A question of death

Q: People will sometimes ask you what happens right after you die do you go to immediately be with Christ or are you not with Christ till the final resurrection.

A: Christ clearly says to the theif on the Cross "Today you will be with me in paradise"-Luke 23:43. The Apostle Paul speaks of how it is better to be out of this world, and be at home with the Lord-2 Corinthians 5:8, and Phillipians 1:23-24.

But Paul also speaks in 1 Thessolonians 4:13-18, about the soul being asleep upon our death, and eventually rising on the last day. Christ also speaks people literally coming out of tombs and rising from the dead to go onto eternal life or eternal punishment at the last day-John 5:28-29. The Apostle Paul then speaks of how our resurrected bodies will physically change and be glorified (which means our bodies will be like God created us and perfect.

So to string these seemingly contradictory verses together. What I think happens is that upon our death we are in some state of bliss as evidenced by the theif of the cross, but during the final resurrection we will be brought back to life and made perfect and all of sin, death, and evil will be defeated forever more.

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