What Is the “Intermediate State” for Christians?

People often joke that you cannot escape two things in life: death and taxes. This truism might bring a wry smile to our face during tax season, but when we stand grieving at the graveside of a loved one or friend, it is no longer amusing. Funerals have a way of sobering us. After all, they confront us with the harsh reality not only that we’re finally separated from our loved one in this life, but that our own physical death is inevitable. Like taxes, death too is inescapable.

The Bible’s teaching on death sobers us all the more. It confirms that physical death will come to everyone, and it tells us why. Adam’s sin in the garden brought death into the world as God’s just judgment (Gen. 2:16–17; 3:19; Rom. 5:12). Yet as terrible as physical death may be, it is not even the worst of it. We are also born spiritually dead, alienated from God (Rom. 8:6–7; Eph. 2:1–5) and enslaved to sin’s corrupting power (Rom. 5:21–6:23). If not reversed, spiritual death leads inexorably to eternal death, permanent separation from God in the never-ending lake of fire (Rev. 20:14; 21:8, 27).

Yet the Bible speaks hope in the face of such grim prospects, for in Christ death has already been defeated; and when He returns, He will crush it forever (1 Cor. 15:23–26, 54–55; Rev. 20:14; 21:4). As a result, those who trust in Christ are no longer alienated from God (spiritually dead) but are reconciled to Him in Christ (spiritually alive; cf. Eph. 2:1–4). Having been delivered from spiritual death, believers will never face eternal death; they will instead enjoy the bliss of unending fellowship with the Lord (Rev. 21–22). And even the sober reality that believers will continue to face physical death until Christ returns is mingled with hope. For Christ promises that at His return He will resurrect our dead bodies and transform them into a body like His own resurrected body— glorious, powerful, and imperishable (1 Cor. 15:42–44). Physical death too will be defeated in the end.

This is all good news indeed, but it also raises an inevitable question people naturally ask at funerals. If resurrection awaits Christ’s return, where is my loved one now? Put differently, what happens to people between their physical death and their bodily resurrection at Christ’s return? This period of time is called the intermediate state.

What does Scripture teach about this? Let’s start with what it does not teach. Some incorrectly claim that most believers (except the holiest few) go to purgatory when they die. Purgatory is a place of suffering where the souls of believers are gradually purged of their remaining sins until they are fit to enter heaven. But Scripture nowhere teaches that such a place exists. Further, a believer has no sins needing to be purged after death. The believer’s sins have been paid in full by Christ’s atoning work on the cross (Rom. 3:21–26), and there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). In Christ, we are already fit for heaven.

If resurrection awaits Christ’s return, where is my loved one now?

Others mistakenly describe the intermediate state of believers as soul sleep. In this view, after death the souls of believers continue in unconscious existence, only to reawaken to consciousness when their bodies are raised at the resurrection. Although it appeals to Scripture’s speaking of death as “sleep” (e.g., Matt. 9:24; John 11:11–14; 1 Cor. 15), this view misunderstands biblical teaching. The point of the metaphor is not that believers lose consciousness in the intermediate state but that physical death for them is no more permanent than sleep. Further, as we will see, Scripture teaches that the intermediate state is a time of enriched fellowship with Christ “away from the body,” rather than a dormant state without consciousness.

According to the Bible, then, what is the intermediate state like for the believer? The souls of believers continue to exist apart from their bodies, which remain behind and decay (Phil. 1:23–24; 2 Cor. 5:4, 8) until they are raised again at Christ’s return (1 Cor. 15). Instead of suffering in purgatory, our souls go to be “with” Christ in heaven (Phil. 1:23), where we will be “at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6, 8). Because we will not experience soul sleep but will be able to interact with others in the intermediate state (see Luke 16:19–31; Rev. 6:9–11), we will enjoy enriched fellowship with Christ. This is why the intermediate state can be seen as desirable and “far better” (Phil. 1:23) than our current condition. Still, the intermediate state falls short of perfection, for only at Christ’s return will we be “clothed” with our resurrected body (2 Cor. 5:1–5).

Scripture teaches that there is also an intermediate state for nonbelievers, but their prospects are not as sanguine. The central biblical text is the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 (especially vv. 22–26). On his death, the body of the condemned rich man is buried, but his soul is sent to Hades. He’s clearly conscious of his dire straits there. It is a place of torment, far removed from the blessed existence of the saints in heaven. Hades is not yet the final destination for the condemned; eventually, it will lead to eternal death in the lake of fire at the final judgment (Rev. 20:11–15).

A biblical perspective gives believers hope in the face of physical death. Christ has defeated death; it has been “swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:54). Grievously evil though it may be, physical death nevertheless ushers us into the presence of the Lord, a desirable state that is better by far (Phil. 1:23). Believers therefore need not be terrified of death, and their sorrow over it will always be mingled with hope (1 Thess. 4:13). Sadly, the same cannot be said for nonbelievers, as physical death ends any hope for escaping inevitable judgment. These destinies are certain, and the next term confirms why.