Where Do We Go When We Die?

Q

I read your question and answer regarding Paradise. I have been under the impression that when we die we merely fall asleep until the rapture or second coming. Are you saying that we immediately go to heaven? If so can our loved ones already gone there look down and see what is going on here on earth?

Also, what happens to the unsaved when they die? They don’t immediately go to hell do they?

A

The answer to your first question is Yes. While our bodies are discarded, our spirits go immediately to be in the presence of God. Then at the resurrection we’re given new perfect bodies. And while nobody knows for sure, many people, myself included, believe that departed spirits are aware of (but not involved in) happenings on Earth.

The unsaved go to a temporary place of confinement adjacent to Paradise. Before the cross the saved and unsaved could see each other and converse across a deep chasm that kept each group in its own area. While the saved were comforted, the unsaved experienced excessive heat and deprivation. Since the cross Paradise has been empty as saved spirits go directly to be with the Lord, but the unsaved are still sent to this place of torment to await their final judgment at the end of the Millennium.