What happens to the righteous and wicked at death?

The following is my 'current' interpretation of the scriptures. I do not claim to be dogmatic on this topic, but then again, neither can anyone else. I'm answering this simply to provide you, the reader, with scriptures that you can interpret for yourself and formulate your own conclusion.

The word "hell" is translated as "grave" in both the Hebrew ("Sheol") and Greek ("Hades") languages. Grave represents death, or to sleep, or an unconscious state of inactivity.

Ecc.9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

It is my opinion that this state of sleep is upon all who have died outside of the grace gospel. What do I mean by this? Well, the grace gospel is the good news message that we are saved by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Those who are saved by means of this gospel come into an immediate grace standing with God where their sins are nailed to the cross of Christ (Col.2:14), and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to them unconditionally (2Cor.5:21). So, when a 'grace' believer dies, their body goes to the grave, but their spirit and conscious soul goes to heaven where they are in the presence of Christ.

Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart [in death], and to be with Christ; which is far better:

Let me remind you that through the grace gospel, grace believers have ALREADY experienced death, burial AND resurrection. How? Through Christ. When Christ died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried. And when He was resurrected, we were resurrected. We have already been saved. We have already been resurrected. This is unique to the grace gospel and sets us, who are the Body of Christ, apart from all other gospels.

Those who are saved by any other gospel, (for example, the Kingdom gospel which was specific to Israel during Jesus earthly ministry), are saved by their faith in that message God declared as salvation at that time, and they await a future salvation. In other words, they die, and are buried in the grave, and are unconscious, or sleep according to Ecc.9:10 above, until their day of resurrection; whether that be the 1st resurrection to life at the second return of Christ, or the 2nd resurrection of death at the Great White Throne judgement after the Millennium Kingdom (Rev.20:6; Rev.20:11).

So, before we continue to what death means in an eternal sense, lets just reiterate that;

1. At death, grace believers are in a spiritual and living state immediately at their natural death. They all will receive their glorified bodies at the rapture of the Body of Christ.
2. At death, all other non-grace believers throughout all time will be unconscious and asleep in the grave until the 1st resurrection when they will be awakened and receive their glorified bodies.

Let's now get to the question of what will happen to all the unsaved people throughout human history. In order to do this I'd first like to make the following clear.

Proper bible hermeneutic (interpretive) rules tell us we should always interpret the words of the Bible literally, unless the context clearly makes it otherwise. In keeping with this hermeneutic rule, let us view the verses below, noting and understanding the following words in their literal way, since there is no allegory connected to them. The words are; perish, destroy, 'be no more,' death, die, consume, devour, 'bring to ashes,' etc.

Unsaved people, like all non-grace believers, will go into the grave when they die. In the grave there is no consciousness or awareness as we have already established. Also like all non-grace believers, they will be resurrected, but after the Millennial Kingdom, at the 2nd resurrection, which is to death. At the Great White Throne, these will be judged and found to be wanting of righteousness. Having rejected Jesus Christ they will be judged based on their own righteousness; which, no matter how righteous they lived, will be insufficient, seen as filthy rags before God (Isa.64:6). Their sentence is death. But let's define what this death is. Is it eternal burning and torment in the lake of fire? Let's see what the Bible says.

Will the wicked go on living throughout eternity?

Psalms 37:20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

What is 'consume away' literally? Is it an everlasting burning? If you say yes, where did you get that idea? Were you taught it? Did you ever research it for yourself? Are you following a narrative that someone else fed you? Tell me, what does 'consume away' mean if you were doing a barbeque one day and not thinking of eternal damnation. What do you see when you look at the wood burning away. Does the wood last forever? Similarly, and even if we are dealing with a spiritual context, consume away means destroyed, until nothing is left!

So, the wicked will be consumed away, or completely destroyed. They will not burn forever?" There will be a final destruction of the wicked, but they will not burn in hell for eternity?

Psalms 145:20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.

