That's a nice theory but there's no proof of it. In fact, everything we read about death in scripture tells us that we sleep in the dust of the earth until the resurrection on the last day.
Furthermore, an instant trip to heaven would render a judgment day entirely pointless since you would have to be judged before entering heaven (or hell, if you believe in such a thing).
Christians do not go through judgment for salvation or damnation on judgment day.
Our sins are forgiven and we become the spiritual bride of Christ, and sit in heavenly places with Jesus, when we receive Jesus and become a child of God John 1:12.
On judgment day, believers are judged by Jesus for rewards in heaven, not for salvation or damnation.
They stand in the sheep line, at the right hand of God.
The damned are in the group at the left hand of the father, and they are judged and sent to hell.
Soul sleep is bogus.
You think hell is the grave. It’s not. It’s a place in the earth that holds conscious beings in it, so that when every knee bows to Jesus on judgment day, even those in hell bow:
Php 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Php 2:10 That at the name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and THINGS UNDER THE EARTH.
Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Rev 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither UNDER THE EARTH, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, AND UNDER THE EARTH and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I SAYING , Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
That place under the earth was described for us by Jesus.
Luk 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
Luk 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Luk 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Luk 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Luk 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would comefrom thence.
The above is not a parable.
A parable is a teaching tool, an analogy that relates one thing to another thing:
Mat 13:31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
The kingdom of heaven is compared to a grain of mustard seed being planted.
The story of the rich man in hell is not compared to anything else, and it gives names: Abraham, Lazarus.
Parables are vague, and do not give specifics like names.
Hell is a place that Jesus said was originally created for satan and his fallen angels. And the damned are cast into that same place of everlasting fire.
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Angels are spirits. Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering SPIRITS sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Spirits have no bodies to bury in the ground, so hell cant be the grave.
And the angels in hell aren’t sleeping either. They are conscious, which is why they are chained to prevent their escape.
Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting CHAINS under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the ANGELS that sinned, but cast them down TO HELL and delivered them into CHAINS of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
Soul sleep dogma claims that the soul and body take a dirt nap at physical death, meaning the soul is buried in the ground along with the body, thus it SLEEPS there.
Not true.
In 1 Kings, Elijah prayed three times for a dead boys SOUL to come back into his body. When his SOUL returned to his body again, the dead child was alive again. His soul wasn’t asleep with his dead body, it had LEFT and had to return.
1Ki 17:20 And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
1Ki 17:21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's SOUL come INTO HIM AGAIN.
1Ki 17:22 And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the SOUL of the child CAME INTO HIM AGAIN and he revived.
1Ki 17:23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son LIVETH.
When Rachel was dying, her soul was departing.
Gen 35:18 And as her SOUL WAS DEPARTING (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.
Gen 35:19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem),
Paul was pretty clear in 2 Corinthians ch. 5 that our body is a HOUSE that we live in, that we leave at physical death.
2Co 5:1 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.
2Co 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are AT HOME IN THE BODY we are absent from the Lord:
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather TO BE ABSENT FROM THE BODY, and to be PRESENT with the Lord.
Our body is a house that we make our home in, until we die, then we leave our body and go to be with Jesus, if we were believers.
Scripture further makes that clear that at salvation, the Holy Spirit comes into our house, the body, and changes it from just a house, into the TEMPLE of the Holy Spirit.
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your BODY is the TEMPLE of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
It further makes it clear that our body is a house when Jesus gives an example of a demon possessed man, who had a demon cast out of him, but the demon went out and got more demons, and returned to the man, and found his HOUSE swept clean, and moved right back in and brought the other demons with him, so that man was worse off than he was before.
Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone OUT OF a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my HOUSE from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they ENTER IN and DWELL there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
When Stephen was stoned to death, he looked into heaven and saw Jesus, and said, Lord Jesus, receive my SPIRIT.
He expected to be absent from his body, and to be present with the Lord, right then, not later on after taking a dirt nap first.
Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, RECEIVE MY SPIRIT
John the revelator was caught up into heaven, and saw SOULS there.
Rev 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the SOULS of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
In Thessalonians 4, Jesus comes to raise the dead bodies of the saints and reunite them with the souls He brings with Him from heaven.
Yes, when He returns for those bodies to raise from the dead, He at the same time brings the saints WITH HIM from heaven.
1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God BRING WITH HIM.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the DEAD in Christ shall RISE first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Soul sleep is not correct doctrine.
1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren...
