in helping others in their work, encourages not only them, just yourselves besides, because you thus go laborers together with God." – Ellen White, Manuscript Releases, Volume seven, p. 99

This seemingly grim subject is important to Adventist Christians because it brings about hope to those who are hurting. Whether you've lost someone you loved and wonder if they will be in heaven – or yous've wondered if they are presently suffering in hell, understanding the truth about the decease, the state of the dead, and the resurrection offers you peace.

If you've ever wondered about what happens when we die, it'south reassuring to know God isn't vindictive. He's not the kind of god who would torment his wayward children forever and ever. He's a God of mercy.

We as well have the promise of the resurrection and of one mean solar day seeing our loved ones who have died in Christ resurrected to life again one day before long.