Spirit, Soul, and Bones
What Happens to Your Soul When You Die?
According to the Bible
It’s a comforting thought to think that the soul lives after death and keeps on reincarnating forever and ever. It assures us we don’t disappear into nothing when we die. It feels good because it gives us a little hope that we will someday meet our departed loved ones again. While I don’t discredit the concept of reincarnation, I believe there’s more to the matter that doesn’t feel very good, and that’s okay.
See, a soul that lives after death and keeps on coming back to the earth would be an immortal entity, something like a god, but are humans immortal? We aren’t. Right?
The Book of Genesis says that “God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” He didn’t put a soul into the body. He put his Spirit into the body. The union between the body and the spirit produced a soul. When the body and spirit are separated, the soul ceases to exist until the spirit and body are brought back together again.
A soul that lives after death and keeps on coming back to the earth would be an immortal entity, like a god, but humans aren’t immortal.
The Reverse Takes Place When Life Ends
When a man dies, the natural body remains on earth because the dust belongs here and the spiritual body — the breath of life — leaves the body and returns to who gave it. “The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
But where does that leave the soul? I believe that the soul ceases to exist after death, but the spirit lives on somewhere. The soul ceases to exist until the resurrection when the spiritual body is reunited with the natural body and the soul returns to the body to prepare for judgment.
Bodies and souls aren’t immortal. It’s the Spirit that is immortal and eternal. When Jesus took his last breath on the cross, he said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). It was his spirit — not his soul — that he cared to pray for.
But slow down. Not every spirit returns to God. When the Spirit of God is put inside our body, we must provide a place for it to dwell. When we fail to provide a home for God’s Spirit, it leaves and a human spirit takes its place. This human spirit isn’t of the heavens. It isn’t from God. It’s of the world. And it’s either you have the spirit of God or you don’t.
The Resurrection of Life
If it was the Spirit of God that lived in the person, it goes back to God. If it was the spirit of this world, it goes back to where it came from. We don’t ascend into the heavens as soon as we die. We go to sleep and it can be a very long sleep or a very short one, but the moment we are awakened, whether long or short, it will seem but a moment.
Though the body will die and cease to exist, scripture says that all those who have died — both righteous and wicked — will be raised to life. That’s a good feeling thought.
The righteous and unrighteous remain asleep until the son of man returns and raise them from the dead in two separate resurrections. The first resurrection — the resurrection of life — is when God reunites the body of the righteous and his life-giving spirit and gives them immortal life. Then the person lives again, shining like the sun in the kingdom of God.
The Resurrection of Condemnation
The second resurrection — the resurrection of condemnation — is when those who did evil things are raised to life to prepare for judgment. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28–29).
Then the righteous living will ascend to meet the Lord next and the evil is sent to a place to meet their fate and those who need correction visit hell.
I wish I could tell you that hell isn’t real. I wish I could say it was all a lie we’ve been told from birth just to control and restrict us from having fun, but hell is not a lie. It’s real, and Jesus went there. He descended into hell in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40).
Hell is one of the things Jesus talked about the most, probably because of what he knew took place there. He even said to cut your eye, your hand, or your foot off if it causes you to sin because it’s worse for you to enter hell with both eyes, hands, or feet (Mark 9:42–47).
I know what you’re thinking. If God was really this “father” who loves his children, then why then would a father send his children to hell to be tormented forever? I’ve thought of it all my life.
You see, God didn’t make hell for you. He made hell to separate you from evil.
Go to hell with two eyes, two hands, and two feet and you feel twice the pain.
In Closing
There’s some good news in all of this. You don’t have to die and wait to wake up and ascend into heaven or descend into hell to find out the truth about what happens after death. You can dig for the truths for yourself. Go back to the scriptures and the scrolls and try to understand. The truth will sit right with the Spirit in you.
You have the free will to do whatever you want, but the biggest mistake you can make is to die without making up your mind. The biggest mistake is to die without being prepared for what comes after.
Because God is a God of love who loves you, he sent a part of himself to come to the earth and experience all of it, and warn you of the horrors and terrors that lie beneath the surface of the earth so you never have to go and find out.
But these are just my beliefs. Do you disagree? Do you agree or somewhat agree? Either way, I want to know your thoughts on the subject.
Dive Deeper:
📖The Only Way to Know for Sure What Happens in The Afterlife.
