There are many viewpoints about life after death and just exactly what that life is like. The opinions on this subject vary as much as there are different religions. In Christianity we the Protestant beliefs which are very similar, yet have differences, and there is Catholicism which once again has its own variations of life after death.
We are not going to discuss the divers thoughts and ideas of Catholicism and other Protestant faiths, but we will examine what we believe is to be true as Biblical support seems to point in that direction. Below you will read about the most sensible possibilities according to Scripture.
Most likely there is a threefold nature to each of us. That is: the body, the soul, and the spirit. At death, the body is either buried or cremated. The soul leaves the body and is sleeping. This is called soul sleep. Proof for this is stated throughout the Bible about the soul sleeping. Remember when Saul used the witch of Endor to awaken Samuel's soul? Samuel asked why he had been disturbed. His soul had been asleep, waiting for God's command to rise out of its sleep and join with one's Spirit and one's new body, at the Second Coming of Christ.
We know what the purpose of the body is, but do we understand what our third entity is - the Spirit? The Spirit is initially locked in a deathlike chamber, one that cannot come alive, truly alive until a person comes to know Jesus and accepts Him as his or her Savior. At that point, this inner Spirit opens the doors to it's death chamber and comes alive in the real Spirit, the Holy Spirit. That is when communication begin directly with God. When a person dies, we believe that Spirit goes into the presence of God, in some form or other and remains there until it is reunited with its new celestial body and its soul.
Those people not ever knowing Christ and accepting His gift of Eternal Life, remain out of the presence of God, a separation from Him that will undoubtedly last forever. Their punishment is partially this everlasting separation form the Lord. It is also believed that those who have committed terrible crimes against man will be punished according to the degree of their abhorrence, disgrace, disgust, mercilessness and utter evil existence. They will probably be at various levels of disdain which generates horrible pain and suffering. They get back what they meted out, as those saints who went on to be with the Lord will be given crowns for their good deeds. These deeds did not get them into heaven, only their belief and acceptance of Christ's salvation provided that.
Another Option:
Perhaps when a person dies, they enter into complete oblivion: a state of non-existence. They remain unconscious; they have no self-awareness. Their body decays. At the time of the Second Coming of Christ, the dead are called from their graves; they will be resurrected and judged. Those who had been saved while on earth will be given special bodies and go to Heaven; the unsaved will go to Hell for eternal punishment.
Thus, all of the Patriarchs and ordinary Israelites in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Apostles, the Christians who have died over the past two millennia, and, in fact, every human who has ever lived, are currently held in a temporary state of non-existence.
Perhaps the soul separates from the body and is taken to a type of holding place - referred to as Sheol in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and Hades in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament). At the time of Jesus' Second Coming, they will be reunited with their reconstituted bodies and judged. Many will have been there for thousands of years before they are resurrected.
Thus, every human who has ever lived, are in a type of holding place, awaiting resurrection. While others believe, in some form of instantaneous transfer of the soul to heaven or hell immediately after death. Christians often talk about their loved ones who have recently died as if they are already with God. What they never say is that it is only their Spirits which are transported as such, not their total threefold being. If it were as such, then there would be no need for a resurrection of most people, and perhaps all people who have been in soul-sleep.
Some important passages from the Bible that appear to refer to the deceased waiting for their call to resurrection are: All New King James Version (NKJV) or King James Version (KJV)
Job 14:14-15: "If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands." (KJV)
Daniel 12:2: "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (NKJV)
John 3:12-13: "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven..." (KJV)
John 5:28-29: "...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." (NKJV)
Acts 2:29-34: "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried...For David is not ascended into the heavens..." (NKJV)
Only the deceased who are "in Christ" will be raised from the dead and have eternal life; the vast bulk of humanity will simply remain dead, without conscious existence. All who who have been exposed to the Gospel will be raised from the dead at the time of the Final Judgment. The righteous among the responsible ones will be judged according to their works, rewarded appropriately, and live forever. Those who have been exposed to the Gospel and judged wicked will be annihilated, and cease to exist. Those who have not been exposed to the Gospel will remain dead, without conscious existence.
There is an abundance of other things to consider about Resurrection, Judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment, Heaven, Hell, A New Earth and what waits beyond for us - oblivion or wonder. Will we become architects for God, helping Him finish creating the remainder of the Universe, or does He have something better in mind for us. . .His new perfect friends.
