The Lord told Martha that He, Himself, is the resurrection and the life. He said that those who believe and then die, shall live again, while those who are alive at the time of the resurrection will never die.

The Lord Jesus said, and Paul confirmed, that there will be a resurrection and rapture of believers toward the end of the tribulation period just before the Lord comes to rule the earth.

Paul also taught that there will be a catching up of believers toward the end of our present dispensation, when Christ shall appear in the glory of heaven, and believers will in an instant appear with Him in glory.

In each case, those caught up and those resurrected will be given an immortal body, a glorious body like that of the Lord Jesus. But what happens to the believer between the time of death and the resurrection? Paul talked about that in his epistle to the believers at Corinth.

2 Cor 5:1-8
1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (KJV)

He said that if we die and this body returns to dust, God has prepared for us a new, eternal body. Since the resurrection of Christ, the spirits of believers who die go directly into the presence of God, but those spirits go without a body. Paul essentially said he would much rather go to be with God in the rapture because then he could go into heaven with a body (being clothed upon). However, Paul said that he was more than willing for his spirit to go to heaven without a body if that was God’s will, for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Later, Paul wrote to the believers at Philippi and seemed much more at home with the idea of entering glory without a body.

Phil 1:21-24
21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.
23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. (NKJ)

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Other church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/