The state of the dead

The Intermediate and Final States of the Dead¹
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Dr. Paul Manuel—1999

Where does a person go when he dies?² The body, his material part, ends up in the grave, but, as we noted earlier, man has an immaterial (or non-material) part as well.³ What happens to his spirit or soul? Theologians call this the "intermediate state" because it concerns man's condition after death and before the resurrection. The Bible uses primarily five terms to describe "where" man goes upon physical death.

I. Biblical Destinations

A. Sheol

• The abode of the dead⁴

a. For the wicked

Ps9: 17 The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God.

b. For the righteous

Ps 16:10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

The main Hebrew term is a general designation for the abode of the dead, wicked and righteous alike. Because the body goes into the ground, the assumption is that Sheol is under the earth as well.⁵ It is probably best to regard Sheol simply as a synonym for grave (so Harris 1980 2:892).⁶

B. Hades

• The abode of the dead

a. For the wicked

Luke 16:23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

b. For the righteous

Acts 2:27 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

This is the Greek equivalent of Sheol (so in LXX). the abode of the dead, both wicked and righteous. It also lies under the earth.⁷ Like Sheol, Hades is a neutral term.

C. Heaven

1. The atmospheric heaven (sky)

• For the birds and clouds

Ps 8:8a the birds of the air...

Matt 24:30b They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky....

2. The celestial heaven (outer space)

• For the sun, moon, and stars

Ps 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

Luke 21:25a There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. ...26 Men will faint from terror... for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

3. The spiritual heaven (God's abode)

a. For the Lord

Deut 26:15a Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel....

b. For the righteous

2 Cor 5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

This word can refer to the sky (atmospheric heaven), outer space (celestial heaven), or God's abode (spiritual heaven). The position of the atmospheric and celestial heavens as above the earth gives a similar impression regarding the location of spiritual heaven. There are surprisingly few passages that explicitly depict men in heaven, but in all of them, it is only the righteous who have access to God's abode.⁸

D. Paradise

• An intermediate place of comfort

For the righteous

Luke 23:43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

This is a Persian loan word that means garden and, in New Testament usage, alludes to the Jewish belief that God will restore access to the garden of Eden.⁹ Paul locates paradise in the "third [i.e., spiritual] heaven."¹⁰ It is the area of God's abode to which the righteous go after death.¹¹

E. Hell

• An intermediate place of torment 

For the wicked

Luke 16:23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

The Hinnom Valley (south of Jerusalem) was a place of child sacrifice under Kings Ahaz and Manasseh.¹² Because of that reputation, God decreed it would be a place of judgment.¹³ Later it became the site for burning refuse and the bodies of criminals (Thayer 1977:111). These associations of judgment and fire led to the figurative usage of Gehenna in Jewish tradition as a place of punishment for the wicked.¹⁴ It is a region apart from God where the wicked go after death. It also designates where they go after the final judgment to continue the torment they began in Sheol/Hades.¹⁵

F. New Jerusalem

• The final place of comfort

For the righteous

Rev 21:2a I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.... 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it...but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

The New Testament goes into considerably more detail than the Old Testament about man's final destination. After the first resurrection, the Messianic Age, and the Last Judgment, God will make a new heaven and new earth. He will establish a new city of Jerusalem,¹⁶ where the righteous will have access to the tree of life¹⁷ and will experience His glorious presence forever.¹⁸

G. Lake of fire

• The final place of torment 

For the wicked

Rev 20:15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

After the second resurrection, when the wicked have faced the Last Judgment, God will return them to hell, which will become part of the lake of fire.¹⁹ John calls this "the second death," because it constitutes man's final separation from God. There, the wicked will continue their torment "for ever and ever" (Rev 14:11 a).... So, where does a person go when he dies?

What to remember about the intermediate state (man's situation before his resurrection):

• The destination of the material part, the body, is Sheol/Hades, regardless of a person's status before God.²⁰
• The destination of the immaterial part, the soul or spirit, depends on a person's status before God.

• The soul of the righteous goes to heaven (paradise), a place of comfort.
• The soul of the unrighteous goes to hell (Gehenna), a place of torment.

