What Happens to Humans after Death?

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Every human has an appointment to die. And only Almighty God — the One who gave us life — knows the exact time of our death. He decrees what happens to every human after death.

The great Marvel villain, Thanos, states the theme of The Avengers: Infinity War early in the movie. “It’s frightening. Turns legs to jelly, but I ask you, to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same, and now it’s here.”

Destiny holds our death. Fiction speaks of destiny as if man has a part in it, like Thanos. In his arrogance, he said, “I am inevitable,” as if his actions made and changed the course of history. In fiction only. He may have thought himself so, but the only thing inevitable for Thanos was death.

The Bible, however, speaks of God’s perfect plan from eternity past. Scripture tells us, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once…” (Hebrews 9:27a). Death comes to all humans, but then…

What happens to humans after death?

The rest of the verse from Hebrews 9:27 that we quoted above is just a part of what the Bible tells us happens to us at death, “and after this comes judgment.” But with judgment comes direct contact with the Lord Jesus, since He is our Judge (Acts 17:31). Let’s investigate some of what the Bible says will happen to humans after death.

What Happens to Christians after Death?

Death is defined as the end of life, whether it’s physical and/or spiritual. We know death is inevitable, but what happens to Christians after death?

We are left with no doubt Christ’s death and resurrection are the only hope for humanity. Without His atoning sacrifice to erase the Fall, we would forever be in darkness (Ephesians 5:8) — spiritual and physical death would be our destiny. The Apostle Paul wraps up the whole of the magnitude of Christ’s death and resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:12-58.

But look at 1 Corinthians 15:26: “The last enemy to be abolished is death.” This death then is physical (returns to the dust from which it was originally created) and spiritual. We are separated from God because of Adam’s sin, which brought death to himself and to all who came after him.

Let’s look at some of what the Bible says death means for Christians:

In 1 Corinthians 15:22, Paul says, “For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” The life Christ brings does not end with a person’s physical, earthly death. Our bodies will be “asleep” in the grave, but our souls go straight to Paradise (Luke 23:43). Later, our physical bodies will be “reunited” with our souls.

We will be with Jesus the very moment we close our physical eyes in death (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).

“Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death — that is, the devil —  and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Colossians 1:22 encourages us with these words, “But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him.” Christians go through a Holy Spirit-driven process called sanctification, where we become more and more like Christ until, at death, we are presented to Him as fully sanctified — holy, blameless, and faultless (sinless).

Death will present us as fully glorified since the Holy Spirit has taken us from one degree of glory when we were saved to another as we are sanctified (2 Corinthians 3:18). We will be in the presence of the Lord and will have communion with Him as was originally intended when God created Adam because Jesus is re-creating everything — “making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

We will finally “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). As we are in our sinful states, we have never, even for one millisecond, loved the Lord or our neighbor as He commanded us to.

Christians’ bodies will be resurrected and reunified with their souls (1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:52-54). At their resurrection, the Bible tells us, “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).

Our physical death means no effects of the Fall. We will be in perfect health and communion with the Lord for eternity. In John 5:24 Jesus tells us, “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.”

We will be in the place Jesus has been preparing for us (John 14:3; 2 Corinthians 5:1).

Yes, we will be judged at the Bema Seat of Christ. The judgment has a “curve,” however, and that is we are clothed in Christ. We have already been justified and stand faultless before the throne (Colossians 1:22). Christians have nothing to fear because “There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So, the one who fears is not complete in love” (1 John 4:18). The perfect love is God’s!

What about Spiritual Death?

Many more benefits await those in Christ after their death, and so far, we have concentrated on physical death, because that’s what the vast majority of humans ponder when confronted with the thought of dying. It’s a negative because we were not created for physical or spiritual death (Romans 5:12). But we should look at the positive aspects of the kind of death a Christian inherits when saved by Jesus Christ, which is death to who we were before Christ saved us.

The list of who we were is long, but here are a few descriptions. We were:

Dead in our trespasses and sins (Colossians 2:13).

The list could include just this one fact because to be dead in sin is to be utterly hopeless.

Darkness (Ephesians 5:8).

