Shorter Catechism
Q 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness,1 and do immediately pass into glory;2 and their bodies, being still united to Christ,3 do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.4
Larger Catechism
Q 85. Death being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ?
A. The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and curse of it;5 so that, although they die, yet it is out of God’s love,6 to free them perfectly from sin and misery,7 and to make them capable of further communion with Christ in glory, which they then enter upon.8
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Hebrews 12:23
and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, (ESV)
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Luke 23:43
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
2 Corinthians 5:6
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
2 Corinthians 5:8
Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Philippians 1:23
I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. (ESV)
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1 Thessalonians 4:14
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (ESV)
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Daniel 12:2
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
John 5:28-29
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Acts 24:15
having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. (ESV)
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1 Corinthians 15:26
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 2:15
and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (ESV)
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Isaiah 57:1-2
57:1 The righteous man perishes,
and no one lays it to heart;
devout men are taken away,
while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
he enters into peace;
they rest in their beds
who walk in their uprightness.2 Kings 22:20
Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’” And they brought back word to the king. (ESV)
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Revelation 14:13
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
Ephesians 5:27
so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (ESV)
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Luke 23:43
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Philippians 1:23
I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. (ESV)
