I am reading through 1 Corinthians and when I got to ch 15 v20 I got wondering.
I have often puzzled over where we go when we die. We are told about the rich man and Lazarus being in Abrahams bossum, we are told Christ told the thief today you will be with me in paradise, also that Steven saw Jesus, at the right hand of the Father, (so must be in heaven). Paul states to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
After reading verse 20 I have a theory which seems to accommodate all these verses.
I think it is a timeline issue.
Before Jesus was raised those who died in faith went to paradise/Abrahams bossum, when Jesus was raised from the dead, He was the first to be raised to eternal life with His resurrected body, He stopped off at paradise (so to speak)( this satisfies why He could say the thief would be in paradise) and took all those waiting there to heaven with Him. Now, when believers die, since Christ is already risen, we can go straight to heaven, thus proving Paul’s statement.
I think we believers still have to wait for our glorified bodies which we won’t get until the end.
Ok show me the holes in this timeline. 