Do Christians Immediately Go To Heaven When They Die?

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God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, you may wonder, well, what part of us goes home to be with the Lord? No, it's certainly not our physical body. Aren't you glad we don't drag this body we have with us into all eternity?

It's not this body. It gets buried, gets cremated. Something happens to it. What part of us goes into heaven?

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. What happens to people the moment after they die? Are they immediately transported into heaven or hell?

Do they cease to exist, or do they go into a period of spiritual slumber, waiting for a day of future judgment? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains what happens to Christians immediately after death. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress? Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Our subject today is in November is A Place Called Heaven. And even though it's only the first week of our study, we're already receiving wonderful feedback about this teaching series.

Well, I've written a best-selling book that your family may not yet own but should. It's an encouraging bestseller called A Place Called Heaven, 10 Surprising Truths About Your Eternal Home. I'm completely convinced that when you immerse your heart and mind in your future home in heaven, all of the sudden the problems in your life begin to dissipate.

Be clear, the problems don't magically disappear, but your anxiety does. Take time to let your mind bathe itself in the cleansing realities of heaven. When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'll make certain you receive a copy of my book.

Again, it's called A Place Called Heaven. Speaking of heaven, we're planning your next vacation to one of the most heavenly destinations on planet earth. I'm referring to the Mediterranean Sea, and I'm inviting you to join us on an exclusively Christian vacation experience. It's the 12-day Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. The dates are May 5th through 16th.

The Mediterranean is truly a slice of heaven, plus it's the epicenter of our spiritual heritage, and we're going to trace the travels of Paul to amazing places like Ephesus, Rome, and the Greek Islands. So please, go to ptv.org and take a look at the wonderful details, but most importantly, reserve your spot today. Now, it's time to turn our attention to the next question in our series.

I've titled today's message, Do Christians Immediately Go to Heaven When They Die? A Minnesota couple decided they wanted to escape the harsh winter weather and take a one-week vacation to Florida. At the last minute, the wife had to stay back an extra day, so her husband went on ahead of her to get things ready. Once he had checked into the hotel at Key West, he decided to sit down and fire off a brief email to his wife, telling her that he had arrived safely. He didn't notice that he had accidentally transposed two letters in his wife's email address.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, a woman returned home, a minister's wife, after burying her husband of 45 years. She felt kind of alone after the funeral service, lonely, and she decided to sit down and check her emails to see if there were any words of condolences. The first email that popped up, she read immediately. She let out a scream and fainted.

Her daughter rushed in to see what was going on, and after the daughter revived her mom, the daughter read the email that caused her mom to faint, and here's what it said. Darling wife, I'm sure you're surprised to hear from me. I've just arrived and checked in, and I wanted to send you a quick note saying I can't wait for you to get here. The staff has everything ready for you. I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. And if everything goes as planned, you should get here as quickly as I did. P.S., it sure is hot down here.

I know you're going to love it. Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said one time, it's unwise for Christians to claim a knowledge of either the furniture of heaven or the temperature of hell. And while it's true there's certain things about heaven and hell, we can't know for sure. There's one thing that is crystal clear, and that is we are all going to die one day, and because of that, we are going to one of two of those destinations, heaven or hell. In his book, Heaven, Randy Alcorn observes that worldwide three people die every second, 180 die every minute, and 11,000 every hour. If the Bible is right about what happens to us after death, it means more than 250,000 people every day go either to heaven or to hell.

That blows our minds, doesn't it? So many people dying every day. Why is it that none of us gets out of this world alive? Why is it that death is inevitable for every one of us?

In Ecclesiastes 9 verses 2 and 3, Solomon says, it is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked, for the good, for the clean, and for the unclean, for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. That is, it doesn't matter whether you're good, bad, righteous, unrighteous, a believer or an unbeliever, there's one fate for everybody, that is death. We're all going to die. There's one fate, but there are two different destinies, heaven or hell. Well, why is it both Christians and non-Christians have to die?

Well, we've talked about it before. It's because of the virus of sin we've all inherited. Romans 3, 23 says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6, 23 says, for the wages of sin is death. And you know, not only is there an inevitability of death because of sin, but death brings its own kind of terror to all of us. It's understandable for unbelievers to fear death.

But if we're honest, for many who are Christians, there's also a fear of death because of an unknown. What is it that awaits us on the other side? What happens to a Christian when he dies?

Well, that's what we're going to talk about as we continue our series, A Place Called Heaven. We're going to talk about what happens to Christians when they die. Do they cease to exist? Do they go to sleep for a thousand years, awaiting some future resurrection? Do they go into a waiting place, a purgatory, hoping somebody will pray hard enough or give enough money to get them out of that place? What happens to a Christian when they die?

That's what we're going to look at today. To understand what happens to a Christian when he or she dies, it is important that we distinguish between what I call the present heaven and the future heaven. We've talked about this before, the fact that when we talk about the present heaven, the third heaven, that is where God is right now. And that is where we go the moment we die.

We go into the presence of God. But that is not our eternal dwelling place. There is a present heaven where God is. But in John 14, Jesus said he is in that present heaven preparing a new place for us.

