I remember the time when we were sitting around talking with friends when one of their teenage boys asked me a question, “where do we go when we die?” I said that’s a good question and went and got my Bible.
I told him the only way we can know for sure is what God’s Word (the Bible) says. Anything else is just sheer speculation.
God did not originally make man to die physically, but after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, He sentenced them to a physical death.
Genesis 3:17-19 “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
One of my favorite stories concerning death and life after death is Luke 16:19-31. It tells of two men and how they lived and what happened after death. One, a rich man lived it up and had no regard for God. The other was a poor man with many problems but had a regard for God.
The question is not about wealth or poverty but what was in their hearts. They both died but went to totally different places.
The poor man went to Abraham’s bosom (near God) and was comforted. The rich man went to a place of great suffering and agony.
Once physical death arrives, we can not change where we will be in eternity.
Luke 16:26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.
This is not Hell, just the first stop on the way.
Revelation 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
If God is in our life, we don’t have to worry about life after death. (See Revelation 21:1-8) See you in Church next Sunday.