Where Do We Go When We Die?

By Jim Staley

    This is a great question in the light that it is a proven fact that 100% of all human beings will eventually experience this phenomenon called death. It is also a proven fact that there are many different and variant opinions on this subject. It is the intention of this article not to explore the varying beliefs and opinions of different religions but to dig deep into the inspired scriptures and see what they have to say about this very pointed topic. Some of the questions that will be answered in the process of researching this topic are as follows: Do we go straight to heaven for judgment when we die? What about the thief on the cross? What is really going on in the Lazarus and the rich man parable? When is “Judgment Day”? Is there a Rapture? Do the wicked go immediately to Hell after death? Is Hell really eternal torture? And probably many more along the way.

Some might say that this subject is not important. That we will “find out when we get there” type of thinking. According to scripture, that line of thinking is the farthest thing from the truth. The writer of the book of Hebrews says in the sixth chapter that this subject that we are discussing is part of the “foundation” of our faith.

1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, {principles…: or, word of the beginning of}

2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

3  And this will we do, if God permits. The author states to his audience that the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment is among a short list of “basic 101” fundamentals that every believer should be familiar with. If this topic is “foundational” as verse one implies, then it is important to get back to the truth on this issue. How can we claim to know anything at all if we do not even know and understand what happens after we die or the judgment that will follow? When we share the gospel with unbelievers, are we sure we are telling them the truth when we speak about death, judgment, hell and heaven? Many of us grew up with the idea that as soon as we die, if you are a child of the living God, then you immediately are given a glorified body and enter into the pearly gates. And for those that are not so fortunate, they are sent to hell to burn for all eternity. Let’s put these ideas to the test of scripture and see if we can deepen our “passion for truth”.
Sometimes, instead of working from left to right, it is more helpful to work from right to left. Or in this case from the end working our way back to the beginning and thus answering our original question. Let’s start by looking at the biblical concept of the resurrection and let the Bible itself define what it is. We will begin by looking at a few verses on the subject, commenting on each one along the way.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

For some people, the conclusions that will be reached in this essay will be starkly different than the beliefs that you currently have. I encourage you to have an open mind and be a Berean and check things out for yourself. If anything that you read upsets you, I would encourage you to ask why. I do understand the emotional attachments that we all have to anything that we grew up with. But I have learned that at the end of the day, it is not my opinion that matters or what I believe. But the only thing that counts is the truth, no matter how different it is from my current doctrine. New ideas should never threaten your walk with God. If approached in the right way, they should only strengthen it. Is there question that we should not ask? Is there any question that God cannot handle? If we have come to the point where we have stopped asking questions, or feel threatened in any way by encountering a differing opinion, we have stopped growing and have entered into the doors of religion. So relax as you read my findings on this topic and keep an open mind to the possibility that just because we have always believed something doesn't mean it is completely accurate. It is high time that we critically analyze what we believe and find out how much is fact and how much is tradition.

PART I

Are There Two Resurrections?

 John 5:28  "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

 Just these few verses tell us a wealth of information about what happens when we die. For instance, in John 5:28 it is prophesied that there is going to be an “hour” where “ALL” in the graves will hear the Voice of the Messiah and they will be raised from the dead all at once. Here is the context to that verse:

24  "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

25  "Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.

26  "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,

27  "and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

28  "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice

29  "and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

30  "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

  Here, Jesus is saying that the Father has given him the authority to judge all mankind (vs.27). And according to this passage, this judgment will happen all at one time in the future. There is nothing in these passages that suggests that anyone is judged instantly after they die. If that were the case, there would be no need for Jesus to say that an hour is coming in which everyone who is dead will be raised up to be judged. (vs.28,29) There is also an interesting tidbit of information that is given to us in verse 29. Jesus says that when all who are in the graves “come forth”, those who have done good, will go to “the resurrection of life”, and those who have done evil to “the resurrection of condemnation”. As if to imply that there are two resurrections. And as we will see later, that is exactly what He is saying.

 Acts 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

Luke makes it very clear here that there is a resurrection of the dead. He also tells us in this verse that both the just and the unjust will be raised. The context has Tertullus (the prosecuting attorney against Paul) telling the governor Felix the accusations that are against Paul in this case. Then Paul answers the accusations starting in verse 10. It is important to note that the Sadducees in the time of Jesus did not believe in a resurrection while the Pharisees did. The Pharisees were generally more conservative while the Sadducees were a bit more liberal and strict. (They were kind of like first century Republicans and Democrats.)

6  "He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law.

7  "But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands,

8  "commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him."

9  And the Jews also assented, maintaining that these things were so.

10 Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered: "Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself,

11  "because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

12  "And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city.

13  "Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me.

14  "But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.

15  "I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.

16  "This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.
Paul not only states in verse 15 that he believes in “a resurrection of the dead” but is a genius in how he states it. He is on trial and his life is at stake and he craftily lets Governor Felix know that there will one day be a resurrection of both the “just and the unjust”. As if to remind him that he better make the right decision and be just or he will find himself in the hot seat at the end of time. This tactic apparently worked as Paul continues to share with him in verse 25 about the coming judgment. Felix became afraid and ultimately did nothing to Paul except kept him in custody. We learn from this passage the power of this topic of judgment and the influence it can have on an unbeliever.

We also learn that there will be a resurrection of both the “just and the unjust”. We will find out later if Paul is stating that there will be one resurrection where everyone is judged at one time, or if there are two resurrections that happen at two different times.

Is 26:19  Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead.

Isaiah prophesies here that the dead will eventually live again. He also states that he himself will rise from the dead TOGETHER with the rest of the dead. Isaiah understands and is teaching us here that he will not live again until the day that “the earth shall cast out the dead”. As the dew awakens the herbs in the morning and causes them to arise and spread their leaves towards the sun, so shall we arise and sing to the one Who’s earth-shattering voice causes us to come out of our deep slumber, raise our hands and praise the real “Son”. The context confirms that the day Isaiah is talking about is the final day-The day that the Messiah returns to rule and reign over the entire earth.

19  Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs, And the earth shall cast out the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past.

21  For behold, the LORD comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, And will no more cover her slain.
1 In that day the LORD with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.

This entire chapter and previous two describe the events of the last days when the earth will “no longer cover her slain” and the wicked beast will be slain. But as we will see, Isaiah is speaking of two different time periods. The first is when he will be raised from the dead, and the second is when the serpent will be slain. By finding out when the serpent gets slain, we can then determine when each of these events happen.

Rev. 19:20  Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

21  And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

20:1 ¶ Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2  He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

3  and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

4  And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

5  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

6  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

7  Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison

8  and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

9  They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

10  The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

11 ¶ Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

12  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

13  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

14  Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

This lengthy passages starts out with the end of the tribulation in the battle of Armageddon, where the antichrist and the false prophet are captured and thrown into the Lake of Fire alive. They are the only two up until this point in time that have been put into the Lake of Fire. Then Satan, the serpent, is bound for a thousand years while those that are Christ’s rule and reign on the earth. Then, he will be let loose to deceive the nations and then he will be thrown in the Lake of Fire with the false prophet and the beast. Then comes the second resurrection (vs. 13), where all of the people that have been dead that did not make it in the first resurrection and those who have died during the thousand year reign of Christ will now stand before Christ for judgment. Verse 13 very clearly tells us that there are two resurrections: The one of the just when Christ comes back the second time to redeem those that are His; And the one of the unjust and the rest of the dead from the time of the second coming to the end of the thousand years. Do not be confused in the language in some of the verses that say that they will be judged by their works and then it says that anyone not found in the Book of Life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. It almost seems contradictory until you look closer in the text. Remember, there are regular people still living and dieing during the thousand year reign as well as a huge war at the end when Satan is released from his prison.

