Question: When someone dies do they have the opportunity to receive and recognize Christ as their Savior at that moment even after they have died?

Question: When someone dies do they have the opportunity to receive and recognize Christ as their Savior at that moment even after they have died?

Answer: The idea of a second chance to believe in Jesus after we die is appealing and we sometimes wish it were so, but the Bible is very clear that death is the end of all of our chances to ever believe in Jesus. The writer of Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit stated, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). As long as a person is alive, he or she may have many chances to place their trust in Jesus, but when a person dies, there are no more chances.

With our limited understanding, it is natural for us to believe that if people were given a second chance to believe after they die and have come face to face with our Savior, they would do it. However, Jesus teaches otherwise in His story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. A reasonable person would think that the rich man, who is in hell, would have repented and pleaded with God to give him a second chance, but he didn’t. Although he was in torment in hell, he only asked that Lazarus would be sent to warn his brothers so they wouldn’t have to suffer the same fate. There was no repentance in his heart, only regret for where he found himself. But the answer that he received about someone going back from the dead to warn his brothers says it all, “But, Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he (the rich man who is now in hell) said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He (father Abraham) said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead’” (Luke 16:29-31). The point of Jesus’ parable was to show that God uses His Word to bring people to repentance and to salvation, not spectacular events or miracles, not even if someone comes back from the dead.

Since no one will ever be saved after they die, we should be motivated to share the gospel with all of our loved ones and with others with whom we care about. Jesus gives us a great promise which should be comforting to us, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). And the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8 that God chose us, He justified us and He will glorify us and that nothing in all creation can separate us from His love. However, we have a responsibility to share the gospel with others as Paul tells, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”

May God bless each one of us with “beautiful feet!”