What happens to you after you die? Life after Death

Life after Death

When you die, will it all be over?

You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. Ps 16:10

What happens to you after you die? People have always 

The dead were found there, not the living.wanted an answer to that, and the Psalmists were no different.

They lived in an age without effective medicine, in an age when wars were fought hand-to-hand. Dead bodies were a familiar reality. Yet death, however familiar, remained mysterious and frightening ti them.

Israelites called and shadowy place where dead people go 'Sheol". 

When you got there, your life seemed thoroughly finished. The Psalmists emphatically did not want to go there, and they asked God, when praying for his help, what possible good there might be in death.

"Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?"(Ps 88:12).

Sheol was the great leveler: it meant the end of plans, of worship, of a relationship with God (Ps 146:4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Ps 88:5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

God's Power over Death

Yet some Psalms also hint a happier view. That hold such a strong view of God's authority that they show - vaguely, but unmistakably - God's power over the grave. For instance, God is in Sheol(Ps 139:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands,He- and only he - can redeem a person from there. God will not let his "Holy one" see decay - a claim that both Peter and Paul saw as a clear prediction of Jesus' resurrection from the dead (Ps 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption., 

What did they expect life after death to be like, if God's power redeemed some one from Sheol? You won't find the a clearly defined ficture of heaven here: only hints. 

The Psalmists' thoughts center on God's face and presence. For God is the only unchangeable  reality: whereever you are, in life or in death, (Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.