


  • Do Christians go immediately to heaven when they die? Question and Answer

    Philippians 1:23-24


  • Since heaven is perfect, why do we need the new heavens and new earth? Question and Answer

    When the Bible speaks about heaven, it speaks of it in different terms. Many times when the Bible uses the term ouranos, which is a Greek word for “heaven,” it simply refers to the sky. It is also used to describe the dwelling place of God, and that’s a more specific and exalted view of the term heaven. Now, when we’re talking in Revelation about the new heaven and the new earth, it means that the whole cosmos is going to go through this redemptive process of renovation. Heaven and earth, everything that is, will be renewed by the power … View Resource



  • What happens when unbelievers die? Are they already in hell or waiting for the final judgment? Question and Answer

    If we look at the framework of Scripture, we would say that they are in hell now; yet there is the final judgment to come. They’re certainly not in a state of soul-sleep, not in a state of limbo, not in purgatory (which, of course, if they were going to hell they wouldn’t be in purgatory, even in a Roman Catholic system). They are in hell reserved for judgment, as we see in the case of some of the fallen angels under judgment until the final judgment (Jude 6). Lightly edited for readability, this is a … View Resource

  • Is eternal punishment in hell fair? Question and Answer


  • Are those in hell aware of God’s presence? Question and Answer

    MOHLER: I think there is a sense in the tenses of verbs related to hell in which hell is clearly not yet as hellish as it will be. Even as believers in Christ who die are not yet entirely in the new heavens and the new earth, they are nonetheless truly with Christ right now. And those who die without Christ are truly in a hellish state right now. I would look to Luke 16, in terms of Lazarus and the rich man, understanding that we are to take Christ at His word there; that the rich man was, right … View Resource

  • When a person dies, where does his or her spirit and body go until the Second Coming? Question and Answer

    Luke 23:43

    Throughout its history, the church has struggled with the concept of what is called the “intermediate state”—our position between the time we die and the time Christ consummates his kingdom and fulfills the promises that we confess in the Apostles’ Creed. We believe in the resurrection of the body. We believe there will be a time when God reunites our soul and our body, and that we will have a glorified body even as Christ came out of the tomb as the “firstborn from the dead.” In the meantime, what happens? The most common view has been that, at death, … View Resource