Because he is the only one who ever died and came back to life on the third day, Jesus knows more about death than everyone who
has speculated about what happens after we die. Even near-death experiences do not tell the whole story.
Believers
Jesus told the dying thief on the cross next to him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
(Luke 23:43) Jesus told his disciples, "I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
(John 14:3) So, believers go to be with Jesus in paradise when they die.
Non-believers
Jesus told a parable about a rich man who was a non-believer. "The rich man also died and was buried. In Hell, where he was
in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away." (Luke 16:22-23)
So, the rich man went to a place of torment when he died. Jesus also said, "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better
for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into Hell, where 'their worm does not
die, and the fire is not quenched'." (Mark 9:47-48). Even though Jesus was exaggerating for emphasis when he said "Pluck it
out," he plainly said that losing an eye is much better than ending up in Hell. Both of Jesus' statements plainly teach that
the non-believers go to a horrible place called Hell when they die.
Hell: Hades and Gehenna
Jesus used two different words that are translated "Hell": Hades and Gehenna. Sometimes Hades is translated as grave. Hades is a
temporary place where the dead go until the final judgment. The end of Hades is described as: "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and
Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done." (Revelation 22:13)
The other word Jesus used, Gehenna, literally refers to the Valley of Hinnom, which was Jerusalem's dump where the garbage was burned. Figuratively,
Gehenna refers to the lake of fire. "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second
death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 22:15-16)
So, death and Hades are only a temporary destination for the dead. At the Great White Throne Judgment, described in Revelation
20:11-14, the dead people will be brought out of the sea, graves and Hades to be judged by God according to what they had done. Death and Hades will be thrown
into the lake of fire along with all of the non-believers.
Paradise, the Millennium and the New Jerusalem
Paradise is also a temporary place for believers. When Jesus returns to the earth, he will bring with him all of the
believers who have died. They and the believers who are still alive will reign with Jesus during the Millennium, the one
thousand year period when Jesus is king over all the earth. See 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Revelation 20:4-6.
At the end of the Millennium comes the Great White Throne Judgment described above. After that, the believers will enter into
the Holy City.
"Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,' for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer
any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed
for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with
them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'" (Revelation 21:1-4)
Notice that after the Great White Throne Judgment, the believers do not go up to heaven. Instead the Holy City comes down from
heaven onto the new earth, and God will then dwell on the renewed Earth with the believers in the Holy City, the new Jerusalem.
More Bible verses that talk about Death, Paradise and Hell.
Jesus' clearest teaching on what happens to us after we die came when he himself was about to die on the cross. The
dying thief on the cross next to Jesus said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "Truly
I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43).1
The same Greek word for paradise is used in the Septuigint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, to refer to a garden,
park, or forest. It often refers to the Garden of Eden, (Genesis 2 and 3) and to the garden of God as it will be, (Ezekiel and
Isaiah).2 Paul used "caught up to paradise" in parallel with "caught up to the third heaven",3 which is
the place where God dwells. (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). Jesus expanded his promise of paradise in his Revelation to the Apostle
John, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." (Revelation
2:7) These verses tell us that God the Father, Jesus, the tree of life and believers will all be in Paradise.
Jesus also promised his disciples that they would be with him after death. He said, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if
it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:2-3). Here, Jesus also promises that
believers will be with him after death.
Jesus described his return in this way. "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations
of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he
will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the
heavens to the other." (Matthew 24:30-32) So, when Jesus returns, he will gather up all believers to be with him.
Paul included more details of Jesus' return when he wrote, "Brothers, we do not want to you to be ignorant about those who
fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 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. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you
that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen
asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore
encourage each other with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) Paul said that when Jesus returns, all the believers who
have died along with the believers who are alive will be gathered together to be with Jesus forever.
These verses all agree that that believers will all be with Jesus after they die, but there are different interpretations
about timing: whether believers are with Jesus as soon as they die, or if they have to wait until Jesus returns.
