Where Are The Dead

Where Are the Dead?

Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.”

A lot of Christians, especially new Christians, have questions regarding the dead. Where are the dead? Where are their loved ones? Is there a place called Purgatory? Is my loved one looking down on me? Do they visit me? What happens to those who commit suicide? What happens to those who were cremated?

We’re going to take a look through the scriptures and find out just where the dead are and if our loved ones are watching over us.

Flesh bodies and Spiritual bodies

We have two bodies: The flesh body and the spiritual body. I Corinthians 15:40 “There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.”

Our flesh body is the body that we see when we look into the mirror. Our flesh body gets sick, it gets tired, it gets hungry, it gets full, it loses teeth, and it loses its hearing and sight as we age. It also has hairs that turn gray and shed. Our flesh bodies get angry, and boastful; it can be filled with pride, greed and lusts. Our flesh bodies can experience moments of sadness, become overwhelmed, and overburdened. Our flesh body can display every human emotion that there is on this earth. And most importantly, the flesh body dies.

However, our spiritual body is our inner being and does not die. We do not see our spiritual body when we look into the mirror. Our spiritual body loves those things which are heavenly. The spiritual body is not flesh. Our spiritual body is what our Father sees when he looks at us. He may see loads of strength, courage, faith, joy, peace, love, or happiness. Our Father sees in us, what we do not see. That is why a lot of times when we look at the prophets in the Bible who may have been young, timid or lacking some tradition of man, such as wealth, status, education or the like, were used by our Father. For education and status are not impressive characteristics to our Father. Our Father saw the inner being in those prophets as He sees in us, and knew the inner being before the foundations of this world.

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Our Father knew us before the foundations of the earth and knows which individuals are capable of fulfilling His prophecy.

Now, when the flesh dies—that’s it. The flesh returns to dust as it is written in Genesis 3:19, “…for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” The flesh is clay. Thus, when we bury our loved ones we are burying their flesh, which will turn to dust, which will evidentially evaporate, leaving the skeletal remains. When we go to visit our loved ones in the cemetery—they are not there, their skeletal remains are there.

Immediately at death, the inner being, or spiritual being goes back to the Father who created it. II Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD.” Where is the Father? He’s in heaven. All souls return to the Father who created them. Now, this does not mean that all will spend eternal life in heaven…all souls return to the Father who created it, and will await judgment to decide if they will inherit the kingdom, or experience everlasting torment in the lake of fire. “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow, not, even as others, which have no hope.”

I Thessalonians 4:13.

Now, these souls are NOT rejoicing having a great time in the kingdom. We can’t possibly imagine a serial killer having a marvelous time in heaven. As the book of

II Esdras 7:75-99 points out, there are holding places or gulfs for the holy, righteous, unrighteous and the ungodly. Some believers refer to this place as Purgatory or Hades. As Christians we definitely want to fall under the holy or the righteous, for the unrighteous and the ungodly will not inherit the kingdom.

The Holy

The Holy are those who keep our Father’s commandments and laws. They believe in the Creation not evolution. They have not defiled themselves sexually, with male, female or beasts and have walked righteously in the Word of our Father, keeping their language pure. Studying, reading and praying fervently in the Spirit and waking in love. They constantly meditate on our Father’s Word. They are conscious as to what they watch and listen to. They do not get wrapped up in the cares and lusts of this world. They are peacemakers, meek in spirit and filled with love. They have a relationship with our Father and are true faithful followers of Yeshua/Jesus Christ. The Holy are ready to be martyred for the faith. They rejoice in knowing that their names are written in the book of life.

The Righteous

The Righteous are those who may not have always walked righteously according to our Father’s Word. They believe in the Creation and not evolution. They may have done things and said things that they aren’t proud of. They attempt and or/do keep the commandments and laws of our Father. They may slip into temptation but quickly escape and repent from wrong-doings. The righteous read, study, and pray fervently asking our Father to guide their paths according to His will. The righteous evidentially will want to become disengaged with the cares and lusts of this world. The righteous are immediately convicted upon any wrong-doings and/or chastised by their Father. They have a relationship with our Father, hear from our Father, and are striving to be and/or are true faithful followers of Yeshua/Jesus Christ. They meditate daily on our Father’s Word and are ready to inherit the kingdom. They rejoice in knowing that their names are written in the book of life. The righteous look forward to the end of days, and may be martyred for the faith.

The Unrighteous

The Unrighteous are those who are fans and not followers of our Lord and Saviour. They believe in the Creation and may believe in evolution as well. They don’t have a faithful relationship with our Father. They may pray every now and again, do good deeds, and be a cheerful giver. They may even go to church every week. However, they don’t pick up their Bibles to study, drawing themselves nearer to our Father and living life accordingly. They pick and choose which commandments and laws they will follow and quickly dismiss the others. They will believe half of what is being said or taught and disbelief the rest, or fit the scriptures according to the traditions of man.

