by Royce Frederick<\/p>\n
What happens when a person dies? On day six of creation, “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being<\/em>” (Genesis 2:7). Death occurs when the “soul” or the “spirit” of a person leaves his body. “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). When Rachel was dying, the Bible says, “her soul was departing<\/em>” (Genesis 35:18). James tells us very simply that “the body without the spirit is dead<\/em>” (James 2:26).<\/p>\n After death, every soul goes to the waiting place called “Hades.” It has two parts:<\/p>\n The souls of righteous people go to the comfortable waiting place in Hades. Jesus told about a beggar named Lazarus who died “and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom<\/em>” (Luke 16:22). He went to a place where he would enjoy close companionship with Abraham. Also, Luke 23:39-43 tells us about two thieves who were crucified with Jesus. After one of them repented, Jesus told him, “today you will be with Me in Paradise<\/em>” (Luke 23:43; see Acts 2:27, 31). The word “paradise” means “royal park” or “garden.” These verses show that the souls of righteous people go to a pleasant waiting place at death.<\/p>\n The souls of sinful people go to a miserable waiting place in Hades. In the account about Lazarus, Jesus said, “The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom<\/em>” (Luke 16:22-23). The rich man later said, “I am tormented in this flame<\/em>” (Luke 16:24). The rich man could not go from his place of misery to be with Abraham (Luke 16:26). Also, he was not permitted to send a message to his five brothers who were still alive on the earth (Luke 16:27-31).<\/p>\n All people will be raised from death and will stand before Christ to be judged. He said, “the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice [the voice of Christ] and come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation<\/em>” (John 5:28-29). God has “appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness<\/em>” (Acts 17:31). On that day, every person from every nation will stand before Christ to be judged (Acts 17:31; Matthew 25:31-33; Revelation 20:11-15). “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad<\/em>” (II Corinthians 5:10).<\/p>\n When Christ judges everyone, He will say to the saved people, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world<\/em>” (Matthew 25:34). On that day, all citizens of the kingdom will enter the eternal place of the kingdom (Colossians 1:13; Philippians 3:20; Acts 14:21-22; II Peter 1:10-11; I Corinthians 15:24; Revelation 21:1-4). To the wicked, He will say, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels<\/em>” (Matthew 25:41). They “will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life<\/em>” (Matthew 25:46). Speaking about that future time, John wrote, “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire<\/em>” (Revelation 20:14-15).<\/p>\n If we obey the Gospel and remain faithful, we don’t need to worry about death and eternity. By God’s grace, the blood of Jesus removes our sins when we are baptized, and His blood keeps on cleansing us as we walk with Him (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 6:3-4, 23; 8:1; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-9; Hebrews 3:12-14; I John 1:7). “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming<\/em>” (I John 2:28).<\/p>\n For all saved people, Judgment Day will be a time of rejoicing! Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also<\/em>” (John 14:1-3)!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Royce Frederick What happens when a person dies? On day six of creation, “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Death occurs when the “soul” or the “spirit” of a person leaves his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[109,407,46,373,1260,586],"class_list":["post-34782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-death","tag-hades","tag-heaven","tag-hell","tag-judgment-day","tag-sheol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91321,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/questions-about-the-body-soul-spirit-and-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":34782,"position":0},"title":"Questions about the body, soul, spirit, and death","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Jeffrey, I listened to your Bible lesson on the body, spirit, and soul, and it was very helpful. I have some questions and thought I would like to run them by you (my Bible quotes are from KJV): The Body, Soul, and Death Genesis 2:7 breathed into his nostrils\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13708,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happened-to-jesus-soul-between-the-time-of-his-death-and-his-resurrection\/","url_meta":{"origin":34782,"position":1},"title":"What happened to Jesus’ soul between the time of his death and his resurrection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What happened to Jesus' soul between the time of death and the time he arose? Did it stay\u00a0with him\u00a0and if so is there a period of time that our soul will stay with us before leaving our body? Answer: The concept of death is the time when the spirit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1590,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-to-you-when-you-die\/","url_meta":{"origin":34782,"position":2},"title":"What happens to you when you die?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What happens to you when you die? Answer: The Bible teaches us that human beings are made in three parts. \"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39130,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-ecclesiastes-say-our-spirits-return-to-god-but-jesus-says-the-spirits-go-to-hades\/","url_meta":{"origin":34782,"position":3},"title":"Why does Ecclesiastes say our spirits return to God, but Jesus says the spirits go to hades?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does the Bible say that when we die our spirit returns to God (in Ecclesiastes) and we read the story of the rich man and Lazarus that seems to be in a different location? Answer: \"Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31263,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-spirit-leave-his-body-and-go-to-hades\/","url_meta":{"origin":34782,"position":4},"title":"Did Jesus’ spirit leave his body and go to Hades?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a general question that I'm hoping you can help me find supporting scriptures. Somebody challenged me that he doesn't believe that the spirit left Jesus' body when he died and went to Hades.\u00a0 His argument is that Jesus is God and he's in control of even Hades\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19190,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-our-dead-bodies-be-physically-raised-on-the-last-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":34782,"position":5},"title":"Will our dead bodies be physically raised on the last day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've had someone ask me about where the soul goes after death and how that correlates with the resurrection. I looked up\u00a0articles on your site\u00a0and was able to answer most of her questions, but one still remains. In Luke 16:19-31\u00a0we, of course, read the account of the rich man\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n