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My father died more than forty years ago as a result of a tragic accident at home. I remember standing at his graveside, having just watched his coffin being lowered into the ground. In those moments of solemn silence, a ministerial colleague stood beside me and quietly repeated the words of answer 37 from the Westminster Shorter Catechism:
The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.
In my hour of loss, I found that summary statement of biblical truth enormously encouraging and comforting. In pastoral ministry, I have frequently quoted the same words to grieving loved ones.
Death is a solemn reality that everyone must face. Ever since the fall into sin, humanity has had to deal with the effects of sin, and chief among those effects is the reality of death. Adam was made from the dirt and dust of the ground, and at death we return to that condition. God explained this to our first parents:
“By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:19)
At death, every human body, except one, sees corruption (Acts 13:36). But the wonderful truth for Christian believers is that while the human body may disintegrate and return to dust, the human soul does not. There is an aspect of every human person that never dies. Our soul, which the Westminster divines referred to as “an immortal subsistence,” never dies nor sleeps but returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7).
The biblical evidence to support this truth about what happens to believers at death is clear. In Philippians 1, Paul faces a dilemma. He is unsure what he might choose with regard to his personal future. If he were to depart, he would go to be with Christ. If he were to stay alive, it would be so that he might continue his ministry among the Philippians. Both options have their appeal, and he is fully convinced that if he departs this life, he will be with Christ, which is “far better” (v. 23).
In 2 Corinthians 5:8, Paul again compares the options of being at home in the body and away from the Lord and being away from the body and at home with the Lord. Clearly, he understands that the souls of believers will be with the Lord when they are separated from their bodies at physical death.
The words of Jesus to the penitent thief who was crucified next to Him are also instructive. In response to his expression of faith, Jesus assures him, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Jesus knows that the thief will soon die, and He knows that the thief’s body will be buried. Jesus is affirming that there is a separable part of human nature, the immaterial soul, which in the case of the believing thief will upon his death go to be with Jesus in God’s presence, which He describes as “paradise.”
So when a believer dies, his soul goes immediately into God’s presence, while his body goes to the grave. He enters what theologians have called the intermediate state, a period between physical death and the final, future bodily resurrection. This distinction between the intermediate state and the final state helps us think clearly about the Christian’s future after death.
Some people blur the various stages of the afterlife. Many unbelievers seem to think that those who have died are now in heaven doing whatever they did on earth, only better. If they enjoyed golf, they are now smashing long drives down the middle of a celestial fairway. If they were musicians, they may be jamming with some heavenly ensemble. While unbelievers speculate on the destiny of their friends without any biblical justification, believers need to avoid the tendency to run all of God’s promised future together and assume that at death we get everything that God has promised all at once.
We believe that our loved ones who died trusting in Jesus are now “with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8), but we understand that they have not yet received all that God has promised them. They are still waiting for their resurrection bodies. On the last day, when Jesus raises the dead, disembodied souls will be reunited with their bodies, which will then be made glorious and imperishable (1 Cor. 15:53–55), in preparation for an eternal life in the new heaven and earth (Rev. 21).
We are created as embodied souls, and the separation of soul and body is only a temporary condition between death and the final resurrection. Our resurrection at the last day, when our souls will be reunited with our bodies, is the restoration of our true condition in which we were created. The intermediate state is a wonderful gift that can be described as paradise, but it is not the final state, when all things will be brought to a glorious perfection and completion.
The Bible says little about the intermediate state as compared to the future state. John Calvin offers some wisdom on this topic:
It is neither lawful nor expedient to inquire too curiously concerning our souls’ intermediate state. Many torment themselves overmuch with disputing as to what place the souls occupy and whether or not they already enjoy heavenly glory. Yet it is foolish and rash to inquire concerning unknown matters more deeply than God permits us to know. Scripture goes no farther than to say that Christ is present with them, and receives them into paradise (cf. John 12:32) that they may obtain consolation, while the souls of the reprobate suffer such torments as they deserve. (Institutes 3.25.6)
The biblical data does not answer all our questions about the intermediate state, but what the Bible says should be enough for us. That is because the intermediate state is not the main focus of Scripture. Rather, the Bible’s emphasis is on the great climax of history when Jesus returns to resurrect and judge all people and to restore all things.
In the past, some have spoken about “soul sleep,” believing that at our death we fall asleep and reawaken only on the day of resurrection. This idea finds its roots in the “sleeping” metaphor that is often used for bodily death. Although this metaphor appears in Scripture, a careful study shows that the metaphor of sleep refers only to the earthly body’s inanimate state after death, not to the soul.
A consideration of the intermediate state reminds us of another truth, that of the two destinies of humankind described in the Scriptures. Christ’s words of reassurance to the penitent thief are not spoken to the other criminal, who was unrepentant. Those who are unrepentant end up in their “own place” (Acts 1:25), a location quite different from the destination of the righteous. The story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 is another example of the two different and permanent destinies that await believers and unbelievers after death. The Bible does not mention any third location for the souls of the departed.
According to Roman Catholic teaching, purgatory is the place where sinners, after death, continue to make satisfaction for their sins. The sins of this life must be purified and cleansed in purgatory, thus making one fit for God’s holy presence in heaven. So the intermediate state, the period between death and the future state, is a time for sanctification and salvation.
But there is no evidence in Scripture to support purgatory or the possibility of earning or meriting salvation after death. In fact, the Bible is clear that one’s eternal destiny is sealed and determined at the point of death. The hope of eternal life is based on one’s response to Jesus Christ in this life (1 John 5:11–12). A lawyer (Luke 10:25–28) asks how he may inherit eternal life, but Jesus does not indicate that this goal is achievable after death. Similarly, Nicodemus is told that one must be born again if one wants to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3), with no indication given that this transaction can happen after one has died.
Our salvation and our hope of glory are secured by trusting completely and entirely in Christ crucified and risen from the dead. We stand clothed in His perfect righteousness, imputed to us by faith alone, with no need to spend time in purgatory, seeking further merit or atonement.
Thomas Boston (1676–1732), in his famous work Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, does not reflect at length on the details of an intermediate state. Rather, in the face of death, he offers a great word of hope and confidence to all who trust in Christ: The righteous at death are “adorned with robes of glory,” and in departing from this present world “they shall have a joyful entrance into the other world.” He continues:
Death can do them no harm. It cannot even hurt their bodies: for though it separates the soul from the body, it cannot separate the body from the Lord Jesus Christ. Even death is to them but sleep in Jesus (1 Thess. 4:14). They continue members of Christ, though in a grave. Their dust is precious dust, laid up in the grave as in their Lord’s cabinet. They lie in a grave mellowing, as precious fruit laid up to be brought forth to him at the resurrection.