Some people believe that dead people are sleeping, that is, unconscious, while they wait for Jesus to return. They base this
idea on verses such as, "Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?" (Psalm 6:5) On the other
hand, Job 3:22 refers to those who "rejoice when they reach the grave?" Oddly enough, the people who believe in soul sleeping
never cite the most obvious and clear verse on the subject, where the angel tells Daniel, "You will rest, and then at the end
of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance." (Daniel 12:13)
While not everyone agrees, it seems likely that Daniel and all of the other Old Testament saints had to wait in the grave until
after Jesus' death and resurrection before they could rise to receive their inheritance. "And when Jesus had cried out again in a
loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook,
the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the
tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people." (Matthew 27:52-53) Perhaps, the Old
Testament saints had to sleep in the grave until Jesus death and resurrection opened heaven's gates. Or it could simply be that
the Old Testament verses refer to the body sleeping in the grave while the soul went to be with God.
Paul wrote, "Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the
Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:6-8) Paul recognizes only two options for New Testament believers, alive or with the Lord.
Also, Paul wrote, "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." (Philippians 1:21-24) I do not
think it would be hard for Paul to choose between being alive or being asleep in the grave for an unknown length of time. It is
only a hard choice if Paul knew that he would immediately go to be with Jesus when he died.
I have heard of near-death experiences which certainly indicate that believers immediately go to be with Jesus
when they die. However, my co-worker's near death experience put him in a place of fire. At that time, he was very active
as a Jehovah's Witness.
These passages clearly teach that believer's souls go to be with Jesus when they die. Only their bodies sleep in the grave.
When Jesus returns to the earth, he will bring their souls back with him and gather up the believers who are still alive. At
that time, both the dead in Christ and the living will receive their resurrection bodies. Paul wrote, "Listen, I tell you a
mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For
the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must cloth itself
with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality." (1 Corinthians 15:51-53) Then the believers in their resurrection bodies will be caught up into
the clouds to meet Jesus and to be with him forever.
Perhaps this passage is the basis for the idea that we will not recognize each other in heaven, because we will have changed
bodies. However, when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mat. 17:3-4, Mark 9:4-5, Luke
9:30-33), Peter recognized immediately who they were, even though he had never seen them before. Certainly we will recognize
the people we know when we are in heaven if Peter could recognize dead people he had never seen before.
John adds these details about Jesus' return. "Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second
death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years."
(Revelation 20:6) When Jesus returns, he will establish his kingdom on the earth for one thousand years. Believers will
reign with Jesus and will serve as priests to the non-believers who survive the Tribulation and go into the Millennium.
Non-believers
Jesus clearly teaches that after believers die, they go to be with him. He also is clear on what happens to non-believers. He
said, "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to
have two eyes and be thrown into Hell, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched'." (Mark 9:47-48). While
Jesus was using hyperbole when he told people to pluck out their eyes, he made it clear that sinners end up in a horrible place,
but there is more than one "Hell." Hell is used to translate three different Greek words: Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus.
Gehenna,4 the Greek word used in Mark 9, literally referred to the Valley of Hinnom on the south side of Jerusalem. This
valley "served as the place where the offal of the city was burned."5 A town dump, with its continuous fire and decay,
is a very gruesome picture of the place for non-believers. Hades6 was well known in Greek literature as the place of the dead.
Hades is also translated grave and depths. Tartarus referred to the "lowest abyss of Hades."7 Angels who
sinned were put in the gloomy dungeons of Tartarus to be held for judgment. (2 Peter 2:4).
Hades is only a temporary place for the dead until they are judged in the Great White Throne Judgment, (Revelation 20:11-15). At
that time, the sea, death, and Hades will give up the dead for judgment. "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of
fire." (Revelation 20:14). Therefore, when Jesus spoke of Gehenna with its continuous fire in Mark 9, he must have been referring
to the lake of fire, not to Hades.
After the Great White Throne Judgment, there will be "a new heaven and a new earth", (Revelation 21:1). The Apostle John "saw the
Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God." (Revelation 21:2). John "heard a loud voice from the throne
saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with
them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the
old order of things has passed away.'" (Revelation 21:3) This passage plainly teaches that God's dwelling place will change from
heaven to the earth. It is further confirmed by a following passage. "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will
bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the
nations will be brought into it." (Revelation 21:23-26). So, after the Great White Throne Judgment, believers do not go up to heaven,
but the Holy City comes down, out of heaven, to the earth, and God dwells on the Earth with mankind.
