Where Do We Go When We Die?

Many people believe in a Heaven but not in a Hell. This would require God to have a trivial attitude to sin. One writer said that he thought that God viewed our mischievous acts as he viewed the antics of his young kitten. Jesus said we would have to give an account for every careless word we had ever spoken. Matthew 12:36. God doesn't see our bullying, our gossip or our racist insults as being amusing. These are all very serious to him. Some people think we have to commit gross immorality to go to Hell. What is your definition of gross immmorality? A pastor's wife noticed that her husband was not in bed at 3 AM. She was sure he was just studying the Bible or preparing his sermon. She went to find him. He was looking at pornography on his mobile phone. To her, what her husband was doing was gross immorality. Do we expect God to just ignore that? Some of us make light of pornography. Everybody does it. It's natural. It doesn't do anybody any harm. Jesus said if any man looks at a woman in lust he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27,28. God forgives sin because it is important, because it matters and because it hurts. If he merely excused sin, considered it trivial and dismissed it, that wouldn't be true forgiveness. People think they've never done anything wrong. What about sins of omission? Not only the things we have done but the things we have not done? Matthew 25:31-46. People stand before Jesus on the day of judgement and he says, "I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and in need and you did not invite me in. Depart from me into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." The sin of Sodom is that they were overfed and unconcerned. They would not help the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:47-50. 

Hell exists because the poor and afflicted will not always be forgotten. God will punish the nations that forget God. Many of us who consider ourselves to be good and moral people have forgotten God. Psalm 9:17-20. God seeks to set the world to rights again. Why doesn't God get rid of all the bad people in the world and fill it with just the good people? One day he will. Matthew 13:24-30. The parable of the wheat and the weeds. Matthew 13:36-43. The parable explained. There is a field of wheat and an enemy comes and sows weeds. Should they pull up the weeds? No. The wheat might be uprooted accidentally. Wait until the harvest. Then the weeds can be gathered and burned up and the wheat can be gathered and put into the barn. The wheat represents the people of God's kingdom and the weeds represent evil people. The harvest is the end of this present world, when the angels will be sent out to gather these two groups of people. Revelation 20:11-15. There will be a judgement of the dead. The dead will stand before God who will be on a great white throne. Their deeds are written down in a book and the book will be opened. They will be judged according to what they have done and if their name is not found in the book of life they will be thrown into the everlasting fire. No one can pass this test. No one goes to Heaven just because they have lived a good life and have a good heart. No one could ever make themselves right with God. Heaven and Earth fled away, so this judgement is in the distant future, at the very end of time, when the present universe has been destroyed. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, death and hades gave up the dead that were in them. Hades is the abode of the dead at the present time and there is also a paradise for the people who do know God. When Jesus was crucified there were two robbers who were being crucified with him. One kept insulting him. The other said, "Christ, remember me when you come to your kingdom." Jesus replied, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." Luke 23:39-43. A rich man had a beggar called Lazarus at his gate and completely ignored him. Then he died. The rich man was standing in fire in Hades and could see Lazarus up in Heaven with Abraham. He asked if Lazarus could dip his finger in water and give him a drink. He was so hot and thirsty in the fire. Abraham told him that he had received good things in his life on Earth and Lazarus was enjoying his good things now. There was a mighty gulf between Paradise and Hades and Lazarus would not be able to go there to help the rich man. Hades is a place of agony and torment. Luke 16:19-31.

The thought of Heaven gives Christians a tremendous sense of hope. This is true of people who have to undergo severe persecution and suffering for Christ in other parts of the world but it is true anyway. Heaven gives us something to look forward to. We will be with God forever after we die. 1Corinthians 15:12-19. If we say there is no resurrection of the dead, Jesus didn't rise from the dead and neither will any of us. If we only have hope in Christ for this life, we are to be pitied above all men. The apostle Paul describes in the second book of Corinthians how he suffered for his faith. Several times he had been whipped or put in prison. Three times he had been shipwrecked. We're not sure how he died but he probably had a martyr's death. Being a Christian was dangerous in Roman times, as it is in some parts of the world now. Paul says that if all this suffering is for nothing, we are to be pitied above all men. 2Corinthians 11:16-32.

There are three resurrections in the Bible. The first resurrection is when Jesus gathers the church. Jesus will appear in the sky and will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call to gather his followers from the four corners of the earth. The dead in Christ will rise first. All the Christians who have died in the past will appear in the sky with him. Christians who are still alive will be caught up to be with him in the air and they shall be with Jesus forever. 1Thessalonians 4:13-18. The second is the resurrection of the righteous people who have endured the terrible time of suffering that will come on the world when Jesus returns. There will be a time of suffering unequalled since the beginning of time and never to be equalled again. Daniel 12:1-4. Those who were beheaded for their faith and didn't worship the antichrist or take the mark of the beast, without which they could not buy or sell anything, will come to life and reign with Christ for a thousand years. The people at this resurrection are believers. The second death, which is the fire of Hell, has no power over them. Revelation 20:4-6.The third resurrection is when the rest of the dead come to life at the end of the thousand years and are judged by God before the great white throne. They are unbelievers and are cast into fire of Hell. Revelation 20:11-15.

Jesus will reign for a thousand years on the earth. All the people who ever followed Jesus will be living in the world with him. He returns with all his holy ones. Jude v.14-15. Conditions during this time will be idyllic. The devil, the source of all the evil in the world, will be chained in a deep pit. There will be no evil influence. Revelation 20:1-3. There will be world peace. Nations will beat their swords into ploughshares and they will not train people for war anymore. Isaiah 2:1-4. There will be peace among the animals. The lion will eat grass with the lamb. Isaiah 11:6-9. People will have much longer life spans and he who dies at the age of a hundred will be considered a mere youth. Isaiah 65:17-23. In spite of the idyllic conditions that people born during this time have been born into and lived under, there will be a final rebellion. At the end of the thousand years, the devil will be released from his prison and go to deceive the nations of the earth. He will gather them for battle outside Jerusalem. Fire will come down from Heaven and destroy them. Revelation 20:7-10. At this time, the elements of the earth will melt and the world and everything in it will be burnt up and laid bare. 2Peter 3:10-13. Heaven and Earth will pass away. Matthew 24:35. Space will roll up like a scroll. Isaiah 34:1-4. There will be new heavens and a new earth. We will spend eternity in Heaven's city, where there will be no more sorrow or crying and no more death. The dwelling of God will be with mankind. We shall be with him forever.