The Bible says yes, there is life after death. According to the Word of God, this means that those who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior can be certain that they will be with him for all eternity. However, those who reject the Lord will be without him in a terrible and hopeless place.
It is good to remember that the human being does not only consist of the physical body. Contrary to the rest of creation, God created each human being with a spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Speaking about the end of human life, Solomon wrote:
Then the dust will return to the earth, as it was before,
and the spirit will return to God, who is the one who gave it.
(Ecclesiastes 12:7).
It is not our physical body that will live forever. The body we have today will return to earth (Genesis 3:19). But the spirit of the children of God will live with him for eternity.
It is precisely our spirit that responds to God (Romans 8:16). Our Father reveals himself to each of us through his creation and through his Word. But we must allow Him to enter and dwell in our hearts (Revelation 3:20). By doing so, we receive the hope of eternal life with him.
Jesus and life after death
During his last days on earth, Jesus comforted his disciples with the following words:
Don’t be distressed. Trust God, and trust me too. In my Father’s home there are many dwellings; If it wasn’t, I would have already told you. I’ll make you a place. And, if I go and prepare it for you, I will come and take you with me. That way you guys can be where I am.
(John 14:1-3)
Jesus knew that the time of his physical death was drawing near. Even so, he encouraged his disciples with the hope of eternal life. They could be certain that they would be with him in heaven for all eternity. He himself, through his death and resurrection, would be in charge of preparing the place for them.
¡That is the same hope that we have thanks to Jesus! he defeated deathHe did not stay in the grave but rose again on the third day. And thanks to his resurrection, all of us who receive Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives will also live for eternity.
Where is, oh die, your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thank God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
(1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
John 14:6 – I am the way, the truth and the life
On one occasion, some Sadducees asked Jesus a question with the intention of ridiculing him. The Sadducees were followers of a Jewish religious sect that did not believe in the immortality of the soul or in the resurrection. So they posed the following situation to Jesus (Luke 20:27-38).
There was a woman married to a man who was widowed without having children. According to the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 25: 5-10), the woman had to marry her brother-in-law in order to have offspring in the name of her first husband. This woman that the Sadducees spoke of, was widowed seven times, of seven different brothers without having children with any of them. Finally, the woman died. The Sadducees asked Jesus:
Now, in the resurrection, whose wife will this woman be, since all seven were married to her?
(Luke 20:33)
Jesus’ response? Of none!
The people of this world marry and are given in marriage, Jesus replied. But as for those who are worthy to take part in the world to come through the resurrection: they will not marry or be given in marriage, nor will they be able to die, for they will be like angels. They are children of God because they take part in the resurrection. But that the dead rise again was implied by Moses himself in the passage about the bush, for he calls the Lord “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” He is not God of the dead, but of the living; indeed, for him they all live.
(Luke 20:34-38)
Jesus did not deny the resurrection of the dead or life after death. What he did do was explain to them that everything will be different. The plane we will be on will be one that we cannot fully understand right now with our finite minds. The reality is that those who participate in the resurrection will be like the angels, they will not marry or die.
And who are those who will participate in that resurrection? Those worthy to take part in that world to come, the children of God. Those who, like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, have put their faith in him and have believed his promises of salvation and eternal life. It is those who, even when they die physically, will live with God for all eternity.
Eternal life or eternal punishment?
In the Gospel of John we read the following:
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who rejects the Son will not know what that life is, but will remain under the punishment of God.
(John 3:36)
This verse makes something clear. There are two options for eternity. The first is eternal life and the second is eternal punishment. How can we choose life and reject punishment? Believing in Jesus, the Son of God! We must choose our eternal destiny while we are in this life.
What is eternal life according to the Bible
We are slaves to sin until the moment we decide to believe in Jesus. Christ frees us from the power of sin and gives us access to eternal life. However, it is not just saying by mouth that we believe in Jesus. Life with Christ manifests itself and there is a real change in our being. Instead of living for our carnal desires, we live by seeking to please God in everything. The Bible calls this holiness.
What is holiness according to the Bible?
A life full of holiness is a life full of the Lord and guided by the Holy Spirit. And that life of holiness is a sign that we have chosen to live eternally with the Lord and have been freed from eternal punishment.
But now that they have been freed from sin and placed in the service of God, they reap the holiness that leads to eternal life.
(Romans 6:22)
Jesus, in one of his teachings (Luke 16:19-31), spoke about the difference between heaven, a place of consolation, and hell, a place of torment. It is clear that all human beings will go to one place or the other. It depends on whether or not during their earthly life they decide to receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus.
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