Although we like to pretend we know what is being spoken about in the Bible, none of us actually know what the afterlife (either WITH Jesus, or WITHOUT) will be like. It may well be that the loss of the hope of Jesus will be suffering such as we can't even imagine. I know that simply the inevitable death of loved ones has caused me more pain than any physical ache or burn I ever had.
It is sad that so many Christians are in this state of mind, still lost and confused upon the subject and not willing to simply take the Lord's word on the matter (thus showing a lack of faith both in him and in his word).
"
The wages of sin is death," plain and simple, not life in torment, nor life in any sense, but
total extinction of being.
“
For the living know that they shall die: but THE DEAD KNOW NOT ANYTHING, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 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.”
Eccl 9:5, 6
“
Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge (consciousness),
nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goes.”
Eccl 9:10
“
But man dies, and wastes away: yea, man gives up the ghost [the breath or spirit of life], and where is he? His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; and they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them… As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decays and dries up: So man lies down, and rises not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.”
Job 14:10, 21, 11, 12
Death is an actual extinction of being. Mark, we do not say that death annihilates matter, for matter is indestructible, and merely passes from one form to another-- as solid to liquid or to gas. What we do assert is, that being, as a condition, has an opposite in non-existence, and that the same God who gave us our being can cause that being or existence to terminate.
"
The soul (being)
that sins, it shall die" (
Ezek. 18:4, 20), is God's statement on this subject. Nay, more; the privilege of living is dependent upon God, since it is "
in him we live, and move, and have our being" (
Acts 17:28) God has decreed that the wages of sin shall be death, and that only by his gift or favor can any hope to live forever. In view of the promised resurrection from death, the first death, which now prevails against all, is likened to a sleep. (
John 11:11; Dan. 12:2.) It would have been a sleep that would have known no waking, had it not been that God in his grace provided redemption from that death which came upon all through father Adam, in the death of Christ our Lord, who became a man and then gave himself our ransom-price--died, the just for the unjust. (
Rom. 5:12, 18, 19, 20.)
The soul that sins, it shall die, (cease to exist, perish), The word “
perish” means to be destroyed, die.
Strong’s # 622 ap-ol’-loo-mee; from (575) and the base of (3639); to destroy fully (reflexive to perish, or lose), literal or figurative: — destroy, die, lose, mar, perish.
Notice also that it states that it is the “
SOUL”
that shall die. There is no such thing as is commonly taught that it is merely the body that dies and that the soul returns to God. This idea comes from the thought that the “
soul” is immortal and cannot die, so the needs that it must return to God, this however is un-scriptural. It was not the “
soul” that was given up in
Job 14:10, but the breath or spirit of life, for man was made of the dust of the earth and the divine sentence is that “
dust you are and, and to dust you shall return”
Gen 3:19.
"
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Gen 2:7
“
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit (breath of life)
shall return unto God who gave it.”
Eccl 12:7
Please do not take this in the wrong way I mean no disrespect to you my brother, I merely wish to help you to understand so as to no longer be troubled by this issue, that you might be "
established in the truth" upon this subject once and for all and no longer be blown about by every wind of doctrine (teaching) on the subject.
Remember: “
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man (or woman)
of God (this being you)
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (
2 Tim 3:16,17)