Our spirits live on in consciousness after the death of our physical bodies.
What happens to us after we die?
Do we go to heaven if we are saved?
Do we have spirits that live on after the death of our bodies?
This post is a list of scriptures for you to meditate on. These scriptures are many that show us we have spirits that do live apart from the body and have thinking and understanding consciousness.
Some “Christians” falsely believe in “soul sleep.” The leaders of these Christians have invented that term. They believe that the spirit inside humans cannot live outside the body, and as such ceases to live on. They believe there is no consciousness of the spirit apart from the body. These people believe in what I call a doctrine of death.
The Jews who reject Jesus and the New Testament do not believe in our spirits living on after the death of our bodies, for the Old Testament is about earthly man and the New Testament is about what is spiritual, and they reject Jesus who teaches about what is spiritual.
Many so-called Christian denominations look to the teachings of the Jews who reject Jesus. They preach soul sleep, or they merely teach that we cease to exist after the death of our body.
Yes, life continues after the death of the body.
Matthew 23:13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Did you read that? Jesus says they shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces, and that they do not enter. If men cannot enter heaven, then why does Jesus say what he says?
When can anyone ever go to heaven except in their spirit without their flesh body? The only time we will be without a body is when we die in the flesh.
These scriptures say God is the God of the living, and that even those who have died are living.
Romans 14:9 For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Mark 12:24-27 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage: they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
Luke 20:34-38 Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
Jesus actually demonstrated to Peter, James, and John that the saints of the Old Covenant are alive when he spoke with Moses and Elijah on the mountain of transfiguration. Read about the transfiguration here:
Mark 9:2-6
The Transfiguration
2After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6(He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Our physical body is a living soul while it has its spirit in it. Our physical bodies are alive because we have a spirit. The body without the spirit is dead, see James 2:26. Many Christians say our soul goes to heaven. The soul doesn’t go to heaven just our spirit. Only Jesus’ soul went to heaven because he is the firstfruits of the resurrection, we will have a body like his at the resurrection from the dead.
Spirits don’t die. Our spirit either goes to be with Jesus or in prison/hell.
Matthew 10:8 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
See that scripture, it is about after we receive our resurrected bodies. That scripture says people can kill the body but not the soul. That means people cannot kill the body with the spirit. The soul is a body with its spirit. God can destroy both soul (body with the spirit), and body in hell. When Jesus raises the dead and gives them new bodies for their spirit, he will throw some in hell, the lake of fire, the second death.
When we are raised again God will throw some in the lake of fire.
The Pharisees acknowledge that there are angels and spirits. If there is no such thing as spirits living outside of our bodies, then how is it that the Pharisees believe it and were not rebuked for believing it? From the scripture, we get that the Pharisees are commended by Paul for the belief in angels and spirits. The Pharisees knew that Jesus was a man who had been crucified, and Paul was at the Sanhedrin speaking to the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and he was explaining about how Jesus spoke to him when Paul was on the road to Damascus, see Acts 22. The Pharisees who believe that there are spirits had no problem believing that it was possible that, after Jesus died, he spoke to Paul by his spirit.
Acts 23:8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.)
9 And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
Those are the Sadducees that Jesus explains to that the spirits of those who have died still live:
Read Mark 12:24-27 what Jesus replied to the Sadducees when they came to Jesus with a question about the resurrection. Read in Luke where Jesus says, “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Luke 20:34-38.
In the Old Testament Solomon says, “Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward…” Jesus in the New Testament teaches us that the spirits of the saved in him rises upward.
Ezekiel 3:21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
These next scriptures show that Jesus is going to bring the spirits of those who are in heaven with him when he comes at the time of the resurrection of the dead.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
If our spirits don’t live on after the body, then how is it that the apostles thought Jesus was a ghost, a spirit? Jesus did not tell them that spirts, ghosts, don’t exist.
Matthew 14:26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
Jesus says he will give us water welling up to eternal life. You want me to believe that this water wells up to our death, and then begins again thousands of years later at the resurrection.
John 4:14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 6:27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
Jesus says to work for food that ENDURES TO eternal life. We do not work for food that endures to death in the ground then later an eternal life. How is it enduring if a person’s life stops completely?
John 6:47 I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Did you hear that? Those in the Old Testament ate the manna and died, but Jesus gives us bread that we may eat and not die. Those in the Old Testament didn’t have yet what we are given through Jesus. They didn’t know yet about the life of the spirit through Jesus.
