God doesn’t tell us much about the afterlife. He prefers for the details to be a mystery, to be something that we believe in based on faith.
Even the apostle Paul is not permitted to tell us what he knows. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul explains in vs 4 that he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. Why isn’t he permitted to speak these the words he heard there? Simply put, God won’t allow it.
In verse 2 of the same chapter, Paul refers to the place he went as the third heaven. He doesn’t want to even speak of his experience, and he only reluctantly does, to prove to the church in Corinth that he is a legit apostle. And while this knowledge of Paul’s journey is very interesting, it doesn’t do much for our understanding.
We do know that the third heaven is the realm of God. The first heaven, we call sky, the second heaven is all that we refer to as outer space, and the third heaven is the unseen realm of God, what we simply call, heaven. The Jewish people simply referred to all of the above as “the heavens,” and then specified as to which one they were referring.
The Bible calls the realm of the dead, Sheol in the Hebrew and Hades in the Greek, but tells us little about this place. To those who don’t belong to God, it describes the place those souls go as, down in the earth (Numbers 16:33), as a place burning with fire (Deuteronomy 32:22), as a place of darkness (Job 17:13), as a pit (Job 33:18), as a place that is deep (Proverbs 9:18), as a powerful stronghold (Matthew 16:18), as a place of torment (Luke 16:23) and to top it all off, it’s described as a place that will thrown entirely into a lake of fire (Revelation 20:14).
The Bible describes the place where souls go that belong to God as Paradise, heaven, the third heaven, and Abraham’s bosom or Abraham’s side. There is little said about this place as well. It says that to be there is to be home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), that the tree of life from the Garden of Eden is there (Revelation 2:7), that it is a place of comfort where other followers reside (Luke 16:25), as a place of reward (Matthew 5:12), and finally we know that Jesus and one of the thieves that was crucified alongside Him went there together on the day that they died (Luke 23:43).
The Bible describes the place of God’s people as eternal and wonderful beyond description. The Bible describes the place of the people who do not belong to God as eternal and terrible beyond description.
Much more important than any question we can imagine about the afterlife is the question you must ask yourself: When I die, where will I go? God has provided a way for us to go to Him, but it’s His way or no way. The way is His, the choice is yours.
Much love to you all! And to those not present due to health concerns, we miss you and we are thinking of you.
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
