At death, you neither go to Heaven or Hell. You are just dead, just like many say. Yes, it's true!
For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.-Ecclesiastes 9:5
What?!?! The soul dies along with the body? Who knew?Look! All the souls—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.-Ezekiel 18:4
So then what does this mean? Why preach the gospel if people don't go to heaven or hell? There is still a reward for humans. Jesus Christ said,
This is a partial quote of Psalm 37:29 which ends with "and they will reside forever upon it." The people who die will be resurrected back to the earth from sheol. Paul said,Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.
Jesus himself even said that there was going to be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous at John 5:28, 29.And I have hope toward God, which hope these men themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.-Acts 24:15
Plus, reason on this: If at death you went to heaven (the saved ones, of course) how could death be an "enemy" as Paul calls it at 1 Corinthians 15:26?
So, if people don't go to hell and are actually rewarded with a resurrection, are we even punished for our sins. Yes. And in two ways.
The first one is punishment from God and men. Proverbs 28:13 says:
That last part, will be shown mercy shows us that God punishes us for our sins. The second punishment, that from men, is shown from Matthew 18:17, 1 Corinthians 5:11-13, and 2 Thessalonians 3:6 shows how a sinner should be punished by men."He that is covering over his transgressions will not succeed, but he that is confessing and leaving them will be shown mercy.
So, then, if we are punished in this life for our sins, are we still punished later? Again, the answer is yes.
That is our last punishment. If death is our punishment, then why would God even think about punishing us again? We've paid the price for our sins upon our death! That is why the Bible says,"For the wages sin pays is death."-Romans 6:23
So, our punishment is death with a prospect of resurrection. So, you may ask, why do we have to preach?"For he who has died has been acquitted from his sin."-Romans 6:7
That is for another day. I have to go to work!
Okay-discuss!