What does the Bible mean by: “be away from the body and at home with the Lord”?

2 Corinthians 5:8

“Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (ESV)

Dr. John MacArthur in his book:  “The Glory of Heaven” says that this was not a morbid death-wish on Paul’s part. He was not saying he was fed up with living and eager to die. Rather, he was expressing his confidence that earthly existence is not the end of life at all for the Christian. Death immediately ushers the believer into a fuller, higher realm of more abundant life—in the very presence of the Lord.  If you are a Christian, trusting Christ alone for your salvation, Scripture promises that the moment you leave this life you go to heaven. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. To depart this life is to be “with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (v. 21).

A number of speculative views have been proposed to attempt to answer this question. With regard to the state of Old Testament believers, for example, some teach that in the Old Testament, Hades (the realm of the dead) was divided into two sections—one for the wicked and one for the righteous. They suggest that Old Testament saints who died went to the realm called “Abraham’s bosom” (cf. Luke 16:22–23)—a sort of holding tank for the righteous. According to this theory, these believers were not brought into heaven until Christ conquered death in His resurrection.

Most of that is sheer conjecture with little, if any, real biblical support. Wilbur Smith writes, “However abundant the Scriptural data might be regarding the resurrection of believers and their life in heaven, the state of the soul between death and resurrection is rarely referred to in the Bible.” Scripture simply does not give much information about the intermediate state. But what we do know from Scripture is enough to debunk wrong theories.

Everything Scripture says about the death of believers indicates that they are immediately ushered consciously into the Lord’s presence. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, “The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls, (which neither die nor sleep,) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies” (32.1).

To read more about this topic I would encourage you to get the book by Dr. MacArthur:

MacArthur, J. (1996). The glory of heaven: The truth about heaven, angels, and eternal life (71). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

Go to: http://www.amazon.com/Glory-Heaven-Truth-Angels-Eternal/dp/1581340346 to order your personal copy.