Those people have not been judged good or bad, in any way, yet. Those that are righteously faithful to God will be judged to receive their reward. Those that are not will find themselves thrown into the Lake of Fire. And because their names were not found in the Book of Life, they were thrown into the Lake of Fire as well. Let's look in Daniel.

Dan. 12:13 “But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”
In context, God is revealing to Daniel the events of the last days. Daniel gets too curious about when these events will exactly happen and the Lord said to him to “go your way until the end comes: For you shall rest (die), and you will stand in your rightful place at the end of days”. We learn from this passage that Daniel will die and he will not stand again until the final day. It is worthy of noting that the Hebrew word for “rest” is “nuwach” meaning “to rest, settle down and remain, to be quiet, to be given rest”. The Lord does not tell Daniel that he will be with Him when he dies, but rather that he will settle down, be quiet, rest, and remain in the grave until the last days when the trumpet shall sound and he is raised to “stand in his lot” to meet his Lord once again.

Luke confirms for us also that there is a resurrection.
Luke 14:13 “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 “And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

Jesus is telling His hearers in this scenario that the poor cannot repay the one who invited them to the feast, but they will eventually be repaid. He tells them that they will be repaid at “the resurrection of the just”.

Up to this point, we have Isaiah, Daniel, Luke, Paul, and John all speaking of this moment in time called the “resurrection of the just and the unjust”. There can be no doubt that there is such a resurrection for both the righteous and the wicked. The question at this point is when does this resurrection take place? Does it happen immediately when we die? Does it happen at the end of time? Does everyone rise at once? Or, is there another resurrection for the unjust? Again, let us search the scriptures themselves, and see what they have to say in answer to these questions.

First, we will look into the “resurrection of the just” and determine when it happens in time and if it is separate from the “resurrection of the unjust”.

I Cor. 15:20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21  For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.

22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

23  But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.

24  Then comes the end, (the end of the thousand years) when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

25  For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
There is a tremendous amount of material here in just these few verses to last for hours of discussion. But for the sake of time, we will be brief in our explanations. In verse 20, we are told that Christ is the “first fruits” of those that have fallen asleep. Paul is not using these words lightly. He knows exactly what he is saying. Because we are not familiar with the Biblical Feast Days, we completely miss the significance of what Paul is saying here when he says that Jesus is the “first fruits of those who have passed away”. If you read the article entitled Passover- The Last Supper, (coming soon) then you know that Jesus prophetically fulfilled the spring feast of Passover down to the last detail when he died on the first day of the Feast of First Fruits (called Passover) that Thursday afternoon. The significance of Jesus waiting three days to raise from the dead are many (Mat.12:40 is one).

But, there is one that takes its place at the top of the list. Scripture tells us that the Day of First fruits starts the day after the weekly Sabbath, after Passover. First fruits was, and still is, the day that the priests would cut some of the Barley from the fields and take the sheaves of Barley and wave them before the Lord. It was to represent the first of all the harvest that would happen in the Fall. They asked for God’s blessing on their crops for the rest of the year by waving the first fruits of that harvest before the Lord believing that the harvest in the fall would be a fruitful one.

The Feast of First fruits just so happens to be three days after Passover, which was the day that Jesus died. Jesus rose from the dead some time between the closing of the regular Saturday Sabbath and the beginning of the next day, which was Sunday before sunrise. (Biblical days begin and end with the sun going down.) At the very time that they began the celebration of First fruits (Saturday night) in hope for the final harvest in the fall and the priests were waiving the sheaf offering before the Lord as a sign of the first fruits of the harvest to come, Jesus was rising from the grave and presenting Himself before the Father as the “first fruits” of the great and Final Harvest that would occur at the end of time. Jesus rose on First fruits and this is why Paul says this in this passage. Paul had the entire Old Testament memorized, which was the requirement of anyone that was a student of Gamliel, as Paul was. This gave Paul a huge advantage of proving to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah that they had been waiting for, because he knew every prophesy by heart. Paul was not just a good orator and persuasive speaker. He pointed to the facts and let the people decide for themselves. And this was no different. Paul knew that the Messiah was to raise on First fruits and he is pointing this out to his readers.  Verse 21 states for us that although Adam brought death, through Christ there will be a resurrection from the grave that would bring life. Remember the word “came” is in italics. And anything in italics is not found in the original text. The translator for clarification adds it. Except for in this case, you can see the translator is putting his bias into the text and actually steers the reader in a different direction than the author intended. For the following verses tell us that this resurrection has not happen yet.

I Cor. 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

Verse 22 tells us that originally, we were made to never die. But because of Adam, we all die. But we “shall” live again. The word “shall” is in the future tense and verse 23 tells us when this “shall” take place.

23  But each one in his own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
Christ is raised first and then all of those who have died will be raised at His second coming. Verse 24 and 25 tell us that Christ will rule and reign for a thousand years and then He will give back the kingdom to the Father. And verse 25 tells us that death will be destroyed at the end of the thousand years. We know from Rev. 20 that this means death and Hades (the pit), the devil, the beast, the false prophet, and all of those not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Let’s look at a few more very popular verses that vividly show us a picture of what will happen when our Messiah comes back. And in the same time we will try to unravel the "Rapture" mystery.

Is There A Rapture?

1 Corinthians 15:51 “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—

52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

 53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54  So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

55  "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

56  The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

These set of verses are probably more used to support the idea of the rapture than any other in scripture. But if you have been following me so far, it is easy to see that this is not a rapture, as some teach, but simply the Second Coming of Christ. Those that are still alive will be caught up with Christ in the clouds as He is coming down to rule and reign for a thousand years. In my opinion the doctrine of the rapture is not found in the scriptures and is not consistent with how God has dealt with His people throughout history. Since when does God not purify His people through trial and fire? I would love to get out of the tribulation too. But the only few verses that even remotely support the idea of the rapture are found lacking when taken in context with the rest of the scriptures on this subject.

 The trumpet (It was called a shofar, which is a ram's horn.) is very significant in scripture. It is blown to warn the people for war, to begin feast days and many other reasons. But this trumpet is different. This trumpet is the last trumpet that is sounded on the last day of the Feast of Trumpets in the Fall that signified that the harvest is here. Because all of the feast days are prophetic, it is easy to see the significance here. Jesus comes back with the sound of a trumpet and gathers in the final harvest of souls.

 Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,

Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

We can now see that at the final trumpet, all those that have died will hear the voice of Christ as the sound of a trumpet and will be awakened and arise to be given a new body that is incorruptible.

Here is another real popular verse that is used to gain support for the rapture.

