The Bible clearly teaches that life continues after physical death. Every human soul lives on, either in conscious fellowship with God or in separation from Him. Death is not the end, but the beginning of eternity.
Hebrews 9:27 declares:
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”
Upon death, the soul immediately enters its eternal condition. For believers, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:8:
“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
Jesus also taught about the afterlife in the account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:22–26. Lazarus was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, a place of comfort. The rich man, in contrast, was in torment. Their destinations were immediate and irreversible.
There is no soul sleep, purgatory, or reincarnation. The soul remains conscious and accountable. Revelation 20:12–13 speaks of the future resurrection and judgment:
“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened… and the dead were judged according to their works.”
Eternal life is promised only through faith in Jesus Christ. John 3:36 says:
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
The hope of the believer is not in escaping death but in the certainty of resurrection and eternal glory with Christ. Life after death is a reality, and it matters how we live now. Each soul will stand before the Lord and enter into everlasting joy or everlasting destruction.
