Exactly!! This is what Paul said about physical death:
2 Cor 5:6-8
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Paul contrasts being alive in the body and away from the Lord, or being absent from the body (dead) AND to be present with th Lord.
Real clear. Shoots down the idea of "soul sleep" immediately.[/QUOTE]
There are about 6 verses people use to justify immediately going to heaven. I'm so glad you brought this up as someone did two days ago.
The 2 Corth 5 post is a bit harder to explain only because of terminology/translation. For example, the word body, could it mean a physical body, sure it could. Could it also mean something else, sure, and do we have examples of when Paul talked about a "body" but wasn't referring to a physical body but instead was using it as a metaphor, yes, the body of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:14-5:9
14 knowing that He who raised (G1453, to be awaken from sleep) up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen (our resurrected glorified bodies) are eternal.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body (body of Christ) we are absent from the Lord (Because he is in heaven apart from us).
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
The Judgment Seat of Christ
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present (with him at his second coming when the body of Christ and Christ join) or absent (in our current state without Him), to be well pleasing to Him.
Notice what that verse DOESN'T say, it doesn't say "to be absent from the body IS TO BE present with the Lord," even though that is how it's common paraphrased in Christian songs and speech and how it is understood.
It doesn't say "to be absent from the body=present with the Lord"
Paul isn't comparing being in his physical body now and what it would be like if he dies and goes to heaven to be with the Lord. Paul is comparing the body of Christ now versus the resurrection when the body of Christ joins with His bride, and the body of Christ in the resurrection which is finally joined with the husband (Christ) is better than how it is now.
In fact, along with the word glory (always pertaining to the resurrection), do a word search in your NT on the word body, it almost always refers to the body of Christ (usually by Paul).
Start back in 2 Corth 4:12, it's a line of argumentation in which he points to the resurrection (14) and our hope of glory(17), which are not yet seen (18) because we have not yet be resurrected.
As another point people talk about is Moses and Elijah, lets look at is because the same term "glory" is applied there.
Please read the entire passage and compare its counter part Luke 9:28-35. It was a vision of the future, not of something that was literally occurring 2,000 years ago.
Matt 17:9
9 Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”
Luke 9:28-35
28 Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. 30 And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His [a]decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. 33 Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.
34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is [c]My beloved Son. Hear Him!”
Again, word search in your NT on "glory" it is a term that is used for a state of being at resurrection and not before. Christ didn't become glorified until after he rose from the dead. His appearance being altered and clothing changing is also seen in the future at his second coming (ex:Rev 1:13-4). No on has been resurrected because Christ has not yet returned, therefore Moses and Elijah are also not yet in their glorified state (as seen in the vision).