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Death & Hell

Updated: November 23, 2019









What happens to me when I die?  Do I go to Heaven, Hell, or someplace else?

(Open in a new window and you can do your own "key word" research on this topic as we study together.)

The Bible actually has a lot to say about what happens to us when we die, so let's define "death" and "hell" using only the Bible. You may hear one thing from one person and something totally different from another person, but all we are wanting to know is what the Bible has to say.  And because we have proved the Bible to be true we know that we can totally trust what it says. 

When the Bible talks about a "first resurrection" and a "second death" in Revelation 20:56, what is it talking about?    Revelation 20:4 talks about a "judgment" and about reigning "with Christ a thousand years".  How does this all relate to the subject of "death" and "hell"?  Revelation 20:3 talks about a "bottomless pit", is this related also?  In Revelation 20:5 it says that the "rest of the dead" did not come to life until after the 1,000 years were over, who are the "rest of the dead"?

Is "death" in the Old Testament different than it is in the New Testament?  Now that Jesus has died for our sins, do we "go" someplace different,  or do both the Old Testament and the New Testament speak of death as being the same thing?

The purpose of the above timeline is to help sort out what is being said in all of the Bible and to show how all of these things are related.  Below are many texts, taken directly from the King James Version of the Bible, that speak about the subject of "death ". 

Please keep in mind that to understand what the Bible is really saying, we must take what is plainly said and use that to help us to understand what the "hard to understand" texts are trying to say.  In other words, let the Bible tell us what It is actually saying.

At the bottom of this page is a link to a short summary of what the Bible teaches about Death and Hell, and you will also find a link to a comparison of what the Old and New Testaments have to say.

Bible texts related to what happens to me when I die:


14:10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where [is] he?
14:11 [As] the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
14:12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens [be] no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
14:14 If a man die, shall he live [again]? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.


21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
21:31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him [what] he hath done?
21:32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.


6:4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
6:5 For in death [there is] no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
115:18 But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.

NOTE:  It appears, in the text above, that when King David is speaking about "for evermore" he is talking about only while he is still alive and not for "eternity", because he has just said that the "dead praise not the LORD".

116:2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon [him] as long as I live.



9:6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any [thing] that is done under the sun.





13:22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:







NOTE:  In verse 26 above Jesus says that we "shall never die", what is He saying?  The answer is that Jesus was seeing Lazarus as "sleeping", not as being "dead".  Jesus sees all of the dead as sleeping.  I Cor. 15.22,23 tells us that everyone comes back to life in his own time.  Those who sleep in Jesus will be awakened at His 2nd Coming.  The first "death" is only a "sleep" according to Jesus, because we will "wake up" at His Second Coming which is the 1st Resurrection.  It will be the same as if we had just been "asleep".

In the texts below, the Apostles Luke gave us an example of one who had died and was still in the grave even after Jesus had gone back to heaven.  Remember that King David was a man after God's "own heart" (Acts 13).


(The verses below show that we are not immortal.  When we die, we die, or as noted above we "sleep".)


1 Timothy

6:15 Which in his times he shall show, [who is] the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom [be] honour and power everlasting. Amen.

NOTE:  The verse below shows that we are not "reincarnated".  In other words, we do not come back as someone else and live another life.  We only live once, and then the "judgment".






Bible texts related to the Second Coming of Jesus and the death of the wicked:




4:20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, [and] my curtains in a moment.



4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, [it was] without form, and void; and the heavens, and they [had] no light.
4:24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
4:25 I beheld, and, lo, [there was] no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
4:26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place [was] a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, [and] by his fierce anger.

25:31 A noise shall come [even] to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them [that are] wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
25:33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.







1 Corinthians


15:26 The last enemy [that] shall be destroyed [is] death.


15:55 O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory?
15:56 The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law.
15:57 But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians

4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.


Bible texts related to "hell fire":


37:10 For yet a little while, and the wicked [shall] not [be]: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it [shall] not [be].



37:20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD [shall be] as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.


47:14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: [there shall] not [be] a coal to warm at, [nor] fire to sit before it.




4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD of hosts.










