What are the stages of the Afterlife?
The concept of the afterlife, or life after death, varies across cultures, religions, and belief systems and can be very complex. Islam, for example, teaches that there are fourteen stages to the afterlife, and the Ancient Egyptians believed in a long and fascinating journey for the dead as their good and bad deeds were weighed and judgment pronounced and executed.
Most theories about the afterlife are just that and are based on views that have been added to and developed over time. They cannot be substantiated. These philosophies have emerged over the centuries and are connected to religious beliefs to give them credence.
Most views on the stages of the afterlife include the concepts of judgment, reward, and punishment – depending on how one has lived his or her life on earth. Even Christianity is divided on this issue. Many denominations that once rejected the notion of living on after death, have now embraced a belief system that includes the concept of an immortal soul – a soul that cannot die – and, therefore, must teach some form of an afterlife.
This author takes the position that the afterlife involves ‘soul sleep’ until a resurrection. It is the most logical view and comes with the most authority. The understanding of a ‘soul sleep’ during death comes from the Bible and was taught by the early apostolic church and great thinkers and theologians such as Martin Luther, John Wycliffe, and William Tyndale. It is also the view of Anabaptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and conservative Judaism. Other religions, such as Eastern Orthodox, Methodism, Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Mormonism, believe that souls are immortal and that there is a halfway place called purgatory where souls are purified before entering heaven. The details differ in each religion, but the general idea is the same.
With so many diverging views, we need to ask ourselves, what is truth? Is it something fluid that depends upon our personal experience and changes with the times, or is it based simply on what we want to believe? With such differing viewpoints, confusion and chaos are inevitable. Truth must be absolute; otherwise, it is not truth. It cannot be your truth or my truth – that is just an opinion.
Truth requires that all possible viewpoints be examined and all possible evidence available. It will consistently yield the same outcome over time and across all circumstances.
To establish the truth:
- You need access to facts across all time – past, present, and future.
- You need to be present as a first-hand witness to all the events, facts, and circumstances – past, present, and future.
- You must always come to the same conclusions – past, present, and future.
Given these requirements to be consistently true, only one entity can meet them all. An entity that is omnipresent, omnipotent, and the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And that entity is God!
This is why only Jesus Christ can legitimately claim: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, (God) but by Me” John 14:6.
“For I am the LORD, I change not” Malachi 3:6.
For this reason, I choose the Bible as the most authoritative guide when addressing the big questions of life.
What is a soul?
“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
At the beginning of human history, God created Adam and Eve, living souls made up of the dust of the ground and the breath of life from God Himself. As a result, they ‘became living souls’. That is living, breathing, functioning human beings.
Animals, as well as humans, are said to be ‘souls’.
Revelation 16:3 (KJV) – “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul (‘living creature’ NKJV) died in the sea”.
Ecclesiastes 3:19 – “For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals. One thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they have all one breath: man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.”
In summary, the Bible teaches that a ‘soul’ is a living human being or animal composed of body plus breath. A soul cannot exist unless the body and breath are united. (In the Bible the word ‘soul’ may also mean life itself, the mind, or the intellect. But no matter the meaning, the soul is always the combination of two things – body + breath – and ceases to exist at death.)
Do Humans have Immortal souls?
The short answer is ‘no’.
In the King James Version of the Bible, the word ‘soul’ is used around 1,600 times in reference to man or animals. It never once says that man has an immortal soul or is immortal. Only God is said to be immortal.
1 Timothy 6:15-16 – “He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality.”
The Bible is equally clear that souls die.
Ezekiel 18:4 – “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father, as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul that sins, it shall die.”
Ezekiel 18.20 – “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son.”
So why do so many Christians believe in an ‘immortal soul’ that never dies but goes to either heaven, hell, or purgatory? It is because they have imbibed the lie that Satan (“the serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan” Revelation 12:9) first told Eve in the Garden of Eden. He directly contradicted a plain statement of God when he said to Eve, “You shall NOT surely die (Genesis 3:4). This lie has been repeated ever since and was well entrenched in pagan cultures before it entered Christian thinking. No disconnected immortal soul is floating off into heaven or hell or someplace in between. Such a teaching has no place in the Bible record.