1 THES 4:13 13 ¶ But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

16  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

18  Therefore comfort one another with these words.
These set of verses are used quite often to support the theory that the church will be “raptured” before the Second Coming of Christ. But it is easy to see from looking at the context of all of the rest of the scripture on this topic, that this is simply not the case. We know from the rest of scripture that the last trumpet, the rising of the dead in Christ and the return of Christ all happen at the same time.

And this will be the end of time as we know it. These verses are simply saying that when Jesus does return, those who have died and are in the graves (fallen asleep) will be raised. Those who are His that are still alive at His coming, will be caught up together with those who were dead. And all together, all of the saints will come back down to earth and will rule and reign for a thousand years.

1 ¶ But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.

2  For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.

3  For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

4  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.

The Jews defined their “seasons” as the times that were between feast days. They also were very well aware that each feast day of the Lord was very prophetic. They knew that the Feast of Trumpets was the ingathering of the harvest for the end of the year and a time of great celebration. And because they knew that Jesus had fulfilled the Spring Feasts of the Lord on His first coming, they also knew that He would prophetically fulfill the Fall Feasts of the Lord in His second coming. Every Jew in the first century knew what the last trumpet was for at the end of the year.

And it is no surprise to the apostles when John hears the last Trumpet sound and the dead in Christ (the Last Harvest) rise first. They knew exactly what that meant. Paul tells his disciples that “concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.” Why? Because they already know in what season that Christ will return. But they will not know the day or the hour within that season. The passage says that the day of the Lord will come as a thief to “them”(vs.3), not to us (vs.4). I don't mean to step on any more toes than I already have but...we have all heard people say that "Jesus could come back tomorrow". This is simply not true. He must come according to His own prophesies and according to His own word. He fulfilled each of the spring feasts down to the last detail and will fulfill the fall feasts in the same manner. There was a reason and a purpose for all of those feast days and holy days that God gave to His people. Everyone of them were a foreshadow of things to come. And He will come.

At this point you might be having trouble with the idea that no one goes to heaven for judgment when they die because of a few verses that might appear on the surface to lend to the idea that we go immediately to heaven when we die. So let's tackle that now. There are really only three main passages that are used to support the belief of immediately being judged after death. We will deal with these one at a time.

The first passage we will deal with is the thief on the cross.
Luke 23:43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."

In this case, there is no way to know exactly what the meaning of this verse is by just using this verse by itself. Why? Because Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic do not have punctuation. And because of this the interpreter is left to deciding for themselves where to put the punctuation. And sometimes, the punctuation can change the entire meaning of a verse all together. Let's re-read the verse with the comma after "today", instead of after "you".

Luke 23:43
 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you today, you shall be with Me in Paradise."

One way makes it sound like the thief will be in Paradise "that day". The other says that he is told "that day" that he will be in Paradise.

 Now, I know that most of you know this, but we are not to take a few verses on a subject and create a doctrine over them, if there are scores of others that plainly teach the opposite. Scripture does not contradict scripture. We must be interpreting one or both incorrectly. And in this case, because of the overwhelming amount of scripture that tells us that we go into the grave and "sleep" until the resurrection at the end of time, this verse must be saying that Jesus is telling the thief "that day" that someday he would be in paradise. To say otherwise is to contradict other scriptures on the subject. And it is at that time when the "dead in Christ will rise first". If they are already in heaven, why would they have to rise? Because they are not. They are at rest in Hades waiting for the final trumpet.

The parable of Lazarus is also used to support the idea that we are judged immediately after death. We will deal with that story in a moment.

First, let's move on to another subject that will no doubt be controversial. But, keep an open mind to what the scriptures themselves have to say about the subject and try to leave your bias behind.

Is the Lake of Fire “Eternal Punishment” or “Punishment for Eternity”?

It has been a long held belief in Christendom that those that go to “hell” will be burning in fire forever. And although we may never actually know the truth, scripture does give us hints to the sometimes-confusing metaphors that it uses. For instance in John it tells us that if we do not remain in Him, we will be like a dead branch that is broken off and thrown into the fire.

John 15:6  "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
It does not say that they “will burn”. It says that they “are burned”. Wood does not burn forever. It burns up and is destroyed, no longer to exist. But I will admit, if this were the only verse, I would have a weak case. But when we die, we are no longer flesh but a soul and spirit. Can a soul be destroyed?

Matthew 10:28  "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The word “destroy” here in the Greek means to “put an end to, ruin, abolish and annihilate”. Jesus is said here to have the power to destroy the soul. There is not room for argument that Jesus is teaching that the soul can be "destroyed" in hell. Not sent to hell. But destroyed. Besides, can the soul feel physical pain?

John 3:15 "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

John says here that if we believe that Jesus is the Messiah that we will not “perish” (be destroyed. It is the SAME word used in Math. 10:28), but we will GAIN eternal life. This means that we will escape the second death and be allowed to live for eternity as Rev. 20:6 says, “Over such, the second death has no power”.  We are mortal men here on earth and we will not live forever. But at the end of time, we will be given “eternal life” for those that know Him. For those that don’t, they will experience the second death where their soul will be destroyed in the lake of fire. It might help to think of the antithesis of “eternal life” as “eternally dead”.

One of the main Proofs

Jude 1:7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

We know from history that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and today do not exist. So how can Jude tell us that they are “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire”? Because the phrase “eternal fire” is a Hebrew idiom that means “utterly destroyed by fire, never again to return”. All Jews knew what happen to Sodom and Gomorrah. So when John is seeing the Lake of Fire in the book of Revelation, he likens it to the “lake of fire” that destroyed those evil cities. And just as it is said the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire”, John says in the same idiomatic language in the following verse that those that will be thrown into the Lake of Fire will be “tortured” (suffering) for eternity.

1Rev. 14:10"he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11  "And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever (literally-to the end of universes of all universes); and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

He is using the same idiomatic language as Jude. It is not a literal meaning just as it is not literal in Jude. Most of the Book of Revelation is metaphoric and symbolic. This concept of “burning for all eternity in hell” is one of the only, if not the only concept that we take literal out of the Book of Revelation. Everything else we know is symbolic. But for some reason, we don’t even think twice about taking this Hebrew idiom as literal.  It is important to note that it is not possible for John to mean that the people in Sodom and Gomorrah are burning in hell right now as he speaks. For he has already explained to us that he believes no one is thrown into the lake of fire until the end of the thousand years. No Jew in history has ever believed that hell is a place where people are tortured for eternity. This is a significant statement as John was one of the most conservative Jews of all of the disciples! The disciples NEVER changed their doctrine on hell after their conversion. They only had new insight into when these things would take place because of John's vision. It is us that have changed what they have believed to fit our current theology. (Which, by the way, was invented by our Catholic forefathers to scare people into obeying the "Mother Church".)

Sheol, Hades And Judgment Day

Mathew 25:30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Many attribute this verse to mean the Lake of Fire. But a careful examination will prove this verse to be talking about a different place altogether. What is this “darkness”? If it is the Lake of Fire, would it be dark?