Psalms 37:38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

In the context above, cut off is not separation from God. No! Cut off is removed from existence. It means that the wicked will be no more or utterly consumed! The phrase is the same as we see in this prophetic statement in Daniel, …

Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:

… however, the context of Daniel's verse is in reference to physical death [the destruction of the flesh], whereas Ps.37:38 is in context with spiritual death, [the destruction of the spirit]. 'Cut off' is the Hebrew word, 'kāraṯ' meaning eliminate, destroy, kill. The meaning of the word is the same, but the context can change, whether it be to destroy wood or flesh or spirit.

Psalms 104:35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD."

What is the literal meaning of 'no more'? Does it mean someone will be burning for eternity? If they don't burn up, how can they be 'no more'?

Does the New Testament speak about the destruction of the wicked? Yes, in many passages, for example,

Matt.13:40 … the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so, shall it be in the end of this world (age).

2 Thess.1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 

The 'everlasting destruction' in the above passage is not denoting that one would burn for an everlasting duration. The context is that through their destruction they will be permanently extinguished from the Lord's presence and power. 

So, how complete will the final destruction of the wicked be?

Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

These highlighted phrases are not indicative of an eternal torment, burning forever in the lake of fire. No! When the wicked are cast into the eternal fire, they will be burned up, consumed, made no more (Rev.20:15).

One last thing. The lake of fire was never intended for humans. It was created for the devil and the fallen angels as an eternal punishing for their rebellion.

Math.25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

So in this regard, will the Devil be burned up completely? No! Will the Devil and the fallen angels cease to exist like wicked humanity will? No!

ADDENDUM

Revelation 14:10-11 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

How long will the torment of the lake of fire last? "For ever and ever.” The Bible says “they have no rest day nor night"

I cannot dismiss the two verses above. Just like I view the context of extinguishing from a literal perspective, I have to interpret these two verses in the same way, and when I do, I do see an eternal context; that is: an everlasting torment or suffering involved here.

• Verse 10 starts with the words, "The same..." This refers to the ones who took the mark of the beast. So, the reference is not connected to fallen angelic beings, but humans who have sold their soul to the devil.
• It then continues with, "shall be tormented with fire and brimstone", which is a reference to the lake of fire. The torment is not on earth during the tribulation, but after the Great White Throne judgement and while they are in the lake of fire.
• It continues with, "their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night,". Day and night, in particular, is a perpetual statement.
• Lastly, "...whosoever receiveth the mark of his name" implies to me that this specific group of people will be judged differently to the rest of the unbelieving humanity. 

Taking the mark of the beast is a pledge to the allegiance of Satan, effectively selling your soul in an eternal way! Since the verse specifically highlights this group (who have his mark), it could mean that this group of humanity will suffer the same fate as the devil and the other fallen angels; ie: to suffer in eternal torment in fire and brimstone. These sold-out souls might not be extinguished as the rest of unbelieving humanity. Their fate seems sealed in a similar fashion to Satan, fallen angels.

I am not a proponent of different levels of suffering and torment. For me, sin is sin. One is not judged by the measure or intensity of one's sin, but rather by unbelief in the Son of God. 

John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

For unbelief, one is extinguished. But for taking the mark, could it be that one takes on the fate of the devil and the fallen angels themselves?

An interesting thing is that there is overwhelming evidence and multiple scriptures to confirm total destruction of the human soul, and only one scripture that presents this angle. Of course, one cannot ever dismiss scripture, so there remains only one option, which is to include it and review one's opinions based on it. Whether I'm interpreting this scripture in context, based on my above revision, I do not know, but I will always be open to be corrected. That's the joys of learning and growing and having the attitude to remain open to be teachable.

For now, I don't have the motivation to seek this out. It's not like I am an attorney that needs new evidence to defend unbelievers. Their fate is their own choice, whether that is death or eternal torment. I know where I stand and I'm looking forward to eternal life. The truth about this all is that an unbeliever is utterly LOST. Whichever way you look at it, and no matter which demise you believe is the truth, they are both outside the presence of God and a position you don't want to be in. For me that seals it. I don't really need the details if both lead to an undesired end.

I will continue to attest that all this above is my personal understanding in regard to my current views on this topic. I cannot claim to be dogmatic on it and whatever I present or publish is strictly my belief at the time it was spoken or printed. I, like everyone else, continues to learn new insights into this and I also personally believe that this will never truly be resolved. It is a mystery that only God knows.