Question and Answer

When Christians die, their soul and spirit (two aspects of our immaterial self) go immediately to heaven. Separated from their physical bodies, they will be in the immediate presence of God and in conscious and thrilling fellowship with Christ and the redeemed in heaven (John 11:25; Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:6–8; 2 Tim. 4:6; 2 Peter 1:12–15). Their physical body, the body we view at funerals, is left on earth. Resurrection, on the other hand, is the reuniting of the soul and spirit with the physical body. At the Second Coming of Christ for His people, the Lord will reunite the souls and spirits of departed Christians with their physical bodies. These bodies will be glorified forever for the full embodied enjoyment of God (1 Cor. 15:50–57; 1 Thess. 4:13–18). What a glorious prospect for the child of God!