How are "the dead in Christ" going to rise if they are already there in Heaven?
Yes, its very clear of where the dead in Christ are sleeping, in their graves, aka the pit, hell.
1 Thes. 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.
[
14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
[
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.
[
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:
[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.
[
18] Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Let's consider the evidence of what Peter said about David.
Acts 2[
29] Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of
the patriarch David,
that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
[
34] For
David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,..
> So is David asleep in his grave still?
Apparently so, because he was not one of those that
arose from their graves after Jesus' resurrection. Matthew 27:52-53.
However, by
that resurrection, it did show that the Saints who did rise from the dead, did so right from the last placement of their physical bodies.
So then, what is the paradise, that Jesus spoke of to the repentant thief?
To be
"asleep in Jesus", is to be spiritually alive, but also to be unconscious of anything going on around you. To be asleep in Jesus, is to be in the grave, aka the pit, hell.
For
now, all that we can hope for, towards that day of resurrection, is that our names be found written in the "The Book of Life", who is Jesus!
Is the grave paradise? I think not! Paradise is still future, of which shall be known to us consciously, in the day of our resurrection, when Jesus returns.