2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;

The judgment as we have already found out in Revelation 20 is at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ, and is the Lake of Fire. But until then, those that await that judgment are held in a place of darkness (called Sheol or Hades-meaning the “Pit”), where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, because they know their future punishment. The “outer darkness” is the holding place for the wicked, set apart for the “Day of Judgment”.
So if the wicked are cast into outer darkness when they die awaiting their final judgment into the Lake of Fire, and all of the people in that place know their future destiny and because of that knowledge there is weeping and gnashing of teeth… then lets look at the parable of Lazarus and the rich man and see if it makes more sense. It is my opinion that this story that Jesus tells about Lazarus and the rich man, coupled with the misconceptions about the final judgment, are probably solely responsible for the doctrine of hell being taught as a place of eternal torture. Besides, has anyone ever stopped to ask the question of how can a soul feel the pain of fire? Hmmm...it can't, as pain is felt on the level of the actual body itself which has returned to dust. I submit to you that this "torture" that the writers talk about is both metaphorical and literal in the sense that those that know their demise agonize over the fact that they will soon cease to exist forever and have missed the treasures that have been right before their eyes the whole time. Let's look at this story and really dissect its components.

Lazarus And The Rich Man

Luke 16:19¶ There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs, which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

23  And in hell he lifts up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

27  Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:

28  For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

29  Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

30  And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

31  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

1 ¶ Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

2  It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

Strangely enough, this is the only parable that uses a real name (Lazarus). And because of this, most gloss over the real meaning keeping with the context of the rest of the scriptures and take it not as a parable that is trying to illustrate a point and principle, but literal in every point. Laziness in rightly dividing the word of truth results in bad doctrine. And as we shall see, is no light crime in the eyes of God.

While Jesus is telling this story, the Pharisees are standing right there listening like usual. And as Jesus often did through his parables, he took this opportunity to nail the Pharisees once again. We know from history, culture and scripture itself that the priests and kings wore fine linen and purple (Ex. 28:4-6). This is why the Romans mocked Jesus in John 19:5 by putting a crown of thorns on his head and making him wear a purple robe because he was “king of the Jews”. Because of the facts that priests wore fine linen and purple, were rich and just so happen to be standing right there wearing their fine linen and purple robes, it makes perfect sense that Jesus would describe one of the characters in the parable as a “rich man wearing fine linen and purple”. Once again, He is getting ready to humiliate the Pharisees through another parable. So if the rich man is possibly a Pharisee, then who is Lazarus? None other than Jesus himself. Jesus is always described as being poor in the eyes of the world. And so he goes on to explain His entire life in relationship to the religious leaders of the day. That while they were feasting daily because of them stealing money from the temple, Jesus sometimes did not even have a place to lay His head at night.

21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table:

Jesus came for the weak and the sick and those that the world saw as outcasts. And it can be said here that those that the priests cast from their table as unworthy, Christ so desired.

Then the story goes on to say that in the end Jesus who was beaten and bruised by the religious leaders of His day (the sores mentioned in vs.20), died and was taken up to Heaven and glorified. Then the rich man dies and was sent to hell. The word for hell here is “Hades”, which means the grave or pit. IT IS NOT "GEHENNA", which is the other Greek word for hell that means "the firery place-orginally the Valley of Hinnom outside the city walls that dead animals and filth were burned constantly. And is the same location as the “holding place” for the wicked for the Day of Judgment. Knowing that point is crucial to the correct understanding of this parable. The rich man says that he is being tormented by the flames and asks Abraham to send Lazarus to him to give him a drop of water. We know that this cannot be literal flames as we have already deduced that no one is thrown into the Lake of Fire until AFTER the thousand-year reign of Messiah. So there is no other way to take this than analogous. That the rich man knows his destiny and “feels” the flames that await below him. And what is the rich man’s crime that sent him to that horrible place? He did not believe Jesus was the Messiah. How do we know that? Because the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to “testify” to his brothers. So, Abraham tells the rich man that they have Moses and the Prophets to testify to them. And what testimony is he speaking about? This reply by Abraham tells us that the testimony that the rich man wanted Lazarus to give was that Jesus really was the Messiah. For it was through Moses and the Prophets that the Messiah was foretold. They were to recognize the Messiah through the prophecies that He would fulfill. And so Abraham says that if they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not listen to one who has risen from the grave. And last but not least, Jesus wraps up the parable by nailing the religious hypocrites right between the eyes in Chapter 17:1-2. These verses should not be the start of a new chapter. They are the climatic ending of the parable!

1 ¶ Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

The word “offences” is the Greek word “skandalon” which means to lay a snare or trap or cause someone to fall because of bad doctrine or advice”. Jesus gives the point of this parable here in these two verses saying that the high priests of His day were causing His people to stumble because of the bad doctrine that they had added to the Law of God.

Now that we have looked at this parable through a different set of glasses, picture Jesus with righteous indignation staring right into the eyes of one of the Pharisees while placing His hand on the head of a small child and saying,

2  It were better for him (the rich man ie. Pharisee) that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend (teach false doctrine to) one of these little ones.

If you do not believe my interpretation of the Lazarus parable, that is fine. But the point remains: The rich man is NOT really burning in flames as the text clearly says he is sent to Sheol, which we know is a dark, holding place. And not Gehenna, which is the firery place.

HALF-TIME REVIEW

So far we have tackled some very tough topics. We have discovered that the scriptures teach us that there are two resurrections from the dead. The first is at the Second Coming of Christ when He calls all those who are His to meet Him in the clouds as New Jerusalem is coming down out of Heaven to be the “headquarters” for ruling and reigning for a thousand years on the earth. The second resurrection is the resurrection of the unjust that did not make the first resurrection AND those that were being ruled over in the millennial reign of Christ that died during that time period, whether just or unjust. It is at this point (the end of the thousand years) that all those not found in the Book of Life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

We have also discovered very hefty evidence that the Lake of Fire is not actually a place where people will really “burn” for eternity. But rather is a Hebrew idiomatic concept that “eternal fire” means that anyone thrown into it will forever be destroyed. This concept is more consistent with the rest of the scriptures that speak about this topic. And on a common sense level, fits the personality of God more accurately. After all, does it fit the sovereignty of God and the justness of the Almighty to make a little old lady who has been a good person all of her life but never knew the Messiah to be placed on the same level as Hitler and “burn” for all eternity? Or does it fit the character of God better that her soul is just destroyed, one time, never to be conscience again? Although we should never interpret scripture based on what “we think” God should do or not do according to “our” standards and morals, this line of thinking does fit the overall character of God that is given to us in scripture better than a God that would allow someone to burn in torment forever. Capital punishment is just. But it is also to be civil. If it would not be just for a human judge to sentence a prisoner to the death penalty of being stabbed to death with a fork, then how much more unjust would it be for an Almighty Just God to sentence someone to death for a life lived under a hundred years or less, to be eternally tortured with no way for parole? Especially in the light of the evidence of scripture and the belief system of the believers in the first century on this topic, it can be said with confidence that it is our doctrines and beliefs that need to change. For too long we have read into scripture doctrines and ideas that the Bible nor its authors ever advocated. We need to have a humble enough spirit to be able to put our current beliefs aside long enough to examine the scriptures on a given topic to see if those beliefs hold water or not.

