In the Moment You Die

Excerpted from Dr. David E. Seip’s book: With Me In Paradise (2021).

There is a very intriguing expression found in the Book of Revelation concerning the soul of man after death. The Apostle John, in Revelation 6:9–11, speaks of his vision of Christ on the Throne opening seven sealed scrolls. When he got to the fifth seal, John says, “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.” John tells us that they speak. They cry aloud, “how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And then, we are told that these souls had a physical presence, because they where given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers would be made complete. The intriguing expression I am referring to is, “I saw under the altar the souls.” When was the last time you happened to see a soul? In this plane of life we do not see souls? We recognize that people have souls. We know a person’s soul by his expressions, habits, and actions, but we cannot see the soul causing these things. Yet, after death the soul somehow becomes visible. It communicates. For the Apostle John, the appearance of these souls was below, not up. He said that he observed the souls, “under” the altar.

Theologians interpret the Book of Revelation in several different ways. For the purpose of this book we interpret it to be written for us to understand literally—with most of its content referring to still future events. That is not to say that there are not numerous figurative statements that require interpretation of its symbolism. Therefore, when the Apostle John says that he saw souls under the altar we assume that he actually visualized it and reported what he saw.

We have seen that the Bible regards man’s being to be made of spirit, soul, and body; and that we are brought to salvation in Christ by our spirit, which is that portion of being that has a connection to God. The Bible says we were made in his “likeness / image.” That image must be a spiritual image—since God is himself “spirit.” Our soul, on the other hand, is what we might call our consciousness; our personality and the sum total of our experiences and thinking. God works in our spirit to incline us toward Christ; or what is sometimes referred to as the “Call of Christ.” Our spirit begins the work of bringing our soul into a relationship with our spirit’s new found inclination toward God. That process of uniting spirit and soul, inclining our thoughts toward a relationship with Christ, and rejecting the world’s desire for sin and its pleasures is a life-long process. But, for some, the “prompting of the spirit” is something that the soul habitually rejects. Even though Christ’s atoning death is sufficient for all to receive by the reasoning of the soul, some will reject God’s merciful call. Yet, no matter if you are saved by the atoning work of Christ on the Cross, or reject the call to salvation, the body continues to decay. It wears out and dies.

It is at the moment of death that something profound happens regarding the spirit, soul, and body. The moment you take your last breath, each goes through a transformation. For the moment, I would like to concentrate our attention primarily on our soul and answer the question, “What happens to our soul at the moment of death?” If we were to take the time to thoroughly go through the Bible, we would discover that it reveals a number of things related to the soul. One of the key things the Bible says about the soul is: Death does not end the existence of the soul. We are told that in the afterlife, souls continue to exist and become visible. That is to say, you can see personality. Souls are conscious. They can remember the past. And at death our soul and spirit remain connected (as in life) to focus our attention toward Christ. At the moment of death our body begins to return to dust. It remains in this state in the ground for a period of time until Christ returns to claim his Church and give us a new physical form—one which is eternal and without blemish or defect.

While there are many Bible references pertaining to this subject, one in particular can provide us with great value regarding the afterlife and the soul. In Luke 16:19–31 we have the experience of the rich man, Lazarus and Abraham. All three are seen in their soul experience. Here is what Luke says:
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Sheol, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Notice that the rich man’s soul has a form. He can feel the flames. He wants water to cool his tongue. And notice that Lazarus has fingers which the rich man thinks could touch his lips with water. Abraham, Lazarus and the rich man all have eyes, ears, voices, because they see, hear and speak. We conclude that souls are tangible, possessing form and characteristics which were theirs before death. And we recall that Christ with his appearing after his death was able to be seen by his disciples but could also enter rooms through locked doors—a kind of foreshadowing of what is contained in this story. Lazarus is dead, but you can see his soul. It has tangible characteristics of human form.

At the moment of death the soul instantaneously travels to a temporary resting place, and there it remains until Christ’s planned appearing in the air. That appearing is known in the Bible as the Rapture. The Bible refers to this temporary place as Sheol—or, the “place of departed souls.” This is the place where the souls of the righteous and the wicked go at their departure from the body. The popular theological answer is, the soul of the righteous goes to heaven, and the soul of the wicked (or unrighteous, if you prefer) immediately goes to hell. For the Catholic, so long as you are a member in good standing (i.e., take the sacraments, confess your sins, do good works, you have a direct path to heaven—but first, with a stop for an unspecified length of time in Purgatory.

