Question:
Dear Greg,
I
am a Christian, and hope you will answer this question for me.
I have researched and asked people, but cannot get a good answer.
In
the Bible it states that when Christ returns, he will raise up the dead in
Christ and then the rest will be raised up to meet him (raptured).
Who are these people who were “dead in Christ”?
It makes it sound like people, up to this point, who are believers in
Christ as their Savior and who have died have just gone to the grave until his
Second Coming. I always believed
that when you die as a Christian, you immediately go to Heaven.
Hope
this question makes sense and that you can answer it for me.
God
bless,
Rayma
Answer: Dear Rayma,
The
answer lies in an explanation of what is called the “intermediate state”.
The Bible tells us that when we die our body is buried and decomposes, or
is cremated, and obviously ceases to exist.
But the Bible also says that the non-material part of us, our soul or
spirit, returns to God. We go “to
heaven”. That is, we go to be with
God— for heaven is not a geographical destination, it is the state of being in
God’s presence, and God is not confined to any one “place”.
But for our human minds to fathom eternity, we often speak of heaven as a
place. In any case, heaven is a
reality for those who have died— but the grave is a reality for their bodies.
The
Second Coming of Jesus will be the moment when the graves are opened, and at
that time the bodies of the dead in Christ will rise from the grave, and their
bodies will be made immortal (see 1 Corinthians 15).
Of
course there will be some who are physically alive at the time Jesus returns,
and Paul says that they too will die, “in the twinkling of an eye”— only to
have their physical body die and then be transformed to an immortal body.
They will also “go to heaven” for their destiny to be with God, in
his presence, forever.
Hope
this helps Rayma. God bless you.
In
Christ,
Greg
Albrecht