I go to prepare a place for you. Heaven where God is is already prepared. But Jesus is working on a new location for us. There is a future heaven that one day will come out of the present heaven and descend to the newly recreated earth. Isn't that what John said in Revelation 21? I saw a new heaven and a new earth descending. The new Jerusalem that Jesus is working on is going to descend out of the current heaven and reside right here on this recreated earth. That is our ultimate destination as believers.

But the moment we die, there is an immediate departure from this world into the presence of God. Now, some people may say, well, what about those who died before Jesus? What happened to the Old Testament saints? What happened to Abraham and David and Jeremiah? Where are those people right now? Where did they go when they died?

That's an interesting question. First of all, were they even saved? I mean, they lived before Jesus. Before Jesus offered his sacrifice, how were the Old Testament saints saved?

There's a very simple answer to that. People in the Old Testament were saved just like you and I are saved. They were saved by the death of Jesus on the cross for their sins. Jesus was the only one who could pay the sin penalty. You say, well, wait a minute. They lived before Jesus. How could Jesus' death save them if they lived before Jesus? Have you ever wondered about that?

Well, it's easy. They were saved on credit. Now, you understand the concept of credit. Maybe some of you all too well, you understand the concept of credit.

It's an amazing thing when you think about it. You can go to Home Depot or you can go to Sears and you can buy a washing machine. And the funny thing is, you don't have to pay a dollar for it. All you have to do is take out this little worthless piece of plastic, hand it to the clerk, and guess what? You can walk out with that washing machine without paying one dollar. It's yours for free until the bill comes due 30 days later.

Then it has to be paid for, doesn't it? Now, it was the same way with the Old Testament saints. They didn't have any plastic credit cards, but what they did have was faith. Genesis 15 says, Abraham believed in the Lord and God reckoned, literally accounted it to him as righteousness.

Abraham, as well as all the Old Testament saints, believed whatever God revealed to them. And their little bit of faith in and of itself was just as worthless as a plastic credit card. Faith can't save us. It can't save you.

It can't save me. We can only be saved by the blood of Christ. But their exercise of their little amount of faith and believing whatever God told them allowed them to be saved on credit. And the bill for their sins, just like the bill for our sins, came due, well, not 30 days later, 2,000 years later. It came due on Mount Calvary. And Jesus paid that debt for all of us. And that's why some of his final words on the cross were, it is finished.

Literally, literally, paid to lust thy, paid in full. That's how the Old Testament saints were saved, the same way you and I are saved by the blood, the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. They were saved on credit. So where did they go? Where did they go? Well, to understand where they went, you need to understand the concept of Sheol and Hades. Now, Sheol is a Hebrew word that simply means covered or hidden. There are a lot of people who believe that before Christ came, there was a dwelling place for both the righteous and the unrighteous called Sheol.

Think of it like a big duplex that's divided into two parts. And Sheol had two parts. One part was for the righteous, the saved, and it was called Abraham's bosom. The other half was for the unrighteous in the New Testament, it's called Hades. And the idea was when people in the Old Testament died, they either went to Abraham's bosom, paradise, or they went to the bad place in the duplex, Hades, a place of suffering. And so the thinking goes that when Jesus finally died on the cross after his death and before he was raised from the dead, during those days, he went down or wherever it was to Sheol and he emptied out the good part of the duplex, Abraham's bosom. And he took all the Old Testament saints from there to be with God in heaven forever. People who believe that even have a passage of scripture, they point to Ephesians 4, talking about Jesus, he who ascended first descended to the lower parts of the earth and he led captivity captive. Someday when I preach to Ephesians, I'll show you that's not what that passage is talking about at all.

I don't believe that is at all what happens. But this concept of two destinations, one for the righteous and one for the unrighteous is biblical. We find it in Luke chapter 16. This is where you find the concept of Abraham's bosom and Hades, but it's not in some divine duplex. You remember the story Jesus told.

Two men died. One man was a poor man. His name was Lazarus. And when he died, he immediately went to Abraham's bosom. Now, he didn't go to a place of blessing because he was poor.

There's nothing righteous about being poor necessarily. He went there because he trusted in God. In fact, that's what the name Lazarus means.

God is my helper. That's why he was welcomed into the place of the righteous. The rich man died and he went to Hades.

Now look at verse 22. Now it came about that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom and the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, the rich man lifted up his eyes being in torment and he saw Abraham, now underline this, far away and Lazarus was in his bosom. And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me.

Send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue for I am in agony in his flame. You know, this passage reminds us of a couple of things. First of all, not everyone goes to the same location when they die. There's not one destiny.

There are two destinies. Remember, Jesus is the one saying this. There is a place of blessing and there is a place of judgment.

And secondly, this passage reminds us that when we die, we immediately begin experiencing either God's blessing or God's wrath. You know, what I believe this passage teaches is Abraham's bosom, paradise is not some part of a divine duplex. It's where God is right now.

That's what it says. This place, Abraham's bosom, was far away. It wasn't next door to Hades.