God has prepared this wonderful dwelling place for mankind. God has promised, "He who overcomes8 will inherit all this,
and I will be his God and he will be my son." (Revelation 21:7) "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the
right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city." (Revelation 22:14)
Sadly, non-believers will not inherit it. "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." (Revelation 21:8)
Jesus clearly taught that the bad people go to Hell, that is, Gehenna, the lake of fire. But what about the good people? The Bible
contradicts the notion that people will go to heaven if their good deeds outnumber their bad deeds. Even one sin is enough to lose
what God has prepared. Paul wrote, "All who rely on observing the Law are under a curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who
does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.'9 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law,
because 'The righteous will live by faith.'"10 (Galatians 3:10b-11) Paul said that someone would have to always do
everything that the law required in order to earn their way into heaven, and only Jesus has ever done that. Paul also wrote:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works so that no
one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Paul was a good man, "as for legalistic righteousness, faultless." (Philippians 3:4) But he wrote, "I consider them rubbish, that I
may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith
in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." (Philippians 3:8b-9)
Paul received this righteousness by faith when he was confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus and his unbelief was changed to
belief in Jesus Christ. (Acts 9:1-20, 22:4-16) God then sent a man called Ananias to Paul to tell him, "You will be his witness to
all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on
his name." (Acts 22:15-16)
Paul, and everyone who has trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation, have "washed their robes" and God has written their names in the
Book of Life. They will spend eternity with God.
Summary
People who believe in God and trust in Jesus to save them go to be with Jesus in Paradise. People who do not believe in God, or who
trust in their own goodness to save them, go to Hades. When Jesus returns to the Earth, believers who have died will come with him
and reign for 1,000 years. After that, God will judge everyone for their actions at the Great White Throne Judgment. Non-believers
are thrown into the Lake of Fire along with Satan and his demons. Believers will then spend eternity with God in the New Jerusalem.
Where will you go when you die?
If you have questions or comments, please email me at rod@rodsgarden.50megs.com
1 Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan
Publishing House.
2 Colin Brown, ed., The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology 3 vols. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1976) 3:761.
3 The first heaven is the atmosphere as in "clouds of heaven". Matthew 24:30 KJV. The second heaven is outer space as in "stars of heaven". Mark 13:29 KJV.
The third heaven is where God dwells as in "your Father in heaven". Matthew 5:16.
4 Matthew 5:22,29, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15,33, Mark 9:43,45,47, Luke 12:5, James 3:6.
5 Charles F. Pfeiffer, Baker's Bible Atlas (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1979) 145.
6 Matthew 11:23, 16:18, Luke 10:15, 16:23, Acts 2:27,31, Revelation 1:18, 6:8, 20:13,14.
7 James Strong, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible -- Greek Dictionary of the New Testament (Nashville: Royal Publishers, Inc.) 71.
8 Revelation 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:26, 3:5, 3:12, 3:21.
9 Deuteronomy 27:26.
10 Habbakuk 2:4.
The order of events at the end of the age is:
The Tribulation. Matt. 24:21, Mark 13:19, 2 Thes. 2:3-4, Rev. 6-18
The Wedding Supper is prepared for the Lamb and his Bride. Rev. 19:7-9
Jesus returns, and the saints who had died and the living saints, his Bride, meet him in the air: the Rapture. Matt. 24:30-31, Mark 13:26-27, 1Thes. 4:13-18, Rev. 19:11-14, 20:4-5,
Jesus destroys Satan's army and Satan is put in prison for 1,000 years. Revelation 19:19-20:3
Jesus and the saints rule for 1,000 years on Earth along with non-believers who survived the Tribulation: the Millennium. Revelation 20:4-6
At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan is released from prison and gathers another army from the non-believers. Revelation 20:7-9a
Jesus destroys Satan's army and Satan is thrown into the Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:9b-10
At the White Throne Judgment, everyone who has ever lived is judged. Non-believers are thrown into the Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:11-15
The New Jerusalem comes down from Heaven to the new Earth and God dwells with Believers for eternity. Revelation 21:1-22:6
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Paradise is also a temporary place for believers. When Jesus returns to the earth, he will bring with him all of the
believers who have died. They and the believers who are still alive will reign with Jesus during the Millennium, the one
thousand year period when Jesus is king over all the earth. See 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Revelation 20:4-6.