Between Death and Resurrection
At this point, we take a step away from eschatology proper and deal with the question, “What happens to us after we die but before we are raised again in glory?” This is not, strictly speaking, a question of eschatology as it is dealing with things that happen before the end, but it is not totally inappropriate to deal with them here. Strictly speaking, our eschatological reality is of resurrected humanity, where we are bound to Christ and dwell in the presence of God for all eternity, joined in the dynamic fellowship of the Triune God that is so far from being boring that it is described in the New Testament in terms of feasts and celebrations.
However, many faithful Christians want to know what happens to their loved ones who pass away between their death and their resurrection. The only problem with this question is that the Bible is not totally clear about an answer. There are various theories, but none of them answer all the questions. In the end, it is probably best not to make a hard and firm decision, but to allow the confidence in the resurrection to reign in our thoughts, but we will consider some of the major explanations, how they make sense of the Biblical witness, but also how they do not answer all the questions.
The first option we will consider is commonly called “soul sleep.” According to this view, when we die, our souls “sleep,” being unaware of the passing of time. Then, at the final resurrection, everyone who has died “wakes up” at the same time and we arrive simultaneously at the judgment. This is helpful because it emphasizes the resurrection in a powerful way and makes use of biblical imagery. However, there are other texts that seem to speak of an intermediate state, where we are in the presence of God before the general resurrection.
The next option is known as “Annihilation.” This view is often held by people who have serious problems with the concept of an eternal hell. Instead, it is proposed that the resurrection only includes those who have been reconciled to God and will spend eternity in personal fellowship with God. Everyone else is simply “annihilated,” that is, death is the end for them in every sense of the word. There is no resurrection for them at all, which can be seen as a good thing because their resurrection would not be to glory but to condemnation. There are, however, many problems with this view. When the Bible speaks of a general resurrection, it means it quite literally. Further, Jesus even speaks of two resurrections in this way (John 5:28-29). “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”
A third option is that there is an intermediate state. This seems to be the best of the options because it seems to incorporate most of the biblical witness, like the story of the rich man and Lazarus, where the rich man is in “Hades,” where he is “in torment” before the general resurrection. Regardless of what else this story might tell us, it points to our being aware and having use of our reason between our deaths and our resurrection. The problem is less a textual one and more a theological one. The Bible is clear that there is no such thing as a merely spiritual existence for human beings. We only exist as both soul and body. Any belief in an intermediate state would imply that it is an embodied existence, but we must ask, where does this body come from? It is not the purely natural body, as that is still lying in the grave; nor is it the resurrected body, as that is the body that will rise out of the same grave. It is not clear what kind of existence an intermediate state would imply, but it still seems to be the best option.
The real question that we need to engage with at this point is, “Which texts should we take literally and which should we take figuratively.” This does not mean that we take any of the Bible less than totally seriously. However, it is not possible to take every passage that deals with this topic literally as they portray mutually exclusive depictions. Clearly, whatever happens between our death and resurrection, it is not inherently self-contradictory. The weakness is not in the reality we are concerned with, but with our ability to understand it. It must always be remembered that, historically, this has not been seen as a question that strikes to the root of the Christian faith. It is entirely possible for two faithful people to disagree on this topic and we should always be ready to adopt an attitude of toleration on this issue.
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