We do not like to think about it, but every one of us is going to die. Then what? What happens after death? Where, if anyplace, will you go? And what will you be? Answers vary depending on where you look and who you ask, but John 3:16 promises the potential of an unending life after death: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” We must note that the promise of everlasting life is conditional. Perishing is the natural outcome of a sinful life, but this verse gives us hope beyond the grave.
One common teaching in “mainstream Christianity” is that human beings each have an immortal soul and that at death the soul goes immediately to the paradise of heaven or to the torments of hell, depending on what kind of person you were. Others believe that death is likened to sleep, and that upon Christ’s return, those who are His will awaken in a resurrection from death to live eternally. Some believe that eternal life is in a fleshly body on this earth and others believe in a new spirit body, either on the earth or up in heaven.
One popular idea is that you will be given wings and will float on clouds playing harp music in eternal retirement. Many people look forward to being reunited with their loved ones in some kind of unspecified heavenly paradise. Then there are those who speak more specifically about what to expect in heaven:
“The greatest joy of heaven is the Beatific Vision. This is the sight of God face to face. This vision is called beatific, because it completely fills with joy those who possess it. They know and love God to their upmost capacity, and are known and loved by God in return. The Beatific Vision will satisfy completely and supremely all our desires. Having God, we shall never wish for anything else” (My Catholic Faith, 1966, pp. 176–77).
With so many ideas about the afterlife, who can blame those who simply throw up their hands and give up trying to figure it all out? But when a loved one dies, we want to know. And, we often become seriously curious about the afterlife as we see the inevitable closing in on us.
On the Tomorrow’s World telecast and in the Living Church of God, the sponsor of Tomorrow’s World, we often say, “Don’t believe us because we say it. Believe what your Bible tells you.” So, what—if anything—does the Bible teach regarding an afterlife? What is the reward of the saved according to this remarkable and inspired book?
The man Job asked and answered an important question: “If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands” (Job 14:14–15). Job understood that God has a purpose, and a plan that He is working out in the lives of each human being He has created. He understood that this physical life is only a beginning, but to more fully understand what that purpose is we must look to the good news that Jesus brought.
The Gospel Message
The term gospel simply means good news and the good news that Jesus brought to mankind was the Kingdom of God. The subject of the Kingdom of God is found throughout the New Testament, especially in the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the book of Acts. It is remarkable that anyone could read these books yet misunderstand this important subject.
The book of Mark tells us about the beginning of Christ’s ministry and His message: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.… Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:1, 14–15).
We see from these verses that the good news, the gospel, that Jesus preached is the Kingdom of God and it is this gospel that we are to believe. As we shall see, many details about this kingdom are revealed in the scriptures. How tragic it is that so few professing Christians have any understanding of this coming Kingdom when the New Testament is filled with the knowledge of it!
Luke tells us in the book of Acts that this was the same message Jesus taught after His resurrection some three-and-a-half years later: “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen… being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:1–3).
Between the time He began His ministry (Mark 1) and His last appearance to His apostles (Acts 1), He spoke constantly about the Kingdom of God. He went about all Galilee teaching and “preaching the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23; 9:35) and Jesus said, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent” (Luke 4:43).
We see that the gospel of the Kingdom of God was at the heart and core of His famous sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:3, 10; 5:19–20; 6:10, 13; 7:21). In this same sermon He explains that seeking the Kingdom of God is to be the primary focus of our lives (6:33). This alone should tell us that the Kingdom of God is something exciting and something that we should greatly desire. Yet, how many are genuinely excited about going to an eternal retirement with nothing to do except look into the face of God in some sort of unproductive ecstatic trance? This is not at all what the Bible teaches!
Jesus’ parables often started with a question or a declaration about the Kingdom of God (see Luke 13:18, 20; Matthew 13:24, 44, 45). It is in these parables that we begin to see that God has called us to an active and productive eternal life. Jesus gave the parable of the minas, “because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately” (Luke 19:11). He described a certain nobleman who went away on a long journey to receive a kingdom. In the meantime he gave each of ten servants a mina (a unit of money) and instructed them to do business until he returned (vv. 12–13). Upon his return he gave out rewards based on what each servant had gained.
The symbolism is evident. Jesus is the Nobleman who went away to receive the Kingdom. A prophecy in Daniel 7:13–14 briefly describes His coronation ceremony. Later in this prophecy it tells us that the saints (the servants of Christ) will rule under Him (v. 27). Again, in the parable of the minas, Jesus explains that the man who multiplied his minas tenfold would be rewarded with rulership over ten cities in His Kingdom. The man who gained five minas would rule over five cities, but the man who did nothing with his mina would lose out on the kingdom altogether.
Other scriptures corroborate this pattern of rulership for Jesus’ servants in the Kingdom of God. When His disciples asked what was in it for them, He replied: “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). And several scriptures inform us that King David will be resurrected and given rule over all twelve tribes of Israel. “But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them” (Jeremiah 30:9; See also Ezekiel 34:23–24 and 37:21–25).
But Christ will rule over the entire earth. “Then the seventh angel sounded: and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (Revelation 11:15). “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (19:16).
