Are you telling me that every time I have been to a funeral, and could see the body in the casket - it was a lost person?!?!
You might want to rethink that a little...
(Or, do you mean that the person "steps out of" the old 'physical' body and "steps into" a new 'spiritual' body that is "waiting for them on the other side", leaving the old body behind?)
The resurrection is without doubt the most difficult topic I ever studied. There is disagreement in the preterist community about it also, some think it is future, some past. But I think I figured most of it out. Prior to Christ all who died went to Hades, the righteous in Paradise, the wicked on the other side of the gulf, the torment side. Both groups were separated from God and NOT in heaven. This was the main punishment for the original sin. This is how Adam and Eve died on the day they sinned, they were programmed for spiritual death when they died.
SPIRITUAL DEATH = SEPARATION FROM GOD. Christ restored that separation by becoming the sacrifice for all sin. This is called,
"THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS" (Acts 3:21). What a sea change. No more animal sacrifices, no more sleeping in Hades. Once we accept Christ, we are changed in the twinkling of an eye, programmed for spiritual life. Paul taught, "We will not all sleep (waiting in Hades) but we shall all be changed, in the twinkling of the eye." The dead were raised and the living were changed - reprogrammed for life. See how monumental this was, and is????
When Christ died, He went to Hades and ministered to those who had died so that when He returned a short time later, those who accepted Him would be set free. Christ's resurrection had less to do with Him coming back to His earth body and more to do with Him defeating Hades (AKA spiritual death). He was the firstfruits, the very first to leave Hades, the underworld of the dead. He paved the path. Christ didn't stay in Hades until He rose, He returned to Heaven first and was given the Kingdom and authority over heaven and earth (Dan 7:14 and Mt 28:18).
This kingdom exists now!!! Peter teaches in Acts that only Christ's body would not see corruption, it would not decay and return to dust as David's did. He returned to His body and appeared to many as proof of His resurrection.
When the presence of Christ returned circa 66-70 AD, He set those captives in Hades free. They were already spiritual beings, not disembodied souls as many believe. This is how Lazarus and the Rich Man were able to experience and see things after death. When the captives were freed, they went to heaven as spiritual beings. There is no teaching of disembodied souls. The body contains the senses, without it, one cannot touch, see, hear, etc.
Paul makes it abundantly clear that our flesh bodies are corrupt and can NEVER inherit incorruption. They die and return to the dust from whence they came. They serve no future purpose. Both Peter and Paul refer to our flesh body as nothing more than a tent. I take this to mean our tents are covering our true complete spiritual self. Thus when we physically die, we "step out" of our tent and transition to the spiritual realm. There is no more waiting (sleeping) in Hades. Paul teaches in 2 Cor 5 that Christ made us a new creation,
"old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Rev 21:5 echoes this lesson. We do not need to wait for anything. Heb 9:27 says we must all die then face judgment. This is the way it's been for 1,950 years and there is no teaching of a mass exodus of living beings being taken to heaven. That is a misconception of 1 Thes 4.