What really happens when we die? Do we go straight to heaven or hell? Become angels? Get reincarnated? Or is death simply the end?

People have wrestled with these questions for thousands of years, and our beliefs are often shaped more by culture and personal experiences than by Scripture.

This week, we’re kicking off the series by looking at some of the most common beliefs about the afterlife and comparing them with what the Bible actually teaches. We’ll explore what happens between death and the final resurrection, address some of the fears and uncertainties surrounding death, and begin to consider what it means to have hope beyond this life.

Sermon Video

Additional Resources

Chad mentioned one of the resources we used for this series is the work of Tim Mackie and BibleProject. Here are some of the places where you can find what they have to say on this topic:

Videos

Compelled: Speaking and Living the Gospel. This is a sermon Tim Mackie preached on the idea of the reunion of Heaven and Earth through Jesus is the main focus on the Gospel and how that should reframe our understanding about the afterlife.

Learn Where Heaven and Earth Overlap. This is a video from BibleProject where they illustrate how the Bible talks about Heaven and Earth and their relationship to each other.

Podcasts

Heaven and Earth Podcast Series. How BibleProject works is that whenever they do a short video they also record a series of podcasts where they talk about all the theology and biblical scholarship behind that video. This is the podcast series they recorded for the Heaven and Earth video. Cannot recommend this enough, so much gold in here.

Classes

Heaven and Earth. BibleProject also does classes and this is a 12 hour class on this topic. If you have the time, you should take this class, it will expand your thinking and understanding of the Bible and more importantly, it will fill you with hope for the future God is bringing about.

Blogs

The Intermediate State: What the Bible Tells Us. Zondervan Academic has an excellent blog post from Michael Bird, he is a Biblical scholar who does a lot of work with N.T. Wright and here he explores what the Bible actually says about what happens to people between death and the return of Christ. A little heady and dense but it will help you get a firmer understanding of the main Bible references to the afterlife.

Books

Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright. When this book came out it was a game changer for evangelicals. N.T. Wright made a lot of scholarship on this topic more accessible and helped us understand the true hope the Bible presents, a new creation where Christ reigns.

When Heaven Meets Earth, Tim Mackie and Jon Collins. Tim Mackie and Jon Collins are the two main people behind BibleProject and a few years ago they wrote a workbook on the Heaven and Earth topic, this is what eventually became the class we linked earlier. But if you don’t have time to take the class (we know it’s long!) this workbook is a great way to delve deeper into the topic. They made the workbook free to download, this is the link they shared for it, so it’s legit and you’re not breaking any laws by downloading it!

What if death isn’t the end of the story?

At the center of the Christian faith is the promise of resurrection: that just as Jesus rose from the dead, those who belong to Him will one day be raised to new life. But the Bible also teaches that resurrection is connected to something we don’t always like to talk about: judgment.

This week, we’ll explore what Scripture says about the resurrection of the dead and God’s final judgment. We’ll look at why judgment is not just about punishment, but also about justice, accountability, and God’s promise to make things right. And we’ll consider how the reality of eternity should shape what we believe and how we live today.

Sermon Video

Additional Resources

Videos

We Studied the “Day of the Lord” in the Bible (Here’s What We Found). The word the Bible consistently uses to talk about the final judgement day is “The Day of the Lord.” But this phrase has a long history all throughout the Bible and understanding it helps us have a better idea of what the ultimate judgement might look like. This video from BibleProject explores the theme of The Day of The Lord in the Bible.

Podcasts

BibleProject Podcast – Day of The Lord Series. This is the podcast series BibleProject did while developing the video on this topic. It is long but it is one of the more accessible looks at this theme you will find. We specially recommend the Q+R episode, it might be my (Joel) favorite episode from them, and one of the most insightful and dare I say beautiful and compelling treatments on the topic of the wrath of God.

The J. John & Tom Wright Podcast – Judgment, Rewards & God’s Homecoming. This is a podcast that N.T. Wright is on and here he talks about the topic of judgement using some stuff from the new book he’s written on the topic: God’s Homecoming.

Sermons

Chad referenced the work of Tim Keller in this message, here are a few of the sermons he has preached on this topic:

Accepting the Judge

Prayer for the World

Sent to Bear Witness

Lectures

Heaven and Hell. This is a series of lectures that Tim Mackie taught at his old church in Wisconsin on the topic of Heaven and Hell. You’ll find in here a ton of references that eventually he explores in more details in the Heaven and Earth and in the Day of the Lord podcast series but if you don’t have time to dig deep into those this might be the best overview on the topic you’ll find out there. For this week we used some stuff from the Divine Judgment and Resurrection Hope lecture.

