During the resurrection of the church (rapture), do the bodies of the living simply disappear, or do they drop to the ground lifeless? I imagine this should have a dramatic effect on the unbelievers!
Paul tells us this about the moment of the Church's resurrection:
1Cor. 15:50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
1Cor. 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
1Cor. 15:52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Paul says that at the resurrection moment, those who are alive will be "changed" in a twinkling of an eye. In Greek the phrase literally means in "an atom of time" referring to the least divisible period, or instantaneously. And the word "changed" is the Greek word allasso, which means an exchange of one thing for another. In v.51 Paul says these will not experience sleep (i.e., death), so the inference is that believers will move from one state directly to the next.
Paul is teaching that at the moment of the resurrection for all saints, any believers who are still alive in that moment will instantly exchange their present body for a new body. The exchange for a new incorruptible form is necessary because we are immediately escorted into Heaven with the Lord. Therefore, we assume that the old body will not exist or remain behind in any form, for if it did it would be considered as having died (contrary to Paul's comment in v.51).
