Christians in the modern West may not be as acquainted with death as the church around the world and throughout time have been. But this does not change the fact that we will all have to face it. 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 speak of death in terms of a defeated foe, even though Christ will not finally put away its manifestations until his second coming. But we are told not to fear it, to despise it, and to look forward to its demise. Death does not have the last word.

The Intermediate State is Real Victory Over Death

What happens to believers the moment that they pass from this life? Such an existence is what theologians call the “intermediate state,” or in other words, that state of being in between the day of one’s own death and the Last Day. 

There is good biblical evidence to believe that the spirit of Christians goes to be with the Lord immediately at death (Lk. 23:43, 46, Phi. 1:23). Paul says, “that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him" (1 Thess. 4:14). That is, when Jesus returns, he is bringing with him all of those believers who have died, and thus have been with him where he is in the intermediate state.

Perhaps the single clearest place in found in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8.

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

Here the contrast had already been set between the present life, where body and soul are together, and the intermediate state, where we are “away from the body.” We know that this is not the eternal state being described for that reason. When Christ returns to initiate the eternal state, he raises our bodies (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

So the expression that Paul uses here, “at home with the Lord” would be meaningless if there were not some third, conscious reality in between. What sense would it make to call such a state “better” (as he does in the Philippians passage) or “at home” here, if all he meant was some euphemism for being in a lifeless and unconscious state? Such would be a morbid waste of words.

As there is no necessary temporal parallel between the intermediate state and our time, the idea of “soul sleep” is as unnecessary as it is unsupported by Scripture.

Whatever else may be the case about the believer’s existence with the Lord, we can be absolutely sure that they are at peace, that they are secure in the knowledge of God’s love for them, free from the pains and dangers of this life. 

The Eternal State is Final Victory Over Death

Now what about the eternal state? It is often asked whether we will recognize those we have loved in this life.

The answer here must be Yes. Paul speaks of glorified bodies in 1 Corinthians 15:40-49, and although Revelation speaks of a "new name" given to the saints (Rev. 2:17), and other texts speak of the older age being forgotten (Isa. 65:17), these are in reference to sin and the curse. The Bible as a whole suggests both continuity and discontinuity with this age. In general, what is good in the original creation is perfected (Rom. 8:20-25).

What makes our loved ones what they are is good in this sense. Personalities and bodies and spiritual fruits that God has graciously worked into them are all among such perfected goods. 

It is reasonable to infer that to “know fully,” as in 1 Corinthians 13:12, would at least include all that it would be good and beautiful to know, which must include full reconciliation with others we have known imperfectly in this life. The Old Testament saints had this expectation. Of his infant son that was taken from him, David said, “I will go to him” (2 Sam. 12:23). The Gentiles are grafted in “with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 8:11). Paul told the Thessalonians that they would be his “hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming” (1 Thess. 2:19). These texts would hardly make sense if we did not recognize each other.

On a few occasions I have heard a believer speaking about someone recently departed in terms such as, “Oh, but we are the ones who should be jealous of them right now!” What they have in mind may range from the certain and the holy, to the speculative or downright silly. But although there are many things said of the deceased that are meant to comfort, which are actually unhelpful, this is a case where we can only be guilty of understatement. Paul uses words that defy words, and yet they are Spirit-inspired words. These are the ones I refer to:

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

Although his next words speak to how the Holy Spirit reveals “these things” to us. When and how and how much — that we do not know. But that we are better off with the Lord would be the understatement of all understatements.

What we do know without a shadow of a doubt is that Jesus Christ can be trusted to give everlasting life because he is the very source of life. Martha thought she believed in the resurrection as she stood before the tomb of her brother Lazarus. But Jesus added to her faith: 

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn. 11:25-26)

Victory over the grave is not just something Jesus holds out to us in the future. It is what He is for us right now. He who holds the whole universe together by the power of his word has no trouble holding our souls together to bring us to himself, nor any difficulty in bringing our bodies and souls back together so that we will all be reunited in eternal blessedness.