Episcopius2 is absolutely correct in his finding of the verses that teach the true doctrine on this subject.
When Christ layed down his life and before he was resurrected he visited the dead spirits.
1 Peter 3:18-20
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Here we learn that Christ went to the world of spirits and preached the gospel. Among these spirits were those who lived on the earth in the days of Noah who had died and were waiting for the resurrection who were disobedient and were probably destroyed in the flood. I don't think that Christ preached to sleeping spirits. So this is the first evidence that the departed spirits do not sleep until their resurrection.
1 Peter 4:5-6
5 Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
In this verse it is reiterated that Jesus went unto the dead spirits and preached the gospel. Jesus allows those who have died without a knowledge of the gospel to hear it in the spirit world. These verses are another evidence that the spirits of those who are dead are not asleep but are awake and able to hear the gospel to be preached unto them and receive it.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has received further revelation on this subject. Below is a vision given to Joseph F. Smith regarding the preaching of the gospel unto the dead:
Doctrine and Covenant 138
Last edited: