Intermediate State. The joy is the joy of the
Intermediate State. The suffering, which is in such strong contrast to
the joy as to be divided from it by a deep gulf, so that the joy cannot
be tinged with the misery, nor the misery relieved by the joy,--this
suffering also is the suffering of the Intermediate State.

The reality then of the Intermediate State is confirmed by our Lord in
this narrative. Now observe the weight of this testimony. If the Jews
were wrong in believing that the spirits of the just passed into Paradise
or into Abraham's bosom our Lord would never have uttered words twice
over which sanctioned their mistake. We may observe further from these
two passages that the Intermediate State has two parts or conditions.
There are those in it who suffer, and there are those who rejoice. At
death, the spirits of those whose lives have been evil pass to suffering
and anguish, as we read of the rich man that "in Hades he lifted up his
eyes being in torments"; and the spirits of the faithful pass to rest and
joy. But between these two representatives in the narrative, the one of
the evil, the other of the good, there are the multitudes who are neither
very good nor very evil, so varied in the indeterminate tokens of good
and evil which marked their lives on earth, that it would seem to be
impossible for us to know on which side of "the great gulf" their
position ought to be. But if the extremes enter the Intermediate State,
and there is room for them in it, is it to be supposed that there is no
room for those who are between the extremes? Rather do we learn that the
spirits of all go thither, not only of the faithful and of the wicked,
but of the wavering and uncertain also, of those who were weak and fell,
of those who, with unsteady and tottering steps, sometimes rising, often
falling, now obeying, now rebelling, now believing, now doubting, now
walking in the light, now plunged in darkness, at one time treading
firmly the ground of the narrow path, and then at times wandering into
the quagmires and morasses of sin and lust, passed through the pilgrimage
of life, and, at length, when their allotted span was completed, were
assigned to the place which awaited them, to the place which was their
own and was fitted for them.

We have seen what conclusions must be drawn from the express language of
our Lord Himself. Let us now examine the evidence afforded by His
Apostles, in the Epistles and in the book