Who are the dead in Christ?

The Lord our Savior is in heaven.

Luk 24:50  And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 

Luk 24:51  And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 

Mar 16:19  So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 

But there will come a time when our Savior rises from His seat at the right hand of God-

Dan 12:1  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 

Dan 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 

Dan 12:3  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. 

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. 

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 

When our Savior leaves heaven and appears once more in the air above earth He will call many who sleep in the dust- who are these many sleeping in the dust? We refuse to believe in our society today that anyone sleeps in the dust. We've taken all from the dust instantaneously not allowing them a single moment of sleep. As far as most people are concerned there will be no one dead in Christ that will rise because most people have their dead already risen, already having met their Savior, already in heaven. Does this make God's word a lie? Are there really going to be no dead in Christ to rise and meet Him? Are there really going to be none sleeping in the dust of the earth awakened to everlasting life?

Why have we placed our dead in heaven resurrected in a way our Savior never was?

Our Savior hung on a cross and after His death He did not go to heaven.  Many celebrate His dying on the cross and staying in the grave, then being resurrected. Many realize that our Savior walked the earth conversing with His disciples and only after many days did He rise up to heaven.

People will say Jesus told the thief next to Him that he'd be in heaven that day, but Jesus wasn't in heaven that day.  Did Jesus lie?  NEVER.  Jesus did tell the thief THAT DAY… and what He told him that day, was that He would be in heaven. Just as we are promised heaven, just as Abraham was promised heaven, just as many men and women were promised a better land and never lived to see that promise fulfilled but rather fell asleep before they could- remember this from yesterday?

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 

Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 

Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 

According to God's word all those who die in Christ will rise up when Jesus returns- Abraham will rise up from his death sleep, Isaac, Jacob, David…. They will rise up on the same day as the person who died the moment before Christ returns.  They won't know of the thousands of years that have passed, to them the moments of cognizant awareness before they died will have been the last memory they possess. They'll open their eyes to see their beloved Savior in the air and they will rise up to meet Him. Time will have no meaning because all that matters is their Salvation in Christ. They will not have known  for thousands of years the pain of their descendants upon earth, pain they could do nothing about. They will have been sleeping death's sleep, unaware of the passage of all time.

There will be people to rise from death's sleep to meet Christ, God's word tells us so.

If we believe there is no such thing as death's sleep, but only constant awareness even after death, then why would Christ need to return for any of the dead?  If His people who have died are already in heaven with Him, He has no reason to call them from the graves. If we don't believe in death's sleep we don't believe in God's Holy Word.

People have taken a verse here, a parable there and created a scenario of the Devil's choosing, for it was Him who told Adam and Eve that they would not die.

Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 

Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die

The great lie of Satan- and so many believe this is true. So many believe that when we die, when any one of us dies that we are instantly alive and aware in spirit form in heaven living on, greeting and meeting happily all prior dead loved ones. People also believe that these same spirit loved ones can see us here below on earth and know all about our lives. This made up fictional life right after death isn't Biblical and it truly makes very little sense, but people are blinded by their beliefs, they are deceived.

Again, I have to ask, who are the dead in Christ that will rise if all that die in Christ are already in heaven? Who?

May God bless us with ONLY His truth! May our eyes be open to ONLY His truth! Please Lord, please help us - we believe, help our unbelief!

All through our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ now and forever!