What Happens to Our Soul When We Die?

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The Hope of the Resurrection

13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died[f] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. 15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.[g] 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died[h] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.

There are lots of debates concerning the various aspects of Jesus' return and what happens to his followers either dead or alive when he does. There is not a lot of teaching in the bible about what exactly happens to the soul when we die up until Jesus returns.  

Some believe when someone dies they enter into soul sleep, where their body is dead, but the soul continues in some immaterial state until Jesus returns. This is also called Christian Mortalism. Others believe when someone dies their soul immediately goes to be with God, and then at the resurrection those believers receive a resurrected body. 

Here is one commentator who argues against the idea of soul sleep, yet there are many other Christians like Martin Luther and Augustine that did believe in this idea. Both claim a biblical basis for their arguments. 

There will come a day, when in God’s eternal plan, the dead in Christ will receive their resurrection bodies. Yet until that day, we are confident that the dead in Christ are not in some kind of soul sleep or suspended animation. Paul made it clear that to be absent from the body means to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8) Either the present dead in Christ are with the Lord in a spiritual body, awaiting their final resurrection body; or, because of the nature of timeless eternity, they have received their resurrection bodies already because they live in the eternal now.

The manner in which Jesus will gather us to Himself is impressive. But the main point is that whatever the state of the Christians (dead or alive) at the Lord’s coming, they will always be with the Lord. This is the great reward of heaven – to be with Jesus. Death can’t break our unity with Jesus or with other Christians.  Guzik

At the end of the day it some ways it may be overkill to try and come up with a definitive answer on soul sleep. The clear message Paul gives to the Thessalonians is that when Jesus' returns, those who have died in Christ will be raised in bodily form to eternal life. Those who are alive will be caught up with Jesus in the clouds and go to heaven. This is also called the "rapture". 

Bottom line is that when Jesus returns those who are dead or alive in Christ will be with the Lord forever. When someone dies we grieve at our loss, but celebrate for their gain. When someone dies they are outside of space and time, so I believe that as soon as someone dies they are with the Father and the Son in heaven. When we try to explain more than this, I think we might go too far!