Where Do People Go After Death? To The Heavenly Kingdom, Into The Lake Of Fire, Or Some Place Else? Where Do People Go After Death?

Life after death, sooner or later everyone wonders about it. Some are even bold enough to teach about it.

* You will find some that talk about a place of nothingness call purgatory.
* Others will describe places of eternal torment where sinners are cast into the lake of fire.
* Still others are comforted by thoughts of their dead loved ones that have gone to the heavenly Kingdom.

The question remains, what does the Bible say. Or more precisely

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"Where do people go after death"?

I had this conversation with a friend of mine that was convinced the unrighteous enter into eternal torment.

Revelation 14:11
And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.

The problem with his take on this verse is that it talks about the "smoke of their torment" not "the fire of their torment". Major smoke happens when a fire starts and when it is going out, not when it is in the middle of raging. Thus, one cannot conclude an everlasting fire from the above verse.

Especially when you include verses like

Malachi 4:3
Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty.

He didn't seem to want to talk about the properties of fire or how a concept of ashes can coexist with unrighteous eternal life. And I don't blame him in a way.

After all, the unrighteous had their chance! They deserve to be punished. Bring down the hammer and give it to them, since they were too stupid to see what was right in front of their eyes.

Course, taking that attitude one could easily define God has a vicious tyrant who we ought to be fearfully afraid of rather than a loving Savior who died for the world. It would also run in direct opposition to the Word of God.

John 3:17
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Notice how it does not say that He came to save those who would be saved, but He came to save the world. This doesn't mean that everyone will be going to the heavenly kingdom, but sending them into the lake of fire where they burn forever more certainly wouldn't be the essence of saving in my book.

Therefore the unrighteous will become ashes after being burned up. This fits with the Scriptures mentioned above. And the righteous will enter into the Kingdom of God where they will begin living out eternal life. We have but touched the surface of this conversation on where do people go after death within this article, though we have touched it deep enough to have some very workable answers.