A Kingdom on the Earth
Jesus taught the people about the Kingdom of God, and the Bible is consistent about where He and His servants will rule—not up in heaven, but on this earth! We find this remarkable prophecy toward the end of the Old Testament: “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.… And the Lord shall be King over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:4, 9). In the song of the saints found in Revelation 5:10 we read: “And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” And in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus declared, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
Some are confused by Jesus’ statement two verses earlier when He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Are we to conclude from verses three and five that the poor in spirit go to heaven, but the meek stay on the earth? Absolutely not! Note that it says that the meek “shall inherit the earth,” but it is the “kingdom of heaven” that belongs to the poor in spirit. The other gospel writers always refer to the kingdom of God, but Matthew uses both terms interchangeably (Matthew 19:23–24).
Now we know that the Kingdom of God is not in God. This expression simply means that it is God’s kingdom. In the same way the Kingdom of heaven refers to ownership, not location. It is God who is at this time dwelling in heaven so it is properly referred to as the kingdom of heaven, meaning heaven’s kingdom.
Those that God is calling during this age will be resurrected at the return of Jesus Christ and given rewards to various levels of rulership (Revelation 11:15, 18). They are to be kings and priests when Christ returns to this earth (Revelation 5:10; 20:4), but they will not be composed of flesh and blood as we are today.
The Apostle Paul explains our future nature in 1 Corinthians chapter 15:
“The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.... Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:47–48, 50–53).
Satan has deceived us into thinking that flesh and blood is superior to being composed of spirit as God is, but a close examination of the scriptures gives us a different picture. We see that, after His resurrection, Jesus was able to walk through stone. When the stone was rolled back from His tomb, He was already gone. The stone being rolled back was for the benefit of others to see that He was gone (Matthew 28:1–6), and even with the doors locked and secure He was able to appear in the room with His disciples (John 20:19, 26). He was able to appear as a man and even eat a meal (Luke 24:41–43). He was able to go from earth to heaven and back at incredible speed (compare John 20:17 and Matthew 28:9). Since we do not know the distance between God’s throne and the earth it is impossible for us to know how fast, but we can understand that anyone who is into speed travel will not be disappointed!
But, what about wings? Many people think Christians “get our wings” at the resurrection. Many non-biblical ideas have been recorded in writing and art, been preached, and spoken in jest by sincere people, but scripture must be our guide. Nowhere in the Bible are we told that we will have wings in the afterlife, but the Apostle John tells us this: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:1–2).
It should not surprise us that we are called children of God in this passage and that we are told that we will “be like Him.” Numerous other passages affirm our ultimate destiny in the Kingdom of God. How many people think that we will be some kind of angelic beings in the afterlife? Yet, we are told very directly that the “world to come” is not to be ruled by angels. “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels” (Hebrews 2:5). As we have already seen, we are to rule the world to come with Christ upon His return. But if not angels, then what?
Paul quotes King David asking the question, “What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you take care of him?” (Hebrews 2:6). He goes on to say, prophetically, that God has put “all things in subjection” to mankind, and that there is “nothing that is not put under him” (v. 8). However, he shows that all things have not yet been put under mankind’s control. If it were, there truly would be “star wars”—given our current carnal state!
Paul is then very bold in describing mankind as “sons” of God (v. 10). This whole passage in Hebrews 2:5–18 is most instructive concerning this subject, and should be read carefully along with Romans 8:18–23 by anyone desiring to know God’s ultimate plan for mankind.
How Long Eternity?
When we are young, we intellectually understand that we will grow old and die, but getting old and dying seems so far off in the future that this reality is usually of little consequence. As we grow older, however, we begin to recognize that life is not all that long after all. One year comes and another goes. Decades begin to accumulate. One day, we come to the stark realization that there are more years behind us than ahead of us, and the train of life we are on is picking up speed. Sixty does not seem as old as it once was. After all, we tell ourselves, we are “young at heart.” But 70, 80 or even 100 years no longer seems long enough. “Where did all the years go?” we find ourselves asking, just as our parents and elders did. This life is nothing against the backdrop of eternity.
With all this on our minds, it is natural to wonder: Is there life after death? If so, we may wonder what form that life will take, and what we will be doing? Will that life be eternal? Of and by ourselves, we have to admit that we do not know much about our future.
So, we can be grateful for the information God gives us in John 3:16. No, this one verse does not give us all the answers. However, it assures us that the One who created time itself is deeply and personally concerned about every moment of our life. It reveals that there is a future for those who are willing to act on God’s word—to do what it says, in obedience to the Savior, Jesus Christ. It gives us the comfort of knowing that, although this present life is temporary and fleeting, our hope of eternal life is real—and is attainable through Jesus Christ.
Life after death is not some kind of unproductive “retirement” from the activity of our present life. It is not a passive ecstatic trance, or a release into a formless “nirvana.” Rather, as we learn in God’s word, eternal life will be an opportunity for great accomplishment—and it will be exciting to a degree that we in our present human lives can scarcely imagine. Paul understood this hope when he wrote: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). That glory awaits every faithful Christian who accepts—and acts on—the promise God makes in John 3:16.