The wages of sin is death. But God, who alone is immortal, will grant eternal life to His redeemed. Until that day death is an unconscious state for all people, whether righteous or wicked. When Christ, who is our life, appears, the resurrected righteous and the living righteous will be glorified and caught up to meet their Lord. The second resurrection, the resurrection of the wicked, will take place a thousand years later, at the close of the millennium.
The Bible teaches that the dead know nothing and rest in the grave until the resurrection. Immortality is not an innate possession of the soul but a gift received by God's grace at the resurrection. This understanding protects believers from deception and affirms that only God possesses inherent immortality.
The hope of the resurrection sustains God's people in grief and in the face of death. Because Christ rose from the dead, those who sleep in Him will be raised to eternal life. Death is not the end for the believer but a sleep until the morning of the resurrection, when we shall see our Lord face to face.
