The Bible is clear that each person will answer for his or her own life (Revelation 20:13; Romans 2:6; Jeremiah 32:19). When the previous body died, where did the soul go? Hebrews 9:27 says, It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. This applies to everyone.

The Bible refers to death as a time when a person was “gathered to his people” (Deuteronomy 32:50; Numbers 20:24). This indicates that, at death, a person’s soul leaves his body and joins those who have gone before him. In Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31), the soul of Lazarus departed to the “bosom of Abraham” (verse 22). The soul of the rich man was in torment (verse 23). Neither of those souls re-inhabited another body, nor is there any indication that their souls had pre-existed. They each received the consequences of their life’s choices (verse 25). At the resurrection, we will be reunited with our original bodies in glorified form (1 Corinthians 15:42; Philippians 3:21). If pre-existence in another body were possible, which body would the soul inhabit?

Jesus is the only baby born into this world who existed before His birth (John 1:1; 17:5; Colossians 1:17). When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he declared, “This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me’” (John 1:30). John was conceived six months before Jesus (Luke 1:26, 36), yet he indicated that Jesus existed before he did. If John had pre-existed, he could not have made that claim. Jesus, as God, existed as one with the Father since the beginning. He told the Jewish authorities, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:57–58). His human birth was a unique event never replicated on any level. God did know our names before we were created, because He is omniscient and dwells outside of time (Ephesians 1:4; Revelation 13:8). But we are each individuals; we are unique souls placed in unique bodies, and we will all stand before God to give an account of the unique earthly lives we were given (Romans 14:10; Revelation 22:12).