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The Intermediate State and the Final Judgment
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. At work tonight I was talking to this fellow about when the soul leaves the body, and about judgment. Where does the soul go at death? I gave him the scripture in Hebrews, "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment," and he said, "Well, there's no time. It could be any time after death, according to that scripture." And where would the believer be at the judgment, and how would the believer be judged at the judgment? And are there any scriptures in the Old Testament that relate to this in any way? In I Corinthians 5:8-10 it talks about the fact that everyone will be judged, for the evil and good they have done. Does the believer get judged for the sins he's committed since he's been saved? And I'll take this answer over the air.
HC: All right. Fine. Thank you. Good night.
The question is raised: "Where does the soul go at death, and how does this relate to Judgment Day? What is the situation of the believer at judgment? Does he come into judgment in any way?
Well, in the case of the unsaved person, he is under the judgment of God because his sins have not been covered by the blood of Christ. "The wages of sin is death," and the death that God has in view is eternal damnation. But the Judgment Day, when the sentence will be passed on this unsaved person, will not happen until the Last Day.
In the meanwhile, in his soul he can't go to be with Christ, of course, and he is separated from his body. And so, while his body goes into the grave, to return to the dust, in his soul he goes down to a place of silence, or to a place called Hades, a place of soul sleep, if you will. And there he waits until he will hear the call of Christ on the Last Day. In John 5:28 and 29 we read, "The hour cometh when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come forth, some to the resurrection of life and some to the resurrection of damnation." And he will be included amongst those who come forth to the resurrection of damnation. And it's at that time that he will experience judgment. He will give an account of all of his sins before Christ, and he will be judged in the light of the statement of the Bible that "the wages of sin is death," and he will be removed into hell, to spend eternity paying for his sins.
Now in the case of the believer, at death, he already has passed from death into life in his soul. He's already experienced the resurrection of his soul. And so instantaneously he can leave his body and go to be with Christ in Heaven. "To be absent from the body," we read, "is to be present with the Lord." And he will remain there, in Heaven, living and reigning with Christ, not sleeping, but being completely conscious and working with Christ until Judgment Day.
And then he will come with Christ on the clouds of glory, as we read in I Thessalonians 4:14, and at that time his body will be resurrected, as a simultaneous resurrection with those who are unsaved. But in his case, his body will be caught up in the air to be reunited with his soul, and so he'll always be with the Lord.
Now will he come into judgment? Of course not, not a bit. Why? Because in order to be saved, it means that all of our sins were taken by Christ. And He paid for all of our sins. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Those who believe in the Father have passed from death into life, and do not come into judgment. They have eternal life, we read in John 5:24. There is nothing to give an account of to God. All of our sins, whether we sinned before we were saved, or after we were saved, have all been paid for. And so our role at the judgment throne of God is not to stand for judgment for any reason whatsoever. Rather we will take part in the judging process, as we read in I Corinthians 6:2 and 3, and in Revelation 2.
Well, I hope that this helps just a little bit.