4th October 2025 Question box

So tonight’s question is:

At death, do Christians ‘sleep’ until the Lord’s return, or are they immediately with Him?

In our present state, we live in these bodies, which (unless Jesus comes back soon) will one day die. And the bible is clear that there is a future state to look forward to, when Jesus return we will lived in the new creation with resurrected bodies. But this question is about the time in-between, what we theologians call “the intermediate state.” And so at death, do Christians ‘sleep’ until the Lord’s return, or are they immediately with Him? And the answer is that both of these are true but from different perspectives.

In the New Testament, it speaks a number of times about believers who have died, and describes them as “sleeping.” e.g. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” (John 11:11) “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death” (1 Thessalonians 4:13) Our bodies are sleeping in the grave from an earthly perspective. From an earthly perspective, we have died, but because Jesus is coming back, then death is only temporary. And so the body that lies in the grave will one day die “wake up.” (If you want to know how this is possible for people who have been cremated, then feel free to put that question in the box.) So from an earthly perspective, death is “sleep.”

However this does not mean that we are unconscious. There is a heavenly perspective which is that at death we enter into a fuller experience of life, because we are immediately with Jesus. Here’s two examples:

• When Paul was in prison waiting for his trial, there was a chance that he might be executed, and a chance that he be released. And as he thinks about these two options he says: [on one hand] “…I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” (Philippians 1:23–24) Notice that there’s something about the intermediate state which is better than what we have now?
• He says something similar in 2 Corinthians: “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands… “(2 Corinthians 5:1) He’s saying life in this body is like being in a tent. But the intermediate state will be like an upgrade from a tent to a house. And so he’s talking in picture language, but it seems that the intermediate state is in some ways a beginning, or a preview of our existence in the final resurrection state,

To sum up: When believers die, our bodies sleep from an earthly perspective, but at the same time we are conscious and with the Lord, and joyfully moving towards the final day which will see a reunion with, and a transformation of, our bodies which will rise from the grave.

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This question was originally answered in our evening service on 27 April 2025. I’ll aim to post another question and answer next week. You can read about how our question box works here.