I will repeat this here from another thread, seeing it deals with the very same topic....
I think we as Christians need to accept revelation on this matter, because with the current escalation in interest in spiritualism, the occult, NDEs, apparitions and visions of the dead, channeling etc, most of which are forbidden as abomination, if we accept false ideas on this topic, we may be, as many Christians are, deceived along with the world.
Psalm 146:1 ¶ Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
2 While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Eccl. 9:
5 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.
6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun....
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
Psalm 6:4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
Ps 30:9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
Ps 88:10 ¶ Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
Ps 88:11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
Ps 88:12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Ps 115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
Isa 38:18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.
Call me a cynic if you wish. I do not expect many to believe the above word of God. Far too many Christians read these with the preconception that man is naturally immortal, and lives automatically beyond the grave. They prefer to believe the words of Satan from the garden of Eden, "ye shall not die", rather than the words of God's prophets above.