Where do we go after death? Some say we go to be with the Lord immediately and some say that we are still in the ground until the Rapture. Can you provide any scripture info to help resolve this?
Although I’ve answered questions like this a number of times it’s still one of the most frequent topics in my in box. So, here’s what I think the Bible tells us.
In a sense, those who say we go to be with the Lord upon death, and those who say we stay in the ground are both right. This is because our bodies, which are mortal and subject to death, are obviously buried. But our spirits, which are immortal and exist forever, leave our body and go to be with the Lord. 2 Cor. 5:6-8 and Phil 1:22-24 address this. In both places Paul said. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
Since dead bodies soon decay into dust, the spirits of believers who have died will receive new immortal bodies at the time of the rapture, while the bodies of living believers will be instantaneously changed from mortal to immortal.