Expert: Dr Don Howe - 3/11/2008

Question
Dr Howe,

Before the Judgment Day comes, where do people go when they die? Will believers and non-believers go to different places or they just wait in the same lot until the Final Call?

During the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-30), Moses and Elias turned up to talk with Jesus. Does it mean that people who passed away can still hang around?

Answer
Hi Eddie. Thanks so much your questions. Sorry to be so long in responding as I have been researching your question to give you a complete answer for your questions. Your questions have many different facets to them, but I want to start with the study of the Transfiguration of Jesus first. Luke 9:28-31 states "And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment [was] white [and] glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem."
 The Greek word for fashion is eidos which means his outward appearance and the word for his countenance is prosôpon which is referring to his face. So his the outward appearance of his face had changed, altered or heteros which means became other. And His clothes were white which means leukos which means brilliant from whiteness and glistering which is exastraptô to flash out like lightning, to shine, be radiant. So Jesus outward appearance of his face became other than what was normal. And his clothes were brilliant white and radiant and flashed out like lightning. So Eddie, you can see this was a glorious event, but Jesus had a reason to be showing this to Peter, John, and James. Jesus had just told His disciples in the previous verses  that He was going the way of the cross, and that they should follow Him spiritually. Jesus displays His glory as King over all God’s Kingdom, the disciples know that Jesus knows what He is doing; if He is to suffer, be rejected and killed, He is still in control.
 Moses and Elijah returned from Abraham’s bosom so that they could be with Jesus. And don’t you know Jesus, Moses, and Elijah had a glorious hallelujah meeting discussing what He was going to do the cross. Now Eddie, God does not do anything without a reason and there is a reason Moses and Elijah was chosen to be with Jesus on the transfiguration event. The bodies of Moses (Deut. 34:5-6) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11-12, 15-18) were never found and the body of Jesus was not found in the tomb because he was resurrected. Moses represents those who die and go to glory, and Elijah represents those who are caught up to heaven without death. Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the prophets, so the sum total of the O.T. revelation comes to be with Jesus at the Transfiguration. And they spoke of what Jesus was about do on the Cross in Jerusalem.
 Peter, James, and John woke from their nap and saw these three figures in full radiant glory. Listen to what happens next which is told in Luke 9:34-35, “While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.  And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.” The cloud of God’s glory - the Shekinah glory of God. This is the same idea of overshadow in Luke 1:35 when the glory of God came upon Mary and she received the child Jesus. Peter, John, and James became fearful as the glory cloud overshadowed them, but I would be fearful to. God spoke that this is my beloved son, hear him. The world would not be in the mess it is in now if it would only “hear him” and do what the Lord Jesus says in his WORD. Eddie, I hope you are hearing him also.
 God had a reason for the Transfiguration. When you study the Word of God always observe, observe, and keep it in its proper context and the Word of God will literally come alive. Take these verses to the Greek and you will sometime get a totally different perspective.
 Now the second part of your question “Moses and Elias turned up to talk with Jesus. Does it mean that people who passed away can still hang around?” I have already told you why Moses and Elijah was present. But this does not mean a thing whether people who have passed away still hang around. God a specific reason for Moses and Elijah being present at the Transfiguration and has nothing to do with “people hanging around after death.” When you die you either go Heaven because you have accepted Jesus as your Savior or you go to Hell because you did not accept him. It is that simple. This is not true for the devil and his demons as they are present on Earth with us to this day. Lets talk about what Hell is and is not and that will lead into the your question about the Judgment Day question.
 You ask “Will believers and non-believers go to different places or they just wait in the same lot until the Final Call?” The answer is yes believers will be in Heaven and nonbelievers will be in Hell. What is Hell? Hell is described in Scripture as the place of the damned where all sinners will spend eternity. Satan, fallen angels, fallen people, and all who offend will be in this Holding Tank of Damnation. Hell is pictured as place of torment, sorrow, loneliness, enduring pain, agony, and endless suffering from burning fire. The punishment of hell is eternal in duration. Hell was created by God for the express of purpose of dealing with the Devil and his fallen angels and destroy the rebellion of Satan and sin. But because of the Fall in Eden Hell was enlarged because of human sins (Isa. 5:14).
