After all, the pictures we get throughout the book of Revelation are more poetic than photographic. A brief word on the language here. The point of what we say is that no one escapes this process. Even death is no escape. Break it in two.
Scripture says so.
In the upper room with his disciples, Jesus himself said he was going away but promised to come again. Those refer to a portion of a letter which Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica where he says, For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Whether Paul wanted us to understand that literally is open to question. Regardless, it is one more biblical affirmation of Christ's Second Coming. I heard a good deal about that as I was growing up.