Let me just follow up a bit for
Indeependent so he can provide what I am looking for in regard to my request for information. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul is responding to concerns that the congregation of the church at Thessalonika has. Specifically, they appear to be concerned that those who have died prior to Jesus' return will not ascend to heaven. Paul writes that the dead who were believers will ascend first following by the living faithful.
This is very different from modern Christian belief where at the moment of death you are immediately sent to heaven or hell (or sometimes purgatory depending on your faith). But it's a critical point. In Chritianity, reward or punishment is immediate, but Paul's writing suggest that the 1st century Jewish concept of death did not involve immediate judgement. This was one of Paul's main points about "beating death". Paul argued that through the resurrection of Jesus, death had been defeated. So my question to Indeependent is to give us some perspective on that.