So goes the song And When I Die by Blood, Sweat, and Tears. The lyrics of this favorite oldie deal with a very serious matter, but the music is very upbeat. Isn't that the way many of us go through life? We know, deep down inside, that death lies somewhere ahead. But we try to remain upbeat, and not think about the time that "our number comes up".

Moreover, like many of us, the song proclaims ignorance about what happens after death. The singer says that only by dying will he ever find out. Hope for an easy, painless death...just let me go naturally...but as far as what comes next? Hey, I just don't know!

The good news is, that is not true! There is not only abundant information about the other side of the grave, but a way to be completely prepared for death, to be able to face it with a solid peace and a sure hope. That's because GOD, Who knows all things, even the things that are utter mysteries to us, has spoken clearly about the other side of the grave in His holy Word. Let's see what the Bible says about Heaven and hell.

HELL is not a popular topic. Televangelists and other religious phonies do not rake in their money talking about it. There is no TV show called "Seventh Hell". Have you ever heard a speaker at a funeral say something like, "this deceased person has probably gone to hell"? Probably not. In fact, in the context of funerals, all sorts of people sanctimoniously default to a religious belief we might call "justification by death". That is, simply on the basis that someone has died, it is assumed that he or she has gone to "a better place".

Now consider, Reader: is every person leaving this world automatically qualified to stand up straight and tall and smiling before a thrice holy, sin avenging God? To assume so is about as wise as the proverbial ostrich, hiding her head in the sand. Even worse, it will be eternally, hopelessly tragic to those who, believing this, take no thought for their souls.

The Lord Jesus Christ often spoke of HELL in His teaching. He described it as a place where "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched". In the following passage from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 16, the Savior tells us more about this real and awful place:

"There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' "

The Lord Jesus said that Lazarus went to "Abraham's bosom". This is a way of referring to Heaven, based on Abraham's role in God's plan of salvation as the father of both Jewish and Gentile believers. (See Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 4, or his letter to the Galatians, chapter 3, for fuller expositions of this truth.)

At the moment, we are concerned with what the Lord said about where the rich man went, not Lazarus. Let's notice just a few facts about his case:

1. He was fully conscious, and able to speak
2. He was able to see saints (Abraham and Lazarus) in a place of happiness
3. He himself was in fiery torments
4. He was told to remember the good things he had received during life on Earth.
5. He would have considered one finger-tip's worth of water as a great mercy
6. He wanted to warn his five brothers that they were on their way to a similar doom.
7. He was told of a "great gulf" that prevented his escape to Heaven

This rich man exemplifies the sort of person Paul wrote about in Romans chapter 2:

"...Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who 'will render to each one according to his deeds': eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness -- indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek..."

It was not his worldly riches, in and of themselves, that damned this man. Although Christ did say that it will be difficult for those who have the fleeting wealth of this world to enter the kingdom of Heaven, He did not say it will be impossible.

This man's damnation was brought about by his refusal to repent and turn to God for forgiveness of his habitual selfishness and unrighteous, wicked behavior: his SIN. Perhaps during his earthly life he was a hypocritical religionist, a liar, an adulterer, a man full of bitterness, a man who never had a moment for God - let alone one entire day in every week, namely the sabbath. All and any of these things (practised outwardly in the body or secretly in the heart) send rich and poor, male and female, small and great to HELL.

If you've been reading carefully, you noticed that Jesus said the rich man went to Hades. As we saw from the rich man's state there, this is an awful place of torment. However, it is not the "final version" of hell. In other words, it's going to get even worse for that rich man when Jesus Christ returns to bring all of human history to a consummation, and to judge every single human being who has ever lived!

Jesus said, "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."

When that hour arrives (and it will arrive without warning, and suddenly), the soul of the rich man and the departed souls of every human being who ever lived will be reunited to their bodies for eternity. The Bible knows nothing of a vague, ghostly "afterlife". Jesus Christ rose from the dead, not a disembodied spirit, but with His same, real, physical human body. His body even retained scars inflicted on Him by His horrific execution on the Roman cross. (see Luke 24:39, John 20:25-29)

So it will be for all of us. Body and soul reunited forever in unimaginable bliss in Heaven, or body and soul reunited forever in unimaginable agony in hell.

Who will go to Heaven and who will go to hell? Once again we quote the words of Jesus: "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Yes, MANY will enter the wide gate, travel the broad way, and go to hell. FEW will enter the narrow gate, travel the difficult way, and enter into life. Let your soul be stirred up, Reader! Which way are you travelling? Is it the broad one? Hear the voice of Jesus NOW, as He calls you to forsake that way and follow Him to salvation!

What is the "final version" of hell like? This is what Jesus will say when He sentences multitudes of sinners to go there:

"Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels!"

Hades itself, the temporary place for the torment of guilty, indicted, final-judgment-awaiting sinners, will itself by thrown into this everlasting fire, which is also called the lake of fire, the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, and "the second death":

The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:13-15)

Is YOUR name written in the Book of Life, or are YOU headed toward the eternal, fiery lake?

Please read on...

