.. when you die, your Spirit goes somewhere. Where do you think it goes? Maybe you think it goes to Russia or to Belize or to Purgatory?
Of course I don't believe that! I quoted from 1 Thessalonians 4 which implies that dead Christians remain dead until moments before the rapture. The rapture hasn't taken place yet, so they are still dead. Here's another passage from Paul confirming it (1Cor 15:51-53):
51) Behold, I tell you a mystery.
We will not all sleep, but we will
all be changed,
52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and
the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
53) For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Here he is saying that the majority of Christians will die and sleep in death, but that some Christians won't die because they will be alive when Jesus returns for the Church. Then, when that last trumpet sounds (same event as in 1Thess 4:16, "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,"), the dead Christians will then be resurrected. So a trumpet is sounded, the dead Christians are resurrected and the living Christians are changed, and all this will happen very rapidly - "in the twinkling of an eye". And
all Christians are changed at that time, and not until then. So dead Christians are not with Jesus yet.
No, its this....."present with the Lord". ... after you leave your body.
This is Philippians 1:23.
(Php 1:23) But I am in a dilemma between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Paul knows that when we die we "sleep in death" (Ps 13:3), and that means we have no conscious thoughts and no perception of time. I expect you have often woken up in the middle of the night and have no idea what the time is or how long you have been asleep for. Likewise the dead have no perception of time, and those who died thousands of years ago, and those who died yesterday, will awake in their resurrection thinking that virtually no time at all has passed, just like when we wake up from sleep in the morning and it doesn't seem like 7 or 8 hours have gone by since we were last thinking about things. Therefore Paul is saying he has a desire for his life to end soon so that he will be with Jesus sooner, as far as he will perceive it, for he is really looking forward to the more glorious life after his resurrection, "which is far better".
So Keithr......where is CHRIST located, as Paul is going there after he dies.
(1Th 4:17) then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.
It is when the first resurrection and rapture takes place that we will meet Jesus - "in the air", "in the clouds". In the meantime Jesus is "at the right hand of God":
(Col 3:1) If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above,
where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
(1Pe 3:22)
who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
(Heb 12:2) looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and
has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
See, all the born again are right now... "seated in Heavenly places, in Christ".....right now.
RIGHT NOW.
Don't be silly! You are not right now sat in heaven. Ephesians 2:4-7 (WEB):
4) But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
5) even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6) and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7) that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;
As far as God is concerned, "we are his workmanship" (verse 10) and what he has started he will finish, and he has made us to sit with God in heaven. But that is still a future event, his work has not been completed yet. It's "in the ages to come" that we will be in heaven, not now! We have not yet been "raised up" (verse 6), i.e. resurrected.
2nd. All those, who are in heaven now, who are those who have died as born again, will come back in the rapture with Jesus, in their new bodies.
But they are not in heaven yet! They don't come back with Jesus "in the rapture". As part of Jesus gathering the Church to be with him they, the "dead in Christ", are resurrected and given their new spirit bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
Do you understand?
Do some study.
I think you don't understand and need to study 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:16-57.
(1Co 15:18) Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
The dead Christians have perished unless they are resurrected, so they can't already be in heaven with Jesus.
(1Co 15:23) But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.
The dead Christians are only resurrected to life again at Jesus' coming for the Chruch - at the time of the rapture.
(1Co 15:44) It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.
Paul likens it to sowing a seed, which is dead and buried, that some time later sprouts into a new form of life. The seed must be dead and buried before the new plant can come to life, and likewise the human body must die before the spiritual body can come to life (we cannot inhabit two homes at the same time, "while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord", 2 Cor 5:6). Therefore we cannot be seated in heaven while we are still in our human bodies.
(1Co 15:46) However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.
First we are human, later we become spirit beings.
(1Co 15:50) Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.
We cannot share in Christ's kingdom rule until after we have been changed., neither can we be in heaven until after we have been changed (born again).