Funny how Lazarus and Jesus didn’t mention these circumstances. I wonder what the Bible says about death and Judgement Day. Is every day Judgement Day? It must be if we get to go right to Heaven.
Jesus said to the thief on the cross : "Today you will be with me in Paradise", so in that sense, sure - but there is no "time" as we know it in heaven (try wrapping your mind around the concept of "eternity").
If we are not "saved", though, we cannot enter the presence of God because we are still stained by sin - until and unless that sin is washed by the "blood of the Lamb", which is what happens when we ask Jesus to be our Lord and Savior (even for a wretch like me).
I have often wondered why there is nothing at all in scripture from Lazarus. I mean, wouldn’t you imagine he had a lot to say? I guess it was not considered important enough to write down, but that has always seemed odd to me.
As for Judgment Day, there are various explanations, one side is that we are *dead* until the end and then we wake up (so, to us it would feel immediate, but wouldn’t explain an experience of going into a light upon death since these people come back here and now). The other side is that our souls go somewhere while our bodies are dead and we get new ones later.
I personally think (but what do I know, this is just supposition) that God and Heaven are outside of time as we know it, and so to us, we die and we are immediately judged, because everything has already happened. I admit, this is hard to get my mind around, but it makes some sort of sense to me.
I like the *idea* of people dying and coming back, but I don’t think really jibes with scripture, since the vast majority of them have a pleasant experience and don’t want to leave (unless of course the light is Lucifer, who comes as an Angel of Light).