The following scriptures address the false apostate doctrine that says upon a sinners death he/she goes immediately to a place of fiery punishing called Hell and remains until called forth in the resurrection to judgment. It also addresses the false doctrine that upon the death of someone who is saved, that person goes immediately to Heaven. Understand that these scriptures do not address the future fate of those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life following the Great White Throne judgment, the Lake of Fire, and the second death. Those are topics to which I have other scriptures.
EZEKIEL 18:4 "Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul [nephesh] who sins shall die. (NKJV)
All have sinned and come short. All die, the good and the bad.
EZEKIEL 18:20 "The soul [nephesh] who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the
guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the
righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon
himself. (NKJ)
Same idea as the 18:4
JOB 3:11 "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the
womb? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; then I would have been at rest 14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built ruins for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver; 16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like infants who never saw light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 18 There the prisoners rest together; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. 19 The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master. (NKJV)
Here Job says he would have been asleep, dead. He goes on to say the small as well as the great are all asleep or dead and rest together. None are in Heaven and none are being punished.
JOB 7:21 And why dost Thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I sleep in the dust; and Thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. (RWB)
Again, Job says he will sleep in the dust, in the grave, for he will be dead. He will not be in Heaaven.
JOB 14:10 But man dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last and where is he? 11 As water disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up, 12 so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep. 13 Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes. (NKJV)
Again Job says a man lies down and dies. He also says he will be laid down and dead until the resurrection of the saints when he will be changed.
JOB 19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; 26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (NKJV)
ECCLESIASTES 9:2 All share a common destiny the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. 3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. (NIV)
Here Job declares again that the good and the bad both share the common destiny of death. He goes further to state that in death, the dead know nothing at all. What purpose would it be to eternally torture anyone who knows nothing at all, not the reason for their punishing nor even the fact that they are undergoing punishing?
ECCLESIASTES 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor
knowledge nor wisdom. (NIV)
There is no wisdom or knowledge in the grave. The dead are unaware of anything at all.
The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. John 5:28
The above tells us exactly where the dead are. They are all in their graves.,,
PSALM 6:5 No one remembers You when he is dead. Who praises You from the
grave? (NIV)
Here even David declares that the dead know nothing at all.
PSALM 13:3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; (NKJV)
David says he will sleep the sleep of death.
Do not let me be ashamed, O LORD, for I have called upon You; Let the wicked be ashamed; Let them be silent in the grave. Psalm 31:17
Above, David says let the wicked be silent in their graves, not screaming in a fiery punishing.
PSALM 17:15 As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness. (NKJV)
Davis says he will awaken from his sleep of death.
PSALM 30:2 O LORD my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me. 3 O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing praise to the LORD, You saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. . . . 9 "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? 10 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper!" (NKJV)
David declares that he will go down to the pit, the grave which is hell and will not be able to praise God while in his sleep of death. David knows he will not be with God in Heaven when he dies.
PSALM 88:1 O LORD, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You. 2 Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry. 3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to the grave. 4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength, 5 adrift among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, and who are cut off from Your hand. 6 You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths. 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah 8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out; 9 My eye wastes away because of affliction. LORD, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You. 10 Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah 11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? 12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? (NKJV)
In the above, David calls death and the grave the land of forgetfulness because he knows his thoughts will perish within the grave.
PSALM 115:17 The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into
silence; (NASU)
Again, even the righteous dead cannot praise the Lord while asleep in death.
PSALM 146:3 Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. (NASU)
Even David declare that the thoughts of man perishes when the man dies. The dead are aware of absolutely nothing at all. There are not two separate thoughts of man, only one.
What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of the grave? Selah Psalm 89:48
Only God, in the resurrection can deliver a man from death and the grave.
DEUTERONOMY 31:16 And the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers; then this people will rise and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake me and break my covenant which I have made with them. (RSV)
Moses is dead and in his grave. He is not in Heaven.
II SAMUEL 7:12 And when your [David's] days are over and you fall asleep with your ancestors, I shall appoint your heir, your own son to succeed you (and I shall make his sovereignty secure). (NJB)
Here God informs David that he will die and sleep with his fathers. David is not in Heaven, he is in his grave even today.
Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake
Daniel 12:2
They are in their graves when the resurrection occurs. They are neither in Hell nor in Heaven.
I KINGS 2:10 Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of
David. (NASU)
David is dead and buried and sleeps with his fathers. He is not in Heaven.
ACTS 2:29 "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. . . . 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens" . . . (NKJV)
This is after the false doctrine that preaches that Christ freed all the captives and took them all off to Heaven. That is yet another lie.
ACTS 13:36 "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption;" (NKJV)
David died and is in his grave. His body has returned to dust. He is not in Heaven.
JOHN 11:11 These things he said, and after that he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up." 12 Then his disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well." 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead." (NKJV)
Yes, Lazarus was dead and the Lord resurrected him to life.
ACTS 7:59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (NKJV)
Asleep means dead. Stephen is dead and buried.
