According to Scripture, we aren’t raised the moment we pass from this life…

Many people attempt to use the erroneous term “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8) as proof that those who die are immediately raised into heaven. (The KJV actually uses the word “and” instead of “is”. No other Bible version that I know of suggests immediate raising, either.)

Anyway, I beg to differ. I don’t believe anyone is immediately raised from the dead and placed into the Presence of YHWH – with the exception of the three men mentioned in Scripture who were raised individually: Yeshua (Colossians 3:1, 1 Corinthians 6:14-20, Ephesians 4:7-10), Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).

Take a really close look at the following passages that indicate people will remain in the ground until it’s time for them to be raised.

Daniel 12: 2 “When that time comes, Mikha’el, the great prince who champions your people, will stand up; and there will be a time of distress unparalleled between the time they became a nation and that moment. At that time, your people will be delivered, everyone whose name is found written in the book. ² Many of those sleeping in the dust of the earth will awaken, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and abhorrence. ³ But those who can discern will shine like the brightness of heaven’s dome, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. (CJB)

Daniel 12: 8  I heard this, but I couldn’t understand what it meant; so I asked, “Lord, what will be the outcome of all this?” ⁹ But he said, “Go your way, Dani’el; for these words are to remain secret and sealed until the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many will purify, cleanse and refine themselves; but the wicked will keep on acting wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand. But those with discernment will understand. ¹¹ From the time the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. ¹² How blessed will be anyone who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. ¹³ But you, go your way until the end comes. Then you will rest and rise for your reward, at the end of days.” (CJB)

1 Thessalonians 4:13 Now, brothers, we want you to know the truth about those who have died; otherwise, you might become sad the way other people ¹⁴ do who have nothing to hope for. For since we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, we also believe that in the same way God, through Yeshua, will take with him those who have died. ¹⁵ When we say this, we base it on the Lord’s own word: we who remain alive when the Lord comes will certainly not take precedence over those who have died. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise; ¹⁷ then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ So encourage each other with these words. (CJB)

Can you see it? People aren’t raised until it’s time! Even when the “catching up” happens, we see all the “dead in Messiah” rising first, and THEN those who are still alive. If everybody “went to heaven” at the moment of death, then the above passage wouldn’t exist!

Matthew 27:50. Then again Y'shua cried out with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. 51. And immediately, the curtains at the door of the temple were torn in two from the top to the bottom. And the earth was shaken and the rocks were split. 52. And the tombs were opened and many bodies of the Set Apart believers who were asleep arose, 53. And went out. (AENT)

From what we can see in Scripture, the next “raising” will happen when Yeshua returns on a future Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShana (Feast of Trumpets, when ADONAI calls His people together).

Believers will be “caught up” as shown in 1 Corinthians 6:14 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; and then ultimately, the FINAL “catching up” happens at the end of Yeshua's thousand year reign when ALL (including every unbeliever since the beginning of time) will stand before YHWH on Judgment Day (Revelation 20:11-15).

Further evidence can be seen in Revelation 6:9 which tells us there will be souls "under the altar waiting"... which means, no matter how long we've been dead, when we wake up it will seem like no time has passed:

Revelation 6:9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them who were slain on account of the Word of Elohim, and on account of the testimony to the Lamb which was with them. 10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Master YHWH, you Set Apart and True, do you not Judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11. And to each one of them was given a white robe; and it was told them that they must be quiet yet a little while, until the consummation of their fellow-servants and Brothers who were to be killed as they had been. (AENT)

From what I can see, there’s nothing to indicate an immediate resurrection after death. When we die, we’re simply “asleep” and when “raised” it will seem like no time has passed. It's all in YHWH's good timing.

The bottom line, of course, is that we can't REALLY know the answers to any of this UNTIL we're out of our earth suits, viewing God through our “spiritual eyes!”