People in general have trouble fitting in God’s judgment. Many think the day of judgment is a day when God will find out if a man is guilty or innocent. This is not the case at all. God knows all things before they ever take place.
The day of judgment is not for God to decide where a man is going to spend eternity. It is a day when man will be able to plead his case to God (Matt. 7:21-23). It will be a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess Christ and His Lordship (Phil. 2:10-11). The day of judgment will be the day that the final verdict will be pronounced (Matt. 25:46). Do not take the day of God’s judgment and make it like that of man’s.
Man lives after death. When the spirit leaves the body at death, then the physical body is dead (James 2:16), but the spirit of man lives on. Jesus went to paradise at death (Luke 23:43). Paradise is in the Hadean world (Acts 2:27 ASV). Christ gave an un-get-over-able argument that man lives after death in Matt. 22:32. He said (1) God is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; (2) but Jesus said, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; (3) therefore, we may rightly conclude that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive somewhere today, right now.
The spirits of the wicked are now in a place of punishment awaiting the judgment day (II Pet. 2:4). This also is seen from Luke 16:19-31. Lazarus died and his spirit was carried to a place of peace. The rich man died and was buried, but his soul went at death to a place of punishment. After death he was in punishment, he knew Abraham; he knew Lazarus; he knew he was in torment; he knew what water was; he knew what mercy was; he knew he had five brothers still alive on earth; and he knew they needed to hear the Word of God and be saved. There can be no doubt but that both wicked and righteous are conscious after death, and that the righteous are in peace and happiness and the wicked are suffering as they await the judgment day of God (II Pet. 2:4).
When the end of time comes, death and Hades will be cast into hell (Rev. 20:14 ASV). Hades is the place where departed spirits go to await the resurrection and judgment (the righteous to rest, the wicked to suffering). But when all things have been destroyed and everything is in the spirit realm, there will be no need for the Hadean world.
If you do not understand all the Bible says about life after death, then obey the gospel and live right and everything will be all right after death for you.
Malcolm L. Hill January 12, 1934- June 26, 2012
