The Gemara in Shabbos (31a) describes a scene that takes place posthumously:
אמר רבא בשעה שמכניסין אדם לדין אומרים לו נשאת ונתת באמונה קבעת עתים לתורה עסקת בפו ''ר צפית לישועה פלפלת בחכמה הבנת דבר מתוך דבר ואפ ''ה אי יראת ה' היא אוצרו אין אי לא לא.
“Rava said: After departing from this world, when a person is brought to judgment for the life he lived in this world, they say to him...: “Did you conduct business faithfully? Did you designate times for Torah study? Did you engage in procreation? Did you await salvation? Did you engage in the dialectics of wisdom or derive one matter from another?” And, nevertheless, beyond all these, if the fear of Hashem is his treasure, yes, he is worthy, and if not, no, none of these accomplishments have any value.”
After the soul departs from the body, it reaches the Beis Din Shel Mahloh [heavenly tribunal for judgment]. There, all its deeds are assessed and six questions are posed. Three are related to study of Torah, and three — to other areas of Jewish life: honesty in business, family life, and anticipating the arrival of Moshiach. The Gemara concludes that if one can answer the questions with the affirmative and has Yiras Shomayim [is G-d fearing] he will be welcomed to Gan Eden, and if not... well, not.
One of the big six questions is: צפית לישועה – “Did you await salvation?”, we see from here how important awaiting the arrival of Moshiach and the final redemption is. Without it, one simply won’t make his/her way into Gan Eden.
