This is the norm. The Bible teaches us all to prepare ourselves in this life to face death, resurrection, and judgment. We are told very plainly:  

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).  

 Nevertheless, we are told of two exceptions in the old Testament: Enoch and Elijah (Genesis 5:21-24; II kings 2:113). We also have the promise that some believers will be caught up directly into Christ’s presence without tasting death at His coming. The Bible term for this direct transition from mortal life into immortal life bypassing death is “translations.”   

 “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5).  

 The Greek verb rendered “translation” is metatithemi. It means “to transport or transfer from one location to another; to remove; to transmute or change by the abolition of one thing and the substitution of another.” The Apostle Paul emphasizes the instantaneous nature of this change, when he says: 

 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).  

 Whether we are living or have already died at the time of Christ’s return, we must be changed. The catching away of the living who are in Christ is sometimes called “the rapture”.