What Happens When We Die?
Today we want to share our eschatology with you; the part of our theology concerning death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind. We believe in the rapture of the Church, the great tribulation, the millennial reign of Christ, the resurrection and judgment of all mankind, and that the eternal destiny of the wicked will be in Hell while the righteous will live in Heaven, forever in the presence of God.
What is Death?
Death means separation from this perishable body and this mortal life (Phil. 1:22-24; James 2:26). For believers death means entrance into the presence of their Lord (John 12:26; 2 Cor. 5:8). Believers will go immediately into the glorious presence of Christ where they await the resurrection of the body at the rapture (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23, will be judged and rewarded according to their faithfulness (Luke 19:11-27; 2 Cor. 5:10), rejoice in the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9) and reign with Him in the millennium (Rev. 20:4-6). For unbelievers death will mean entrance into Hades, into a conscious state of frustration and torment (Matt. 10:28; Luke 16:23-28).
I believe God's ultimate purpose in history is to bring glory to Himself by reconciling his sin-alienated creation through Christ to himself by delivering it from the power of evil and bringing it under his gracious reign (Col. 1:12-23). The next great event in the economy of redemption will be the imminent appearing of Jesus Christ (Luke 12:40). He will rapture His own, the dead first and then the living, to be with Him forever (John 14:2-3; 1 Cor. 15:50-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18). Following the rapture the seven year tribulation will commence (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15-31; Rev. 12:6). It will be a time of the outpouring of the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6:15-17) and persecution by Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3; Rev. 13:1, 7) and Satan (Rev. 12:12-17). At the end of this time Jesus Christ will return to defeat Antichrist and his forces (Rev. 19:11-21), bind Satan and seal him in the abyss (Rev. 20:1-3), and to rule the world from Jerusalem for 1000 years, the millennium (Mic. 4:1-4; Zech. 14:9-11; Rev. 20:4-6). It will be a time of peace, justice and glory to vindicate the name of the Lord and fulfill His covenant promises formerly made to Israel (Is. 11:1-16; Ezek. 36:22-32). Near the end of the millennium Satan will be loosed briefly to deceive the nations. He will be defeated and cast into the lake of fire along with unbelievers who are raised bodily and judged before the great white throne (John 5:29; Rev. 20:7-15). They will dwell there in conscious, eternal punishment, separated from God, enduring His wrath (Dan. 12:2; Matt. 25:46; John 3:36). Having completed His reconciling kingdom program, Christ will deliver the kingdom to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24-28). These heavens and earth will be burned up (2 Pet. 3:10-12; Rev. 21:1) and God will create a new heaven and a new earth where believers will dwell eternally in His presence (Rev. 21:1-22:5). Come quickly, Lord Jesus!!!
Death, Christ's Return, and Eternity
The Death of the Individual
Death began at the Fall (Gen. 3:22-24) and is the normal expectation of all humans (1 Cor. 15:22; Heb. 9:27) as a consequence of sin (Rom. 5:12). The physical death of the individual involves the temporary separation of the material and the immaterial part of the person (Matt. 10:28). Upon physical death, the immaterial part of the person enters into the intermediate state: un-believers into a place of temporary punishment (Luke 16:22-23) and believers into paradise to be with the Lord (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23). This transition takes place immediately after death (Luke 23:42-43; Phil. 1:21-23) and believers and unbelievers alike remain in this state until the resurrection (Rev. 20:1-13).
The Return and Reign of Christ
At some undetermined point in the future (Matt. 24:36), Jesus will return to the earth (Acts 1:11), during a time in which there will be great tribulation (Dan. 12:1), gathering together all of His people, both living and dead (1 Thess. 4:13-17; 1 Cor. 15:52), and establishing his kingdom (Rev. 11:15). The Bible often views this as one awesome event (1 Thess. 5:1-10; 2 Thess. 1:6-10; 2 Pet. 3:10) and we should be careful about being overly precise chronologically (Acts 1:7).
The great tribulation will last for approximately seven years (Dan. 9:24-27) and will involve both believers and non-believers (Matt. 24:21-29; Rev. 7:9-14). At some point during this seven year period God will pour out His wrath on sinful mankind (Rev. 6, 8-9, 16) though God’s people will be protected from His wrath (1 Thess. 5:9; Rev. 9:4).
Jesus will return personally (Acts 1:8), visibly (Rev. 1:7), unexpectedly (1 Thess. 5:2), and with great glory and power (Matt. 24:30) at the time of the tribulation (2 Thess. 2:1-12). When He returns, He will establish His millennial kingdom and reign over the earth with His people for 1,000 years (Rev. 20:4). During this time Satan will be imprisoned (Rev. 20:2), there will be peace and righteousness (Isa. 11:1-16), and every person will acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:11). At the end of this period Satan will be released for a short period (Rev. 20:2-3) of time and defeated after attempting to lead a rebellion against God (Rev. 20:7-10).
