Is there really an afterlife?

from the old testament

• While the New Testament provides clarity on the afterlife, the Old Testament hints at three things: 1) people continued to exist in a conscience, self-aware state after dying, 2) people expected to be with God and/or reunited with dead loved ones, and 3) people looked forward to a future resurrection.
• The place where the dead went in the Old Testament was named Sheol. That place is a shadowy, undefined netherworld region where both righteous (Genesis 42:38) and unrighteous (Numbers 16:33) were said to go after death. Because of its fuzziness, it should not be directly associated with either heaven or hell. Instead, it reflects the limited revelation of the afterlife that they had prior to Jesus. Though the information on the place is limited, there are indications of conscience activity in it.
• The prophet Isaiah was prophesying about a future time when Israel would be restored and Babylon overthrown. He prophesied a taunt by the dead in Sheol to mock the “king of Babylon” (Isaiah 14:4). It reads, “Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; it arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; it raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. They will all respond and say to you, ‘Even you have been made weak as we, you have become like us.’: (Isaiah 14:9–10). The verse talks about the dead rulers “welcoming” the king of Babylon who was once the most powerful man on earth but now is at their same level, joining them in Sheol. This conversation implies not only consciousness but that dead people know who other dead people are.
• Another verse implying conscious awareness in Sheol is Ezekiel 32:21. Similar to the Isaiah passage, God is talking about people of Egypt and the Pharaoh being sent to Sheol using His instrument of judgment, Babylon (Ezekiel 32:11). This verse says, “The strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’” The picture is the “mighty ones,” like Assyria (Ezekiel 32:22) talking “from the midst of Sheol.” That is, though they are dead, they are talking. Like with the previous verse, this implies both conscience awareness and a sense of identity. It also implies an awareness of what has happened on earth.
• Saul rebelled against God and hired a medium—someone paid to talk to the dead. The medium called up Samuel for Saul and he came “up out of the earth” (1 Samuel 28:13), presumably out of Sheol. He then said, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” (1 Samuel 28:15a). While this mysterious event itself raises questions about interacting with the dead, the point is that the dead Samuel was able to talk with Saul and understand everything going on. That implies that he was consciously aware despite being dead.
• In addition to consciousness in Sheol, we see a general expectation to be with God or loved ones after death. In the previous passage, Saul visited a medium. This is something that God has strictly forbidden as demonic. Because Saul did this, God said “the LORD will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me” (1 Samuel 28:1–13). The next day Saul and his son would be killed in battle (1 Samuel 31:19). In God’s declaration is the expectation that Saul wouldn’t just stop breathing, but that He would be face-to-face with God.
• In another example, king David had sinned by sleeping with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one his best soldiers). The result was that David tried to cover up his sin by killing Uriah (2 Samuel 11:1–25). When Bathsheba conceived and gave birth to a son, God punished David for his sins. The boy became sick, and David wept, prayed, and wouldn’t eat. After the boy died, David’s servants were afraid to tell him because they thought David might harm himself. However, he surprised them by getting up and returning to life as normal. He explained to them, “But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23). The statement, “I will go to him” shows an expectation by David that he would be reunited with his son after death.
• Finally, we also see that the Old Testament saints awaited their resurrection. Job, during his trials, expected to be resurrected in the end when he said, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed; yet from my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25–26). Job’s hope was grounded in the fact that God is a living God. Also notice that he expected to see God “from my flesh.” That doesn’t mean a spiritual existence but being back alive in his body.
• Psalm 49 echoes this hope saying that all will die (Psalm 49:1–14), yet says, “But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me” (Psalm 49:15). Like with Job, death was not seen as the end, but a time in Sheol awaiting a future resurrection.
• And it was understood that everyone, not just believers, would be resurrected. For example, in the final explanation to Daniel about the end time visions he had, he was told, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). “Sleep” is often used to refer to the dead, which emphasizes that it is temporary. Those who are “sleeping” will be raised again to their final reward (everlasting life) or damnation (everlasting contempt).

