Those Given Life at the End That Were Not the Bride, Came from the Dead. Where They in Burning Hell While Dead?
1) Direct answer
No. Those who are given life at the end were not in the burning lake of fire while they were dead. They were in death, awaiting the general resurrection and the White Throne judgment.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Now notice, the Bible says, “The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:5). They were dead—awaiting the time to be raised.
- Then, “the dead, small and great, stood before God… and the dead were judged… and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them” (Revelation 20:12-13). That shows they were held in death and the unseen realm until judgment.
- Only after the judgment do the condemned go into “the lake of fire,” which the Scripture calls “the second death” (Revelation 20:14-15). So the burning lake of fire comes after the books are opened, not before.
- Jesus also spoke of some being set on His right hand and given life in that judgment scene (Matthew 25:31-34, 46). That proves there will be people at that time who were not the Bride, yet are granted life.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- If they were already in burning hell, there would be no need to raise them and judge them to determine life or condemnation. Judgment comes before final sentencing.
- The Bride has part in the first resurrection and is not touched by the second death (Revelation 20:6). The rest come up later. Among those, some are found in the Book of Life and are given life; the rest go to the lake of fire after judgment.
- Therefore, those who are given life at the end were not in burning hell while dead; they were held in death, and the ones who belong on the mercy side were at rest, not in flames (see Revelation 6:9-11 for souls at rest under the altar).
4) Reinforcing statement
The Bible’s order is clear: death first, resurrection and judgment next, and only then the lake of fire for the lost. Those granted life at the end were not burning in hell while dead.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Questions and Answers
54-0515 §131
Read, brother, now, if you have it. [Brother Neville reads I Corinthians 15:29]: Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? Now, my brethren, there's one people that believes that. They baptize for the dead; that's the Mormons. And I've been in their temples many times, they are very fine people, you may be a Mormon. Now, I am not trying to hurt your feelings. But, my dear friend, you can't be baptized for your father. That's a act...
The restoration of the Bride Tree
62-0422 §66
...d in the ground... Perhaps when he seen Jesus coming was four thousand years before Jesus got here. You can imagine how a human body looked in four thousand years; probably not enough ashes left to go on the end of a spoon. But Job said, "Yet in my flesh I'll see God, who I shall see for myself." And the Bible tells us in Matthew 27, that after His death, and burial, and resurrection, that many of the saints that slept in the dust of the earth rose out of the dust! Why? It was that prophet, speaking with the Word o...
Blasphemous Names
62-1104M §66
Now, I've got the Greek Lexicon here, The Emphatic Diaglott. I studied the other day on a word. Now, in John 14 ... or, John 3:16, we find one place says, "have everlasting life"; another place it says, "have eternal life." But in the Greek version, in the Hebrew it says, "Life without end." In the Greek word, has a-i-n-i-o-a-n ... Almost like "aeon." Aeon is a space that can't be... It's a number that can't be numbered. It's beyond millions, trillions, billions. But this is aionion of time: eternal life. And the E...
Living, dying, buried, rising, coming
59-0329S §19
Sure, He had to do it. The veil hung between man and God, and that opening veil revealed the way to heaven's joys and endless day. Calvary means something, means more than we can express. Sure. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far away. It's been condemned now. Sin has no more hold. When He screamed at the cross, "It's finished," sin died! Now it's dead. It's done with. It's powerless. It's lifeless. Think of it, people. That sin, the enemy to human beings, is dead and lifeless; i...
Church Ages, part 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §71
But before that happens, the Gentile elected bride... There'll be some of you sitting at a table, one of these mornings. One will be taken, and the other left. You'll wonder, "What's the matter?" Be riding right along in a car, talking to somebody---wife or hubby sitting at the seat. They won't answer; they won't be there. You'll run to the graveyard. There'll be some graves open, and the other ones still closed, "For the rest of the dead lived not for the space of a thousand years." Just remember, it's over then.