For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
And the time for the dead to be judged, for rewarding thy servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear thy name, both small and great is at the end.
And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, `I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
LORD is coming forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed upon her, and will no more cover her slain.
When Jesus died, the tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. This can be an illustration to show that Jesus has power over death. It is not written that they were taken to heaven before the rest of the people who are to rise during the time of rapture.
Jesus told the criminal on cross, today you will be with me in paradise. These are exceptions to the general rule. It is not written whether the criminal went to heaven or back to Calvary from Paradise. Jesus had a reason to go to Paradise for its redemption. This may be a bonus given to the criminal for his belief that Jesus is Christ.
In the example of Abraham and Lazarus it seems that Lazarus is now in heaven and the rich man is in hell. This gives the impression that the dead goes to heaven and hell before the end of the world, which is the time for the judgement of souls. Since this is an exception to the general rule and since Jesus used parables mostly we can assume that this is also a parable referring to the time in the future. Also using the common sense we can see that it is not proper to punish a person before the judgement is issued.
Also please understand that the Satan who did the biggest sin against God is not put into hell so far. Without Satan in hell the hell is not hell at all. Satan is still in the heaven and he will be put in hell only at the Second Coming of Jesus. If reward for Satan is delayed till the end of the world surely that will be the case for men too.
