Jesus’ resurrection doesn’t just prove there’s an afterlife—it reveals the order in which life after death unfolds. The Bible declares, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). If you want to know what happens when we die, study what happened to Jesus. He is the firstfruit—the preview and promise of what’s to come for His followers.

The Departure of the Spirit from the Body
At the moment of death, Jesus cried out, “’Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When He had said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 23:46). The Bible warns that our physical bodies are like tents—temporary—and will eventually “waste away” (see 2 Corinthians 4–5). Like a hand slipping out of a glove, the spirit leaves the body behind. But our body houses our spirit—our true self—which continues to live on. Jesus’ body was buried, but His Spirit had already departed.

Immediate Presence with the Lord
When Jesus died, He didn’t enter some sort of soul-sleep or unconsciousness. He didn’t go into a deep coma. While on the cross, He told His disciples, “I am going to the Father” (John 14:28), and He assured the repentant thief on the cross next to Him, “…today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Jesus Himself proclaimed His Spirit would that day be in paradise. His Spirit was not dormant. He was alive, conscious, and in communion with the Father in Heaven.

Resurrection of Our Earthly Body
It wasn’t just Jesus’ spirit that survived the crucifixion. On that first Easter Sunday morning, His Spirit returned, rejoined His physical body, and He rose from the dead. The tomb was empty. The graveclothes were left behind. He appeared to His disciples and said, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:39). Christ’s resurrection was bodily—and it is the example of what will happen to His followers.

Like Christ, when we die, our spirit departs to be with the Lord. The Apostle Paul assures us that to be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Though we are consciously in His presence, we are promised that our spirit will eventually be reunited with a new, glorified body that is immortal, pure, and strong. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20–21).

That reunion will occur at Christ’s return. Scripture promises: “We do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death... For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18).

The second coming of Jesus is going to be a glorious event—not just for those who are alive on earth, but for those who have died and are eagerly waiting to be clothed with their glorified body. Jesus Himself said, “All who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out” (John 5:28–29). Just as His Spirit returned to His resurrected body, so too will the spirits of the redeemed be clothed in new, imperishable bodies—forever alive in the presence of the risen Christ in a new creation:

 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’” (Revelation 21:3–4, NIV).

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul reminds us that when we plant a seed, it dies in the ground, but in a few days a fresh, distinctively different kind of life springs forth from the ground:
“So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42–44).

The older I get and the more my body “wastes away,” the more I long for that new resurrected body.  That’s why the reality of Easter is so encouraging: “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22, NIV).

What a blessed hope we have!

“O that will be glory for me,
Glory for me, glory for me
When by His grace I shall look at His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.”  (from Hymn: O That Will Be Glory by Charles H Gabriel)

AMEN!