Where Do We Go When We Die?

These questions are best answered by an examination of what happens when people die, especially Christians.  The first thing to understand is that at death Christians do not go to heaven.  According to John 3:13:

"No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."

(All scriptures quoted are from the New King James Version, unless otherwise stated).

The following is a brief overview of what happens when a person dies.

At death a person returns to the ground from which they came.  This is the Bible's first description of death ( Genesis 2:7; 3:19). The Hebrew word translated in Genesis 2:7 as "being" or in some translations as "soul" is "nephesh," and has Strong's Concordance reference number 5315 which states its meaning is:

1) soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.

1a) that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man
1b) living being
1c) living being (with life in the blood)
1d) the man himself, self, person or individual
1e) seat of the appetites
1f) seat of emotions and passions
1g) activity of mind
      1g1) dubious
1h) activity of the will
      1h1) dubious
1i) activity of the character
      1i1) dubious (The Online Bible).

Nephesh can apply to either man or animal, and it has nothing to do with some sort of immortal spirit within a man that departs to heaven or hell at death.  A nephesh or soul can die ( Ezekiel 18:4, 20).

The Bible describes death as sleep, in that the dead are not conscious while in the grave ( Job 3:11-19).  The dead know nothing, having no emotions or feelings, work, knowledge or wisdom.  All human plans perish at the time of death ( Ecclesiastes 9:5-6; 9:10;
Psalm 146:3-4).  The dead have no relationship with God.  They do not praise God or even know Him ( Psalm 6:4-5; 88:5, 10-12; 115:17; Isaiah 38:18-19).  All men, good and bad, are together in death ( Job 3:16-19; 30:23).  The only hope for the dead is the resurrection ( Job 14:7-15; 19:25-27; Acts 23:6; 24:15).

But, the Bible does speak of a spirit in man that returns to God at the time of death ( Ecclesiastes 12:7; Psalm 146:4; 104:29; James 2:26; Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59).  What is this spirit?  As we have already seen, humans do not have an immortal soul that continues on after death.  Yet, humans (both good and bad) appear to have a non-physical essence that does return to God at death.  This spirit in man gives humans the ability to learn and think.  It makes their minds, different from that of animals ( Job 32:8; 1 Corinthians 2:11; Zechariah 12:1; Isaiah 42:5).  Apart from the human brain and body the spirit in man is not conscious.  As shown above the dead have no thoughts or awareness ( Ecclesiastes 9:5-6; Psalm 6:5; 146:3-4).

The resurrection of the dead in Christ happens at Jesus' second coming.  At this same time, those Christians still living are "changed" and rise with the resurrected dead to meet Jesus in the air ( 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, 51-56).  At the second coming there is a transformation of the Christian's physical body, whether dead or alive, into an immortal and incorruptible spiritual body, similar to Jesus’ glorious spiritual body ( 1 Corinthians 15:35-55; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 1:12-17).

It appears that the spirit in man, which returns to God at death, is some how reunited with the resurrected spiritual body.  Some have speculated that the spirit in man is the way God preserves our mind and character until the time of the resurrection.  But, without a physical or spiritual body, this spirit in man has no consciousness.  Maybe a way to illustrate this idea is compare the spirit in man to like a floppy disk or a CD-ROM used with computers.  By itself the disk or CD can do nothing but store information.  But, inserted into a computer, it provides information and helps run the computer.