What happens to us when we die?
Scripture gives a variety of answers. The story of Saul, Samuel and the Witch of Endor is one pointer to surviving death with the prophet Samuel appearing to King Saul (I Sam. 28: 5–26).
However, there is also the psalm:
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans (or thoughts) perish. (146: 3–4)
The New Testament often describes death as having fallen asleep[1] (John 11: 11; I Cor. 15: 18–20; I Thess. 4:13–15; etc.). So there are three discernible positions, at least, in Scripture: some kind of continued life after death, death as annihilation, and an intermediate state of unconscious existence.
We believe in our own resurrections with Christ, but what that new life is like we do not know. Does it start right after death? Do we “sleep” until Judgment Day?
What happened to Jesus after his death?
The Apostles’ Creed (but not the Nicene) contains this controversial line, “He descended into hell.” Modern translations read “he descended to the dead” to translate κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα ; descendit ad inferos (not infernos).