The upward look, to HEAVEN, can only begin with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of God Who came not as a moralist, not as a martyr, but as a substitutionary sacrifice. Jesus often referred to Himself as "the Son of Man". And He said, "...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

The Son of Man gave His body and blood, His life, to pay the penalty of sin for those who could never pay that penalty themselves. When He rose from the dead, it demonstrated that full satisfaction to Divine justice had been made. A glorious transaction, conceived in the infinitely loving heart of God and by the infinite wisdom of God, could now take place in the lives of the hopelessly doomed. God's FREE GIFT of salvation works this way:

When a sinner, aware of his guilt, corruption, and lost condition, calls out from his heart for mercy in the name of Jesus the Savior, the full penalty owed by that sinner to Divine justice is payed by Jesus. At the same time, that sinner becomes clothed with the perfect righteousness of Jesus, and indeed CAN stand before a thrice holy, sin avenging God! This glorious reality of the Gospel is called JUSTIFICATION. A justified sinner's sin WAS avenged upon the Substitute, when He gave His life once for all. And the Subsitute's record of perfect righteousness gets reckoned to the account of the redeemed one. Could a more wonderful, glorious, precious announcement be made to hopeless wretches like this writer, and others who are burdened with a sense of their guilt and shame?

Again, Jesus said, ""Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The sinner who embraces this Gospel enters the narrow gate (the Divine person and saving work of Jesus Himself). By vital faith united to Jesus and empowered by Jesus (Who Himself is also the Way), that one begins the disciple's life, which Jesus defined briefly thus: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?"

Having entered that narrow but glorious gate, and being found in that difficult but royal way, the former rebel against God and alien to God's kingdom is on His way to the reward, namely being with Jesus (Who Himself is the destination) forever in HEAVEN.

Are you a sinner redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, clothed with His perfect righteousness, living faithfully in Him? The following Biblical contemplations on HEAVEN offer at best a dim foreshadowing of what is in store for you. The bright reality is beyond anything you could possibly ask or even think...

In Heaven's bliss, you will spend eternity loving God Triune in return for His incomprehensible, electing, wonderful love for you. Nothing will ever corrupt your love to Him, since your entire resurrected and glorified being then will have been made perfect by His almighty power. As the endless billions of eons roll on, God will continue to love you immeasurably more than your heart will be able to love Him, even though your heart's capacity to love will be magnificently greater than it is now!

This "wheel of love" will turn ceaselessly. It will perpetually reel and spin with delirious, musical joy - yet according to Infinite Wisdom's precise orchestration. You will be utterly perfect - yet you will always grow (unhindered and without limit) in knowledge of the immeasurable, unsearchable God. The "new heavens and earth" will be filled with inconceivable peace - yet they will be vibrant with industry: the high and sacred business of worshiping and glorifying the Uncreated One forever.

This will all take place in the fellowship and society of the redeemed of all ages, in a real place the beauty and absolute splendor of which is past the ability of any writer to describe. There you will be able to ask Enoch about the antedeluvian (pre-Flood) world, and how it was to be taken up from earth, having never known physical death.

With Noah you will sip a Divine wine finer even than the miraculous vintage of Cana in Galilee, as you contemplate the profound depths of God's judgments in complete sobriety.

Speaking the one, pure language of Heaven, Babel's dividing curse forever banished, Abraham and you will rejoice that faith has become lustrous, dazzling sight.

You will laugh uproarioulsly with Isaac, dining on dishes far more sumptuous than any savory stew such as that patriarch loved on earth.

With Jacob you will scale that ladder which soars to the loftiest altitudes of God. The Summit will never be conquered, yet all will tirelessly climb toward it in raptured delight, with no possibility of slipping or falling, ever ascending to more and more rarified, exhilirating heights.

There you will converse with that noble man who was so cruelly treated by his brethren, in order that those brethren might be well treated by Providence. You will ever dwell in the same household of God with him who was once Pharaoh's prime minister - Joseph your brother - who is a type of the Great Elder Brother of the redeemed.

Moses, the deliverer from an earthly bondage who prefigured Christ's redemption of His people from sin, death, and hell even more acutely, will be your fellow servant - where the pure, holy Law of love and liberty is obeyed by all with sheer delight, and never a threat need be uttered.

With Joshua, you will divide everlasting spoils and hold irrevocable title to the true Canaan, for God's people are more than conquerors through Him Who loves us.

With Samuel, you will be a judge: for do you not know that we shall judge angels?

With Elijah and all the prophets you will proclaim the Divine excellencies without ceasing, to ears that can't get enough of the pure and fervent truth all will speak.

Like Melchizedek and Aaron you will ever dispense untold blessings to the Father's great family - that kindred in which all are priests, each mediating God's countless blessings to the innumerable all, and diversely to each other!

You will be crowned a king forever with David, and you will sit on a throne with David's Greater Son, Ruler of the universe, and you will enter into the loftiest and most sublime realms of contemplation: studying the eternal word and eternally enduring creation of Him Whose wisdom is greater than Solomon's.

At Daniel's side you will worship the Lion of the tribe of Judah, not three times per day toward old, earthly Jerusalem, but at all hours, on a day which has no nightfall.

You will do this in the New Jerusalem, with Ezra and Nehemiah - you will do it in that unshakeable Celestial City, which has no need of temple, sun, or lamp.

You will rejoice with John the friend of the Bridegroom, and be a member of Christ's Body, His Bride, with the apostles and all the believers who first heard the Gospel. With all these, you will be around the throne with the twenty four elders, all the holy angelic beings, and the glorious martyrs of our dear Lord Jesus.

You will take your place with the majestic saints of God of all ages of the Church, the greatest of whom are perhaps recognized at present only by their heavenly Father - until that Great Day discloses their holy lives, labors, and mighty triumphs. They and you will be eternal monuments of grace and glory, though now uncelebrated by a sleepy, crafty, and antagonistic world.

"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8)

Press on toward such a glorious HEAVEN, fellow Christian! Others, repent and believe, lest you taste of that second death, which likewise has no end!