For many, the thought of dying brings only terror. Some imagine their souls traveling to heaven, hell, or another life. Others view the end as an eerie unknown.
What does the Bible say about death?
God’s Word presents a coherent, compassionate message of mercy and hope.
Why Death Was Not God’s Original Design
The Bible’s first few chapters show that God never intended death for His creation.
God created humankind in His image to “fill the earth” and care for “every living thing” (Genesis 1:27–28). He didn’t awaken the first human with the press of a button or the swish of a hand; instead, He carefully formed him from dust and “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7, emphasis added).
God made us to eternally live out a divine purpose in a place of unimaginable harmony and joy, always in the presence of the tree of life (verse 9). In our future paradise, this same tree will once again perpetuate immortality (Revelation 21:4).
Death is not God’s plan. It is not a sacred process. It was not designed for us at all. Scriptures regarding death tell us that it came about from disobedience to God.
In Genesis 2:17, God commanded the first humans, Adam and Eve, not to eat from the tree of knowledge, good, and evil. He fairly warned them that doing so would lead to death. In the form of a serpent, the enemy tempted Eve with the tree’s fruit, telling her: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Eve and Adam fell to the deceiver. Immediately, God provided humans with hope of a Savior (verse 15), but to keep sin away from the tree of life, He barred humans from entering the garden (verses 22–24).
Death is the price of sin, or lawlessness (Romans 6:23, 1 John 3:4). Sin is an unaccountable intruder that came from the enemy, Satan. After being cast from heaven, he sought to hurt God by targeting His beloved children and causing them all to die. Yet we have a blessed hope: death has been conquered through grace.
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:12–17)
What Does the Bible Say About Death?
Understanding death’s origin doesn’t answer everything. Many wonder: “What happens when we die?” and “Where are the dead right now?” Romans 5 informs us that just as the sin of one caused death for all, the grace of One offers life to all. But how do we accept that grace?
The Bible provides answers.
Scriptures About Death in the Old Testament
“For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19b)
Due to sin, humans die by returning to their native elements.
“If [God] should set His heart on it, if He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.” (Job 34:14–15)
“For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19–20)
“Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7)
Death is the reverse of the creation process, when God formed man’s body from dust and breathed into him the vital essence of life only He gives to both humans and animals. When man dies, their body returns to dust, and their essence of life returns to God.
“So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep.” (Job 14:12)
“For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5a)
“The dead do not praise the LORD, nor any who go down into silence.” (Psalm 115:17)
The dead cannot be aroused; they cannot speak; they cannot be aware of anything. The dead are “asleep”: unconscious.
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2)
This prophetic scripture about death tells us that the dead will rise at the end of time, some to everlasting life and others to everlasting contempt, a term that signifies the eternal outcome of sin’s defeat manifested in the permanent death of the unrighteous, not eternal conscious torment.
Read more about this false teaching.
Scriptures About Death in the New Testament
“Now Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to Him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ ” (John 11:21–27)
Before Jesus brought her brother Lazarus back to life (verse 44), Martha believed that He could resurrect the dead. She knew He was the Messiah promised in Genesis 3:15. She also understood that Old Testament scriptures about death revealed that there would be a resurrection at “the last day.”
Yet Jesus unveils an even greater truth. Belief in Him grants salvation from death: eternal life for all us sinners on death row.
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)
When Jesus returns, those who believed in Him and died will awaken and rise to meet Him in the sky. Revelation 20 describes the resurrection and second death (the eternal death) of those who did not believe in Jesus.
“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. . . . The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:20–21, 26)
Because Jesus lived a sinless human life, died, and was then resurrected, we who are sinners may also die and be resurrected. Jesus has beaten death. Believe it.
Death as “Sleep” in the Bible
You may have already noticed that the Bible constantly compares physical death with “sleep.” Before resurrecting a young girl, Jesus Himself used this metaphor, declaring to a group of hired mourners: “Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping” (Matthew 9:24).
