...what does matter is what the Bible says.
Please remember that the responses to the question are from a Biblical perspective and not a human opinion. Anything that is stated here should be confirmed for accuracy.
What happens to me when I die?
In dealing with death, let's see what the Bible has to say:
James 4:14 "...For what is our life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."
Psalm 78:39 "For He remembered that they were but flesh. A breath that passes away and does not come again."
Job 14:2 "He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue."
Genesis 3:19 "...for dust you are and to dust you shall return."
What language is used to describe death in the Bible?
The Psalmist says: Psalm 13:3 "Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death;"
In John 11:11, Jesus' words are recorded: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep."
And also in Matthew 27:52: "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,"
According to the Old Testament and the New Testament, death is sleep.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 says, "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the son."
So, death is like sleep, a time when you "know nothing".
Some people teach that when you die, you go to heaven, hell, or some place in between.
The Bible says in Revelation 22:12, "And behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me,..."
This is talking about the second coming of Christ. If His "reward" is with Him, how could those who have passed on in death already be in heaven or anywhere else? When you die, you go to sleep. When Christ returns (and I believe this to be very soon), the dead in Christ (those who are saved) come forth from the graves.
This principle is found in I Thessalonians 4:15-18 "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede those which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Isn't it comforting to know that our loved ones aren't looking down on this world of pain and suffering. Isn't it also comforting to know that people aren't in the torments of flames too. What a wonderful God we have, allowing those that have died to be sleeping until He wakes them up at his return.
Friend, there are many more verses of Scripture to support this idea. It is nothing new, the Bible has said it since it was first written. If you would like a more complete study, just let us know by contacting us through our submit a question page.