What will happen to you when you die?

“According to the US Census Bureau (for 2009), there are 1.8 deaths per second worldwide, meaning that there are over 100 deaths per minute. There are over 150,000 deaths per day and over 55 million deaths per year” (Burtit.com).

Take a minute to think about the above quote. Fifty-five million people die every year. To put that in perspective, the entire population of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States, would have to die almost 19 times to equal that number.

Death is certain, and it is imminent.

What will happen to you when you die?

Are you going to Heaven? Hell? Are you simply going to cease to exist? Will you reincarnate into another being? What do you believe?

Most, if not all, human beings wrestle with questions like these sometime before they die. As Christians, what are we supposed to believe?

The Bible speaks of Heaven and Hell as literal places. In John 14:2-3, Jesus tells His disciples He is leaving them to go to His Father’s house (Heaven) to prepare a place for them:

“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.”

In Luke 16:19-26, the Bible tells the story of a man who was actually in Hell:

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”

If Heaven and Hell are real places, how does one get to Heaven and avoid Hell? The Bible says in Acts 4:10-12 it is only by the power of Jesus’s salvation:

“It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

So, to recap: Heaven and Hell are real places. The only way to get to Heaven is through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Where will happen to you when you die?