What Happens when we Die?
Ecclesiastes 12:7 – “Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed (broken) . . .Then the dust will l return to the earth as it was: and the spirit will return to God who gave it”.
What is the ‘spirit’ that returns to God?
James 2:26 – “The body without the spirit (or breath) is dead”.
Job 27:3 – “The spirit of God is in my nostrils”. (The word for ‘spirit’ is the equivalent Hebrew word for ‘breath’).
Psalm 104:29 (KJV) – “Thou (God) takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust”.
Psalm 146:3-4 – “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit (breath – KJV) departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his thoughts (plans) perish.”
At death, the spirit or breath returns to God and the body decays into the dust of the ground. The Bible uses the word ‘sleep’ to refer to souls, approximately 53 times. And it means just as we understand it to mean – an unconscious state similar to a deep, dreamless sleep. It is the opposite of being wide awake and aware.
Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 – “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know nothing, and they shall have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also, their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished. Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun”.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 – “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going”.
Job 14:12 – “So man lies down, and does not rise, till the heavens are no more. They shall not awake, nor be roused from their sleep.”
Job 14:21 – “His sons come to honour, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he does not perceive it”.
1 Thessalonians 4:15 – “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep”.
The dead do not have any conscious thought and cannot communicate with the living. This is important to know because Satan will deceive many into thinking that they are in touch with a dead loved one when, in fact, they are communicating with either Satan himself or one of his demons.
Satan can work miracles and can impersonate the dead with accuracy. What they look and sound like, including special mannerisms, will be copied. He knows the secret details of everyone’s life and can use these to convince the living that they are indeed communicating with the dead. In this way, Satan can spread his lies and make people believe that these lies are coming from God.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 – “For such are false prophets, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works”.
Bible prophecy predicts that at the end of time, demons will work supernatural miracles to deceive the whole world. These miracles will include ‘false christs’ and ‘false prophets’. Millions will be deceived by the devil and his angels impersonating past spiritual leaders, even Jesus Christ Himself. They may come in the form of Mohammed, Buddha, Gandhi, or the Virgin Mary. How easily it will be for the nations and religions of the world to be deceived into sacrificing truth for error to form a World Order under Satan’s direction.
What warning does the Bible give concerning these things?
Isaiah 8:19-20 – “And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter’, should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony (that is the whole written Word of God), if they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them”.
We need to seek light, not darkness, and we won’t find it amongst the dead ‘who know not anything’, neither do they ‘’praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence” (Psalm 115:17).
Are there any Humans in Heaven right now?
The Bible records the story of at least two Old Testament prophets whom God translated to heaven without them experiencing death. These are Enoch and Elijah:
Genesis 5:24 – And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”
2 Kings 2:1, 11 – “And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal . . . and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven”.
Then we have on record the fact that Moses, who died and was buried, is also in heaven. He was seen by three of Christ’s disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Matthew 17:3-4 – “And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then answered Peter, and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if You wish, let us make three tabernacles; one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
In Jude verse 9, we read that Moses was resurrected and taken to heaven despite the devil’s claims that Moses rightfully belonged to him.
The Bible also mentions certain select people rising out of their graves at Christ’s resurrection.
Matthew 27:50-53 (ESV)– “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit (breath). And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”
From these accounts, we know that there are people in heaven who have either been translated without seeing death or resurrected after death. These are special cases. Most people who have died are sleeping peacefully in their graves awaiting the resurrection when Jesus comes again. Once more the spirit, the breath, will be united with the body on that glorious occasion.
John 5:28-29 (KJV) – “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation”.
1 Thessalonians 4:14 (KJV) – “For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him (from the grave) the believers who have died”.
1 Corinthians 15:52-54 (KJV) – “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory”.
Revelation 21:4 (KJV) -“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”
The new afterlife will be in heaven and on a newly created and exceedingly beautiful new earth.
