What Happens to Humans after Death?

Unloving (1 John 3:14).

“We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.” Now this love is not yet perfect until heaven, but our love compels us to love others as much as we can (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 John 4:19). We did not love before salvation in Christ Jesus.

Here’s just some of the good news for those who walk in Christ – in the newness of life He freely gives:

We have life in His name (John 20:31).

Because of Christ, death has no hold on us (Acts 2:24; Romans 6:9-11).

We are in the glorious spiritual kingdom of Christ

And we eagerly await His return to consummate His kingdom, where our names will be found written in the Book of Life (Hebrews 12:23).

Jesus will never let us go.

We belong to Him and are secure in our salvation.

Growing in understanding.

The Spirit gives us understanding no natural human receives (1 Corinthians 2:14).

We rest in Christ. The Apostle Paul tells us, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

To sum up every point made about the death that awaits Christians: God does not have a “Plan B.” From before creation, God decreed everything that would happen. Remember, God is Christ is the Holy Spirit — our triune God. The whole of the Bible is about Jesus, Who He is, what He has done, is doing, and will do.

This side of eternity, unbelievers (those who don’t know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord) try to pass death off as easily as they can imagine. Some say when people die, that’s it. Nothing follows — no thoughts, no body, no judgment. Nothing. They pose this as a positive, especially for those who are suffering. Because at the end of life, suffering ends, too (they say).

Along that same vein, unbelievers may think death is just part of life, and it’s all part of the universe’s grand design. Seemingly, that’s a vehicle for believing in something greater than oneself.

Other unbelievers surmise all humans are reincarnated, or folded into the fabric of the universe and they will either come back as something (usually better) or their spirit lives on and can communicate with other dead people or even those who are still living. The deeds one does while alive correspond to the kind of afterlife one will be part of.

Still others think those who are living must do things to help get their dead loved one to a place of comfort. Judgment factors in, but a way exists (they believe) to gain acceptance before the Judge (whether it be God or some other being they venerate).

These beliefs are not an exhaustive list, but they represent a vast number of views. Without a doubt, fear accompanies every view.

Here’s what the infallible Word of God tells us happens to any human who dies outside of Christ:

The following passage is an incredible look at the hope held by every Christian.

“May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith — more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:2b-9).

A Christian can face death knowing Jesus took away our slavery to the fear of death because He defeated forever the devil, who held its power. Answers in Genesis offers this encouraging note, “the fall resulted in immediate spiritual death and a later physical death. Accepting Christ provides an immediate spiritual life and a later physical life.”

No one should allow the world to deceive them into thinking life has meaning or a good ending without Christ. Pastor Jeffrey Scott Perry writes, “The hope of the Christian is not that the darkness never comes, but that it is never faced alone, for the same Christ who has been present in life does not depart in death, but brings His people safely through it into the presence of God.”

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Lisa Loraine Baker is the multiple award-winning author of Someplace to be Somebody, which is being adapted and brought to the stage by the Karamu House Theater in Cleveland, Ohio (Winter, 2027). Lisa writes fiction (Christmas stories) and is currently writing a novel titled “Refuge.” She also writes non-fiction, including articles for BibleStudyTools.com and Christianity.com. She and her husband, Stephen, live in Lexington, Kentucky with their Kentucky wild cat, Lewis.