 In Deut. 32:22 the word hell is used and in the Hebrew means sheol, a place where the wicked are sent for punishment and there is no return. In the Greek, the corresponding word is hades. Neither of these places is the represent the place of eternal torment. Vine in his Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words states it is “the region of departed spirits of the lost (including the blessed dead in periods preceding the ascension of Christ. It never denotes the grave, nor is it the permanent region of the lost; in point of time it is, for such, intermediate between decease and the doom of Gehenna.” Hades is referred as down (Luke 10:15) and is referred to as being in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40). These two intermediate areas of shoel is spoken of in Luke 16:19-31. Gehenna, I will talk about separately.
 In Luke 16:19-31, is the story of Lazarus and the rich man. This tells us that before the ascension of Christ there were two separate areas in hades. One referred to as the Abraham’s bosom (this is where Moses and Elijah came from for the Transfiguration with the Lord Jesus), which is the place of paradise of Old Testament believers at the time of their death (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4). It was the place the righteous dead of the Old Testament time were kept before Jesus paid the price of redemption. Once Jesus paid the price this abode of hell was emptied and the righteous was emptied into heaven. This is seen as the Old Testament saints are seated around the Throne in Revelation and the 24 elders. In this area, the O.T. saints experienced no torment or suffering. The rich man was in the second part of hades and Lk 16:26 tells there was a great gulf or separation between Abraham bosom (has no torment or suffering) and the area of where the unsaved dead were, i.e. where he was. Note the characteristics of the part of hades: there was conscious torment and agonizing flame (Lk 16:23-25), rich man had his memory during this torment (Lk 16:25-31). This is place of the unsaved dead til the final judgment of the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11-15). Which refers to your “Judgment Day” question. Eddie, you have understand this part about hades to grasp who is at this judgment and who is not. The reason I am breaking the doctrine of hell into smaller parts so we can understand it.
 Okay Eddie, now for the third name or part of the hades which is referred to as gehenna. The word is taken from the Hebrew ge hinnom, which is referring to the Valley of Hinnom that runs on the south and east sides of Jerusalem. The worship of Molech in which infants were sacrificed in a fire to the god Molech occurred in this Valley. Molech was a brazen statue with a head of a bull, it had a big  open belly in  which a fire was made, had two  outstretched arms, and a fire would be made in the belly of the statue and would be very hot  and infants were sacrificed by being placed on the arms and burned up. Very evil. And the spirit of Molech is still with us today but we call it abortion. Still very evil. Gehenna is synonymous with the eternal judgment and  punishment and not annihilation (Matt. 23:15,33, 25::41,46).  
 Gehenna was prepared for the Devil and his angels (Matt.25:41). And the place where death, hades, Satan, Antichrist, False Prophet will be sent, tormented til the Great White Throne judgment. This is called the Second death, the lake of fire (Matt. 8:29; 25:41; Rev.19:20; 20:10, 14). Eddie, I hope this helps to grasp a little that born again believers go to Heaven and nonbelievers go to Hell when they die. I want you to grasp that Hell is a real place, with real evil, real eternal damnation for those who end up there, and there are difference in the placement of those being placed in hades, shoel, and gehenna. Remember Abraham’s bosom was emptied out on the ascension of Christ and O.T. saints went with him, so it does not exist today. This is where Moses and Elijah came from to be with Jesus at the Transfiguration and they are with him in Heaven now.  
 Eddie, I want you also to understand that today there is spiritual warfare going on today between Satan, his demons and the born again believers of God. People who die today their body goes to the dirt of the grave and their soul goes to heaven or hell (as we have already described). Not so with Satan and his demons. They are present around us at this very minute. Lets learn something about demonology. Demons play an important part of Satan’s control of the earth and make Satan’s power everywhere present (Mk. 5:9). They are capable of indwelling and controlling animals as well as men (Mk. 5:2-5, 11-13), desire to possessed of physical bodies (Matt. 12:43;44; Mk 5:10-12), and demons influence men by actual possess their physical bodies as well their speech (Matt. 4:24; 8:16, 28, 33). Like Satan, they are totally evil, malicious, and affect those they control (Matt. 8:36; 10:1; Mk. 1:23, etc). In numerous verses, demons know Jesus to be God (Matt. 8:28-32, Mk 5:2-13). It is interesting that demons who Jesus, but unbelievers today do not want to know who Jesus because they love their sin. Demons know they are destined for eternal punishment (Matt. 8:29), capable of brining on physical disorders (Matt. 12:22), as well as insanity (Mk. 5:2-13). Demon influence can lead to false religion, asceticism, and unbelief (1 Tim. 4:1-3). We see  this evil influence today in the shootings of Columbine High School, Wedgewood Baptist Church, Virginia Tech, and Northern Illinois University. The influence of demons on Christians is evident (Eph. 6:12; 1 Tim. 4:1-3), but the demons affect Christians differently than the unsaved because we have the Holy Spirit indwelling in us.
