The Bible teaches that God has for us in the gospel of Jesus Christ not only blessings here in this life, but also blessings in the life to come. Paul says, “If in this life only we have hope, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19). “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’.” (v. 32b).

Paul is not simply trusting in Christ so that this life might be more full or more prosperous; he is trusting in Christ for this life and forevermore. Christian hope not only controls our present living; it dictates our anticipation of what will come to be beyond this life.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism 37 is instructive here.

What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?

The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.

What happens to believers the second we shuffle off this mortal coil? What happens to believers the nanosecond our final breath has left our bodies and our brains and hearts fail us? What happens instantaneously for the believer at death?

Before we look more intently at the blessings that belong to all believers in death, we must realise that these blessings — as comforting as they may be ­do not mean that death is easy for the believer. Although the Lord through the apostle Paul explicitly says to believers, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13), the Lord does not say to believers, “Do not grieve.” Instead, he says, “You do not grieve as those without hope.”

Christian grief has mingled with it an inextinguishable, inexhaustible, irrepressible hope, the type of hope that enabled Job to say, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him...” (Job 13:15). In the face of death, a Christian does not approach death with stoic indifference or emotionless detachment because of the hope that is theirs in God. Do not think for a second that we are commending a stoic approach to death. We are, however, commending an approach that is filled with the comfort of God because of the certainty of His promises, even in the midst of the difficulty of it all.

In the catechism passage we mentioned earlier, we learn four blessings that belong to believers even in the valley of the shadow of death. These blessings are why the death of a believer is not only a day of mourning, but also one of triumph. As we contemplate the death of believers, whoever they may be, we can rest assured that they have received these four things immediately upon dying.

1. When believers die, they are immediately with Christ, whom they prize more than all things⤒🔗

This is the greatest blessing of the believer at death. In 2 Corinthians 5:8, the Apostle Paul is speaking of himself and by extension to all believers saying: “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” For the Christian to be absent from this body this is Paul’s way of speaking of death — is to be at home with the Lord. The apostle Paul anticipates immediately being with the Lord when he dies. Since the believer prizes Christ more than anything else, this is his most cherished blessing.

The apostle Paul is assuring us that for the believer to be absent from the body is to be immediately with the Lord. You ask me, “Where is that going to be?” I do not know. It does not matter. All I need to know is this: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Where is the Lord? He is at the right hand of God. Where is the right hand of God? I do not know, but my Lord is there, and that is all that matters. I will be with Him.

For the believer, Christ is more precious than husband or wife, than parents or children, than riches, than fame, than power, than ambition, than influence, than success, than pleasure. He is more valuable than anything. Job could say, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” because he himself would later say, “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:26­27). Job’s longing was to be present with the Lord, which is the first and greatest blessing that believers receive.

2. When believers die, they are immediately perfected in Holiness←⤒🔗

The author of Hebrews speaks of “the spirits of the righteous made perfect”, and he is emphasising that those of us who have come to Christ are part of this perfected company of believers (Hebrews 12:22-24). Immediately upon our death, we enter into the presence of God and are perfected: perfected in holiness, made perfect in godliness, freed from sin, and made in the likeness of Christ.

The book of Revelation frequently describes the saints who have gone before us that is, believers who have died in Jesus Christ, and are waiting for the day of resurrection as perfected; no longer committing sin, no longer struggling with the temptations that result because of indwelling sin, and freed completely from the very possibility of sin. If you are like me, this thought is extremely comforting, because a thousand times a day my heart is tempted to be disloyal to God. My heart is tempted to love things that I ought not to love and so betray my Lord and God. But, oh, to be in a place where I never again have the slightest tinge of temptation to defect from loving loyalty and blessed service to my Savior. The thought of such bliss and rest is overwhelming.

The transition of death can be daunting, even to a believer. But even as daunting as death may be for the believer, it also means a final cessation of that internal warfare against sin, which is a reality that is beyond our imagining. I have no idea what it is like to live with a heart that is wholly given over to my God. I have not lived one second with that kind of heart. But one day every Christian will.

If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as He is offered in the gospel, then at death the warfare is over. The battle is done. Your heart becomes wholly and solely His. Instantaneously in the moment of death, Satan can never again get his hook in your heart and use something in you to pull you away from your Lord, because you will be perfected in holiness.

3. When believers die, they pass immediately into Glory←⤒🔗

In Philippians 1:23, the apostle Paul says that he desires to depart and be with Christ, for that is much better. Why is it much better? Death is better because we pass into glory with Jesus Christ and are welcomed into the Father’s house (John 14:2). As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:8, when we are absent from the body, we are at home with the Lord. That concept should certainly change the way you look at death.

I love the way Isaac Watts paraphrases the end of Psalm 23:

Here would we find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
Not like a stranger or a guest,
But like a child at home.

The minute death comes; you are safe at home; safe in the Father’s arms; safe with your older brother, Jesus Christ, who shed His blood so that you could come home. Immediately!

One of the thieves on the cross who had been mocking Jesus earlier in the day — as one of the gospel writers tells us — was convicted by what he saw and heard from Jesus Christ. He began to rebuke the other thief, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?” At one point the thief says to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And then Jesus replies, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23). Like a child going home, the thief passed into glory to the Father’s house. Believers immediately enter glory, a truth we must never forget.

4. When believers die, their bodies remain United to Christ, resting in the grave, awaiting the Resurrection←⤒🔗

The Thessalonians had been upset by someone who had been teaching that there is uncertainty about what happens to believers who die before Jesus returns. The Thessalonians knew that Jesus would come again, and they were certain that if they were alive when he came, they would be with the Lord, but they were not certain about their relatives who had died in Christ before them. So, Paul assures them, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13).

Paul did not even say this in terms of the imperative. He does not even say to Thessalonians, “Do not grieve as those who have no hope!” Instead he says, in effect, “It is my pastoral concern for you that you do not grieve as those who have no hope.”

God comforts his people by saying:

If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.

What a beautiful way to describe a believer’s death, “Fallen asleep in Jesus.” This concept is so comforting that our Lutheran friends often put that on the gravestones of departed saints: “Asleep in Jesus.” This metaphor of sleep that Paul employs takes the entire sting out of death. Death is not a place of darkness and uncertainty; it is a place of repose and rest where Jesus Himself in the hour of death cradles and cares for the believer.

Your loved ones, who have died resting and trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation as He is offered in the gospel, are more alive now than they have ever been because they are united to Christ. The metaphor of “asleep in Jesus” is not a metaphor of inactivity; it is a metaphor of rest that reminds us that at the end of this long struggle comes rest.