KML,
	I like how you showed that we are already dead and yet already alive from the dead.
If someone rejects the scriptures, that thought would seem like complete nonsense.
Remembering that we are already seated in heavenly places in Christ is very powerful.
If we are to pass through the veil before the blessed hope, then we can't die like others.
Yes, our flesh will experience cessation of life, the fallen life.
But somehow we are already there, with the LORD.
Somehow, our spirit is simultaneously here, in us, and also there, seated in heavenly places in Christ.
So, if we pass before the blessed hope, our soul comes out of our body, and goes to be with Jesus.
Our soul is here, now, in our body, with our spirit, while our spirit is somehow already there.
In my simplistic thinking, it is like the left hand of our spirit is here, holding onto our soul.
While the right hand of our spirit is already there, holding on to Christ, seated in heavenly places in him.
So, in passing, the soul is moved from here, instantly to there.
Then our soul fellowships with Jesus there, until the resurrection of our body, at the blessed hope.
Then we fully fellowship with Jesus with body, soul, and spirit.
That's perhaps why the prospect of physical death of the body is not terrifying for us.
Yes, any physical suffering, prior to that, is not desirable, but afterwards, it will be like awaking from a bad dream.
Thank you, KML, for stirring me up to think on these things.