A Question

"And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him." Matthew 17:1-3

"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; 1 Thessalonians 4:16

Most people teach that when you die, if you are a believer in Christ, you come into the presence of God. But the scripture teaches many things like what we have read in the second scripture above. After Jesus finished his work, ascended to the Father and waits for a period of time, he is to return and then the "dead in Christ" will rise. But yet in the first scripture that comes from Matthew, Jesus hadn't died yet, he had not crushed the serpents head, destroyed death and was raised from the dead...yet, Moses and Elijah came to see him. How could they be raised from the dead if Jesus hadn't completed his work?

It would seem there is a contradiction here. Are people (believers) who die dead and waiting for the resurrection or when they die do they immediately step into the presence of God?

I have my understanding...which is really not yet quite clear and I'm not even sure if it's completely biblical. But, what do you think? Whether you comment or not is not the point. But this is something that I think if you struggle with, the Lord will reveal some things that we may have missed that will change a lot of our understanding.