"What happens after we die?" This is the question that the every-day person and scholars alike have sought to answer. The good news is that Scripture answers that question for us. We learn in the Bible that when we die, we are immediately brought into the presence of God. How incredible will that moment be?
As he taught about the end times and what happens when followers of Christ die, Paul made it abundantly clear that they are immediately in the presence of God. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 5 about the tension that followers of Christ feel between being here on earth and longing for heaven. Here is what he wrote. "As long as we live in these bodies, we are not at home with the Lord" (verse 6). This verse is a sobering reminder that this world is not our home. He continued his teaching by saying, "we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we would be at home with the Lord" (verse 8). It is at this moment when we will finally feel home, which is what each one of us is longing for. We were created to have a relationship with God, and the culmination of that relationship of that is when you and I will meet Jesus in heaven one day. It is this day when our hearts and minds will finally feel at home.
This is the incredible thing for followers of Christ: we do not have to fear death. Only Jesus can take the seemingly worst thing on earth and make it the best thing for followers of Christ. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5, we will be with God the moment we leave our earthly bodies, and we will finally be home. This is the hope we have in Christ. Praise God for the hope we have of life with Him after death.
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.
We Are God’s Ambassadors
Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
