After death, the bodies of men return to dust and see corruption.1 Their souls, which have an immortal existence, do not die or sleep but immediately return to God who gave them.2 The souls of the righteous are then made perfect in holiness and are received into paradise, where they are with Christ and behold the face of God in light and glory. They wait for the full redemption of their bodies.3 The souls of the wicked are cast into hell where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved for the judgment of the great day.4 For souls separated from their bodies, Scripture acknowledges none other than these two places.
On the last day the saints which are alive will not sleep but will be changed.5 All the dead will be raised up with physical, human bodies and not another,6 although with different qualities. These raised bodies will be united again to their souls forever.7
By the power of Christ, the bodies of the unjust will be raised to dishonor. By his Spirit, the bodies of the just will be raised to honor and be conformed to his own glorious body.8
- Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption. ↩︎
- Ecclesiastes 12:7 The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. ↩︎
- Luke 23:43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5:6–8 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Philippians 1:23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Hebrews 12:23 To the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. ↩︎
- Jude 6–7 The angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 1 Peter 3:18–19 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. Luke 16:23–24 In Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ ↩︎
- 1 Corinthians 15:51–52 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ↩︎
- Job 19:26–27 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! ↩︎
- 1 Corinthians 15:42–43 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. ↩︎
- Acts 24:15 [I have] a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. John 5:28–29 “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Philippians 3:21 [Christ] will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. ↩︎
