At the last trump- present with the Lord

2Co 4:13  We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

2Co 4:18  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

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 5:2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

2Co 5:3  If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

2Co 5:4  For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

2Co 5:5  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

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.

2Co 5:9  Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

2Co 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad

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The same writer of the above verses wrote the following too-

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

At the last trump we are changed.

At the last trump those who are in death's 'sleep' awaken.

At the last trump we are raised in corruptible.

When Paul writes here in 2 Corinthians about being absent from the body to be present with the Lord He's not telling us that upon death we are present with the Lord. If that were true PLEASE explain to me WHY our Lord would raise ANYONE from the dead. Why would he bring anyone back from their spiritual presence with God? Why would we NOT want to die if it had us sooner in God's presence? The truth is- once we die the next thing we will know is the presence of the Lord.  BUT the truth also is, we won't know that until we WAKE up from death's sleep.

When you sleep you know nothing until you wake up, this is truth!

So it is true that once we are divested of our corruptible bodies upon waking up when the last trump is sounded will be absent from our current corruptible bodies as we know them and present with the Lord in the new flesh He will give to us!

And we do want more than anything to be accepted of our SAVIOR.

We walk by faith not by sight.

We walk with the hope, sight unseen, to be Christ's when He returns. Christ gave us the EARNEST of the Spirit. Through the Spirit we have hope. 

So many want to believe Satan's lies.

But Christ did NOT go to heaven when He died.  So He couldn't have been with the thief on the cross next to Him in heaven that day.  Christ was telling that thief today, he was giving him the news that day.  Just as if I were to tell you today that I will be in Virginia with you, but you know my trip to Virginia isn't planned for another year.  Nothing stops me from telling you things about the future- today.

People grasp at straws trying to get things to fit their idea of how things should be, they twist and turn things until they can believe lies easily enough and are blinded to all truth.

LOGIC of God's love tells us that upon death we do not go to heaven in any form at all, especially when we know Christ didn't even go to heaven when He died.   When we know He raised people from the dead- which would be CRUEL if they were already with God having passed through the suffering of this life.

I want to be absent from my body to be present with the Lord and I want this at His return when the last trump sounds and the dead in Christ will rise and those living will rise also to meet Him in the air! I want this so desperately and it's by HIS grace that it is possible, only by His grace through His love!

All though HIM.

In Jesus' name now and forever, AMEN!