Exactly what happens when a person dies?  The theories among church organizations vary somewhat.  The most widely accepted notion holds that the soul goes either to heaven or hell where it remains forever either in 1) incredible spender where everything is incredibly good or 2) a furnace-like area where he/she is tortured forever in unquenchable flames.  this theory, believed by a number of societies anciently, became professing Christianity “truths” when the Catholic Church, using the power of the Roman Empire, forced numerous heathen societies to “convert” to Catholicism.  When the “protestants” supposedly left her they took many of her pagan beliefs and customs with them.  Read Simon of Samaria: The Legacy.  Key word–Legacy along with the Introduction page to this website.  Now that we have explored man’s (Satan’s) version of God’s Truth put forth by the Catholic/Protestant Church system, let us examine God’s Truth for ourselves and allow Him to speak to us through that Truth–His Word (Jn. 17:17).

In Genesis 2:7 we learned that: “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the BREATH OF LIFE, and the man BECAME A LIVING SOUL.”  As stated earlier, “Dust of the ground + “Breath of life = a Living soul.  But we are now studying what happens at the time of death.  Therefore the process must be reversed.  “Living soul” –“Breath of life = Dead soul.”  God’s breath not only sent oxygen into the dead man’s body soul), giving him life, it also created a spirit for the man which is Scripturally referred to as “the spirit that is in man.”  Until man takes his first breath he is living through the umbilical cord of the mother through which flows what is needed to keep the fetus alive.  This ends when the umbilical is severed.  If the baby does not get oxygen life will soon end as the oxygen from the mother’s blood will evertually dissipate.  This is why the doctor “spanks” the child, causing him/her to gasp that first lung full of oxygen, thereby bringing life into him/her.  It is at that time that man also receives his human spirit which makes him so much different, and superior, to all other created entities.  Now let us direct our attention to the death process.

In Ecclesiastes 12:9 we find the answer to the “What happens?” question: “And the DUST returns to the ground it came from and the SPIRIT (BREATH OF LIFE) returns to God Who gave it.”  Notice that man’s dead body (soul/nephesh) returns to dust.  Spirits cannot die.  Souls can and do.  As God tells us in Ezekiel 18:4,20, “… the soul that sins, that soul dies.”  With the release of the body’s last bit of oxygen, the soul dies.  At that time the spirit returns to God Who gave it and the soul returns to the dust from which it was made.  In the Hebrew language the words “spirit” and “breath” are used interchangeably.  One must note the context of the statement in order to determine what is meant by “spirit” and “breath.”

In Ezekiel 18:3,4 we find God saying about the life and death of man: “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, … every LIVING SOUL belongs to Me, … THE SOUL THAT SINS, IT WILL DIE.  He then repeats that Truth in verse 20.  This proves that the soul is mortal–it dies.  Recall that “It is appointed unto man (man’s soul) once to die ….”

The Lord provided some interesting passages for His people to know and believe.  Some of them concern the mental condition of the dead.  Which begs the question: how much does a dead person know?  Let us examine this issue Scripturally.  In Psalm 6:5 is speaking to the Lord, “No one remembers You (the Lord) when he is dead.  Who praises You from the grave?”  The brain of the dead is itself dead.  Therefore the dead remember nothing and cannot praise God.  I ask the death-to-heaven believers: “In heaven but do not remember God or praise Him???  Speaking about the dead, the writer of Ecclesiastes notes: “Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished, never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun” (Eccl. 9:6).  The dead know nothing that is taking place on earth.  They have no contact with the living.  “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further (earthly) reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten ….  Enjoy life …, for in the grave where you are going there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom” (Eccl. 9:5,9,10).

Fifty-four times in the Bible death is referred to as “sleep.”  Death is like sleep.  The Psalmist said: “I will sleep in death” (13:3).  Jesus taught that death was like sleep.  He said the following to His disciples about Lazarus who had died four days earlier: “‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going to awaken him.’  His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’  Jesus had been speaking of his death, but His disciples thought He meant natural sleep.  So Jesus told them, ‘Lazarus is dead’ (Jn. 11:11-14).  Having been dead four days, he was in the early stages of decay.  Recall that his sister told Jesus, “behold, he stinks.”

Most church people have said or heard said about a dead loved one: “He/she is with Jesus now.”  No, he/she isn’t.  He/she is in the grave.  This is God’s way and, therefore the best way.  I have heard such things as, “People in heaven are looking down on us and cheering us on.”  Let’s think about that.  Suppose a godly mother died and went to heaven and is looking down at a wayward son who is headed for hell.  This knowledge would turn cast a shadow over the splender of what heaven is reported to be.  God spares His saints from such torture by giving them peaceful sleep until Christ’s return when they will be resurrected, their bodies will be changed to spirit form (be born again), making their bodies look the same as His body: “We will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is” (now–spirit)–1 Jn. 3:2.  Verses 3-10 tell us what we must do to be like Him upon His return–please study these verses.  No matter what happened to the bodies of God’s Very Elect upon their deaths (burning, torture, crucifixion, sword, beheading, natural death, etc.), He knows where every cell is and will bring all parts of the saint’s body back together.  As they rise to meet Him in the air their spirits, which contain their personalities, etc., will united with their bodies and they will look and have the same personality as during their physical lifetimes.  The Apostle Paul speaks to this Truth, saying about himself, “I will know as I am known” (1 Cor. 13:12).   They will be recognizable by those who knew them earlier, even though they are in spirit form.  I can only imagine what they will be like as we rise to meet the Son of God in the air.  Read 1 Corinthians 15: The Resurrection Of God’s First-fruits.  Key word–First.  L.J.