Bible Questions and Answers

A visitor writes,

"Please explain Absent from the body and present with the Lord"

2 Corinthians 5:6  So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:8  We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Paul has already explained that Jesus Christ is the first to be raised from the ‘sleep’ of death and that those ‘in Christ’ will ‘sleep’ in death until they are raised to life again at his return. 
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21  For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23  But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 shall be changed.
We know that when we sleep, we are not aware of the passage of time.
Waking is the very next thing we are aware of, whether we have slept for 1 hour or 8 hours.
Thus it is when a Christian dies, the very next thing he/she will be aware of will be resurrection from the dead to then be eternally present with Christ in the kingdom of God.
This change will be instantaneous as far as our consciousness is concerned.
This is what Paul is describing.
I hope this helps.
God bless,
Glenn