The Christ in Prophecy Journal

What Happens When You Die? – Events

If several years ago you had asked me what happens when you die, I would have given you a pathetic answer. I would have told you that when you die your soul goes to sleep until the Lord returns. At the return of the Lord, your soul is resurrected and judged, and you are either consigned to Hell or allowed to enter Heaven.

My conception of Heaven was that of a spirit world where the saved spend eternity as disembodied spirits, floating around on clouds, playing harps.

A Mistaken View

Needless to say, I couldn’t get very excited about all that. I sure didn’t like the idea of being unconscious in the grave for eons of time. Nor could I develop any enthusiasm for the prospect of being a disembodied spirit with no particular identity or personality. And the idea of playing a harp for all eternity was downright scandalous, for I had been taught that instrumental music in worship was an abomination!

You can imagine, therefore, the sense of shock I felt when I started studying Bible prophecy and discovered that all these ideas of mine about life after death were foreign to God’s Word. But my shock quickly gave way to exhilaration when I discovered what the Lord really has in store for me.

The Biblical View

I learned from God’s Word that when those of us who are Christians die, our spirits never lose their consciousness (Phils. 1:23). Instead, our fully conscious spirits are immediately ushered into the presence of Jesus by His holy angels (2 Cor. 5:8).

Our spirits remain in the Lord’s presence until He appears for His Church. At that time, He brings our spirits with Him, resurrects our bodies, reunites our spirits with our bodies, and then glorifies our bodies, perfecting them and rendering them eternal (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

We return with Him to Heaven in our glorified bodies where we are judged for our works to determine our degrees of rewards (2 Cor. 5:10). When this judgment is completed, we participate in a glorious wedding feast to celebrate the union of Jesus and His Bride, the Church (Rev. 19:7-9).

Witnesses of Glory

At the conclusion of the feast, we burst from the heavens with Jesus, returning with Him to the earth in glory (Rev. 19:14). We witness His victory at Armageddon, we shout “Hallelujah!” as He is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords, and we revel in His glory as He begins to reign over all the earth from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem (Zech. 14:1-9; Rev. 19:17-21).

For a thousand years we participate in that reign, assisting Him with the instruction, administration, and enforcement of His perfect laws (Rev. 20:1-6). We see the earth regenerated and nature reconciled (Isa. 11:6-9). We see holiness abound and the earth flooded with peace, righteousness and justice (Mic. 4:1-7).

At the end of the Millennium we witness the release of Satan to deceive the nations. We see the truly despicable nature of the heart of Man as millions rally to Satan in his attempt to overthrow the throne of Jesus. But we will shout “Hallelujah!” again when we witness God’s supernatural destruction of Satan’s armies and see Satan himself cast into Hell where he will be tormented forever (Rev. 20:7-10).

We will next witness the Great White Throne Judgment when the unrighteous are resurrected to stand before God. We will see perfect holiness and justice in action as God pronounces His terrible judgment upon this congregation of the damned who have rejected His gift of love and mercy in Jesus Christ (Rev. 20:11-13).

Jesus will be fully vindicated as every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. Then the unrighteous will receive their just reward as they are cast into Hell (Rev. 20:14-15).

Witnesses of a New Creation

We will then witness the most spectacular fireworks display in all of history. We will be taken to the New Jerusalem, the eternal mansion prepared by Jesus for His Bride, and from there we will watch as God renovates this earth with fire, burning away all the filth and pollution left by Satan’s last battle (2 Pet. 3:12-13).

Just as the angels rejoiced when God created the universe, we will rejoice as we watch God superheat this earth and reshape it like a hot ball of wax into the New Earth, the eternal earth, the paradise where we will live forever in the presence of God (Rev. 21:1).

What a glorious moment it will be when we are lowered to the New Earth inside the fabulous New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2). God will come down from Heaven to dwell with us (Rev. 21:3). He will proclaim: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5) We will see God face to face (Rev. 22:4). He will wipe away all our tears (Rev. 21:4). Death will be no more (Rev. 21:4). We will be given new names (Rev. 2:17), and we will exist as individual personalities encased in perfect bodies (Phil. 3:21). And we will grow eternally in knowledge and love of our infinite Creator, honoring Him with our talents and gifts.

Now, I can get excited about that! Read the next part!

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Dr. David Reagan

Dr. David Reagan is the Founder and Evangelist Emeritus of Lamb & Lion Ministries. He is a life-long Bible student, teacher, and preacher and he led over 45 pilgrimages to Israel. Dr. Reagan was the host of the radio then television program Christ in Prophecy for nearly 40 years.

9 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • the notion that we’re going to be some chubby being.sitting around struming a harp and wearing a diaper is disturbing. That’s what some people in nursing homes do. In addition to the book 23minutes in hell describing hades there is a book written by randy alcorn called heaven i recommend

  • awhile back dr. Reagan did a few programs based on randy alcorns book. I dont know if those programs are available any longer. One thing the book covered was relationships in heaven. I remember as a kid lunch time in school was a lonely time cuz noone sat with me or invited me to sit with them and recess was the same way. I would never get picked on the teams. (im sure many people went thru that) i was afraid i’d enjoy heaven alone but randy covers that. Grear book. I recommend that and 23minutes in hell

  • Here are the shows on Heaven.

    Dr. Reagan really likes the Randy Alcorn book “Heaven.” A great book by the same author is “Edge of Eternity.” It’s a modern “Pilgrim’s Progress,” showing by fiction the spiritual reality of a person’s walk through life and death.

  • i’ll have to check out that book. About 6months ago i read “pilgrims progress” written in modern english. I dont recall who wrote it but i read the original book many years ago. Fantastic literature, i always loved that book. You ever read 23minutes in hell? Another must read. I cant garentee the legtimacy of his experience but he always points the reader to the scripture. I’m going to check out that book. Alcorn seems to be a great author

  • Question: At the Great White Throne Judgement, will we recognize those that are being condemned? On one hand I would think it satisfying to see Hitler condemned, but I shudder to think that we would witness a loved one, friend being or aquaintence being condemned.

  • Paul teaches in 1 Cor. 6 that believers will judge the world and angels. So yes, I think we’ll have some part in the Great White Throne Judgment, maybe as witnesses.

  • but what if its a close friend we never witnessed to? Wouldnt that be rubbing it in our face? There is debate as to whether we’l witness it or not. Dont know which side is correct

  • Nathan, in another comment you wrote:

    “The theory’s based on Isaiah 65:17, “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”

    For heaven to be perfect, we can no longer remember our sorrows. So who we are in essence remains, but our earthly memories wouldn’t.”

    If we witness the damned being sent to torment then we would be subject to sorrow which the Bible says will not be the case. Is it possible that we will not know who these people are (memory wiped or whatever) but only know they were the ones who rejected Christ? I suppose in the end the answer is I just have faith and trust the God has already taken care of such detail and not be worried about it now.

  • one thing to consider is that we’ll be in our ressurected bodies and will have no sin nature at that time. Also we’ll have a perfect sense of justice so we’ll see them for what they are, vile unregenerate sinners who rejected salvation. Our thinking and understanding will be perfect.

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