Be careful. If each soul at death goes at once (as many people think), to receive his respective reward or punishment, why is there need for a future “judgment” that is described in the New Testament? For example, 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” In other words, if, as is commonly said, the soul is judged at death, what is the need of the second judgment referred to in the Bible as the White Throne of Judgment? If you take that view—that we are immediately judged at death and go to heaven or hell—it is no wonder that the notion of the Millennium is rejected. (The Millennium being the thousand years that Christ will reign on earth, as described in Revelation, chapter 20). If there is a future judgment—and the Bible says there is—think of it, what pleasure would there be in returning to the cold earth to be judged after an experience of the brightness in the presence of God in heaven? Also, if the disembodied spirit can enter at once into the full happiness of heaven, why then would it need to be reunited with a new body? The point is this, one mistaken notion of scripture affects another, because there is a relationship in the many parts of understanding the future life. The wrenching away of one part disturbs the many other parts.

Take for example Christ’s soul. What became of Christ’s soul after death? We say in the Apostles Creed—“He descended into hell, and on the third day he rose again from the dead…” And when we question “what is meant here of hell” the usual reply is that it signifies the eternal place of departed spirits. But this makes the theory that the departed go immediately to either hell or heaven. It’s confusing, to say the least. All of this confusion is why many are content to think that we cannot really know anything about the state of death. We believe tt must remain a mystery. Who can know? But, is that a fair question? The answer is, no. We can know, because the Bible unlocks the key to this mystery. But it must be examined with care. One such examination involves the word Sheol which in the Hebrew always and only meant “the place of the dead.” English translations typically render the word “the grave,” and sometimes by the word “hell”; but the word never has that as its first meaning. There is another term altogether different to express the grave, or the place of the body’s resting place. It is the word taphos in the Greek, geber in the Hebrew.

In the Bible, Sheol always signifies the resting place of the soul. In the early Greek translation known as the Septuagint, the translators invariably render the word Sheol as Hades, and that term we accept as unerringly used by the writers of the New Testament the way it was intended to be interpreted. Therefore, whether you read the word Sheol, or Hades, it has the same meaning.

A further investigation of the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke, chapter 16, reveals that Sheol is a temporary receptacle for the dead, and it is divided into two portions—one for the righteous, and one for the wicked. In the story this division becomes clear. We read of a great divide between the two men. Nevertheless, some want to say that this story is just a parable—its not a real story. But, if that is accurate, if it is only a fictitious story, it is the only parable in which the Lord uses a person’s name. Typically, Jesus starts his parables with something like, “There was a certain man” with no mention of specific names. Here in this parable we not only have a name, but the story goes deeper and mentions that the rich man has “five brothers”; meaning, a very specific family. Abraham’s name is also mentioned.

Sheol is a temporary holding place until the Lord’s return. It holds both the saved and the unsaved. We have previously mentioned that there is a tangible form to our soul upon death. In Sheol the soul can be seen. The body turns to dust in the ground, but the soul immediately enters Sheol. In between the time that we are absent from this present body and the time we enter our eternal heavenly home, our souls possess a tangible form comparable to that of the souls John is speaking of in Revelation 6—“I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.” For the unjust, the unrighteous, the wicked, the unsaved (as they are referred to), Sheol is a place of torment. But it is not the torment that will imprison them for eternity. For these souls, Sheol is a place of fire, but not the fire they will experience when they are forcibly removed from Sheol by the angels and sent into Gehenna (i.e., eternal hell). The Book of Jude says, “Sodom and Gomorrah, 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.” The same is evident from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, “I am tormented in this flame,” says the rich man. Worse yet, when the unsaved finally arrive in Gehenna (Hell), they will discover degrees of torment—some worse than other. Jesus alludes to this in Matthew 10:15 when he said, “Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”

Sheol is constantly and clearly distinguished in the New Testament. But this distinction is lost to the English reader, because our translators have written Sheol and Gehenna as the same word. But the New Testament, in its original language, always makes this difference—that Sheol (or Hades as it is known in the Greek) is the present place of the dead. Gehenna is the future and eternal place of the wicked dead, after the second resurrection and judgment which is to take place at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ upon the earth.

