Where was She?

Q: The Bible says `...absent from the body... present with the Lord` 2 Corinthians 5:8. When we read in the Bible of people dieing and then being resurrected (Acts 9:40). Between the time of their death and resurrection where are they? The example in Acts 9:40 is during the church age after Jesus`s death. Was the soul of Tabitha in Heaven and then got pulled out when she was resurrected?

A: You have already touched on the answer you seek when you mentioned 2 Corinthians 5:8. "We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." When a Christian dies they are at home with the Lord. The details of what that looks like are not given to us within the pages of scripture. While I share your curiosity regarding what that looks like, and where it is, I am comforted by the fact that I will know soon enough. We have to be careful not to let our desire to know the answers to these mysterious questions lead us to making conclusions not supported by the Bible. For example, Christians are familiar with the practice of infant baptism. It is usually fear of not knowing the answers to questions that the Bible is unclear about which leads to us coming up with doctrines that are not supported by scripture. The Bible is unclear about what happens to infants and children that die prior to being able to make a conscious decision for Christ. Therefore, some Christians, because of their belief that water baptism is necessary for salvation, "wash" the sin of the child away in hopes that God will accept the child into heaven if it passes away. Rather than make up doctrines to ease our fears about the unknown, we should get our answers from what is known about our God. He is a loving and just God whom we can trust will make the right decision about these things.

"But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better (Philippians 1:23)." The Apostle Paul, torn between wanting to continue advancing the Gospel and going to be with the Lord, views both options as being desirable. Therefore, we can conclude that if he were to die he would go immediately into the presence of God. Just prior to Stephen being stoned to death in Acts 7, we read "Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55)." Stephen saw Jesus waiting to greet him as he was about to die and enter into the afterlife. Again, the inference is that once we die as believers we go directly to be with the Lord. Therefore, when we look at the story of Tabitha in Acts 9 the best conclusion, based on the evidence, is that Tabitha was in the presence of the Lord for the short time between her death and when the Lord raised her back to life through Peter. My curiosity makes me wonder what it must have been like to be in the presence of the Lord and then have to return to your mortal body? Did Tabitha have a choice to return or did God tell her that she must return? Regardless, like with all God's miracles, they are done in order to draw people to Himself and faith in Christ.

One thing I believe it is safe to say is that when a believer dies, they do not enter into in the presence of the Lord with a body. "For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality (1 Corinthians 15:52b-53)." The spiritual bodies that await all believers do not appear to be received until the future resurrection. Therefore, Tabitha was most likely in a spiritual form during the time in between her death and Peter bringing her back to life. It would seem that she would be able to reenter her physical body without compromising the integrity of the Scriptures. We know "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:50)." If Tabitha were in her final, eternal state, then we would have to incorrectly conclude that the imperishable inherited the perishable when she returned to her physical, earthly body. Thus, Tabitha was in the presence of the Lord, but not in her spiritual body. Thereby, making it easier to believe she was "away from the body and at home with the Lord," but still within the realm of possibility that she could "return" to her body.

There is a saying that goes something like "where the Bible is silent, we should also be silent." In other words, if God has not revealed something to us we should trust that He has a good reason for not doing so. One suggestion I would make to you when you encounter difficulties like the one you are asking about is to simply put an asterisk by the passage in question and ask the Lord to reveal to you its meaning. When the time is right God will reveal it to you. Until that time be thankful for those things He has revealed to you. If God were to reveal all things to us we would be completely overwhelmed and perhaps miss out on learning to trust Him with our spiritual maturity. "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me (John 12:26)." Jesus reassures us that where we are He is there with us. If we are here on earth, He is with us. If we are absent from the body, we are with Him. In the case of disciples like Tabitha, if we are chosen to be resurrected in order glorify God we can be assured that He is still with us. Be encouraged by your question about where Tabitha was after she died because it keeps you focused on the things of the Lord. It is evidence that He is with you now and you will spend eternity with Him later. Be blessed.