page-0165-2 – We Love God!

People without Christ need to realize they will face three stages of God’s judgment. Most dreaded is the final and eternal stage of judgement when they are sentenced to hell after the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11-15). Then there is the “intermediate stage” between an unbeliever’s death and the final sentencing. This is often called Hades, a holding tank with no opportunity to escape (Lk. 16: 26) that involves suffering (Lk. 16:23-24; 2 Pet. 2:9b). Yet right now, before death, they are also presently under the judgement of God. John 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Randy Smith