Kingdom Ready Blog

After we die, will we ever come back to life?

From the information in the last post, we can see that when people die, they are no longer alive at all – that is, death is the complete absence of life. In addition, death is described as “sleep” – which implies that death may be a “temporary” state. Finally, we know that when people die, they do not go to heaven (or anywhere else). Instead, dead people are simply “sleeping in the grave”, completely unconscious.

So, now we reach the final question – after a person dies, is there any way that he can ever live again? If so, how can that person come back to life? Let’s see what Scripture has to say:

Daniel 12:2 (YLT)

²`And the multitude of those sleeping in the dust of the ground do awake, some to life age-during, and some to reproaches — to abhorrence age-during.

Ezekiel 37:1-6

¹The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

²And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

³And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

⁴Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

⁵Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

⁶And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

John 5:28-29 (ESV)

²⁸Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

John 6:40 (ESV)

⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Acts 24:15

¹⁵And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-16 (ESV)

¹³But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. ¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

All of the above verses indicate that our hope for life after death is resurrection. That is, Jesus will bring us back to life, when he returns. This is one of the primary reasons why Christians should look forward to the return of Jesus – instead of looking forward to our deaths. (In Scripture, death is something to be dreaded – not something to look forward to!)

Summary of this series

From all of the information in this series of posts, I will make the following assertions:

- First of all, people do not have souls – they are souls. A soul is a conscious being. Basically, when the breath of life (or “spirit”) starts animating a person’s body, that person becomes conscious – i.e., he becomes a soul. When the breath of life stops animating a person’s body, that person becomes completely unconscious – i.e., his soul dies. As a result, the soul is mortal – it is not immortal.

- Death is the complete absence of life. As a result, people who are dead are not conscious of anything – i.e. dead people are not “aware” of their surroundings at all. Death is also compared to “sleep”. In other words, people who are dead are simply “sleeping in the grave”, completely unconscious. Note: since dead people are completely unconscious, they are not able to experience any sort of “bliss” – or “torment”.

- When Jesus returns, he will resurrect us. That is, Jesus will bring us back to life, so that we will live again, at that time. Until then, dead people will remain “in the grave”, awaiting resurrection.

In short, when Lord Jesus returns, he will resurrect us – so that we will live again! Hallelujah!