Very keen to hear your takes on this. For most of my young life I assumed the after-life was immediate, that your soul basically leaves your body and ascends right after or soon after you die. This assumption was never challenged, since most sermons and discussions at church presupposed this to be the case. When my father passed I frequently heard "He's in heaven now" and this type of language seems to be common when talking about death.
In the past year I decided to take studying my faith more seriously, and I've noticed some Christians reject this interpretation (and in some cases even condemn it as spiritualist), instead suggesting that the after-life is something we will 'awake' to simultaneously ONLY after the Second Coming of Christ, like a big reunion of sorts.
I'm in sort of an observational phase of my faith journey, and I often don't feel educated enough on scripture to take a definitive stance on complex questions like this. Sorry if I sound like a total amateur asking this, I just thought it was interesting.
One of the issues is the conflation of the intermediate state with the ultimate state. Those who say that after we die and we "go to heaven" often treat this as though it were the ultimate and eternal condition; while conversely there are those who point out the resurrection and thus argue there is no immediate/intermediate state after death at all. Both views are wrong.
The biblical and historic orthodox position is this: After death there is the intermediate state, between death and resurrection. Scripture says exceedingly little about this, but does tell us that we will be in the Lord's presence.
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So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." - 2 Corinthians 5:6-8
The Apocalypse mentions that the martyrs are before God's throne,
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After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands," - Revelation 7:9
So, yes, after death we are brought into God's presence. What exactly all that means is unknown, but we can be comforted in the knowledge that in Christ we will be with Him, even as He promised, "That where I am you will be also." (John 14:3)
But this is not our ultimate hope, this is only a foretaste of it.
Our hope is that when Christ returns the dead are raised bodily, and we shall ever be with Him. For Christ shall return to judge the living and the dead, the dead shall be raised, God shall make all things new, and we shall have life everlasting in the Age to Come.
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But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death." - 1 Corinthians 15:20-26
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But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." - Thessalonians 4:13-17
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But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." - Philippians 3:20-21
The resurrection of the dead is what we look forward to, when the body is raised up, transformed, glorified. Because we are not looking forward to a life somewhere else as disembodied ghosts, but as fully bodied human persons, transfigured and made whole in Christ, by the power of the Spirit,
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If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." - Romans 8:11
And this is right here on God's green earth, renewed, transformed, made whole. A new heavens and a new earth, where God has transformed and restored all things (Acts 3:21, Isaiah 65:17-25, Revelation 21:1-7, Romans 8:18-25). This is the
Olam Ha-ba, the Age to Come, the future world where God has healed, renewed, restored, and glorified all things in Himself and God is all-in-all. That is what we look forward to with hope and faith.
-CryptoLutheran
