Q) John 5:29 – Does this mean that all people that died before Jesus are judged by their works when they were living?
A) John 5:29 (NIV)
29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
This says that all mankind will be resurrected. Some will be resurrected, and tossed into hell. In their new perfect bodies capable of feeling heightened senses, they will be tossed into hell fire for all time. And the rest of us will be resurrected into perfect bodies that will live in paradise for all time.
Those who died before the resurrection of Christ all went to a place the Bible calls Sheol. In this place there was a side that looks much like hell will look like, and there was a side that looks much like heaven looks like. People before the resurrection of Christ were also saved by faith in Christ the messiah. We are saved by faith in the messiah that came, while they were saved by faith in the messiah that was to come. When Jesus died, he descended into Sheol and preached the gospel message, and liberated the righteous to go to heaven and be in the presence of God.
Now when people die, we go to one of two temporary destinations while we wait for the resurrection and the judgment. The unsaved go to Sheol (Luke 16), where they are miserable, and will eventually be resurrected, judged, and condemned to hell (Revelation 20, 21, & 22). The devil will burn in hell, and wont be the king of hell, but one of its first victims. The saved now go to be in the presence of the lord, in paradise while we wait to be resurrected, then evaluated, and rewarded in our new earth which is a heaven/earth hybrid.
All mankind will be judged by our works, but none are saved by our works. We will all be rewarded by our works, but it is only our faith that saves us by Gods grace.
So if a person who puts their faith in Christ is very active in their faith, and lives a holy righteous lifestyle, they will be rewarded far greater then the believer who is unwilling to walk in the ways the Lord has commanded.
If a person who is not saved lives a life that is charitable and generous, they will not burn in a fire as hot as the nonbeliever who lived as intentionally wicked as possible. At least based on the inferences in scripture, because this particular issue is not made clear.
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