The Intermediate State of the Unsaved in the Age of Grace

An unsaved person who dies today does not yet go to the lake of fire. The lake of fire is a future reality, associated with the final judgments described especially in Revelation 20. At present, the unsaved dead go to what Scripture often calls "hell" in the King James Version, but in a broader and more nuanced sense than our modern use of the word.

In 1611 English, "hell" had a wider meaning: it referred to what lay beyond the veil of this life, whether good or bad. It could include the place of blessing for the righteous dead as well as the place of torment for the wicked. The underlying Old Testament term is the Hebrew word Sheol, often translated "hell" or "the grave" in the King James Bible. Sheol is the waiting place of the dead and has both a good and a bad side.

Sheol as the Waiting Place of the Dead

Sheol is not the lake of fire. The lake of fire comes after the millennial kingdom and the final judgment. In Revelation 20, Satan is bound, the thousand years take place, and then there is a final judgment. Only after this are death and hell cast into the lake of fire.

Between physical death and that final judgment, the dead are in Sheol (or, in New Testament Greek, Hades). This intermediate state is what the King James calls "hell" in many passages. It is the place to which the unsaved go now.

The Two Compartments: Torment and Paradise

Luke 16:19–31 gives an important window into this reality. There we read of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus. Both die, and the rich man finds himself in torment, while Lazarus is comforted in Abraham's bosom.

"And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’’

In this scene:

• The rich man is in a place of fire and torment.
• Abraham and Lazarus are in a place of comfort, often identified with "paradise" or "Abraham's bosom."
• There is consciousness: awareness, memory, desire, and recognition.
• There is a great gulf fixed between the place of torment and the place of comfort.

This picture supports the idea of Sheol/Hades as having two compartments: a place of blessing for the righteous and a place of torment for the wicked.

Where Believers Go Now

Although you did not ask this directly, it helps to contrast the situation of believers. I would not say that believers in this present age go to the "good side" of Sheol (paradise/Abraham’s bosom). That arrangement appears to have characterized an earlier era.

For the thief on the cross, Jesus said, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." At that time, paradise was the place of the righteous dead. But Paul, writing later, speaks differently. He desires "to depart, and to be with Christ," who is at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Christ is not presently in Sheol or in paradise understood as Abraham’s bosom; He is in heaven at the Father’s right hand. Believers who die now depart to be with Christ there.

So for this dispensation:

• Believers: depart to be with Christ at the right hand of the Father.
• Unbelievers: go to Sheol/Hades, the place of the unsaved dead, in torment.

Is There Conscious Existence Now?

Some have argued that the unsaved dead are now in an unconscious state, "asleep in the grave," and that conscious torment begins only after the resurrection and the casting into the lake of fire. This view appeals to a few passages and speaks of "soul sleep."

I do not hold that position. Luke 16 strongly suggests a conscious existence in Hades: the rich man sees, speaks, remembers, suffers, and reasons. The language of the passage does not present itself as mere accommodation to erroneous beliefs; it reads as a straightforward account.

Thus, I would say:

• The body rests in the grave.
• The soul and spirit of the unsaved person continue in conscious existence in Sheol/Hades.
• They are already experiencing torment and awareness while awaiting the final resurrection and judgment.

Relation to the Lake of Fire

Ultimately, the unsaved will be cast into the lake of fire. Sheol/Hades, as the intermediate place of the dead, will itself be emptied and cast into the lake of fire. The present torment of the unsaved in Hades is thus preliminary and anticipatory of the eternal state that follows the final judgment.

So, to answer your question in the terms most people use today: when an unsaved person dies during this age of grace, he or she does not go directly to the final lake of fire, but does go immediately to Hades/Sheol—a real place of conscious torment that the King James commonly calls "hell’’—to await the resurrection and the last judgment.

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