from the new testament

• The New Testament is much more explicit about the afterlife. However, even there it does not give us every detail we’d like. Just as with the Old Testament, we see three things: 1) people continue to exist in a conscious, self-aware state after dying, 2) people expected to be with Jesus, and 3) people expected a future resurrection. The main difference in the New Testament is that we learn how all of this is possible: through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
• As far as conscious existence, Luke 16:19–31 is a good place to look. That is a story about the death of two men. At their death, they each go to their respective “sides” in the afterlife. This is a difference from the fuzziness of Sheol. We learn that death begins our eternal experience. While these places may not be the final destinations of heaven and hell, these places are similar in nature. After death, one of the men, Lazurus, went into “Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:21). That was meant as a place of comfort. The other man, only known as “the rich man,” went to Hades, a place of torment (Luke 16:23). In this afterlife scene, we learn that the rich man is consciously in pain (Luke 16:24c). He looked up and saw Lazurus in comfort and asked Abraham to send Lazurus to bring him some relief (Luke 16:24b). Abraham refused, saying that one’s eternity is settled after death (Luke 16:25–26; c.f., Hebrews 9:27). The rich man then begged Abraham to send someone to warn his living relatives (Luke 16:27–31). So, not only was the rich man conscious, but he recognized Lazurus and had a conversation with Abraham. He was also aware of his living relatives.
• Jesus, in fact, argues that those who are dead are also currently living. The Sadducees were leaders who did not believe in the resurrection (Mark 13:18) and tried tricking Jesus by giving him a nonsense puzzle about marriage (Mark 13:19–23). Jesus corrected their understanding of marriage between this life and the life after resurrection with regards to marriage (Mark 13:24–25). He then said, “But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I Am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Mark 13:26–27). Jesus’ point was that God, whom they claimed to believe, said He was the God of men who had died long before. Jesus was saying that the living God is not the God of dead people but of living. The implication is that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (and everyone else) were living despite being dead.
• Regarding an expectation of being with Jesus, the New Testament gives hope to believers that they will be with Him when they die. For example, when Jesus was on the cross, He was between a couple thieves. One thief confessed Jesus as the true Savior, asking Him to remember him. Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
• Paul, who suffered much in this life and was sitting in prison awaiting the results of his trial and possible death, said, “to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21b). The reason for that gain? Because “to depart and be with Christ, … that is very much better” (Philippians 1:22b). He was content, even happy, about dying because he knew he’d be with Jesus.
• Similarly, Paul also said, “while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord” therefore “I … prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6, 8). Notice that the opposite of being “home in the body” is death—the separation from the body. Death, then, brings believers “home with the Lord.”
• Finally, a major theme of the New Testament is the resurrection of the dead. To be resurrected means to be reunited with a body. Paul refers to the risen as given an imperishable body, meaning an everlasting one (1 Corinthians 15:52).
• Once again, it is not just believers who are raised. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live…Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment” (John 5:25, 28–29). The “resurrection of life” refers to those who are resurrected to have eternal life. The “resurrection of judgement” refers to those who are resurrected to have eternal death.

implications for today

The Bible says that the afterlife has two destinations. Those who have died are currently aware of where and who they are. Each of them is also in a permanent position that defines their eternal state. So, believers who have died are already experiencing conscience comfort with the Lord while unbelievers are in conscience torment permanently separated from Him. Both are awaiting the final resurrection into their bodies.

However, those who are still alive have the opportunity to change our state and be saved. Every one of us was born sinful (Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:9–18). That means that we did not start in a neutral position but were born already headed to eternal torment. That is because sin comes with the just payment of death (Romans 6:23a).

God, however, extended mercy by providing the gift of an escape from His wrath (Romans 6:23b). Out of love, He sent His Son, Jesus (John 3:16). Though Jesus is fully God, He added on humanity (Philippians 2:6–7). That means that in His humanity He is exactly like us except that He is incapable of sinning. He came and lived perfectly righteously, and, therefore, did not need to die. However, He chose to do so in order to take the wrath of God in the place of those who believe in Him (1 John 4:10). Because He is God, He resurrected after three days. His resurrection proved His divinity and paved the way for the rest of us to be resurrected.

Though Jesus died for sin, it was for those who believe in Him. If you have not yet trusted Jesus as your Savior, then you are waiting for God’s eternal wrath (John 3:36). We implore you to repent of your sin—that means to admit you are a sinner and to turn away from it— trusting in Jesus’ life and death as your only hope. When you do so, your afterlife will be the beginning of eternal joy!