Five Minutes After You Die: Judgment for the Unbeliever

by David Chadwick

Many wonder what happens five minutes after we die. But more specifically today, as we look at the sobering reality of death for unbelievers, this question must be asked: what happens immediately after death?

Yesterday, I asked you to consider which group you find yourself in: lost or saved? Selfish or surrendered? Saved by works or saved by grace? A son or daughter of God or a slave to sin?

This question of which group you find yourself in has significant implications. Biblically speaking, there is an eternal judgment facing everyone, and eternal consciousness exists for all. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 16:26 that the most valuable possession anyone has on earth is their eternal soul. To gain the world and forfeit a soul is tragic.

Though our bodies die, our souls live forever. This is clearly biblical. If you remember, Luke 16 talks about the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus, both of whom had eternal consciousness, one in Hades, the place of the dead, and one in the bosom of Abraham in paradise.

Without Jesus Christ, that judgment seat bears eternal consequences of a life separated from God and spent in eternal damnation. Man dies once and then comes the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). It is a one-time event. No purgatory for purification before heaven. There is no reincarnation. No second chances.

A soul that is unforgiven before a holy God is declared guilty of treason and rebellion. The penalty is separation forever in hell. Evidently, they will never repent. Hell is not remedial. It honors people’s choice not to want to follow Jesus.

This begs the most important question today: how is your eternal soul? It’s your most valuable possession. Is it forgiven by Jesus? Or overseen by your own selfishness? Where will you spend eternity? With the Lord or separated from him forever?

If the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, which it is, I beg you to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Now. Today. Confess your sins. Accept Jesus’s free gift of forgiveness. Be confident of the eternal security to live with him forever.

And now live Jesus’s abundant life to the full.

Five Minutes After You Die: For the Unbeliever

by David Chadwick

Let’s continue to look at what happens five minutes after we die. More specifically today, what happens immediately after death? There are so many wonderful realities for a follower of Jesus when it comes to life after death. I want this series to inspire you, instill hope, and create a greater expectancy for the day when we meet Jesus face to face.

But in order to understand the Good News of life after death, we must also embrace the reality of hell for the unbeliever. This will be our focus over the next three days.

There are really just two groups of people: those who resist grace and those who embrace it. Those who are in Adam and those who remain in Jesus. Those who are lost and those who are saved. Those whose sins are not forgiven and those who are forgiven by Jesus. Those who approach God with a works-based righteousness and those who know that no amount of good works will ever make them right before God.

So what happens after a person dies who does not put his or her trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior? Like anything, this question must be approached from a biblical perspective. The Word of God is true, and we must place our lives under the authority of Scripture.

Isaiah 64:6 says that our good works are but filthy rags before a perfect and holy God. Romans 3:23 says that we have all sinned and fallen short of a holy God. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift God has given us through Jesus brings eternal life.

Let’s pause here for today. If you are reading this or listening to our podcast, pause right now and ask yourself this question: which group are you in? Truly ponder the framework of your life. Do you spend your life trusting in Jesus for your eternal salvation? Or have you placed your trust in yourself, your good works, and your own righteousness?

Your answer to that question and the ones that followed determines your eternal destination, which we will study in greater depth tomorrow.

Keep asking yourself what will happen immediately after you die. It’s the most important question any of us could ever answer.

Five Minutes After You Die: A Sober Warning

by David Chadwick

What will happen five minutes after you die? Today’s topic is truly a sober warning.

While there will be many wonderful things that take place after death for those who follow Jesus. There is also a sober reality of what death looks like for those who are far from God and have not put their trust in the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.

Solid, biblical preaching must always include a warning. A “woe,” as it is sometimes called in the Bible. The prophets practiced it. As did Jesus.

Jesus made it very clear in John 14:6 and other places that he is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him, and outside of his grace, there is an eternal separation from God.

When you awaken from death, it will be in heaven, where you will stand before the judgment seat of God (Romans 14:10). Please note this: for those who love Jesus, they will never experience the judgment of this dreadful seat, for our judgment has already been made secure through Jesus. Upon receiving Jesus as Lord, we are declared “not guilty” from all our sins. Christians please “Jesus” before the Father and are welcomed into heaven.

But for those who have rejected Jesus or have been faux followers of him, pretending to be “religious” without a true, living, dynamic relationship with Jesus, these people will spend eternity in hell. The measure to which you do or do not embrace the fullness of the message of Jesus’s grace will determine your eternal destiny.

Look forward to heaven, believer in Jesus! But take seriously the call to warn those around you of what may be awaiting them. For those of us who have placed our trust in Jesus, the first five minutes after death will be glorious, beyond all description in beauty and splendor. But for those who don’t accept his gift of salvation, may today serve as a loving but sober warning for you to get right with God.

Please run to Jesus. Receive his forgiveness. Develop a personal relationship with him. If you do, you will never fear death again!

Death becomes the entrance into Jesus’s glorious presence and into eternal life with him and our loved ones who have gone to him before us.