Gehenna is not mentioned in many places in the Bible; but where it is, its punishment is spoken of as eternal. Matthew 5:22 says, “…and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (literally, “the Gehenna of fire”). Matthew 5:29,30 says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell (i.e., Geheena). “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (i.e., Gehenna). Matthew 10:28 states, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (i.e., Gehenna).

Less is said of the righteous soul in the Bible, but there is enough for us to sketch its general state of thought and expectation. The Apostle Paul informs his readers concerning what he calls Paradise (i.e., Sheol), that “he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.” (2 Corinthians 12:4). So unutterable were the joys, so incapable of being comprehended by man in the flesh, that the Apostle Paul was overwhelmed as to whether he was in the body or not. He thought he must have been dreaming. So deep was the impression of the peace that he enjoyed that he had a desire “to depart, and be with Christ, which is far better.”

There are many who mistakenly object to the concept of Sheol because they mistakenly think it is an undesirable place for the righteous. They think it is dark and foreboding like the grave. But it is not. It is far from it. The Apostle Paul says otherwise. The misperception stems from a prejudice which has arisen from learning from the systems of man, rather than the declaration of the Word of God. Even so, the “place” does not provide the happiness of the believer. It will be sufficient for him that he is where God places him. It is enough that in Paradise (Sheol) there is peace and calm and joy, such as earth cannot bestow. It is enough that Christ is present with us, in a greater degree than we discover here on earth. The Lord himself passed through the depths of Sheol that he might, as the Bible says, “be lord both of the dead and the living”; and that even there he may visit believers with his Spirit.

And it appear that even there the righteous are engaged in praise. We discover this at the opening of the “book with seven seals,” in Revelation 5:13, which reads: “And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and UNDER THE EARTH and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’” The phrase “under the earth” cannot mean evil spirits, because they would not glorify and praise Christ; nor can they be the wicked souls of men in Sheol; for the same reason. Therefore, they are the souls of the righteous, whose present habitation is described as being under the earth. Similarly we have the passages of Philippians 2:9,10 which read, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and UNDER THE EARTH.”

We discover, however, from other passages, that their peace, though great, and their happiness, though considerable, is still not complete and final. We learn from Revelation 6: 9–11, that there is a state of waiting and a longing desire for Christ’s return, as the day of their complete joy—“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” Notice again, John said “I SAW the souls.” He could see them. They had a form, a type of tangible image that made them visible, and they were anxiously awaiting Christ’s appearing.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16, there is a unusual description of Christ’s actions concerning the dead rising. It reads, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” Why should the dead in Christ rise first? Why not everyone rise to meet Christ in the air—both living and dead—at the same time? The dead have a preferred position over that of the living. It is likely because those who are already dead have souls that are residing in Sheol and have experienced a form of worship with Christ. They are not worshiping to the fullest extent of their ability or desire. That will not happen until their soul is reunited with their new, immortal body. In the meantime, they long for greater worship because they already have a concept of the joy of deeper worship; whereas those of us who are still alive have only a vague concept of what worship is like. Therefore, in God’s mercy, those souls who have already experienced intimate worship with the Lord and long for greater worship are granted the privilege of receiving their immortal bodies first.

Not every soul in Sheol longs for worship. Some are focused on their torment. Jakob Martini (1570–1649), a seventeenth-century German theologian wrote this: “It is thus evident that of old there were two different places of abode for souls; one for the good, and the other for the evil; yet both the one and the other is called Sheol. The place of the ungodly, however, is called ‘the Lowest Sheol,’ but the place of the just ‘the Upper Sheol.” In the Book of Ecclesiastes 1:7 we read. “All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.” That is to say, all the dead go into Sheol (Hades) only, yet Sheol is never full. Proverbs 27:20 also reads, “Sheol is never full.” Nathan said the same thing to King David. In 2 Samuel 12:13 we read, “David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.’” What is implied is, “you will not descend to the lowest depth of Sheol; you will not experience separation from God.” Psalm 86:13 reads, “For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol (or, literally, the “lowest” Sheol).” Christ has rescued us from entering into that lowest depth. It is a free gift of God.