 After talking about the doctrine of hell and demonology, this leads into the last part of your question “Before the Judgment Day comes, where do people go when they die?” I have already spoken about where people where they die, but what “Judgment Day” is there. There will be a judgment day for believers and nonbelievers who are in hell at this present time. This will the Judgment seat of Christ and Great White Throne, respectively.
 Before the Judgment seat of Christ takes place, 1 Thess. 4:15-18 that Christ is coming for his Church. It states, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” This is called the Rapture of the Church. Paul goes on to declare this doctrine even further in 1 Cor. 15:50-58. Do not get this confused with the Second Coming of Christ, because at the Rapture Christ does not come to Earth. Eddie, I want you notice that in 1 Cor. 15:52 states “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Paul is saying in any moment at anytime, in the twinkling of an eye Christ will come back. Light travels 186,000 ft/sec. so the twinkling of an eye is going to that fast. Christ will not be messing around when comes for the Church. In 1 4:16 states there will three events taking place in split second which is a shout, trump, and voice all will be heard. Christ comes in the cloud to get his church, but does not come to earth.
 So we are snatched away before the Tribulation starts. Then the Judgment Seat of Christ will take place after the Rapture. Rev. 19:8 pictures the bride of Christ, the church, is already rewarded when He returns to at His Second Coming (when he is physically present on earth a second time) indicates that this event (judgment seat of Christ) will be after the Rapture but before His Second Coming.
 The Judgment Seat of Christ is sometimes referred to as the Bema Judgment, which portrays a seat or raised platform where a judges sits to judge a case, like in courts today. The Judgment Day of Believers is the Judgment of Christ or Bema judgment. Romans 14:10 states that “for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,” and verse 12 to “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” And 1 Cor. 3:10-4:5 also supports that the bema is for believers and it is time of rewarding and not punishing. It is for believers who have built on the foundation of Jesus Christ (church age believers) who will participate in the judgment seat. It is not for unsaved people because they are in hell for their unbelief and is not for Old Testament saints as they were taken to Heaven from Abraham’s bosom on the ascension of Christ. No one comes to this party except saved people.
 The saddest judgment is yet to come and the judgment of the unsaved dead. This judgment will take place at the conclusion of Christ’s millennial reign but before the eternal state begins. At this time the unbelievers of every age will resurrected face what is Called The Great White Throne judgment. In Rom. 20:9-10 tells how the Devil and False Prophet are judged and thrown in the lake of fire. Rom. 20:11-15 describes fluently this event of the unsaved “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Eddie, not in this Judgment Call the dead great and small stood before God, and this strictly a judgment of the unsaved. There were two books, the book of life (where name of saved people are recorded) and the book of works which the unsaved are judged from. The unsaved who died in the sea and hell gave up the dead and they were judged according to their works. All of the unsaved dead were cast also in the lake of fire or another name is Gehenna like we already discussed. This is the second death. This is the Second Judgment Call.
 Eddie, I am sorry to be so detail but you need know the truth about the Transfiguration, where Moses and Elijah came from to participate in the Transfiguration, and to understand that Jesus was truly God who died for the sins of the world. You have learned about the two major Judgments and who are being judged. You have learned the end time sequence of events in which these two judgments will fall.
And you have learned where people go when they die.
 Eddie I truly hope you are a born again believer, have relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and will be with me when that trumpet is blown for the last curtain call and we are snatched out of here. Jesus said that no one but the Father knows when the Son of Man will come for his Church. Eddie always be prayed up, packed up, blessed up, sacked up, and because we are moving up when that call comes. Hope this has helped get some of your questions answered. Once one gets on these biblical themes you have carry it out to completion for a complete understanding, and I would not one to fall because I did not carry it out completely.
Blessings to you this day.

Dr. Don Howe, PhD, ThD.