So, now that we know (in part) what happens when Christ comes back, and are familiar with “Judgment Day” and what happens to those who are thrown into the Lake of Fire, let’s move on to find out what is actually being raised from the dead, what happens immediately when we die and who or what are we anyway.

Will The Real You Please Step Forward

(Spirit, Soul, Flesh and Body)

When we discuss what happens to “you” when “you” die, it is important to define what part of “you” are we talking about. What actually goes into the “holding place” (Sheol, Hades) when you die? Are you conscience there? Is there any part of you that goes to “heaven”? Are we made up of mind, soul and spirit? Spirit, soul and body? Or mind, strength, heart and soul? Or a million combinations thereof? This part of the article will attempt to get to the scriptural bottom of who we are, what is being raised from the dead and where do we go when we die? First of all, you may be saying to yourself, "I thought Sheol was the place for the wicked". And you would be right as many scriptures refer to the wicked going there including the Rich man we just discussed. But scripture also tells us that the righteous go there as well but are at peace there. It almost seems to paint a picture of two separate parts to Sheol. One for the wicked where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth and one of peace. Have you ever wondered why Peter says Jesus went to Sheol to preach to the souls in prison? Why would he have to do this if everyone already went to heaven or hell when they died? Jesus goes to preach the good news to those that were righteous that their hope is near. And to those that were wicked that their demise is coming. I know your probably wondering about the thief on the cross and the absent from the body, present with the Lord statement from Paul. Hold on, I will get to that in a minute.

Let's continue.

I Thes. 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here, Paul seems to indicate that there are three different parts to each of us. Let’s see if the rest of scripture agrees.
Heb. 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
In this passage, the writer makes a differentiation between our spirit and our soul. We learn through this one verse that

1. The spirit and soul are intimately connected but distinct.

2. The Word of God is able to separate them.

3. Our thoughts and motivations are tied to our soul. (I will prove this later)

In order to accurately define what actually we are made up of, it will be necessary to go back to Genesis and see how God made us and return to the original language of Hebrew for clarification. The following are the Hebrew equivalents to the parts that we are describing: We will be referring to these for the remainder of this article.

Basar (strongs # 1320)---------------Body
Nephesh (#5315)-----------------------Soul
Ruach (#7307)--------------------------Spirit

Let’s look at the scriptures and see how these words are used. One basic rule of Biblical Interpretation is to let scripture interpret itself. Instead of guessing what we should believe and making things up along the way, we would do better to put our beliefs aside and see what the Word of God says on the subject.

Genesis 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Nephesh).

Genesis 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit (Ruach) of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Numbers 27:16 "Let the LORD, the God of the spirits (Ruachs) of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
Genesis 34:3 His soul (Nefesh) was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman.

Leviticus 17:11 ‘For the life of the flesh (Basar) is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul (Ruach).’

Leviticus 6:10 ‘And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen trousers he shall put on his body (Basar),
Leviticus 17:16 "But if he does not wash them or bathe his body (Basar), then he shall bear his guilt."

These are just a few examples of each of these Hebrew words that our found in the Old Testament. Let’s break these three words down one by one and give them meaning. Then we will have a detailed picture of who we are and what we are made up of. Then, we will be able to accurately be able to answer our original question, “Where do we go when we die?”

The Body

This is the easiest, so we will start here. The “body” is actually the “outermost man”, as some call it. It is the physical part that we wash, get dirty, get sores on, talk, hear, eat, walk and use all of or senses with. It is made up of all that is cellular.

Leviticus 16:28 "Then he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

Leviticus 17:16 "But if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then he shall bear his guilt."

Leviticus 21:11 ‘nor shall he go near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother;

1 Kings 21:27 So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning.

This is the part of us that dies in the first death, as scripture calls it. The first death is the death of the body. When someone ceases to exist in this world, their heart has stopped beating and their body has been buried. The body is the part of us that goes back to the ground and deteriorates into it.

The Soul (Nephesh)

The soul is a bit more complicated and will take more time to comprehend, but scripture does amazing wonders for clarifying things. First, we will start out with the Strong’s definition of the word “Nephesh”. This is the definition of the word based on how it is used in scripture. Then, we will go through a list of verses dealing with the word “soul” and see if we can get any clarity from scripture.

05315 vpn nephesh neh’-fesh
from 05314; TWOT-1395a; n f
AV-soul 475, life 117, person 29, mind 15, heart 15, creature 9, body 8, himself 8, yourselves 6, dead 5, will 4, desire 4, man 3, themselves 3, any 3, appetite 2, misc 47; 753
1) soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion
1a) that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man
1b) living being
1c) living being (with life in the blood)
1d) the man himself, self, person or individual
1e) seat of the appetites
1f) seat of emotions and passions
1g) activity of mind
1g1) dubious
1h) activity of the will
1h1) dubious
1i) activity of the character
1i1) Dubious

We can see right away just by looking at the Strong’s definition that the soul is best described as the part of us that is connected to our human desires, emotions, passions, appetites, will and character. It is also interesting to note that it uses the word “dubious” to describe our mind, will and character. In a sense, it is saying that we are hesitant, unsure, doubtful, and undecided of which way to go when dealing with our mind, will and character. Because those three things are not fixed objects, they can change like the wind. Or should I say, they change with the wind. Because, (as we shall see further in our study), that the spirit (which is like a wind), is what is supposed to affect the outcome of what the soul accomplishes. If the soul is left to it’s own inclination, it will naturally choose that which benefits the body only. But for now, let’s look at a few verses that better illustrated what the soul actually is.

Lev. 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.-  We see here that the soul needs to be atoned for. The soul then, is the part of us that gets defiled through sin and is in need of redemption.

Genesis 27:31 He also had made savory food, and brought it to his father, and said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that your soul may bless me."  There are many verses with this kind of context that tell us that it is the soul that blesses.

Genesis 34:3 His soul (Nefesh) was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman.  Here we see that it is the soul that is connected to the physical desires, passions and emotions of a man.

Leviticus 26:15 and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, We see here that it is the soul that is the part of us that is like the “central command” that accepts or rejects things. It is the soul of a man that decides whether to accept or reject God.

Deuteronomy 6:5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  This is one of the commandments in scripture that finds its origination in the Old Testament. Jesus did not make up, change or add any new rules. His main role outside of redeeming mankind was to clarify what the Word of God already said. And it is interesting to note that God says to love Him with our “soul” and doesn’t use the word “spirit” here. After learning what the soul “is”, it is obvious why He chooses to do so in this passage and others. It is because the soul is the part of us that is bent toward ourselves. Before the sin of Adam and Eve, this part of man gave man the “drive” to live, eat, procreate and so on. Before the nature of sin bent the soul away from God, it was the part of man that made man want to live and enjoy life to the fullest. It was given to man to allow him to enjoy the creation that was made for him.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being <05315>.(soul)  This verse explains to us what we are. We ARE a living soul. Some would say that man is a spirit that has a soul. This is incorrect. We are actually a living soul that has a spirit. And as we shall discover later, it is through our spirit that every living person has the potential of connecting with God. Part of the proof that we are a soul that has been given a spirit is found in the following verses:

Genesis 1:21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing (soul) <05315> that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creatures (soul) <05315> according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so.

