What happens at death?

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We do not know how humans would have left this world had there been no Fall; some doubt whether they ever would have done so. But as it is, the fruit of sin and God's judgment on it brings about the separation of body and soul through bodily death (Gen. 2:17; 3:19, 22; Rom. 5:12; 8:10; 1 Cor. 15:21 ), making it a certainty for everyone.

This separation of soul and body is a consequence of the spiritual separation from God that first brought about physical death (Gen. 2:17; 5:5) and that will be deepened after death for those who leave this world without Christ. In itself, death is an enemy (1 Cor. 15:26) and a terror (Heb. 2:15).

For Christians, the final terror of physical death is abolished. Jesus, the risen Savior, Himself passed through a terrible death, enduring the anger of God. He takes from us God's anger, and He lives to help us as we leave this world for the place He has prepared in the next (John 14:2, 3). Christians know that their own forthcoming death is an appointment to meet their Savior that He will faithfully keep. Paul could say, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." He longed "to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better" (Phil. 1: 21, 23), knowing that to be "away from the body" is to be "at home with the
Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8).

At death, the souls of believers are made perfect in holiness and enter into the
worshiping life of heaven (Heb. 12:22-24). In a word, they are glorified. Some have not accepted this, but teach instead that there is a purgatorial discipline after death amounting to a further stage of sanctification. In this purgatory the soul is prepared over a period of time, to be purified for the vision of God. 

This doctrine is not found in the Bible. The saints living on earth at Christ's coming will be perfected morally to be with Him in the moment
when their body is transformed (1 Cor. 15:51-54), and it seems that Paul, and the thief on the cross, expected the same admission to God's presence. Others say that believers pass into a soul-sleep and are unconscious between death and resurrection. 

The Bible, however, consistently represents the departed as conscious (Luke 16:22; 23:43; Phil. 1 :23; 2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 6:9-11 ; 14:13). In itself to be without the body is a disadvantage; we live through our bodies, and to be
without a body is to be limited and impoverished. Paul longs to be "clothed" with the resurrection body and wants not at all to be "unclothed" (2 Cor. 5:4). The resurrection of the body is a distinctively Christian hope confessed by every branch of the church on earth. Death is decisive for destiny. 

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