The Soul of the Unbeliever: Immediate Entry into Hell
Having traced from Scripture the blessed state of the believer’s soul after death, Willcock turns to what he calls a very solemn matter — the state of the soul of the unbeliever. The question he addresses is whether the wicked go immediately to hell at death or only after the day of judgment. The answer from Luke 16 is unambiguous: the rich man died and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes. There is no hesitation, no delay. The soul drops into hell the very moment it leaves the body.
This is confirmed by Hebrews 9:27 — it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment — which Willcock reads to mean that at the moment of death, judgment as it were is immediately passed upon the individual soul. It is either taken to heaven or cast into hell. The day of judgment is not the occasion on which God first decides the verdict; it is the occasion on which the sentence already certain is officially pronounced.
What Hell Is Like: The Evidence of Luke 16
Luke 16 does not merely tell us that the wicked go to hell — it describes in some detail what that state is like. Willcock draws out five features from the text. First, the rich man dropped into hell the very moment he died. Second, he was absolutely conscious — he lifted up his eyes, he saw, he spoke, he could feel. Third, he was in torments, specifically described as a flame of fire so intense that even a single drop of cold water on the tongue would have been relief. Fourth, he could see the saints of God in heaven far off, and knew he would never enter that blessed place — a knowledge that greatly adds to his torment. Fifth, he had memories: Abraham says, son, remember. The damned remember their former life, their wickedness, every gospel opportunity they despised — and they remember the sinful pleasures they once indulged, all of which their unchanged sinful nature still craves, though none can ever be satisfied.
The great gulf fixed between hell and heaven is absolute and eternal. There is no crossing from one side to the other. No prayer of a relative on earth, no passage of time, no degree of suffering changes the state of the soul in hell by one fraction. Hell is the prison — as 1 Peter 3:18–20 describes it — where the soul of the wicked is confined in torment while it awaits the day of judgment.
The Gospel Imperative
This solemn doctrine is not merely theological information, Willcock insists. It is a summons to action. For the Christian, hearing of the torments of hell should drive him to his knees in prayer for the souls of his family and acquaintances — to weep for them, preach to them, persuade them of their danger. Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:11. The Christian was once among the number of the perishing, and only sovereign grace made the difference. That fact should humble him into the dust and send him back out to preach Christ to those who are still heading down that broad road to destruction.
And for the unconverted, the warning is plain and urgent. You do not know when your moment of death will come. It is appointed unto men once to die. Outside of Christ there is no salvation, no second chance, no purgatory, no soul-sleep, no gradual fading — only the immediate entry into the torment prepared for the devil and his angels. Now is the day of salvation. Flee to Christ. Fall upon the stone and be broken, or that stone will fall upon you.
The End of the Intermediate State: The Resurrection
The intermediate state is not permanent. It ends at the resurrection of the body. Willcock reads 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 as the most complete single picture of what that day will look like. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. He will bring with him the souls of all departed saints from the beginning of the world to that very moment. Their bodies shall be resurrected and reunited with their souls. Those alive at Christ’s return shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air — and so shall they ever be with the Lord.
The wicked too shall be resurrected — not at a different time, separated by a so-called millennium, but at the same resurrection. John 5:28–29 says plainly: the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. In their resurrected bodies they shall stand before the throne of judgment. In their bodies they shall hear the sentence: Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. And in body and soul they shall be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. The intermediate state is truly only an intermediate state — it ends. But what follows it for both the righteous and the wicked is everlasting and unchangeable.