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"He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not." (Job 14:2) In one short verse the prophet Job describes the entire life span of all mankind, yes, and as always, life ends in death. One does not have to look hard to see the frailness of man’s existence in Job’s words. Shortly after a flower sprouts in the spring and flourishes in the summer, it withers in the fall and dies in the winter. Nevertheless, the question has always been, what awaits man in the after-life. The answer is simply Death.

Death is not a one day event as many believe, but covers a period of time just as life did. Man being scared and petrified of death, has always tried to by-pass or lighten its blow. Centuries ago the Mizraimites (whom you know as Egyptians) buried food, clothing and even living servants with their deceased supposing to aid them in the afterlife. In more recent history the Romans (Italians) populated the heavens with their deceased, which is where we got our tradition of the dead "going to heaven."

Where do the dead really go? This is really a stupid question because most of us have been to funerals and burials and seen exactly where the dead go. Still we try to imagine otherwise and dress up death, just like we do the dead, even as our eyes see them descending below. We even try to rejoice instead of mourn and have invented phrases to rejoice over such as; "She’s gone on home now" as she lies motionless in the casket. Many don’t even call it a funeral anymore but call it a "home going. "In a sense this is true because at death man does return home where he came from; which is not heaven. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt return." (Genesis3:19) The grave truly is the last resting-place.

Sure there is something after death (which we will get to) but even a flower has to wait another season to live again after it has returned to the ground from which it came. Job knew this and wrote (Job 14:14) "If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come." Job does not claim to be carried off to some other tabernacle in heaven immediately upon death, but instead wrote of waiting many days to live again. Job also knew that this waiting period would be spent in. no other place but the ground. "0 that thou wouldest hide me in the grave.... that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me." (Job 14:13)  That set time (The resurrection) has not come, so Job and all the dead are still waiting in the ground.

Many will still say I know my mother is in heaven smiling down, but in the next sentence say she is turning over in her grave. Simple reasoning will tell us she can not be in two places at one time and the Bible has shown us the place the dead go. The question still remains concerning the state of the dead. Are they conscious, happy, sad, smiling, grieving, or loving. Solomon told us (Ecciesiastes9:5-6) that the dead don’t know anything and that all their emotions have died with them.

 

David told us (Psalms 146:1-4) that once you stop breathing (die) your thoughts die the very same day. So, if your mother is dead she is sleep (knowing nothing) in her grave.

Maybe the body goes to the grave but not the soul or spirit. This is another erroneous statement, because the soul is the body and when the body dies and is put in the grave so is the soul. Concerning the resurrection David wrote "... God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave..." Psalms 49:15 To redeem (recover) his soul from the grave means his soul has to be there. The thoughts of your mind, which are spirit, are also buried in the grave with you. Remember your thoughts perish.

Some will still argue that the Spirit returns to God who gave it, thinking this is some part of them returning to God. The spirit that God takes when you die is the same spirit he gave to make you live in the first place; the spirit of life or breath of life. "...and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (became a living soul not put a soul inside) (Genesis 2:7) Here in Genesis the life giving ingredient was simply called the breath of life, but Job (Job 27:3) called the ingredient "...the spirit of God ...in my nostrils. Surly Job is not telling us a spirit being is in his nostrils, but instead the breath which gave him life and leaves him when he dies, is in his nostrils. So afterlife man dies and is buried. Knowing nothing.

Now we will take a look at what happens after death. How long will man have to wait to live again? Well to the dead it’s not long at all, being that they lose all consciousness on the day of death., but Job did speak of an appointed time when his change would come. At that time Job said, "Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee..." (Job 14:15) Who will call Job out of his grave? Jesus said, "...The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." (St. John 5:25) Jesus will call not only Job, but all the righteous dead at his second coming. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." (Revelation 20:5)

All of the people who are raised from the dead in the first resurrection along with Job, will automatically receive eternal life. They will be raised in spirit bodies identical to the Lord’s as Paul told us in Phillipians 3:21 "who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.. This is the same change Job said he would wait in the grave for.

Some people might still claim that the first resurrection has come, but Jesus disagreed with this four times in one chapter (St. John 6:39, 40,44,54) "And I will raise him up at the last day." As long as there is a tomorrow we have not reached the last day. After the second coming of Jesus, the first resurrection, and a thousand years of peace on earth the rest of the dead will be raised to judgment. At this time some will receive eternal life and some eternal damnation. (Read St. John 5:28, 29)

Now, if man died and went straight to heaven or hell, what need would there be for first or last resurrection. Furthermore, who would be judged on judgment day if everybody was already in heaven or hell. Will God call your mother down from heaven and judge her on judgment day? NO, not if she’ is already in heaven, because she would have been judged good already. So there would be no need for a judgment day if everyone was already in their perspective places (heaven or hell). To the contrary all who have ever lived and died are still dead (except Jesus), awaiting the resurrection and afterwards judgment day. (Read Hebrews 9:27)

So, the after-life is a season of death, but after death, the resurrection and eternal life or damnation.