Multiple New Testament authors do the same, with Luke writing that Stephen, the first martyr, “fell asleep” and Paul writing that Christians should not grieve as others do “concerning those who have fallen asleep,” because we have hope in Jesus (Acts 7:60, 1 Thessalonians 4:13–15).
Other scriptures about death clarify that all who have died are sleeping restfully: they are not racked by nightmares or suffering in any way. Ecclesiastes says they “know nothing,” remember?
The dead are sleeping in a state of peaceful unawareness. This is a Seventh-day Adventist belief on death and dying that strongly contrasts the popular Christian doctrine of the immortal soul, a teaching rooted in Greek philosophy that has led many to accept the false dogma of eternal torment.
The Seventh-day Adventist church is a global family of Protestant Christians who base all of their beliefs on the Bible and exist to proclaim the Gospel. Learn more about this movement’s unique identity.
How Greek Philosophy Changed Views on Physical Death
The Bible never describes death as a journey for the soul. Pagan cultures developed the concepts of spirit-wandering and reincarnation, and it was in Eden that Satan introduced the lie that humans possess immortality apart from God (Genesis 3:4).
It’s important to note that, biblically, the “soul” is defined as the whole living being, the union of body and breath.
Greek philosophy popularized the idea of the immortal soul in western culture, influencing the Catholic Church’s accepted beliefs and, consequently, Protestant teachings. Plato is famous for arguing that the soul separates from the body at death and lives forever. From the perspective of Socrates speaking to Glaucon in the Republic, deemed Plato’s “most famous and widely read work,” the philosopher wrote:
Are you not aware, I said, that the soul of man is immortal and imperishable? . . . There is no difficulty in proving it. . . . But the soul which cannot be destroyed by an evil, whether inherent or external, must exist for ever, and if existing for ever, must be immortal? [Glaucon responds,] Certainly.”
But Scripture is clear: the wages of sin is death, all souls (humans) have sinned, and so all souls face death (Ezekiel 18:4). Only God possesses immortality (1 Timothy 6:16). These verses inform the Seventh-day Adventist belief that dying leads to an unconscious state.
Death and the Great Controversy
As the devil’s ultimate weapon, death is a major component in the cosmic conflict between good and evil. Sin causes spiritual death (or rather life “according to the flesh”) when we lose our desire to follow God’s law (Romans 8:5–8). As the result of sin, physical death separates us from the Source of eternal life. But because of Jesus’ perfect life, death, resurrection, and offering of the Holy Spirit, we can:
- Escape spiritual death now to become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).
- Physically die with hope in Christ.
- Awaken from death at Christ’s Second Coming to eternal life in His kingdom, where death will be no more (Revelation 21:4).
Jesus says: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (Revelation 1:18)
Through the cross, Jesus vindicated God’s character before the universe, rendering Satan’s ultimate weapon useless against those who believe in Him.
Seventh-day Adventist Death and Dying Beliefs
Using Scripture to interpret Scripture, the Seventh-day Adventist movement shares these hope-giving truths about death:
- Death came from sin, not God.
- When we physically die, our bodies decay into dust, and the divine breath that gave us life returns to God.
- Physical death is like a peaceful sleep.
- The dead are completely inanimate. They are not in heaven or hell.
- The soul (which is really the human) is mortal without God.
- Those who die believing in Jesus will awaken at His Second Coming. The living believers will join them, and the two groups will enter into eternal life.
- Those who die not believing in Jesus will awaken 1,000 years after Jesus’ Second Coming, when they will be judged and enter a permanent death. (Revelation 20:5, 14–15)
- Death will die. Sin will never rise up again (Nahum 1:9).
For Bible-believing Seventh-day Adventists, death carries no mystery or fear.
“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. . . . So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
“ ‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ ”
— 1 Corinthians 15:52b–55
Related Articles:
- Hope Beyond the Grave: Death and Resurrection at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ
- God’s Character Attacked: Annihilationism or Eternal Torment
- What Happens After Death? A Biblical View Compared to Adventist, Baptist, Catholic, and Secular Beliefs
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Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
