What Happens When Someone Dies?
Death for an unsaved man is different than it is for someone who has received Salvation through Jesus Christ, but it is not the "send them all to Hell" picture that most of us have been taught. Not understanding God's Plan for all creation and what happens at Salvation, there have been many sermons preached about death that conflict with God’s nature of love.The Death of An Unsaved Man
When an unsaved (soul) man dies his soul goes to sleep and returns to God, while his body returns to the dust of the earth. He will remain in this state of sleep until he is resurrected to stand before the judgment seat of Christ (Great White Throne judgment – Revelation 20:11).Since all of the people in the Old Testament were pre-Jesus, all of them were soul men and fell asleep at death which is in agreement with the original Hebrew concept of death. No torment, no hell with its demons and devils or ghosts wandering the earth, simply “dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return” (Genesis 3:19).
That being true, you can see that after God gave Moses the law, when a crime had been committed that was beyond the possibility of restoration, death was the penalty. Such a person was to sleep until he could stand before God’s Throne where God would deal with it. It was not a case of anger or retaliation but justice.
Lev
24:18-22 And he that killeth a beast shall make
it good; beast for beast.
And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.
And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.
Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.
And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.
And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.
Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.
Under the law, if you killed someone’s sheep, you had to replace it. This is restoration. If you killed someone, you could not replace their life, so God’s Law required that you were to be killed and the case remanded to God’s higher court (The Judgment Seat of Christ.) Only Christ is able to bring restitution in such cases because only He is able to give life for death.
However, there was provision made so that if you accidently killed someone, there were certain cities of refuge that you could flee to where you could safely live out your life. (Numbers 35:11)
The Death of a Born-Again Man is Different.
Today many people still believe
that all people sleep until judgment, but they do not
understand the
change that happens at salvation. Those who are
begotten by the Father and have received a spirit man at
salvation are different from those who die as soul men.
At death, their spirit
and soul join as one and go to be with the Lord (2 Cor
5:6-8) and their body returns to the dust as all
others do.
Their hope is in His promise that one day they will receive a spirit body that is just like the one Jesus had after His resurrection (1 Cor 15:51-52) and they will come back to rule and reign with him during His 1000 year millennial reign on earth (Rev 20:4-6) which Paul saw as the “prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14, 2 Tim.4:7).
The Judgment Seat of Christ – There will be many souls who once freed of the bondages of the flesh and the man of sin, will stand in the light of Christ’s love and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I can find no Scripture prohibiting this; in fact, there are many that support it. For instance:
Yes, there will be judgment for all who are not saved during their life on earth, but I don’t believe we know what that entails. We have not understood the fiery judgment of God whose eyes are as a flame of fire (Rev 1:14) or the extent of His love. It is the Father’s desire that all men be saved and all must come through Christ, but nothing says that you only have until you die to do so. If the soul comes from The Father and returns to Him in the end, how can it not be purified in the process?
God prepared this life walk to be a precursor to the next one that He describes as “Glory being poured out onto the face of the earth.” All creation is waiting for the sons of God to be manifested when all things will be placed in submission to Jesus Christ – The King of All Kings and change will erupt through creation and the next stage of our journey with our Father God will begin. This is truly our hope of glory.
Their hope is in His promise that one day they will receive a spirit body that is just like the one Jesus had after His resurrection (1 Cor 15:51-52) and they will come back to rule and reign with him during His 1000 year millennial reign on earth (Rev 20:4-6) which Paul saw as the “prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14, 2 Tim.4:7).
2Co
5:5-10 Now He who has prepared us for this
very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a
guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that
while we are at home in the body we are absent from the
Lord.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
The Judgment Seat of Christ – There will be many souls who once freed of the bondages of the flesh and the man of sin, will stand in the light of Christ’s love and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I can find no Scripture prohibiting this; in fact, there are many that support it. For instance:
John
12:31,32 Now is the judgment of this world:
now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I,
if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
me.
1Ti 4:9,10 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially (not exclusively) of those that believe.
Php 2:9-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
1Cor 15:22,23 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Tim 2:1-6 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
1Ti 4:9,10 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially (not exclusively) of those that believe.
Php 2:9-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
1Cor 15:22,23 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Tim 2:1-6 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Yes, there will be judgment for all who are not saved during their life on earth, but I don’t believe we know what that entails. We have not understood the fiery judgment of God whose eyes are as a flame of fire (Rev 1:14) or the extent of His love. It is the Father’s desire that all men be saved and all must come through Christ, but nothing says that you only have until you die to do so. If the soul comes from The Father and returns to Him in the end, how can it not be purified in the process?
Luke 20:38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."
God prepared this life walk to be a precursor to the next one that He describes as “Glory being poured out onto the face of the earth.” All creation is waiting for the sons of God to be manifested when all things will be placed in submission to Jesus Christ – The King of All Kings and change will erupt through creation and the next stage of our journey with our Father God will begin. This is truly our hope of glory.
Rom
8:18-23 For I consider that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us.
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.