Will there be a second chance for salvation after death?
Answer: While the idea of a second chance for salvation is appealing, the Bible is clear that death is the end of all chances. Hebrews 9:27 tells us that we die, and then face judgment. So, as long as a person is alive, he has a second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. chance to accept Christ and be saved (John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 16:31). Once a person dies, there are no more chances. The idea of purgatory, a place where people go after death to pay for their sins, has no biblical basis, but is rather a tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.
Hebrews 9:27 tells us that we will all die, and sometime afterword we will all one day face judgement. Not face judgement immediately after death. Going to hades does NOT mean that you've been judged, however it does mean that you're not a believer. This explains why people are dumped out of hades to stand in front of the great white throne in a resurrection.
Revelation 20:4-6 niv 2010
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. Notice how it says the rest of the dead? Guess who the rest of the people are, as said in verse 5? If you read this whole passage you'll conclude that these rest of the dead are also unbelievers who are brought back to life after 1,000 years from the first resurrection. It's the dead that will come out of death and hades. Nobody has been judged yet.
John 5:28-29
28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.Don't think john 5:29 means that those who don't confess and swear allegiance but did good things on Earth will rise to live.
All our righteous acts are like dirty rags. (isaiah 64:6) Not even those considered righteous by faith in paradise could go to heaven by themselves, instead they stood in paradise until the first resurrection.
I'd like to see where it says no more chances to be saved after death.
You've put 3 bible verses out, let's see if they say that the dead can't become believers.
John 3:16 - doesn't say it
Romans 10:9-10 - doesn't say it
Acts 16:31 - doesn't say it
Romans 10:13
for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."Why can't someone in hades call on the name of the lord?
To understand what happens to nonbelievers after they die, we go to Revelation 20:11-15 which describes the Great White Throne judgment. Here takes place the opening of the books and "the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." The books contain all the thoughts and deeds of those being judged, and we know from Romans 3:20 that "by the works of the Law is no flesh justified." Therefore, all who are judged by their works and thoughts are condemned to hell. Believers in Christ, on the other hand, are not judged by the books of works, but their names are found written in another book—the "Lamb's Book of Life" (Revelation 21:27). These are the ones who have believed on the Lord Jesus, and they alone will be allowed to enter heaven.
Revelation 20:15
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."So while the dead were judged according to what they have done, they would only be cast in the lake of fire if they weren't written in the book of life.
Ok, this is going on long enough, I'm just going to quote the rest and make a few comments.
The key to understanding this is the Lamb's Book of Life. Anyone whose name is written in this book was "saved before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4) by God's sovereign saving grace to be part of His Son's bride, the church of Jesus Christ. These people need no "second chance" at salvation because their salvation has been secured by Christ. He chose us, He saved us, and He will keep us saved. Nothing can separate us from Christ (Romans 8:39). Those for whom He died will be saved because Jesus will see to it. He declared "all that the Father has given me will come to me" (John 6:37), and "I give to them eternal life, and they shall never ever perish, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand" (John 10:28). For believers, there is no need for a second chance because the first chance is sufficient.
What about those who do not believe? Wouldn't they repent and believe if they were given a second chance? The answer is no, they would not because their hearts are not changed simply because they die. Their hearts and minds "are at enmity" against God and won't accept Him even when they see Him face to face. This is evidenced clearly in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. If ever someone should have repented when given a second chance to see clearly the truth, it was the rich man. But although he was in torment in hell, he only asked that Abraham send Lazarus back to earth to warn his brothers so they didn't have to suffer the same fate. There was no repentance in his heart, only regret for where he found himself. Abraham's answer says it all: "And he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded, even though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:31). Here we see that the witness of the Scriptures is sufficient for salvation for those who believe it, and no other revelation will bring about salvation to those who do not. No second, third or fourth chances would be enough to turn the heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
Philippians 2:10-11 declares "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." One day, everyone will bow before Jesus and recognize that He is the Lord and Savior. At that point, though, it is too late for salvation. After death, all that remains for the unbeliever is judgment (Revelation 20:14-15). That is why we must trust in Him in this life.
Resource: Got Questions.org
Look forward to your responses. God bless
So you say people in hades have no hope for a second chance?
Why did jesus preach to those in hades? To those who disobeyed?
1 Peter 3:18-20 esv
18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.The rich man and Lazarus is highly likely to be a parable anyways, just look at the chapter before the lazarus story, chapter 15. There you'll see 3 parables in chapter 15 and even this verse:
Luke 15:3
So he told them this parableEven so, Jesus wasn't there to save Lazarus at the time. He didn't have the option to call out to jesus, eat his bread, and drink his blood. And even Lazarus himself apparently wasn't persuaded by moses and the prophets because he's in hades instead of paradise. Yet, he became persuaded once in hades. So Luke 16:31 might simply say that people in general won't become persuaded if they reject moses and the prophets while in Earth, but that doesn't mean that they can't be persuaded while in the afterlife.
Now for another parable showing that jesus is strategic in getting people to heaven.
Matthew 13:24-30
24 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
28 "'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
29 "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'" As for what happens during judgement, it might be that judgement before the great white throne isn't just an opening of the books after all.
Matthew 11:20-24
20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you."So what this shows above is that judgement day itself will be more tolerable for some than others, based on what people have done. I'm not saying that people will go to heaven had they've done more good things than bad, what I'm saying is that somehow what people will experience will be worse on judgement day had they heard the truth of jesus than those who never heard of him.
Exod. 32:31-34
31So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." 33But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them."The book here is called the book of life in revelations. So once somebody has sinned, they are blotted out of the book and that person will not be written on the book again, so how in the world does anybody get added back on? No second chances right? When you believe, you are reborn. You become a whole different person with another name under god's eyes, this is how I believe jesus saves us. However, we don't get the benefits of this until we die, we receive the holy spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what's to come (2 Corinthians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 5:5, Ephesians 1:13,14, Ephesians 4:30).
Believers on Earth in actuality don't act like jesus. They aren't governed by the new heart and spirit given to them, they instead are still trapped in the corrupt flesh.
James 3:8
8but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.1John 1:8
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.Romans 7:18-25
18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.IMHO our flesh cannot submit to god's laws. We must first die, then as believers we won't have the flesh causing desires for us to sin. Believers still lust like nonbelievers while on Earth.
john 3:3
3Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."Revelation 3:5 All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.It does say that every knee will bow and acknowledge god before the lord, who is jesus. And there doesn't seem to be any translation issues with this. (Romans 14:11-12, Philippians 2:10-11) God has no partially.
Isaiah 45:23-26 nasb
23"I have sworn by Myself,
The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.
24"They will say of Me, 'Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength '
Men will come to Him,
And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
25"In the LORD all the offspring of Israel
Will be justified and will glory."
NIV 2010 puts the word "but" on verse 25 for apparently no reason, I don't see the word "but" on any other bibles.
http://biblos.com/isaiah/45-25.htmWill come to him and be put to shame? In judgement? That's the only place where I'd think that they would be put to shame. And besides, after being punished for a 1,000+ years in hades, people will probably forget what they were on Earth and probably every idea they've ever had.
