Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

This question is often posed or conceived of in the framework of two separate events -- the spiritual presence of the believer with Christ immediately upon death, and the glorified corporal presence of the believer with Christ at the time of Christ's return and the resurrection of all the dead.

A perspective that has shown me how both of these events could occur at the same time can be found in the book Journey Out of Time by Arthur C. Custance, which is fully viewable online at https://custance.org/Library/Journey/index.html 

Briefly, Dr. Custance indicates (with appropriate references from Scripture, along with discussion of possible questions) that when our temporal life on earth ends, we are in a new dimension where time no longer exists, which will allow each believer at temporal death to be immediately present in his or her resurrected, glorified body with the returned Christ at the close of the present age, along with all other believers from eternity past to eternity future, who all arrive there simultaneously. To those whom the deceased individuals leave behind, the deceased appear lifeless because the survivors are still "trapped in time".

This perspective also allows individuals to free themselves from such unscriptural practices as attempting to communicate with the dead, or praying for the souls of the deceased to intercede for them with God.

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