What Happens When You Die? What the Bible Says About Heaven

The Bible describes life after death for believers in two stages. When a Christian dies, Scripture says they are "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord," which Paul calls "far better." Then, when Christ returns, the dead will be raised with new, imperishable bodies, and God will make all things new. The Bible gives the big picture clearly, but says little about the details of the time in between.

Here is what Scripture says about each stage.

At Death: With the Lord

Paul wrote about his own death with remarkable calm:

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8 (KJV)

In another letter, he says that to "depart, and to be with Christ" is "far better" than staying (Philippians 1:23). And Jesus promised the dying thief beside him:

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Luke 23:43 (KJV)

"To day," "with me," "in paradise." Most Christians read these verses as teaching that believers are consciously with Christ immediately after death. Ecclesiastes says the same in its own way: "the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

Some Christians hold that the dead "sleep" unconsciously until the resurrection, since the Bible often uses sleep as a picture of death (Daniel 12:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:13). Others read "sleep" as describing how death looks from our side, not what the person experiences. Either way, believers who die are safe with God.

The Resurrection: New Bodies

The New Testament's great hope is not just going to heaven, but resurrection. When Christ returns:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (KJV)

Paul describes the change:

Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:51–52 (KJV)

The body is not discarded. It is raised and transformed, just as Jesus' own body was raised from the tomb.

A New Heaven and a New Earth

The Bible ends not with souls in the clouds, but with God coming to live with his people:

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Revelation 21:3–4 (KJV)

The center of heaven is not its streets or gates, but God's presence. Jesus said the same to his friends:

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

John 14:2–3 (KJV)

"That where I am, there ye may be also." Heaven is being where Jesus is.

What About Judgment?

The Bible is honest that death is followed by judgment:

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Daniel 12:2 (KJV)

Hebrews says, "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). The good news of the gospel is that the judge is also the Savior.

What the Bible Doesn't Tell Us

Many questions are left open: exactly what the in-between state feels like, what age we will appear, how time works in eternity. Popular books and near-death accounts fill in details, but they are not Scripture. Christians do best to hold firmly to what the Bible says plainly, and loosely to everything else. For one popular question, see what are the seven levels of heaven?

The Hope Jesus Gives

Standing at a friend's grave, Jesus said:

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

John 11:25–26 (KJV)

That question is still the heart of the matter. For more on the life to come, see what will we do in heaven for all eternity?