Praise God we have been saved by the Light of the world (John 8:12). Any goodness in us is the fruit of the Light — goodness, righteousness, and truth (Ephesians 5:9).

Unloving (1 John 3:14).

“We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.” Now this love is not yet perfect until heaven, but our love compels us to love others as much as we can (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 John 4:19). We did not love before salvation in Christ Jesus.

Here’s just some of the good news for those who walk in Christ – in the newness of life He freely gives:

We have life in His name (John 20:31).

Because of Christ, death has no hold on us (Acts 2:24; Romans 6:9-11).

We are in the glorious spiritual kingdom of Christ

And we eagerly await His return to consummate His kingdom, where our names will be found written in the Book of Life (Hebrews 12:23).

Jesus will never let us go.

We belong to Him and are secure in our salvation.

Growing in understanding.

The Spirit gives us understanding no natural human receives (1 Corinthians 2:14).

We rest in Christ. The Apostle Paul tells us, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

To sum up every point made about the death that awaits Christians: God does not have a “Plan B.” From before creation, God decreed everything that would happen. Remember, God is Christ is the Holy Spirit — our triune God. The whole of the Bible is about Jesus, Who He is, what He has done, is doing, and will do.

What Happens to Unsaved Humans after Death?

This side of eternity, unbelievers (those who don’t know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord) try to pass death off as easily as they can imagine. Some say when people die, that’s it. Nothing follows — no thoughts, no body, no judgment. Nothing. They pose this as a positive, especially for those who are suffering. Because at the end of life, suffering ends, too (they say).

Along that same vein, unbelievers may think death is just part of life, and it’s all part of the universe’s grand design. Seemingly, that’s a vehicle for believing in something greater than oneself.

Other unbelievers surmise all humans are reincarnated, or folded into the fabric of the universe and they will either come back as something (usually better) or their spirit lives on and can communicate with other dead people or even those who are still living. The deeds one does while alive correspond to the kind of afterlife one will be part of.

Still others think those who are living must do things to help get their dead loved one to a place of comfort. Judgment factors in, but a way exists (they believe) to gain acceptance before the Judge (whether it be God or some other being they venerate).

These beliefs are not an exhaustive list, but they represent a vast number of views. Without a doubt, fear accompanies every view.

Here’s what the infallible Word of God tells us happens to any human who dies outside of Christ:

• Just as believers’ souls go to their assigned place (Paradise with Jesus), unbelievers will go to their appointed place — a place of anguish and darkness as they await judgment. Hell (Luke 16:24). At the general resurrection, their bodies and souls will be reunified but will be in anguish (John 5:28-29). Their bodies return to dust until reunited with their souls for judgment.
• Unbelievers will stand before the Lord God at the Great White Throne Judgment, having been raised by Christ, as the 1689 London Confession says, “to dishonor” (Jude 6-7; Revelation 20:11-15) and to be in eternal torment as if by fire (Revelation 20:15).

The following passage is an incredible look at the hope held by every Christian.

“May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith — more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:2b-9).

A Christian can face death knowing Jesus took away our slavery to the fear of death because He defeated forever the devil, who held its power. Answers in Genesis offers this encouraging note, “the fall resulted in immediate spiritual death and a later physical death. Accepting Christ provides an immediate spiritual life and a later physical life.”

No one should allow the world to deceive them into thinking life has meaning or a good ending without Christ. Pastor Jeffrey Scott Perry writes, “The hope of the Christian is not that the darkness never comes, but that it is never faced alone, for the same Christ who has been present in life does not depart in death, but brings His people safely through it into the presence of God.”

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Serdjo Photo

Lisa Loraine Baker is the multiple award-winning author of Someplace to be Somebody, which is being adapted and brought to the stage by the Karamu House Theater in Cleveland, Ohio (Winter, 2027). Lisa writes fiction (Christmas stories) and is currently writing a novel titled “Refuge.” She also writes non-fiction, including articles for BibleStudyTools.com and Christianity.com. She and her husband, Stephen, live in Lexington, Kentucky with their Kentucky wild cat, Lewis.