It seems to me that there are many references to AD 70 as a “Judgment.” Does this mean, then, that there is no Final Judgment after the general resurrection? Is each soul today either saved or not saved by the time his or her days on earth are complete, and are souls then simply resurrected and sent either to Heaven or to destruction?
Traditionally, there are two views of what happens to the Christian when they die.
1.) They go to Hades–Abraham’s bosom– and wait for the judgment.
2.) They (the righteous), to directly to heaven.
Would like to pose a few thoughts for consideration.
1.) What has Christ done for the Christian if, when the Christian dies, they have to go to Hades and wait just like those under the O. T. system?
Why did those under the Old Covenant have to go to Hades in the first place?
Hebrews 10:1-4– No forgiveness!
However, now, in Christ, we have all things that the O. T. could never give (Acts 13:36-38).
Question: What is the one thing that separates man from God? Is it not sin?
Question: Is the child of God today, truly forgiven of their sin, through the blood of Christ?
If the answer is Yes, then we are forced to ask, if the child of God is truly forgiven today, why then do they have to go to Hades and wait for judgment? Would not that indicate that they had not truly been declared forgiven?
Question: Is not the declaration of forgiveness in deed and in fact, judgment?
If it is not, what is it? If then, the Christian is truly forgiven through the blood of Christ today, continually cleansed, is he not truly judged?
If sin is the one thing that keeps man from the presence of God, and that sin is truly, actually forgiven through the blood of Christ, then what is it that prevents that child of God from going directly to heaven and the presence of God?
2.) If a person says that the faithful child of God goes directly to heaven when they die, yet, there is a future judgment and resurrection, then the following scenario must be true:
The child of God dies.
They go to heaven, which is the hope of the Christian.
They wait for the judgment to tell them they are forgiven and redeemed, but, their very presence in heaven declares that anyway.
At the time of the judgment/resurrection, they leave heaven, to come to earth, to get a body that they did not need, to go back to be where they already were!
What would a (another) judgment tell the Christian who is in heaven, that he did not already know?
How would the raising of a physical body give a Christian, who had been in heaven, anything that he had need of? Surely the absence of a physical body would not prevent a person from going to heaven, correct? Not if they were already there!
The fact is that the traditional views of what happens to the chilld of God when they die, have some very severe problems with them in regard to forgiveness and judgment.