What happens to you when you die?

Mark 12:27, The Elohim of the living. Some people have used this passage in an attempt to prove the immortality of the soul—that when a person dies, their soul immediately leaves their body and goes to heaven. After all, if Elohim is the God of the living, not of the dead then this must mean that the patriarchs are still be alive—in heaven. What is the real truth behind this verse from a whole Bible perspective?

This verse can actually be explained in several ways without subscribing to the non-biblical, non-Hebraic, pagan concept of the immortality of the soul. 

In truth, the Bible clearly teaches that the soul that sins dies (Ezek 18:4); it doesn’t go to heaven. When we understand what the soul really is from a biblical perspective, we will see that it is a man’s soul (his mind, will and emotions) that sins, for out of the heart proceeds all sorts of evil things (Matt 15:19), and the heart of man is desperately wicked (Jer 17:9). Because a man sins through his soul, this is why Yeshua’s sinless soul had to become an offering for man’s sin (Isa 53:10). 

Moreover, when Yeshua died, his body and soul went into the grave, and his spirit went to heaven (Luke 23:46). The same thing happens to a man when he dies, except that those who have died in Messiah are awaiting the resurrection of their bodies at the second coming of Yeshua (1 Thess 4:16) where their spirits will be rejoined with their resurrected souls and bodies. Therefore, when Yeshua states that YHVH isn’t the Elohim of the dead, but the living, he could have meant that in the mind of Elohim, a righteous person isn’t technically dead, since his name is written in the Book of Life and legally he has inherited eternal life, and the body and soul are merely sleeping in the grave awaiting the resurrection. 

What happens to our spirit when we die? After all, the Bible teaches that human’s are composed of spirit, soul and body (1 Thess 5:23)?

When a person dies, their spirit goes to heaven, even as Yeshua’s spirit did (Eccl 12:7; Acts 7:59; Luke 23:46). Now whether or not one’s spirit is conscious when it is in heaven, the Scriptures don’t say. So we won’s speculate about this.

So what is Elohim’s perspective on the death of a saint? Simply this. Even though a person may be physically dead or “sleeping” in the grave (in numerous places, the Scriptures call death “sleep”) for years, in the mind of Elohim, which isn’t bound by the limitations of time, and where a thousands years is like a day and vice versa, when a righteous person dies, to Elohim that person is still alive, for his name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and he will be resurrected the next day, so to speak. Moreover, a person’s spirit waits in heaven to be reunited with their physical body at the resurrection of the saints at Yeshua’s second coming.

By viewing Yeshua’s statement in Mark 12:27 from this more expanded, whole Bible, Hebraic perspective, we are able to reconcile the Bible’s various statements about what happens to a person after they die without having to interject into Scripture the unbiblical and pagan concept of the immortality of the soul. 

 

9 thoughts on “What happens to you when you die?

  1. Thank you for speaking on this. Where in the world did people get the idea that they become angels or that they can look over you from heaven? I suppose a need for comfort….? Anyway…I have been thinking this way…could you comment please? YHVH breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. From this I thought that man doesnt HAVE a soul, rather he IS one since Father’s breath (spirit) makes it so. So…when Father removes His breath(spirit) man is no longer a soul…but that when the spirit that Father took back, reunited with the new body, the soul exists again…?

  2. I’m glad you have brought this subject up I have 3 life experiences I would like to share

    I wasn’t raised in the church only attending church with my much older sisters or singing Jesus loves me but would never call myself a Christian, but Neither did I believe in or follow new age mysticism

    I recall when I was about 20 someone asked me about the Bible and I said how could something written 2000 years ago be relevant in my life..little did I know

    I was about 25 and living in Eastern Canada when my Dad died. This one morning I was in a small motel with no telephone in the room I heard a sharp intake of breath I waited for the motel owner to come get me for a phone call from my sister who was going to call me when Dad passed. The next day the call came. It was my sister. She said Patty, Dad died yesterday. I said I know what time did he die? It was the exact time I had heard that gasp

    I fell in to a deep depression after my Dad died that lasted for many years. I was awakened one morning to the sensation someone was holding my hand and stroking it like I had held my Dads hand when I was with him weeks before he died. I was shocked awake when I realized I was alone! I sat up in bed and at the foot of my bed stood 2 men, one in a long white gown who never spoke and the other was my Dad, dressed in one of his western snap shirts and his western dress pants, my Dads only words to me were “It will be alright “. And then they were gone.

    Fast forward 18 years, married and 2 little kids in grade 1 and 3 I was diagnosed with breast cancer And before I had the surgery I went back to work to organize my work area for my replacement, I cried out to God that I couldn’t bear this burden, when I opened my eyes I was surrounded by maybe 8-10 little old men and women arms around me holding me up. I didn’t recognize anyone, all my grandparents had died before I was born. Their clothes were of a generation from the early 1900s. no one said a word but were simply there holding on to me.

    Probably another 5 years later my husbands parents lived across the street from us. My sweet father in law was in hospice, only days from passing. My husband had spent the night before with his dad and this night our brother in law offered to stay the night. He said he would call as soon as something happened. At about 5:00am My husband I both woke up to the sound of Dads last gasp of breath. And we waited for the phone call. About half an hour later Pete called. Dad had infact passed at the exact time we heard the gasp. With the nurses and in all the excitement Pete forgot to call.

    My take away all these many years Later is we don’t get long white robes and wings when we die. But those who believed are not gone we will see them again We may not understand all of Gods ways, but He continues to demonstrate his compassion and love for us in simple and profound d ways. I am humbled by His mercy and forgiveness extended to me

    Patricia

    • Dear Patricia, I have not experienced such occurrences as you have and I do not discount them but I would like to enquire as to your health today-that I can relate to although my cancer was uterine (6 years ago) so how are you today if you care to share I am open to hearing:) Blessings, Carol!

  3. I also would ask why do we say Rest in Peace if the dearly departed are in glory? I know its comforting to think of them shall we say entirely with YHVH-like when my brother was stillborn and my mother was told God needed another angel! To comfort her I said look at it this way-at least one of your kids made it! We say all kinds of things to be compassionate but as to the immortality of the soul, that lie was first told by hasatan in the garden “you shall NOT surely die” contrary of course to the Word of Elohim, as Natan said as well-“the soul who sins shall die” not the soul THAT sins shall die!

  4. I have pondered on the soul who dies and the promise I shall not die but live. I ponder on ‘slept with his fathers’ and ‘only sleeping’ and how we are to interpret whether we ‘sleep’ as death has no sting for a redeemed soul (human being) and if the spirit returns to Father (because without His breathe I would not be) or does my spirit return to a waiting place as the promise is I am in Him and He is in me?
    Jesus chose to tell the story of Lazarus in Abrahams bosom and two men who died. Yes it was to demonstrate those who will not even believe one returned from the dead but he could have told it without the image of the two different choices and places. I have lots of things to ponder and only one source of Truth, and it sometimes is left for me to understand His Ways are way beyond my understanding

    • I deal with the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man elsewhere as well as other scriptures that are used to “prove” the immortality of the soul doctrine in other articles that I’ve written on this blog in the past. Just go to the search engine on this blog’s main page and type in key words like State of the Dead, Immortal Soul, or Lazarus and the Rich Man and you’ll pull these articles up, so that you can learn more about this subject.

      Happy studying!

  5. Good article. The Bible says the dead are not conscious or aware of anything according to Eccl 9 verse 5 and Psalms 146 verse 4. They are sleeping aka not conscious or aware of anything until the Resurrection when Yeshua comes back.

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