Books

The Shack. We know, we know. This book is super controversial, we do not endorse some of its teachings and don’t take this being listed as a resource as any sort of theological statement. With all that being said, chapter 11: Here Comes Da Judge is perhaps the best depiction I (Joel) have ever read about judgement, and it completely enhanced my understanding of the topic.

Hell may be one of the most uncomfortable and misunderstood topics in Christianity. Images of fire, demons, and eternal torture have shaped how many of us think about it. For others, the very idea of hell raises a difficult question: How could a loving God allow anyone to go there?

These are important questions, and they’re worth exploring.

This week, we’ll take an honest look at what Jesus and the Bible actually say about hell. We’ll examine four common Christian views, consider what hell reveals about God’s justice and humanity’s freedom to accept or reject Him, and wrestle with how the reality of hell fits with the character of a loving God who desires that no one should perish.

Sermon Video

Additional Resources

Podcasts

Theology in the Raw – 3 Christians Views of Hell Pt. 1. Preston Sprinkle, who actually co-wrote a book on Hell with Francis Chan, gives an overview of the main views of hell that Christians have held throughout Church history. I (Joel) had a whole section on this in the sermon that had to cut off because of time, but this is a great way to become familiar with those views.

Ask NT Wright Anything – # 18 Hell and Heaven. NT Wright takes listener questions on the topic of hell and elaborates on this perspective from Surprised by Hope.

Sermons

Tim Keller – Hell: Isn’t the God of Christianity An Angry Judge?. This might be my favorite sermon on hell (if there can be such a thing) I have listened to. I owe a lot of my current thinking on hell to listening to this sermon from Keller a few years ago.

Tim Mackie – Weeds and Wheat. This sermon was paradigm-shifting for me. It’s the best explanation I’ve seen on the idea of Hell being a reality here on Earth.

Books

Four Views On Hell. This is a great resource. Zondervan Academics has these books that basically present the main views on any given topic. You get to read each perspective from the proponent of a topic and then the proponents of the different perspectives offer a response.

Four Views On Hell (2nd Edition). The second edition of the book, with completely new writers and slightly more nuanced perspectives on hell.

The Great Divorce. CS Lewis’ classic tale about a fictional road trip from hell to heaven. Perhaps the most helpful book I’ve read to open my perspective and help me understand what hell is like philosophically and why people end up there.

Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright. We already listed this as a resource on week 1, but make sure to read chapter 11: Purgatory, Paradise, Hell to read the full context of NT Wright’s take on what happens to people in hell.

Lectures

Divine Judgement and Resurrection Hope. We shared as a resource in prior weeks this entire series of lectures from Tim Mackie but this is the specific lecture on judgement and hell. Also, check out the lecture notes. The diagram I (Joel) showed in the Hell message comes from that document.

When you picture heaven, what comes to mind? Angels with wings? Streets of gold? Floating on clouds? An endless worship service?

What if the biblical picture of heaven is far bigger, richer, and more beautiful than we’ve imagined?

The Bible tells a story that begins with God dwelling with humanity in a garden and ends with a new heaven and a new earth, where God once again lives among His people. It’s a picture of creation restored, evil defeated, and everything broken by sin and death made new.

In our final week, we’ll explore what Scripture says about eternity with God, challenge some common misconceptions about heaven, and discover the incredible hope of a renewed creation filled with life, purpose, relationships, and the unhindered presence of God.

Heaven really is better than you think!

Sermon Video

Additional Resources

Videos

Eternal Life. This video from the BibleProject takes on the theme of “Eternal Life” how the Bible talks about it. What it means in the future, but more importantly, what it means for us today.

Podcasts

BibleProject Podcast – What’s So Special About the Tabernacle. Part of Chad’s sermon touched on the Tabernacle as this representation both of the Garden of Eden but also of the future Heaven to come. This podcast episode from BibleProject digs deeper into that topic.

Articles

What Are Rewards In Heaven In the Bible. This article from BibleProject takes on one of the issues we didn’t get around to talk about on Sunday. What do we make of all the references to rewards in Heaven?

Books

Finally Home: The Christian Hope of Heaven. Chad mentioned this book on Sunday. A great resource in describing what we can imagine Heaven will look like based on what we see in the Bible.

God’s Homecoming: The Forgotten Promise of Future Renewal. This is N.T. Wright’s latest writing on the topic of Heaven an the future. It is a much more expanded and scholarly take on some of the topics that N.T. Wright wrote about in Surprised by Hope which we have recommended in prior weeks.

Heaven. This is Randy Alcorn’s classic book on Heaven. He frames the book around 44 different questions people have about Heaven and what the Bible says about those topics.