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.