What to remember about the final state (man's situation after his resurrection):

• The righteous will have access to the New Jerusalem, a piece of heaven on earth, where he will enjoy the glory of God's presence forever.
• The unrighteous will be consigned to the lake of fire, with the devil and his angels, where he will endure further torment apart from God's presence forever.

Part 2

There are five other ideas that concern man's destiny and whose validity we should examine. Although proponents of these views claim the support of scripture, their use of the biblical text is selective. That is, they ignore or misinterpret more than they include to substantiate their position. Hence, I have titled these...

II. Non-Biblical Destinations

A. Soul sleep²¹

• The temporary state of unconsciousness

For all

Supposedly, believers will not enter God's presence immediately upon death.²² According to this view, those who die before Jesus returns will sleep until the resurrection. Adventists (Seventh-Day and other) as well as Jehovah's Witnesses²³ and Worldwide Church of God²⁴ hold this doctrine. The main scriptural support comes from the frequent biblical references to death as unconsciousness or sleep.²⁵

Ps 13:3b Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

Dan 12:2a Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake....

How should we understand such passages? ...Sleep is a metaphor that reflects how death appears to the living. The Bible describes death differently from the viewpoint of the dead themselves.

Luke 16:23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire....27 ...I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

Rev 6:9 ...I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

From their viewpoint, the dead are awake and aware, both of the passage of time and of events on earth.²⁶

B. Purgatory (Steinmetz 1974:814)

• A temporary place of cleansing

For the righteous

Some of the Church Fathers (e.g., Clement of Alexandria, Augustine) taught that souls not quite pure enough for heaven will undergo cleansing through suffering after death.²⁷ The place of purging became known, appropriately, as purgatory. Those who go there are not on probation to determine if they can meet God's standard for admission to heaven; neither is it a second chance for those who rejected God in this life. Purgatory is a place of affliction—St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) said that the least pain in Purgatory is greater than the worst pain on earth²⁸—yet it is a temporary state that ultimately leads to heaven.²⁹ Those who make it to purgatory can be certain that they will not end up in hell. As I said, they will eventually go to heaven, although their stay in purgatory is of unknown duration.

The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches came to an agreement on the doctrine in 1439 and reaffirmed it at the Council of Trent (1546-63). The main support comes from an extra-biblical passage that suggests the dead can be cleansed of sin.³⁰

2 Macc 12:39b Judas and his men vent to take up the bodies of the fallen and to bring them back to lie with their kinsmen in the sepulchers of their fathers. 40 Then under the tunic of every one of the dead they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. And it became clear to all that this was why these men had fallen. 41 So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous Judge, who reveals the things that are hidden; 42 and they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out. And the noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. 43 He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. 44 For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. 45 But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.

Does this reference provide evidence for the doctrine of purgatory? ...No, it speaks about cleansing through sacrifice not cleansing through suffering. It also proves too much, that there is forgiveness for mortal sin (idolatry, v. 40). Paul says,

2 Cor 5:10 ...we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

There is a sense in which our experience after death may not be entirely pleasant, but it is unrelated to purification. It is Jesus' sacrifice and not man's suffering which cleanses from sin...all sin, so that, at death, the believer is with God.³¹

I John 1:7 ...if we walk in the light, as he is in the light...the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

2 Cor 5:6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.... 8 We...would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

C. Limbo (Clark 1974:597; Boettner 1962:190)

• A permanent place of bliss 

For unbaptized infants

Some of the Church Fathers (e.g., Augustine) also taught that between heaven and hell is a place of torture called limbo, where unbaptized infants (and the mentally incompetent), tainted by original sin, go at death. The repugnance of such a notion, that God would condemn infants to eternal suffering, led to the revision of it as a place of bliss. Nevertheless, limbo, unlike purgatory, is a permanent state, and the residents thereof, although spared from hell, will never enter the presence of God in heaven.

The Roman Catholic Church officially recognized this doctrine at the councils of Lyons (1245 or 1274), Florence (1438-45), and Trent (1545-63). Pope Benedict XVI reversed that position in 2007 when he approved a Vatican report stating, "there were 'serious' grounds to hope that children who die without being baptized can go to heaven" (Winfield 2007).

