To finish the book of Isaiah in our Sunday morning services, we will look at the Bible’s promises about the future. Last Sunday, the sermon focused on a framework for the future.
After the sermon I received this question:
In 1 Thess.4:16-17, Paul writes that the dead in Christ will be caught up first, then those who are alive. Are those who died not with Christ until He returns? It seems that the popular idea that Christians immediately go to heaven after death is wrong.
It’s a great question. According to the Bible, when a Christian dies their spirit is immediately in God’s presence in heaven (2 Cor 5:8), but they are there without their bodies. When Christ returns, those who are dead in Christ have their bodies resurrected and their spirits are reunited with their bodies. So in one sense it is true that we go immediately to heaven upon dying. In another sense it is not true because our bodies won’t be resurrected until Christ’s return.
Blessings,
Jim