 Genesis 1:30 "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life (a soul)<05315>, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. These verses and many more describe animals as having “souls”. But there are no verses that suggest that they have a spirit. The bible is clear that all living creatures are made living souls in the beginning, but man was given a spirit also. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:45  And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being (soul)." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The natural comes first (the soul), then the spiritual (the spirit).  The animals are made living souls just as man, because again, it is the soul that is the part that gives us the will to survive and have personality. But because of the fall, the original intention of the soul that was to allow man to have gratification in the creation that God made, was now bent away from its original God-centered gratification to now being man-centered gratification. And it is, as we shall see in the next study on the spirit, by the spirit that we can bend back the soul and its desires back toward the Creator and really enjoy life the way it was meant to be enjoyed. And as we can plainly observe today, because most of mankind is not regenerated (their spirit has never been awakened), the soul will do whatever it is bent toward. So, because the soul is bent toward “self”, man becomes and behaves more like an animal than it does human. Some even say that the soul is animalistic in nature. That is very close to the truth. Without the guidance of the spirit, the human “creature” appears to only differ from the animals in form. Have you ever wondered why in every culture, certain moral truths are dominant? For instance, in virtually every culture, murder is deemed wrong. Why is that? What is it inside man that says to him that murder is wrong? I believe it is because all human souls came from Adam, which once had a soul that was bent toward God. Then, Adam ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And because we have part of Adam in each of us, we each have in us the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. In the beginning, Adam only knew good. His soul was bent only toward pleasing God. But when Adam sinned, his soul now contained the knowledge of evil as well, and the pleasing of himself. And so within our souls now, is the potential of bending toward good or toward evil. Our souls are very much like a teeter-totter. Then can be swayed one way or the other depending on which side we choose to give more weight. We can either please God or please ourselves. And without the awakening of our spirit, the soul will naturally be bent toward self-gratification. This is why Paul says in Romans 8: 13  For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Living only according to the “soul” will put us in judgment and future condemnation. But living according to the “spirit” will bring wholeness and life eternal. This concept of living according to the spirit will make a whole lot more sense when you are familiar with what the spirit, soul and body really are. Let’s look at a few more scriptures from the New Testament that give us a description of soul and then we will move on to the “spirit”.
Matthew 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.   If you have read the article on the resurrection of the just and the unjust, then you have learned that the soul can very much be destroyed. And this verse is one for proof text. Based on the choices that we make with our soul (mind, will and emotions) while alive on earth, determines if we are given eternal life or if we are destroyed in the Lake of Fire.

Matthew 16:26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  The concept of losing something is the mere fact that what you once had, you no longer have. And in this context, it can never again be given back. Once again, the concept is not that you keep your soul and it burns for eternity, but that you lose your soul. You no longer get the privilege of existing.

John 12:27 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.  The great anguish that Jesus had in the garden is attributed to his soul. Again, the soul is what is connected to the seat of emotions.

Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
James 5:20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.  If we are spirit, then it is our spirit that would go to hell after judgment. But the scriptures clearly say that it is the soul that needs to be saved because that is what and who we are. We ARE a living soul.

The Spirit (Ruach)

07307 xwr ruwach roo’-akh
from 07306; TWOT-2131a; n f
AV-Spirit or spirit 232, wind 92, breath 27, side 6, mind 5, blast 4, vain 2, air 1, anger 1, cool 1, courage 1, misc 6; 378
1) wind, breath, mind, spirit
1a) breath
1b) wind
1b1) of heaven
1b2) quarter (of wind), side
1b3) breath of air
1b4) air, gas
1b5) vain, empty thing
1c) spirit (as that which breathes quickly in animation or agitation)
1c1) spirit, animation, vivacity, vigour
1c2) courage
1c3) temper, anger
1c4) impatience, patience
1c5) spirit, disposition (as troubled, bitter, discontented)
1c6) disposition (of various kinds), unaccountable or uncontrollable impulse
1c7) prophetic spirit
1d) spirit (of the living, breathing being in man and animals)
1d1) as gift, preserved by God, God’s spirit, departing at death, disembodied being
1e) spirit (as seat of emotion)
1e1) desire
1e2) sorrow, trouble
1f) spirit
1f1) as seat or organ of mental acts
1f2) rarely of the will
1f3) as seat especially of moral character

As you can see from the Strong’s Definition, the Spirit (or Ruach) of a man is somewhat similar in some ways to the soul in the fact that it is connected to emotions, has disposition, can be troubled and so on. But as we shall see, the difference is that the soul IS the mind, will and emotions. Whereas the spirit AFFECTS the mind, will and emotions. There is a big difference as we will discover. First let’s examine some scriptures that describe for us the basic attributes about man’s spirit and God’s Spirit.

God has a spirit: Gen.1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 
God IS spirit: John 4:24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." In the Greek the word for spirit is “pneuma” which has the connotation of air. It is where we get our English word “pneumatic” from, meaning to be powered by air-i.e.…pneumatic drill. It is worth to note for the record that God is NOT a person nor a being and possesses no physicality whatsoever. God may manifest Himself in whatever form He deems necessary. But that is only so that we can relate to Him in our finiteness and for our benefit. Because Moses heard the voice of God, does not in any way mean that God has vocal chords. It means that God has chosen the instrument of sound so that Moses could audibly hear and understand the message. Just as a walkie-talkie does not have vocal chords and is only an instrument used to communicate, so God uses whatever “instrument” necessary to speak to us on a level that we understand. God is LIKE a father. He is LIKE a Shepard, a lion, a lamb, a strong tower, etc…Some people get the impression that God is literally about 6’2”, 180 lbs. and is literally sitting on a throne. We must remember that scripture only describes God using finite attributes so that we can better understand what He is LIKE. There is truly no way to really understand an infinite God with our finite minds. We can only think within the seven-inch box of our mind. Something that is infinite cannot be described in finite terms. The second we do, what is infinite becomes finite. You can say that God is Spirit because “spirit” is not a finite term. We really don’t even know what a spirit is. We only see what it does.

•The Ruach (spirit) is like a wind.-Genesis 8:1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind (Ruach) to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided (became calm). Is scripture saying that a “spirit” is “wind”? No. Remember, God is trying to communicate spiritual and infinite terms using language that we would understand. A “Ruach” is LIKE the wind. It cannot be seen, but can be felt.
The spirit goes back to God at death Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

 Psalms 31:5 Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

Psalms 146:4 His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.

Acts 7:59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

These four verses make it make it undoubtedly clear that our spirit “returns to God who gave it”. We have already established that there is a place called “Sheol” or “Hades” in which the dead go to await judgment. We also know that this “holding place” is not heaven. Both Acts, Psalms and even Jesus on the cross make mention of their spirits going into the hands of God when they die. The spirit then, can be ruled out as going to Hades at death.

Ecclesiastes 3:21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?  This is one of those verses that if not careful, one could get the wrong conclusions from the wording in this passage. Solomon strangely uses the word “Ruach” when talking about animals. Is Solomon, the wisest man alive, saying that animals have a spirit? If he is then he is contradicting other scriptures that say otherwise.