The Final State
There will also be a resurrection of all people: the righteous upon Jesus' return (Rev. 20:4) and the unrighteous at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20:5). Believers will be raised with resurrection bodies that are both spiritual (1 Cor. 15:44) and physical (John 20:27), recognizable (Luke 24:16, 31), and is also imperishable, glorious, and powerful (1 Cor. 15:42-43).
Final judgment will take place after the millennium. Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10), some angels will be judged (1 Cor. 6:3), death will be ended (Rev. 20:14), and unbelievers will be condemned (Rev. 20:15). The righteous people of God have no need to fear such eternal condemnation (Rom. 8:1). But they will be judged (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10), held accountable (Matt. 18:23-35), and rewarded (Col. 3:24). The punishments and rewards distributed at this time appear to vary depending on the level of faithfulness (1 Cor. 3:8, 12-15; 2 John 1:8) or unfaithfulness (Luke 12:47-48; Matt. 11:22). After this, the Lord will complete the renewal of his creation (Rom. 8:19-23) by bringing in the new heavens and the new earth (2 Pet. 3:12-13; Rev. 21:1-22:5).
After this final judgment, everyone will enter their eternal state. The unrighteous will be condemned to an eternity in the lake of fire (Mark 9:43-48; Rev. 20:10-15). This eternal punishment is a conscious reality (Matt. 24:46) away from the presence of the Lord (2 Thess. 1:9) and there may be different degrees of punishment (Matt. 11:22). The righteous will then enter into a state of eternal blessing (John 5:24; Rom. 5:9; 8:1) with the Lord (Rev. 21:3) on the new earth (Rev. 21-22).
Individual and General Eschatology
Individual Eschatology
Physical death is the separation of the material and immaterial parts of man (James 2:26; Matt. 10:28), the spirit of the righteous entering immediately into heaven, into the very presence of the Lord (Luke 23:42-43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23-24) while the spirit of the unrighteous enters hades, a place of confinement and torment (Luke 16:19-31, 2 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 20:13-14). This intermediate state is a conscious existence for all who die as they await their bodily resurrection, the righteous unto imperishable, glorified bodies (Rom. 8:10-11; 1 Cor. 15:24-54; Rev. 20:6), while the unrighteous will be resurrected unto eternal disgrace and corruption (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28-29). The righteous will be judged at the Bema seat of Christ and will receive the rewards due them according to the works done while on earth (1 Cor. 3:12-15; 4:5; 2 Cor. 5:9-10); while the unrighteous, upon their resurrection, will stand condemned at the Great White Throne and be cast into the lake of fire for eternal punishment and separation from God (2 Thess. 1:7-9; Rev. 20:11-15).
General Eschatology
The next event in God's prophetic plan is the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ to rapture His saints to Himself in the air (John 14:3; 2 Thess. 2:1; Rev. 3:10-11). Those who have died in Christ will be instantly resurrected, and those still alive will be caught up together with them and be transformed with glorious new bodies (1 Cor. 15:51-53; 1 Thess. 4:13-18). At this time they will receive the rewards for their works on earth (1 Cor. 4:5; 1 Pet. S:4). Though there are signs of His coming, no one knows the day or the hour (Matt. 24:32-44; Luke 12:40; 1 Thess. 5:l-6).
Once the righteous have been taken from the world, this event will usher in the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan. 9:24-27), a seven-year period of intense tribulation wherein God will pour out His wrath in righteous judgment upon an unbelieving world (Jer. 30:7; Matt. 24:4-21; Rev. 6-19). This will be a time in which Satan will persecute Israel with fierce destruction, and deceive the nations with great effect (Dan. 12:1-3; 2 Thess. 2:3-12).
At the end of this tribulation period Jesus Christ will physically return (Acts 1:11) to the earth with triumph and glory (Rev. 19:11-16), in the company of the hosts of heaven (Zech. 14:3-5; Jude 14-15; Rev. 19:14) to defeat the wicked (Rev. 19:17-21), to judge the living (Joel 3:1-2; Matt. 25:31-46), to bind Satan for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3), and to establish His kingdom on the earth (Rev. 20:4). These thousand years, known as the millennium, will be a time of peace, prosperity, blessing and righteousness (Isa. 11:6-10; 65:20-25), fulfilling God's covenant promises to Israel (Is 9:6-7; Ezek. 37:21-28) as Christ rules the whole earth from His throne in Jerusalem (Isa. 2:2-4; 1 l: l-5), together with the righteous (Dan. 7:21-22; Rev. 20:4). This golden era will be brought to an end with the final, brief release of Satan (Rev. 20:7).
I believe that Satan will once more deceive the nations of the earth, gathering together the wicked in battle against Christ and His saints at Jerusalem (Rev. 20:7-9). Christ will destroy them, first casting Satan into the lake of fire, and then bodily resurrecting the wicked, judging them at the Great White Throne, and then casting them also into Hell - the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10-15) to suffer eternal, conscious punishment and separation from God (Matt. 13:42; 25:41-46).
God will then replace the old created order (2 Pet. 3:10) with a new heaven and a new earth where the redeemed of the Lord will live in the glorious presence of God forever (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-22:21) .