Death is a subject that makes many people uncomfortable. Even though we all have questions about it, most of us avoid the subject. The Bible says little about what happens to us immediately after we die other than we will be in heaven with Jesus. We know that the man on the cross who believed in Jesus was promised he would be in Paradise the same day he died. Beyond this we are left to “fill in the blanks.” Apparently at the instant of physical death we are consciously in the presence of God in heaven in some kind of temporary body as we await permanent resurrection bodies.

But if Jesus comes back before we die, the process will be much easier and quicker. Those who are already dead will receive resurrected heavenly bodies and living Christians will immediately switch from physical bodies to our heaven bodies. If that happens in our lifetime, we won’t experience physical death. We’ll go directly to meet Jesus and begin our eternity with him. It will be like a blind person suddenly receiving sight.

When St. Paul was explaining the change that will take place when we meet Jesus face to face, he said, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then [when all of this occurs] we shall see [him] face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

We may not know every detail, but if we’re believing in Jesus, we know we’ll someday see him face to face.