Isaiah 31:3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; And their horses are flesh, and not spirit. We know from this verse and others that animals only have a “nephesh” (soul). They do not have a spirit. Then, why does Solomon seem to imply that they do? Context reveals all:

17  I said in my heart, "God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work."

18  I said in my heart, "Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals."

19  For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.

20  All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.

21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?  Solomon knows exactly what he is doing by using the word “Ruach” instead of “nephesh”. He knows that animals have only a soul. But he is using a play on words here to make a point. He uses spirit both for man and animals to stress the point that man has become no different than animals (vs.18).

The spirit is the part of man that God gave to man and is like an extension cord that on one end can be plugged into the Spirit of God, and on the other the soul of the man. The spirit is the innocent party in us that returns back to God from which it came.

Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the inner depths of his heart. This verse confirms to us that the spirit that is placed inside of a man is the “spiritual” part of man that God uses to search out the soul (heart). Have you ever wondered how the Spirit of the Living God can dwell inside of a sinful man if He cannot dwell in the presence of sin? The answer is that when someone calls upon the name of the Lord, the Spirit of God is sent into the heart of that man’s spirit to awaken it. Our spirit houses the Holy Spirit. It never comes in contact with the sinful soul.

It is “buffered”, so to speak, by our spirit. Using the Tabernacle as a very real analogy… The soul is like the outer courts where all of the actual sacrifices took place and where the priests washed their hands and did their duties. Our spirit is like the Holy place (the first room that you come to when you enter into the tabernacle) that contained the lamp stand and the Shew bread and the alter of incense. “The spirit of a man is the lamp (stand) of the LORD,” Hmmmmm. And the Spirit of the Lord that resides alongside our spirit is like the Most Holy Place (the Holy of Holies), where the Ark of the covenant was and the actual presence of God resided.

Based on our observations through scripture, let’s summarize what the human “spirit” is. Our spirit is like all of the electrical outlets and wires in a house. All of the potential for operating everything in a house properly is there because the wires and the outlets are there. The only thing that the house needs that it cannot produce on its own is the power needed to bring “life” to the outlets. This power source is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like the power line that comes into your house. And the source of the Holy Spirit is the power plant itself, which is the Father. Each are intimately connected to each other. The spirit is the necessary tool that God uses to speak through to affect the outcome of the soul. This explains why those that try to “understand” God first will likely never realize a relationship with Him. Because “understanding” is tied to the soul, which is natural and that which is natural cannot possibly understand the things of God. It is only when the person’s will is broken and they admit that they cannot understand it, that they hear the voice of God for the first time. That is why Paul says that “I must decrease, so that He might increase”.

The “I” that Paul is talking about is the “who he is-the soul”. The mind, will and emotions of the soul must decrease to allow the spirit to grow inside of him. This also explains why at first sin is so difficult to get rid of (especially if it’s a habit), because the spirit is still weak because the soul has been allowed to grow so strong. But over time as the soul is “beat into submission”, the spirit gets a chance to grow stronger and the sins that seemed to overwhelm you in the past, are minuscule in comparison.

"Anyone who serves God will discover sooner or later that the great hindrance to his work is not others but himself. He will discover that his outward man and his inward man are not in harmony, for both are tending toward opposite directions. He will also sense the inability of his outward man (the soul) to submit to the spirit's control, thus rendering him incapable of obeying God's highest commands."
Watchman Nee

To tie everything together using one more analogy, let’s start with this statement about the grain of wheat that Jesus made in John 12:24:

24  "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

First of all, the knowledge of this fact alone is astounding! How did He know that the wheat seed has to die before it actually grows? Maybe, because He is the Great Scientist that created it in the first place. Anyway, let’s look at this a little closer and see if it might give us some clues to who we are.

A SEED

The wheat grain as a seed is fitted for reproducing the plant from which it came. The germ is an embryo plant, with a radicle, which can grow into a root system and a plumule, which can develop into stems, leaves and ears. The pericarp is a tough skin, which protects the inner seed from soil organisms, which may attack it. The inner seed coats control the intake of water by the seed. The endosperm is the food reserve on which the young plant lives until it has developed a root system.

When Jesus said this, He was obviously talking about Himself. That He would have to die and be buried for Him to really bring life to the earth. But there are many things that we can learn from this one verse. First, as you can see from the diagram, each seed contains a germ, which is an entire plant within a seed, capable of producing roots, stems, leaves and ears. This is the spirit that is contained within each human being from birth. But it remains dormant until the seed is buried and dies. It has been reported that archeologists have found grains of wheat in Egyptian tombs that were 3000 years old. The seeds appeared completely dead. But when planted, they actually produced living wheat. Never underestimate who someone could be in Christ because of what they act like on the outside. They have just never been put in the right “soil” for their spirit to bring forth life.

So, if the germ is the embryo of the seed that is likened to our spirit, then the pericarp is symbolic of our actual flesh. This is the part of the seed that deteriorates in the ground and actually dies. In the physical, the outer skin of the seed (pericarp) is just the outer skin and bones that we have. It does nothing else but house the soul, just as the “pericarp” houses the “seed coats”. Interestingly enough if you look closely at the diagram, you will notice that there are two parts to the pericarp: The outer skin or shell of the seed and the inner seed coats, which regulates the water intake to the seed itself. These two parts are connected intimately. Our soul is housed within our body but is intimately connected to it just as in the grain of wheat. So if the pericarp represents the body, the inner seed represents the soul and the germ represents the spirit, then what does the endosperm represent? This is none other than the Spirit of the Living God. Just as the endosperm is the initial food supply that the embryo uses until its roots are established, spiritually speaking it is the initial fire that is put into every believer that “gets him going” and excited to grow. When the new shoot breaks forth through the ground, it no longer has to rely on the initial highly concentrated energy of the “endosperm”, for it has full access to all of the nutrients and energy of the sun itself. So if the endosperm disappears, does the Spirit of God disappear once we start growing? No. The endosperm actually never disappears. It is absorbed into the germ to create life. In the same way, when a person decides to die to self, the soul yields itself and allows the water of life (the Word of God) to enter into the spirit. This water activates the Spirit of God to nourish the spirit and causes it to break forth past the soul (our worldly flesh) that the world may see a “new creature” that has been “born again”. But everything starts when the “inner seed” (our soul-which is our will, mind and emotions) decides to allow the water of life to enter in. The Spirit of God resides with us along side our spirit, as long as we allow Him, giving it the power to break through our will to accomplish the will of the Father.

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
This verse demonstrates to us the conversion experience. It is by the Spirit of God that gives our spirit the power to rule over the soul (mind, will and emotions), which ever since the fall in the garden, is bent toward the law of sin and death.
In the context of what Jesus was saying the analogy goes further. When we die, the outer skin (our body) dies and deteriorates into nothing. But our soul (the inner seed) is taken to a holding place where it awaits the Last Trumpet of God to awaken it. When Christ comes down at the end of time to reign for a thousand years, he will reunite our spirit with our soul and create a “glorified” body that we will have for all eternity.

In Conclusion

Now that we have established a firm foundation on this subject, let’s review what we have learned so far.

