Yes, there is an intermediate state where people are conscious after they die and before they are resurrected. But first, let me explain one of the conditionalist views and then counter it with God’s word.  Not all conditionalists are the same.  Some affirm a conscious intermediate state of the person between physical death and physical resurrection.  But, others assert that when the physical body dies, the soul also dies and either is unconscious or nonexistent.  In this latter position, monism is often proposed.

• “The Scriptures, both Old and New Testament represent individual personality as a complex and totally mortal monism, a unity that can be viewed from different perspectives, but that cannot be broken into separately existing parts.”¹Rethinking Hell: Readings in Evangelical Conditionalism, Kindle Locations 2954-2956). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. underline added
• “man is one indivisible entity, not a combination of two, body and soul.”²Ed., Date, Christopher M., and Highfiled, Ron. A Consuming Passion: Essays on Hell and Immortality in Honor of Edward Fudge, Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition. (Kindle Locations 4500-4501).  underline added

Because of this monistic view, the conditionalist must hold to a form of soul sleep for the human person.

• “soul sleep,” the view that death is a state of total unconsciousness, rather than survival in heaven, hell, or purgatory.” ³Rethinking Hell: Readings in Evangelical Conditionalism (Kindle Locations 503-504). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition. underline added
• “soul sleep (Gr. psychopannychia) The view that there is a period between one’s death and the final resurrection in which one’s self (soul) is in an unconscious state.”⁴McKim, Donald K. The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Second Edition: Revised and Expanded (Kindle Locations 13332-13333). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
• “When death occurs, then it is the soul that is deprived of life. Death cannot strike the body or any other part of the soul without striking the entirety of the soul.”⁵Fudge, Edward William. The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Third Edition (p. 27). Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.

So, according to the concept of soul sleep, there can be no intermediate state where a person is conscious between death and resurrection.

Therefore, if we can find a biblical account of someone being conscious in the intermediate state where a person exists between death and resurrection, then this would prove the conditionalist position of monism and soul sleep to be false, and it would greatly weaken their doctrine of annihilation.

Jesus’ intermediate state was conscious, not soul sleep

The greatest example of the conscious existence of a person in the intermediate state between death and resurrection is the person of Jesus. He died on the cross, and he rose from the dead three days later. What happened to him during that time? The answer is simple. He continued as a conscious human being. Let me explain.

First, Jesus has two distinct natures: God and man. We call this the hypostatic union. This union can never be dissolved. If any person were to say that the human and divine natures of Christ can be “un-unified,” then he would be denying the incarnation. This would be heresy.

Second, Jesus was a single person who claimed attributes of both humanity and divinity [see communicatio idiomatum].  Jesus walked, talked, slept, etc. No one doubts his human attributes.  Jesus, who identified himself as a single person with the word “I”, and “me,” said such things as “I am thirsty,” (John 19:28) and “I am to keep the Passover,” (Matt. 26:18). But, he also claimed divine attributes as well when he used “I” and “me” in relation to them.  Please consider the following verses.

• Matt. 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
• John 8:58, “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.'”
• John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”
• John 17:5, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

We can see that the person of Jesus said that he would be with the disciples always (Matt. 28:20), that he had descended from heaven (John 3:13), that he claimed the divine name of God for himself (John 8:58; Exodus 3:14-15), that he said he would indwell believers (John 14:23), and that he had glory with God the Father before the world was formed (John 17:5). This is significant because the single person who said “I” and “me,” claimed attributes of both humanity and divinity. Therefore, the “I” and the “me” would signify the single person of Christ, who claims the attributes of both human and divine natures.

Since the divine nature of Christ could not enter the soul sleep state of unconscious existence, and since the divine nature is unified with the human nature (hypostatic union) as the one person, it cannot be that the divine nature continued in conscious existence apart from the same conscious existence of the human nature of Christ.  That would be heresy.

This refutes the conditionalist view that the human nature ceases, or enter soul sleep, or even stops existing between death and resurrection.

The conditionalists contradict scripture

The preceding argument is very important. I have not yet encountered an explanation for this and all of the material I read from conditionalists. I consider this to be a huge oversight on their part. But, what I have found are such things as the following…

• “The first man was created when the dust of the earth and the breath of God were brought together (Gen 2:7), and just as surely as the man did not exist prior to creation, he does not exist when the spirit returns to God who gave it and the dust returns to the earth (Eccl 12: 7).”⁶Rethinking Hell: Readings in Evangelical Conditionalism (Kindle Locations 583-586). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition, underline added

I’m not saying this one quote represents all conditionalists, but the quote is a problem for the conditionalist considering the person and work of Christ.  If the conditionalists say that the human spirit of Christ ceased to exist upon his death (as the above quote would necessitate), then they would be denying the hypostatic union and would be teaching a form of Nestorianism which is a damnable heresy.  This error states that Jesus was two persons in a single body. This would be two persons, not one person. In reality, the one person of Christ is indivisible. Therefore, the human spirit of Christ could not have returned to God the Father without violating the hypostatic union.

Furthermore, if the conditionalists were to say that the human spirit of Christ went into a state of soul sleep, then there could be no activity of the human nature during the intermediate state of Christ. This would mean that when he acted as an individual, he was not acting as the God-man, but only in a divine sense.  This also denies the hypostatic union and is heresy.

Is Jesus just an exception?

If the conditionalists say that Jesus is an exception, then they are admitting the difficulty and dismissing Christ as that exception. Furthermore, Jesus is the perfect example of what it means to be human. If he is not our example both in conduct and human essence, then the conditionalists would have to say that the person of Christ as a human was different in his humanity than we are. But, this can’t be.

Now, of course, Jesus was sinless, and we are not sinless. In that, there’s an obvious difference. But if he is not just as human as we are, then he cannot offer an atoning sacrifice on our behalf (Hebrews 2:17). Therefore, His humanity and our humanity are the same; otherwise, we have no atoning sacrifice. Our humanity is touched by sin. But his humanity is not touched by sin.

Conclusion

Because Jesus has two distinct natures, the divine, and human, and because he shares the attributes of both natures as that single person, the natures cannot be separated from the identity of the personhood of Christ. This would mean that between Jesus’ death and resurrection, he had to continue a conscious existence as a human. To deny this would be to divide the person of Christ, negate the continuation and participation of the human nature in that single person during the intermediate state. That would be heretical. Therefore, the conditionalist view of soul sleep is shown to be false.