John 6:53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Jesus says if a man eats his flesh and drinks his blood, he REMAINS in him and he in us. We remain with Jesus forever.
Some teach that we don’t live on in our spirit after the death of our bodies, but Jesus says we will remain in him. We are not dead in Jesus we are alive in Jesus.
John 8:48-59
The Claims of Jesus About Himself
48The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
49″I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51I tell you the truth, if anyone obeys my word, he will never see death.”
52At this the Jews exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
54Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57″You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58″I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
So, you can see from these scriptures that the Pharisees heard Jesus just like we do when we read these scriptures. We read Jesus saying if we obey his word, we will never see death. We are not mistaken; we are to believe what we hear Jesus say. Jesus isn’t just talking about later at the resurrection. The Pharisees heard Jesus what he said. Jesus said we will never see death if we obey him.
John 12:26” Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
This is in the passage where Jesus predicts his death. Jesus is going back to the Father.
John 14:1-6. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Again, Jesus is talking about going back to heaven to his Father.
This next passage could be about Jesus going to heaven then coming to them to give them the Holy Spirit and place them in him in heaven, or it could be when they die and Jesus comes for them, as he did for Stephan and Paul.
Jesus Christ who tells us… “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
Jesus says that he is going to prepare a place for them and that he will come back and take them to be with him. We see in Acts that Jesus came for Stephen.
See Acts 7:55 But Stephen full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
We see that Jesus came back for Stephen. In addition, we see in 2 Timothy 4:18 that Paul is confident that Jesus will come back to get him and bring him safely to his heavenly kingdom. See the following…
2 Timothy 4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Jesus went to heaven to prepare a place for his disciples, Jesus came when Stephan was dying, and it wasn’t just to watch him die and disappear until the resurrection.
John 14:16-18
16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
This scripture Jesus says that he shall give another Comforter that may abide with them for ever, note the word for ever. Forever doesn’t mean only until you are dead in the ground.
John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
That scripture says this is ETERNAL LIFE—to know God and Jesus.
If our spirits don’t live on in consciousness then eternal life stopped.
These scriptures show spirits in heaven and they speak and they also rest. John sees a vision of people who are alive, they are living souls, and then they are slain for the word of God. After they are slain, they are in heaven in their spirit and Jesus giving them white robes shows us that they are at that time spirits.
Revelation 6:9And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
As the scriptures above say that spirits can speak and rest, so does the scripture in the Old Testament show this when Samuel was brought up to speak to Saul, Samuel could speak and also said he was resting.
This scripture says Abel still speaks even though he died in the flesh a long time ago:
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cane did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
These scriptures show that we have a spirit that lives on after our flesh body is destroyed:
1 Corinthians 5:5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 6:16-17 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
While we live in the flesh in this world, we unite ourselves physically, in the flesh, with our wife, or husband, and then we die physically and are not united anymore, we are not bound to them anymore. BUT when one is united with Jesus, we are one with him in spirit. He is Spirit and our spirit is connected…united to him…spirits don’t die. We are our spirit and are united with Jesus forever.
If our spirits do not live on in consciousness outside of the body, then Paul would not ever have suggested it. See the following scriptures.
2 Corinthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.
Philippians 1:22-24 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 3:2-3 Set your affection on things above, not on things on earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
We are dead in the flesh but alive in the spirit because of our obedience to Jesus.
John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
These scriptures show that our spirits live on after the death of our bodies:
Peter 3:18Because The Messiah also died once for the sake of our sins, The Righteous One in the place of sinners, to bring you to God, and he died in body and lived in his Spirit.
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1 Peter 4:6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
Jesus went to speak to the spirits of people who disobeyed, even those from long ago were still alive in their spirit being held in prison.
God’s family are the angels and humans.
Ephesians 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Paul speaks about faith in Jesus making the spirits of righteous men perfect, the righteous men and prophets of the Old Testament who were dead long before Jesus came. Faith in Jesus makes these spirits perfect. If our spirits cease to exist, or are conscious of nothing, then how can spirits be made perfect by their faith in Jesus Christ, since they died before Jesus came. Also note where this scripture says the spirits of the righteous men made perfect are…in heaven.
Hebrews 12:23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,
Colossians 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
2 Peter 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 2:4For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
The Godly will Be Delivered
7And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
The scriptures show that the angels that sinned are held in prison and that the unjust are held too.
Jude 1:5I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Christian Defense of the Truth 
Posted on August 25, 2011
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