1. That there are two different resurrections that happen at two different times.

2. The first is the resurrection of the just that happens at the return of Christ

3. The second is the resurrection of the unjust that happens at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ where all those that are not found in the Book of Life are thrown into the Lake of Fire.

4. The soul is the part of us that the Bible refers to as the “flesh”. And it is the part of us that is connected to our mind, will and emotions and bent toward pleasing itself.

5. The spirit within us is the part of us that is spiritual that is innocent and neutral. It is not connected to the sins of the soul. The spirit is the part that the Holy Spirit speaks to in order to change the actions of the soul.

6. When a person dies, the spirit goes back to God from which it came, and the soul goes to Sheol (the Pit) to await the return of Christ or the Final Judgment.

7. The Lake of Fire is not a place of eternal torment, but a place where souls are eternally destroyed.

8. There is no such thing as a rapture before the Second Coming of Christ

. That “Sheol” and “Hades” means the “Pit” or holding place of the dead

10.   No one gets thrown into the Lake of Fire until the end of the thousand years

 Knowing this background, we should now be more equipped to answer our original question of “Where do we go when we die?” It seemed like an easy question in the beginning, didn’t it?

Psalm 30:3  O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.  Here David is thankful that he did not die and go to the grave (Sheol). And which part does he refer to as going to the grave? The soul. The soul is the only part of us that is said to go to Sheol (Hebrew for Pit), Hades (Greek for Pit) or Gehena (Greek for lake of fire). Sheol and Hades are the same place. They are the same word in two different languages. Gehena is the Lake of Fire.

Based on the overwhelming scriptural context on this subject, it is clear that when a person dies, the soul of that person goes to a holding place awaiting the final judgment. Some scholars believe, as the Book of Enoch suggests, that there are different compartments of Sheol separating the righteous from the wicked. Although there are no definitive scripture for this theory, I also tend to lean in that direction. For the believer in Christ, the spirit of the individual goes back to God at death and awaits the resurrection of the soul at the Second Coming where together they will comprise of a new, glorified body. It is unknown whether or not the spirit on its own has any autonomous individuality outside of the soul. There is no evidence that the spirit of a man has any individual personality when it is released from the body. But seeing that it has been demonstrated that the soul is the part of you that is connected to the seat of the emotions, it makes sense that the spirit of a man is just residing with man as a way of connection and communication between God and man. As it has already been shown, we ARE a living soul. We HAVE a spirit so that each man has a part of himself that is undefiled and capable of communicating to, and housing the Spirit of God. This spirit awaits the resurrection of the soul after death. For the righteous will be resurrected when the Messiah comes back and will rule and reign with Him for a thousand years. The wicked that did not make the first resurrection and those that are born during the millennial reign will be raised at the end of the thousand years for the Great White Throne Judgment. This is where all those not found in the Book of Life are finally destroyed in the Lake of Fire, thus putting an end to all enemies, rule and authority once and for all.(1Cor 15:24) Amen.

Extra Stuff On "Sheol"

For those that would like to do even more research and follow up, the following information is taken from www.jewishencyclopedia.com and is a very exhaustive summary on the word Sheol.

It connotes the place where those that had died were believed to be congregated. Jacob, refusing to be comforted at the supposed death of Joseph, exclaims: "I shall go down to my son a mourner unto Sheol" (Gen. xxxvii. 36, Hebr.; comp. ib. xlii. 38; xliv. 29, 31). Sheol is underneath the earth (Isa. vii. 11, lvii. 9; Ezek. xxxi. 14; Ps. lxxxvi. 13; Ecclus. [Sirach] li. 6; comp. Enoch, xvii. 6, "toward the setting of the sun"); hence it is designated as (Deut. xxxii. 22; Ps. lxxxvi. 13) or (Ps. lxxxviii. 7; Lam. iii. 55; Ezek. xxvi. 20, xxxii. 24). It is very deep (Prov. ix. 18; Isa. lvii. 9); and it marks the point at the greatest possible distance from heaven (Job xi. 8; Amos ix. 2; Ps. cxxxix. 8). The dead descend or are made to go down into it; the revived ascend or are brought and lifted up from it (I Sam. ii. 6; Job vii. 9; Ps. xxx. 4; Isa. xiv. 11, 15). Sometimes the living are hurled into Sheol before they would naturally have been claimed by it (Prov. i. 12; Num. xvi. 33; Ps. lv. 16, lxiii. 10), in which cases the earth is described as "opening her mouth" (Num. xvi. 30). Sheol is spoken of as a land (Job x. 21, 22); but ordinarily it is a place with gates (ib. xvii. 16, xxxviii. 17; Isa. xxxviii. 10; Ps. ix. 14), and seems to have been viewed as divided into compartments (Prov. vii. 27), with "farthest corners" (Isa. xiv. 15; Ezek. xxxii. 23, Hebr.; R. V. "uttermost parts of the pit"), one beneath the other (see Jew. Encyc. v. 217, s. v. Eschatology). Here the dead meet (Ezek. xxxii.; Isa. xiv.; Job xxx. 23) without distinction of rank or condition—the rich and the poor, the pious and the wicked, the old and the young, the master and the slave—if the description in Job iii. refers, as most likely it does, to Sheol. The dead continue after a fashion their earthly life. Jacob would mourn there (Gen. xxxvii. 35, xlii. 38); David abides there in peace (I Kings ii. 6); the warriors have their weapons with them (Ezek. xxxii. 27), yet they are mere shadows ("rephaim"; Isa. xiv. 9, xxvi. 14; Ps. lxxxviii. 5, A. V. "a man that hath no strength"). The dead merely exist without knowledge or feeling (Job xiv. 13; Eccl. ix. 5). Silence reigns supreme; and oblivion is the lot of them that enter therein (Ps. lxxxviii. 13, xciv. 17; Eccl. ix. 10). Hence it is known also as "Dumah," the abode of silence (Ps. vi. 6, xxx. 10, xciv. 17, cxv. 17); and there God is not praised (ib. cxv. 17; Isa. xxxviii. 15). Still, on certain extraordinary occasions the dwellers in Sheol are credited with the gift of making knowntheir feelings of rejoicing at the downfall of the enemy (Isa. xiv. 9, 10). Sleep is their usual lot (Jer. li. 39; Isa. xxvi. 14; Job xiv. 12). Sheol is a horrible, dreary, dark, disorderly land (Job x. 21, 22); yet it is the appointed house for all the living (ib. xxx. 23). Return from Sheol is not expected (II Sam. xii. 23; Job vii. 9, 10; x. 21; xiv. 7 et seq.; xvi. 22; Ecclus. [Sirach] xxxviii. 21); it is described as man's eternal house (Eccl. xii. 5). It is "dust" (Ps. xxx. 10; hence in the Shemoneh 'Esreh, in benediction No. ii., the dead are described as "sleepers in the dust").
God Its Ruler.

God's rulership over it is recognized (Amos ix. 2; Hos. xiii. 14; Deut. xxxii. 22; I Sam. ii. 6 [Isa. vii. 11?]; Prov. xv. 11). Hence He has the power to save the pious therefrom (Ps. xvi. 10, xlix. 16, the text of which latter passag