They are concerned with the cares and lusts of this world and are acceptable to those things that are not of God, and/or are abominable to our Father. The unrighteous live mainly according to their flesh. The unrighteous, more than likely, do not want the world to end. The unrighteous may be good people; however, they do not live righteously, nor do they hear from our Father. They can not say for certain that their names are written in the book of life.

A lot of Christians do not like the term “unrighteous” but it simply means they are not living righteously according to our Father’s commandments. Can they change? Of course they can; however, after death it will be too late.

The Ungodly

The Ungodly are your atheists, witches, wizards, sorcerers, and worshipers of other gods. They do not believe in our Father’s Word, His Son, His resurrection or the Holy Spirit; however, they can be good people.  But being good does not get a person into heaven.

We know from scriptures that we all are not all going to die. But we will all be changed. Changed into what? We will be changed into our spiritual bodies. There are some of us who will be here right up unto our Saviour Yeshua/Jesus Christ return. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” I Corinthians 15:51

We must be changed into our spiritual bodies before we enter the kingdom of Heaven. Flesh bodies cannot enter into the kingdom. For our Father’s glory is too holy and too marvelous for our flesh to enter into His presence. “For this corruptible (flesh body) must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” I Corinthians 15:53 Nobody can enter into the kingdom of God in a flesh body we must be without blemish.

What happens to those who commit suicide?

You have just broken the Sixth Commandment “Thou shalt not kill.” This commandment does not say, “You can’t kill others but you can kill yourself.” Those who have committed suicide have interrupted our Father’s plan; and He will not be happy to see you. Whether you go to heaven or spend eternity in hell is up to Him; however, we never want to test our Father. Ecclesiastes 7:17 says, “Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?”

Many of the saints and prophets of the Bible have experienced hardships, depression and overwhelming thoughts. But they still pushed forward with the help from our Father.  Jeremiah 20:14 Jeremiah says, “Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be the blessed.” And Job says in his sorrow, “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. I loathe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are vanity.” Job 7:15-16. Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy, never let him take your joy. Yeshua/Jesus came so that we may have life, continue to press on in the faith.

What happens to those who have been cremated?

Those who have decided to get cremated have had their flesh turn to dust faster. However, immediately at their demise the moment the Father no longer breathed His breath of life into them, their soul went to the Father who created it. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:7

While you were sleeping

Take a moment and think about the last time you were sleeping. Do you remember the events surrounding you? What was going on in the world around you? If we just take a moment and reflect…when we are sleeping we do not know that we are sleeping. We may have dreams or nightmares that we’ll remember when we wake up; however, while we are sleeping our conscious bodies are unaware that we are sleeping. When we are asleep we have no knowledge of being asleep; likewise the dead know nothing. “…but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their love, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:5-6

Can I talk with my loved ones after death?

“He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.” Mark 12:27. “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and the god of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Matthew 23:32. “For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto Him.” Luke 20:38

With the above scriptures we must be aware that any spirit that is seen of someone who has passed is a spirit of Satan. Satan comes in many forms and he can even take on the form of a loved one. Therefore, we must not error believing that it is a relative or friend. Our relative or friend is no longer in existence. Some of us error because we want to see our loved ones so deeply, not taken into account what the scriptures tell us. Satan or his messengers has disguised himself as our loved ones. Therefore, it is not your loved ones that you see, for they have no knowledge of life or the world around them, it is Satan. Our Father is a God of the living, not of the dead.

Our Soul at Death

Remember, our soul immediately goes to the Father who created it when we take our last breath. Let’s remember the thief on the cross next to our Saviour. Let’s turn to Luke 24:42-43 it reads, “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” There soul was going to paradise, not the flesh body. And as we read further down in Luke 24:46 Yeshua/Jesus says, “…Father into thy hands I commend my spirit…” So once again our spirit returns to the Father at death.

Now, let’s take a look at Revelation 6:9-11 and it reads, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

So once again the souls of those that were martyred for the Word of God were under the altar in heaven, they were not in the ground in their flesh bodies. They were murdered for Yeshua/Jesus Christ and overcame, and have received white robes in heaven.

In closing, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” Psalm 116:15.

Our loved ones can no longer talk with us, sit with us, nor do they have any recollection of what is happening on earth. They are not angels protecting us, or watching over us. When we go visit our loved ones graves, they are not there. Only their skeletal remains are in the ground, their flesh bodies have turned to dust, your loved ones are not there. Their souls have returned to the Father who created it. Now, this does not mean that all souls will have eternal life in the kingdom, they are awaiting judgment. And only those souls found worthy to enter the kingdom will have everlasting life.


Written by T. Nicole Rubio