Death and Hell always ride together and will be thrown into the Lake of Fire together. They are spirits. Death separates the human from the Life of God. Hell brings torment. The rich man was spiritually dead because he was ignoring God, and was thrown into Hell because in his wickedness he neglected to assist the beggar, Lazarus. Living in spiritual death leads the individual into wickedness, into Hell, into the place of torment.

It is the wicked who experience Hell. They experience Hell while still alive on the earth and their physical death will increase their torment. Just as the dead will realize their deadness more fully when they die, so those who while on earth are abiding in Hell among the demons will experience greater torment when they die.

Judas Iscariot experienced Hell before he died. He rushed into the presence of the chief priests and elders and hurled down the money that had purchased the betrayal of the innocent Jesus. Judas made his confession before the rulers of Israel because he was in Hell, in torment. His state did not change when he died. No individual's state changes when he dies.

We are living in Zion, or in Jerusalem, or in the sea, or in death, or in Hell. Physical death does not change our spiritual state.

In the case of the spiritually dead and the wicked there may be substantial unclean spiritual involvement. Such may find that the bondages of lust or rebellion or pride or lying or stealing or violence or perversion or jealousy that they have permitted to rule their conduct are still part of their personality after they die. Those spirits may accompany them into the spirit realm. Physical death may not set us free from the demons we have embraced while living on the earth.

If we are living as part of Christ, our growth in the Lord will continue without interruption after we die. He who lives and believes in Jesus will never die. The Wife of the Lamb is destined to be without spot or wrinkle. The ministries of the Holy Spirit will continue without ceasing until we all come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Every member of God's Israel will know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.

The greater part of the Body of Christ is in the spirit realm. Those of us on the earth are but a fraction of the Wife of the Lamb. The entire Body is being built up in the Head, Christ. All of the parts of the Body are contributing to perfecting the whole Body. It is our point of view that the process of completing and perfecting the Body of Christ has little to do with whether we are alive on the earth or in the spirit realm. It is one Body, one Church of the Firstborn, and it is growing in Christ. All of us will come to perfection together (Hebrews 12:23).

To be continued.