The comfort of the intermediate state
Ronald Hanko's article explores the biblical doctrine of the intermediate state—what happens to believers' souls immediately after death—drawing on the Westminster Larger Catechism and Heidelberg Catechism to provide theological comfort for the dying and bereaved. By examining Scripture's teaching on the soul's communion with Christ between death and resurrection, Hanko addresses both the intellectual question and the pastoral comfort needed when facing mortality. The article emphasizes that this doctrine offers genuine consolation grounded in biblical promise and Reformed confessional teaching.
A. The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness, and received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies, which even in death continue united to Christ, and rest in their graves as in their beds, till at the last day they be again united to their souls. -- Westminster Larger Catechism, 86 Q....
Full article available on sb.rfpa.org