Christians: When we die...?

Question

...do we go straight to Heaven, or do our souls wait on earth untill the second coming of Christ?

What bible verses?

Answer 1

"Absent from the body, present with the Lord."

Answer 2

The question of what happens after death can be confusing. The Bible is not explicitly clear on when a person will reach their final eternal destiny. The Bible tells us that after the moment of death, a person is taken to Heaven or Hell based on whether he or she had received Christ as his or her Savior. For believers, after death is to be "away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23). For unbelievers, after death means everlasting punishment in Hell (Luke 16:22-23).



This is where it can get confusing as to what happens after death. Revelation 20:11-15 describes all those in Hell being cast into the lake of fire. Revelation chapters 21-22 describe a New Heaven and New Earth. Therefore, it seems that until the final resurrection, after death a person resides in a “temporary” Heaven and Hell. A person's eternal destiny will not change, but the precise "location" of a person's eternal destiny will change. At some point after death, believers will be sent to the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21:1). At some point after death, unbelievers will be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). These are the final, eternal destinations of all people - based entirely on whether a person had trusted Jesus Christ alone for the salvation of their sins.

Recommended Resource: What the Bible Says about Heaven & Eternity by Ice & Demy.

Answer 3

Both. Where do you think heaven is?

The paradise of the dead is here, around us, invisible to us.

Peter said that at the end of the world, the elements would melt with fervent heat, and we would watch for a new earth. The earth was baptized once with water, and will be again with fire; and then it will be "saved" like a man is saved. This earth, perfected, will be mankind's future home.

So, we go straight to heaven, and wait there on earth until the Second Coming.

Answer 4

Believers in Christ, when they die, their bodies are buried in the ground and their souls go to be with the Lord in heaven (Philippians 1:23, 2 Corinthians 5:6-8).

Though Scripture sometimes speaks of the death of believers as "sleep", this is to emphasize its temporary nature and that it will be rest from earthly toil and trouble and not to mean that we will literally be asleep (that is, unconscious). Paul's longing in the verses just cited points to this truth, as do Revelation 5:9, 6:9-11, 7:15, 14:3, etc.

The souls in heaven are perfected (Hebrews 12:23), despite our continuing to be beset with indwelling sin as long as we live in this life. There is no biblical basis for believing there will be an in-between place in which the soul will be purged (Purgatory). If we are trusting in Christ when we die, we go straight into His presence (his promise to the thief on the cross, Luke 23:43).

Answer 5

Petina,
We do not go to heaven. Remember the rich man and the porr man. There was agreat gulf fixed between them that neither could traverse. The rich man wanted to return to tell his brothers about it but he was told that they had Moses and the prophets. They as all others will await Judgment at the Second Coming of Christ to be in Heaven or Hell. I hope that this makes sense. Have a great evening and a wonderful week.
Thanks,
Eds

Answer 6

Heaven, but you only go in spirit. Whenever you return to the Earth at the first ressurection you will receive a new body, and will then go to the battle of Armagedon with Jesus. Then there is a 1000 year reign on Earth with Christ in immortal bodies. Then you go back into heaven, for all eternity.

Look at Revelation 20:4-6.


4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.


The rest of the dead, are the ones going to hell. They will come to life to only be judged by God.


1 Cor. 15:51-53 those of us alive at the rapture will receive perfected bodies immediately, just as those being resurrected receive theirs. The living don't discard their earthly bodies at that time, they're just changed.

Answer 7

Where do we go? Some religious groups are very specific, I wonder about that.
Ever loose a child at a shopping center, or know someone that's lost a person close to them? When you become frantic, desperate, worried, nothing matters, being with them is the single most important thing in your life.
When you die you're going to be with the person you've been looking for, so it's not important where that is.
Where do you wait? for How long? I don't believe you wait.
Just my view!

Answer 8

straight to heaven. The Bible says to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. Also Jesus tells the thief on the cross that today you will be with me in paradise.

Answer 9

Many religons answer this questions differently and you will get all sorts of different opinions. Most of them are just that, opinions.
Make sure you refer to the bible to get the answer.

Personally I believe that I you confirm you christian faith every day and renounce The Evil One everyday; even if you make mistakes along the way, God will grant you passage into heaven.

Answer 10

I believe that the bible tells us that we sleep in the grave until the Second Coming of Christ.

God made us from dust in the beginning.
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7.

The body turns to dust again, and the spirit goes back to God, who gave it. The spirit of every person who dies--whether righteous or wicked--returns to God at death.
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Ecclesiastes 12:7.

The spirit that returns to God at death is the breath of life. Nowhere in all of God's book does the "spirit" have any life, wisdom, or feeling after a person dies. It is the "breath of life" and nothing more.
"The body without the spirit ["breath," see margin] is dead." James 2:26. "The spirit of God ["the breath which God gave him," see margin] is in my nostrils." Job 27:3.

A soul is a living being. A soul is always a combination of two things: body plus breath. A soul cannot exist unless body and breath are combined. God's Word teaches that we are souls.
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7.

According to God's Word, souls do die! We are souls, and souls die. Man is mortal (Job 4:17). Only God is immortal (1 Timothy 6:15, 16). The concept of an undying, immortal soul goes against the Bible, which teaches that souls are subject to death
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezekiel 18:20. "Every living soul died in the sea." Revelation 16:3.

People do not go either to heaven or hell at death. They go to their graves to await the resurrection day.
"All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth." John 5:28, 29. "David ... is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day." "For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:29, 34. "If I wait, the grave is mine house." Job 17:13.

God says that the dead know absolutely nothing!
"The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10. "The dead praise not the Lord." Psalm 115:17.

The dead cannot contact the living, nor do they know what the living are doing. They are dead. Their thoughts have perished (Psalm 146:4).
"So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep." "His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:12, 21. "Neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." Ecclesiastes 9:6.

The dead will sleep until the great day of the Lord at the end of the world. In death, humans are totally unconscious with no activity or knowledge of any kind.
"So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more." Job 14:12. "The day of the Lord will come ... in the which the heavens shall pass away."
2 Peter 3:10.

The righteous dead will be rewarded. They will be raised, given immortal bodies, and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. There would be no purpose in a resurrection if people were taken to heaven at death.
"Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Revelation 22:12. "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, ... and the dead in Christ shall rise ... and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. "We shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, ... and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. ... For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Corinthians 15:51-53.

Death, sorrow, crying, and tragedy will never enter into God's new kingdom.
"They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, ... Neither can they die any more." Luke 20:35, 36. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21:4.

I hope this helps.

Answer 11

We go to heaven..then.....later the dead in Christ (believers who have died previous to the Rapture) will be raised (bodily) first. Then, those who are still alive will be taken up. 1 Thess. 4:16,17. (the dead in Christ will receive a resurrected glorfied body at the time of the rapture)