Faced with an imminent death in the family I went to the Scriptures to find comfort and answers. This is by no means a complete list of what the Bible says about death and what happens afterwards, it's only a fraction, and I have focused on this post only on life after the death of the believer in Jesus Christ. The fate of those souls who die without Christ is also thoroughly addressed in the Scriptures, but that's another post.You don't have to be afraid of death if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. We are in this world as aliens in a foreign land. Our physical death is merely the BEGINNING of our true life! Just as the death of Christ was a triumph rather than a tragedy, so is our death in Christ!
What the Bible Teaches
We Don't Belong In This World:
(Phillipians 1:21-24) [the Apostle Paul said] For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
(Ephesians 2:18-19) - for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,
(2Corinthians 5:20) we are ambassadors for Christ
(1Peter 1:1) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout ... who are chosen
(1Peter 2:11) Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
What Jesus said about death:
(John 11:25-26) "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die, Do you believe this?
(John 5:24) Truly, truly, I say unto you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life
(John 8:52) 'If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.'
(Revelation 2:11) 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.' [(Revelation 20:6) Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection [physical death]; over these the second death [hell] has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
What Death Means to a Believer in Christ Jesus:
(2Timothy 1:10) revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel
(Romans 8:38-39) For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Hebrews 2:14-5) that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
(1John 3:14) We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
(1Corinthians 15:54-55) But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"
(2Corinthians 1:9-10) we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us
(Hebrews 2:9) But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
(Ecclesiastes 7:1) the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth.
Death in perspective (everything gets BETTER for the believer after death, not worse!):
(Phillipians 1:21) - "to live is Christ, to die is gain".['To die' communicates profit because upon death there is union with Christ and with the new life which has no limitations of physical illness, age, money, location, etc. ]
(2 Corinthians 5:1-8) For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven.... Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge [a promise]. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight--...[Christians] are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
(Psalm 116:11, 15) In Your presence is fullness & joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever......Precious [valuable] in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.
(1Thessalonians 4:13-18) But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope [the unsaved]. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
(Hebrews 2:15) and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
When the believer dies he:
(at death a believer is IMMEDIATELY in Jesus' Presence...to a believer in Jesus Christ, physical death is only the beginning of life)
(2 Corinthians 5:6-9) while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- [we] prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
(Ecclesiastes 12:5,7) Man goes to his eternal home, the spirit will return to God who gave it
(Psalm 23:4, 6) - "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me...I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
(Romans 8:2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Also:
(1Corinthians 15:26) The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
(2 Samuel 12:22-23) King David, after his child died (1st child he had with Bathsheeba - taken by God as punishment for David's great sins of adultery and murder) said: "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept....but now he has died...can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me". He knew he would see his child again after his own death! So will we be reunited with our loved ones in Christ Jesus.
The Final Word on Death (literally):
(Revelation 21:4) and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."
In a few days the land of Israel will celebrate its 60th birthday. Lest you find that merely an interesting historical fact or that God had nothing to do with it, you should know that on that date........May 14th, 1948, Israel, against all odds and unlike any other disbursed or destroyed nation (before or since) in the history of man, became a country again.