Dear Rabbi Levy,

Most people believe if you have faith in Jesus and you live a pretty good life then when you die you go to heaven to look down upon all your loved ones like a guardian angel. When someone dies, you commonly hear they have gone to a "better place" or they have gone to a "better life". My question to you is: If we are saved, where do we go when we die, and where can I find proof in the bible?

Shannon

Rabbi Isaac Levy responds...

Dear Shannon,

Shalom.

To answer your question, we can find some scriptures from those who have gone before us. Being good has nothing to with salvation, there are many good people from all religions. But the scripture is very clear regarding salvation.

In Psalms 115:17, David writes “The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence." This scripture does not mention anyone is going to Heaven looking down on their loved ones or anyone else for that matter. Those who die are dead and are waiting for the day of redemption. In Ecclesiastes 9:5, King Shlomo (Solomon) writes, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." The dead are just what King Shlomo (Solomon) has written, dead not knowing anything, just waiting for the return of the life giver, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ).

King Shlomo (Solomon) writes in Ecclesiastes 12:7, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” This will occur in the day of Yeshua’s (Jesus’) return when He comes to judge the Earth and reward all man, some with eternal life, and some with everlasting death. He will reward those who walked in obedience with new heavenly bodies to unite with their spirit and become new creatures that will live with Yeshua (Jesus) during his one-thousand year reign on Earth.

Revelation 6:9 says, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:” This means that when a person dies, he or she will have to wait till the Lord of Heaven and Earth returns to establish his kingdom for a thousand years at which times all the dead in Christ will resurrect from their slumber and new heavenly body much like the angels have will be given to them. Then they will live with Yeshua for a thousand years here on Earth and then for Eternity in Heaven.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Rabbi Isaac Levy