It was far away. And not only that, he says in verse 26, and besides all this, between us and you, there is a great chasm fixed. I believe that a believer, when he dies, immediately goes into the presence of the Lord. That's where the Old Testament saints went. They went into the presence of the Lord. Jesus said to the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise.

That's another name for the presence of the Lord. Believers go immediately into God's presence. And while we are there, we're awaiting that creation of the new heaven and the new earth that will be our permanent destination. Now that leads to the question, well, what happens to unbelievers when they die? Just like believers have a current destination, the third heaven, and a future destination, the new heaven and new earth, so there is a temporary and eternal destination for the unsaved. The unsaved immediately go to this place called Hades. Look again at Luke 16, verses 23 and 24. And in Hades, the rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torment.

And he cried out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame. Hades is the temporary waiting place of the unsaved dead. But that's not their final destination. Their final destination is the lake of fire. Turn over to Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 and 15. John says, and I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, and whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead and the great and the small were standing before the throne, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and look at this, and death and Hades, the temporary place of all the unsaved since the days of Adam, Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into where? The lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. It is a place of eternal suffering. People aren't destroyed in the lake of fire. We have Satan, the beast, and the false prophet are all thrown into the lake of fire.

Before the millennium, a thousand years later, they are still alive, and they are still burning and being tormented. So it will be with all unbelievers. It is a place of forever suffering. Right now, when an unbeliever dies, he goes immediately to this terrible place called Hades. The common experience, though, in both the temporary location Hades and the ultimate place for the unsaved, the lake of fire, is agony, physical pain.

Notice again in Luke 16 24, the rich man says, he is in agony because of the flames. Second Peter 2 9 tells us, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. What Peter is saying is right now, those who die without Christ are in Hades awaiting their final judgment, the great white throne judgment.

And at that judgment, Hades will be emptied. And all the unsaved who have ever lived from the beginning of time will stand before the white throne judgment of God. And because their name is not written in the Lamb's book of life, the book that records all those who have trusted in Jesus, because their name is not in that book, they will be judged by their deeds in all of the books. That's a choice they made in this life. The reason their name is not in the Lamb's book of life is they said, I don't need God's grace.

I don't need the blood of the Lamb. I will stand on my own good works to enter into heaven. And God says, fine, you don't want to be judged by grace and accept grace.

We'll judge you by your works. And on that day, every unbeliever who's ever lived will see that his works, as good as they might have been, do not meet the standard of 100% righteousness that God requires. Every unbeliever will understand on that day why he has been sentenced to the lake of fire.

Here is the basic truth everyone needs to understand. When we die, we immediately begin experiencing either God's blessing or God's judgment. And while it's true that at some future day, believers will change location from the third heaven to the new heaven on this new earth.

And while it's true that unbelievers will also change location from Hades into the lake of fire, a change of location is not the same as a change of eternal destiny. Heaven and hell are eternal choices. My friend Erwin Lutzer says it this way, five minutes after you die, you will either have had your first glimpse of heaven with its euphoria and bliss or your first genuinely experience of unrelenting horror and regret. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable. In those first moments, you will be more alive than you have ever been. Vivid memories of your friends and your life on planet earth will be mingled with a daunting anticipation of eternity. You will have had your first direct glimpse of Christ or you will have had your first encounter with evil as you have never known it. And it will be too late to change your address. If you wait until you die to choose your destination, choose your destination.

You will have waited one second too long. Hell and heaven are forever choices. Friend, it's never too late to begin doing the right thing unless of course you wait until death knocks at your door. My prayer is that you decide right at this very moment to follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior. In making this decision, you'll secure your eternal destination in heaven. Now, earlier you heard me talk about my best-selling book on this topic.

Let me urge you to write, call, or go online to ptv.org and request your copy today. My book is titled A Place Called Heaven, 10 Surprising Truths About Your Eternal Home. Listening to these daily Bible teaching programs is important, but I'm convinced that spending a few minutes of quiet reflection before your day starts or as your day comes to a close will transform your perspective. My book is intentionally designed to guide you in contemplating the joys of your eternal home. Heaven is far better, far more magnificent than we can imagine.

It's a place where every heartache will be healed and every dream will be fulfilled. And my book will pull back the curtain of mystery to give you a qualified peek at the home God is preparing for you. Ask for a copy of A Place Called Heaven when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. And thanks in advance of receiving your generous support, I'm especially grateful for the faithful giving of our Pathway partners. Your gifts are making an eternal impact as God deploys your investment to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word. David?

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You can request your copy of the best-selling book, A Place Called Heaven, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Call us toll free at 866-999-2965 or visit online at ptv.org. And when your gift is $75 or more, we'll also send you all 12 messages from the teaching series A Place Called Heaven on CD and DVD.

Plus you'll receive encouragement from A Place Called Heaven. It's a beautiful book filled with inspiring scripture, breathtaking photos, and words of wisdom. To request this very special package of resources, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. Now if you'd prefer to write, the mailing address is P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again Monday when we answer the question, What Will We Do in Heaven? here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.