What About the End of My Life?
The immediate transfer of the soul to heaven or hell makes your death the most significant moment of your existence in eternity.
Reincarnation teaches that a person’s spirit, at the moment of death, searches out and occupies some other living creature like a cow. Purgatory is a fictitious place where the spirits of those who have died go, and like a giant waiting room, patiently hope for someone on earth to do enough to pay for their entrance into heaven. Others say that a person’s spirit, at the moment of death, flickers out of existence forever like blowing out a candle; or the spirit floats around in the sky or even becomes an angel. These teachings I are all man-made. Fictitious fairy tales flowing from the creative minds of their founders.
The Bible, on the other hand, does provide us with the real answer to the question, "What happens to a person’s soul at the moment of death?” We have the very words of Jesus, speaking to a believer on his deathbed who would be dying that very day. No reincarnation or purgatory, no extinction or issuing of angel’s wings, but something better stated by Jesus, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). So then, wonder no more about the address of your soul when you die. Immediately upon death, the soul of a believer makes its home in heaven, regardless of the condition of the body.
It’s obvious, of course, that the body doesn’t rise to heaven but is placed in the ground or cremated or maybe even lost. But the soul, the spirit, of a believer is not lost or destroyed but carried by angels to eternal paradise immediately at death, when “the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). That means one second a believer is suffering the corruption and evil of this world and the next second enjoying the bliss and happiness of heaven, just like the poor man Lazarus Jesus talked about who died “and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side” (Luke 16:22) in heaven. What happens to the body? The Bible also plainly tells us that when Jesus returns on Judgment Day the dead bodies will rise and be reunited with their souls, and those in heaven will have perfect, glorified bodies like Jesus. No flaws. No impurities.
While death for the unbeliever brings certain separation from God forever, and at the moment of death the unbeliever’s soul immediately finds itself in hell, death for the believer is no grim reaper or terrifying experience. Some have pictured it like rebuilding a house. If the house you live in were to be rebuilt (free-of-charge of course) you would be asked to move out while it is torn down and rebuilt. Perhaps you are touched with sadness at the sight of its destruction, but your joy and anticipation of the new house overtakes any sorrow. So also when a believer’s body is destroyed in death, the believer’s soul simply moves out and waits in heaven until Jesus comes back to earth, rebuilds the body and reunites it with the soul. There may be a touch of sadness for loved ones of a believer who dies, but the sadness is outshined by the joy of eternal life and the anticipation of Jesus’ return. The believer’s soul is never separated from God’s love and care!
No wonder Jesus promised, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25). Through Jesus’ death and resurrection believers are granted victory over death, guaranteed immediate transfer to heaven when we die. We will be with Jesus, with the angels, with Abraham, with this criminal, with Christian loved ones who have died, and with all believers of all time in heaven. Let that very thought lead you to do anything or give up anything in this life so that you don’t miss out on the next. Let that very thought remind you not to take eternity lightly or treat your spiritual life with disinterest.
The immediate transfer of the soul to heaven or hell makes your death, not your birth, not your baptism, not your job promotion, not any family events, but your death the most significant moment of your existence in eternity. It may come early, it may come late, it may be drawn out, it may be sudden, it may be painful – but one thing is for sure, for the believer death isn’t a surprise, and neither is what lies on the other side. For the believer death isn’t the end, but another beginning!
PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, remember me today and on the day I die. Prepare me for that day so that my death might be a testimony to your grace and power, and so that I and those I love live with confidence in your promises that my soul is never going to be separate from your love. Comfort all those today who have lost a loved one recently who has died in the faith, and bring them the peace and joy of a resurrection hope to eternal life. Amen.