NOTE:  It is important when reading the texts above, that we also look at what Jonah said about the three days he was in the fish.  Jonah 2:6 talks about "for ever" even though it was only 3 days.  The fire that is "not quenched", spoken of above, cannot be quenched until it has done its job.  And in Matthew 25:46, "everlasting punishment" is not the same thing as burning forever.  The wicked are forever gone, punished forever with death.  This is plainly stated in Matthew 10:28, "but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell".   Romans 6:23 says that the  wages of sin is death, not a life of constant burning and torture.  As quoted in John 3:16, God does not want us to perish but have life.



II Thessalonians


2 Peter



NOTE:  When the whole Earth is on fire, as is indicated in the text above, where will the smoke go?  "Up" of course, never to come back down (forever).




NOTE:  In the verse above Jude gives us an example of eternal fire.  Sodom and Gomorrah are not burning today, but the results are "eternal".






NOTE:  Remember Jonah's "for ever" was only 3 days.   The Bible says that the Devil will be ashes under the feet of the Saints, so at some point in time the torment will stop and the wicked will become "ashes".  Revelation also says that the burning and torment will happen in the presence of the "holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb".  This torment will not take place way off in some remote spot in the universe.  Revelation 21:4 says that, "the former things are passed away", and that "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain".  Their "torment" will stop, but their punishment will never end because they will never be alive again.  The results, the wages, of sin is not an eternally tormented life, but (eternal) death according to Romans 6:23



Bible texts specifically related to the destruction of Satan:




28:14 Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so]: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

28:19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never [shalt] thou [be] any more.


Bible texts specifically related to "out of body" experiences:




1:21 For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] gain.
1:22 But if I live in the flesh, this [is] the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
1:24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh [is] more needful for you.

II Corinthians


NOTE:  This can be a little confusing because Job said, as noted above, "And [though] after my skin [worms] destroy this [body], yet in my flesh shall I see God:  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; [though] my reins be consumed within me".  Please remember, in order to understand difficult portions of the Bible we must use the whole Bible to find what is meant, letting the plain texts tell us what the "hard to understand" texts mean.  The Apostle Paul appears to be saying here that because we "walk by faith, not by sight"  we would still rather be with the Lord in our minds, even if we did not have a body to go with it.  Remember that Saul, before he became Paul, had seen the Lord in a vision on the road to Damascus.  At that time he must have felt like he was absent from the body.  Remember, also, that James 2:26 says that "the body without the spirit is dead", and as we have read, when you are dead you do not know anything.  Surely Paul is NOT saying that he would rather be with the Lord even if he didn't know anything.  Be sure to let the Bible tell you what the Bible is saying.


    Dig Deeper:


    The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin Luther classed it with the "monstrous fables that form part of the Roman dunghill of decretals."--E. Petavel,

    The Problem of Immortality, page 255

    Commenting on the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not anything, Reformer Martin Luther says: "Another place proving that the dead have no . . . feeling. There is, saith he, no duty, no science, no knowledge, no wisdom there. Solomon judgeth that the dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all. For the dead lie there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute."

    Exposition of Solomon's Booke Called Ecclesiastes, page 152


    What's Your Choice, Life or Death?

    God has given each of us something that we have not asked for. In fact, life is something we could NOT have ask for, ever. None of us asked to be born, but because God has given us free choice we have the right to choose to cease to exist.

    In the end it will be our choice whether we will be in heaven and live forever, or die. We each have the God-given right to say one of two things:

    1. We can say, "Yes Lord, I trust you. I want you to do whatever it is that you want to do with me."
    2. We also have the God-given right to say, "No, I do not trust you, I will do it my way."

    Either way, God will respect our choices. Those who trust Him will find that He only wants us to be totally free, happy and full of life. Those who do not trust Him for life will no longer be given life.

    Either way, it is our choice to live or to die. In fact, we each have the choice right now to die if that is what we want, but God has so much He wants to do for us if we will only let Him.

    Trust the One who created you to give you what you really want: life, health, happiness & real freedom! It's FREE and all it takes is for you to say, "Yes Lord, I trust you. Help me to trust you completely. I want you to do in me whatever YOU want to do because I believe that you only want the best for me."


      Dig Deeper:


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