Why I Wrote This (a.k.a. How Thinking About Ghosts Made Me Mad at Rome)
I was sitting with my Bible open, doing what Christians are supposed to do—reading Scripture and pondering the glory of Christ—when my mind, rather unexpectedly, took a detour. I started thinking about purgatory. Not because I believe in it (spoiler: I don’t), but because the idea of it has always been so… irritating.
You know the drill: you die, but you’re not quite holy enough for heaven, so God throws you into a cosmic laundromat where you burn off the rest of your sins. Eventually, if you suffer long and hard enough, you get to upgrade from smokehouse to celestial palace.
It’s a blasphemous lie, cooked up in the forges of medieval superstition and sold by the pound to poor souls desperate for hope—until, of course, the Reformers torched it with sola fide and a few well-aimed theses.
But here’s the thing: that idea had to come from somewhere, right? Purgatory didn’t pop into existence ex nihilo. So I dug deeper. Where did the early Church—or the wolves who hijacked it—get the idea that there’s a middle place between death and final glory?
That rabbit trail led me to Sheol. Hades. Abraham’s bosom. The whole Old Testament doctrine of the intermediate state. Which, if misunderstood, might look a little like purgatory… until you actually read your Bible and realize: no, that’s not what it is at all.
And just as I’m knee-deep in study, who shows up? Saul and the medium of Endor. The one time in Scripture where a dead prophet actually gets summoned like it’s a Halloween special. That’s when the whole thing started to click—and this post was born.
So, if you’ve ever wondered what happens when we die, what happened before Christ died, and what on earth Samuel was doing showing up to a séance—buckle up.
Before we talk about Saul, witches, and the ghost of a prophet, let’s zoom out and ask a bigger question: Where did people go when they died—before Christ died?
Because let’s be honest—when you read the Old Testament, there’s not a lot of clear heaven-and-hell talk. We get phrases like "gathered to his people," or references to Sheol, but no crystal-clear descriptions of pearly gates or lakes of fire. So what gives?
To answer that, we’re going to dive into the doctrine of the intermediate state, and then use the creepy little detour in 1 Samuel 28—the one with Saul and the medium—as our unexpected tour guide.
The Intermediate State: The Holding Pattern of the Soul
The intermediate state is the condition of the soul between death and the final resurrection. And before the cross, it looked very different than it does now.
In the Old Testament, all the dead—righteous and wicked—went to Sheol. But don’t think of it as one big spooky basement. Think of it like a duplex with a wall in the middle:
- The righteous went to a place of peace—often called Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22).
- The wicked went to a place of torment—Hades (Luke 16:23).
It was conscious. It was real. But it wasn’t final.
Why? Because the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t open heaven’s gates (Hebrews 10:4). The saints of old—Abraham, David, Samuel—were saved by faith in the coming Messiah, but they were still waiting for the cross to make the way permanent.
Enter Saul and the Witch: 1 Samuel 28
Now let’s peek into one of the weirdest scenes in the Old Testament.
Saul is desperate. God has gone silent. So he does what God explicitly forbids: he finds a medium. He asks her to summon the prophet Samuel from the dead. And somehow… it works.
Samuel shows up.
The medium freaks out (1 Sam 28:12). Not exactly the confidence of a seasoned necromancer. Why? Because God overrode her rebellion. This wasn't a demon doing party tricks. This was a sovereign interruption.
Samuel’s message? Judgment. Saul is going to die. The kingdom is lost. God has spoken—through a dead prophet, no less.
And here’s the kicker: Samuel says, "Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me" (1 Sam 28:19). Not in the good part, necessarily—but in Sheol. In death. In the intermediate state.
Jesus Changes Everything
Fast-forward to the cross.
Christ dies, and what does He do? He descends—not to suffer, but to proclaim victory to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19).
He leads captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8–10), bringing the faithful dead—Abraham, Moses, Samuel—into the presence of God.
In short: He cleared out the waiting room.
Now, when a believer dies, there’s no Sheol, no holding tank:
- "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8).
- "To depart and be with Christ… is far better" (Phil. 1:23).
No limbo. No shadows. If you die in Christ, you go to Christ.
What About the Wicked?
They’re still in torment, still awaiting final judgment. Luke 16 paints a clear picture of conscious suffering, no second chances, and a chasm that cannot be crossed.
2 Peter 2:9 says the unrighteous are being "kept under punishment until the day of judgment." It’s not purgatory. It’s not rehab. It’s wrath. And it’s only a preview.
The Final State: The Resurrection to Come
When Christ returns:
- Everyone gets their body back.
- Believers get glorified bodies fit for eternal joy.
- The wicked are cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14–15).
- The righteous inherit the new creation.
The intermediate state ends. Eternity begins. Final destinies are locked in.
So… Where Was Samuel?
Samuel was waiting in Sheol, resting in the promise, not yet seeing its fulfillment.
And where are we now?
On the other side of the cross. Christ has opened the way. There’s no excuse to dabble in forbidden things, no reason to fear death, and no ghostly surprises waiting in the dark—only judgment or glory.
Saul chose rebellion. He sought answers in the shadows. And God gave him one: death is real, judgment is coming, and no one escapes the Word of the Lord—not even after death.
So don’t wait for a dead prophet to preach it to you. Hear it now. And live.
Thanks for reading.