The main scriptural support for limbo came from texts that allegedly affirmed the pervasion of original sin (see discussion above) and the efficacy of baptismal regeneration.³²

John 3:5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Wholly apart from whether or not Jesus is referring to baptism, John makes clear that a critical determinant of the candidate's salvation is his faith,³³ something not possible for newborns.

John 3:16b ...whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Moreover, the NT offers no examples of infant baptism.³⁴

What, then, happens to those who die too young to decide for or against God? What is their destiny? The Bible says little about the fate of infants. Nevertheless, there are passages that seem to address this question indirectly and that allow us to formulate a likely answer.

• First, sin results from knowing God's standard, which is impossible for infants, and from disobeying that standard.

Rom 7:7d Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law.... 8b For apart from law, sin is dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

• Second, God recognizes that an understanding of sin does not come before a certain level of maturity.³⁵

Isa 7:16 But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

• Third, God does not hold accountable those who are not old enough to distinguish right from wrong.³⁶

Deut 1:39a And the little ones...who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land.

Therefore, it is likely that God does not condemn those who die before they reach the age of accountability.³⁷

Don Richardson, minister-at-large for World Team, considers the high infant mortality rate that prevailed in undeveloped countries until the recent introduction of medical advances, as an expression of divine mercy.³⁸ To reduce the number of those who would perish eternally for not having heard about God's standard, He took many (infants) before they had occasion to disobey.³⁹

While we may not have enough information in scripture to formulate a definitive position on the fate of those who die as infants, we can and should rest on the merciful character of God, that in the case of those who could not decide for or against Him, "the judge of all the earth [will indeed] do right" (Gen 18:25c).⁴⁰ In any case, there is no biblical justification for the existence of limbo.⁴¹

D. Annihilationism⁴²

• The final destruction

For the wicked

Belief in a loving and gracious God makes it difficult for some to accept that He would subject any mortal to the fury of divine wrath permanently. Therefore, when the Bible speaks about the wicked's perishing or about God's destroying them,⁴³ it means (according to this view) that they cease to exist at some point after death.

Rom 9:22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?

Again, Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses,⁴⁴ Worldwide Church of God,⁴⁵ as well as many individual Christians hold this position. What do you think? ...Other passages speak clearly about the permanence of punishment, that it is not a temporary condition.⁴⁶

Mark 9:48 [In hell] "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'

Rev 14:11a And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever.

Rev 20:10b They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The phrase "for ever and ever" that describes the duration of the wicked's torment, is the same phrase New Testament authors repeatedly use to describe the duration of God's glory, which is surely without end, and the eternality of God's existence.⁴⁷

E. Universalism

• The final redemption

For all, including the wicked

Others, who have similar difficulty reconciling God's love with His justice, propose a different resolution to this dilemma. They believe that God will give those who rejected His grace in life another opportunity after death, immediately or following a period of punishment. At some point, everyone will accept His forgiveness and be saved, even the most wicked, sometimes including Satan. Proponents appeal to such passages as...⁴⁸

Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.... 15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23a But each in his own turn:

The contexts of these verses, though, limit the benefit of Jesus' sacrifice.

• In Rom 5, Paul says that it is for "those who receive God's abundant provision of grace" (Rom 5:17).

• In 1 Cor 15, it is for those who have died "in Christ" (v. 18); all others will find themselves "under his feet" (1 Cor 15:27).

Paul's assertion that "all will be made alive" applies to the righteous and the wicked—God will raise them both⁴⁹ but not for the same end: "some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan 12:2b).⁵⁰

As we have already noted, that punishment is permanent. There is no parole and no pardon. Between the righteous and the wicked "a great chasm has been fixed" that no one can cross (Luke 16:26). Moreover, the Final Judgment permits no appeals and issues no reprieves. Those who rejected God in life will stand before Him in death to receive their sentence.

Rev 20:15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

As John closes his description of man's final state, he says that "only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life" will enter the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:27). That excludes the wicked and, most definitely, it excludes Satan.⁵¹

Rev 22:15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

What to remember: Despite the popularity of certain non-biblical doctrines about man's destiny, only doctrines that have the support of scripture warrant making them part of your belief system.

For the Bibliography and the Endnotes see the pdf here.