What does believing change?
Is every human already "Christed" even if they don't know or believe it? I think so.
It's as if you had £1 billion in your bank account but didn't know or believe it.
If you didn't know, you wouldn't spend like you did, and if you didn't believe it, you wouldn't.
This is a far better analogy than "there's a bomb on the bus, everyone must be told to get off before the bomb goes off, or esle" analogy. In it, you have to "believe before you die or you go to hell". That's not supported by scripture, but too many read this into scripture.
The problem is, how strong, how long, how continuous must that belief be, to avoid hell? And why would belief even be the thing that saves you? You're convinced or persuaded of an odd fact. Well great, that'll make everything bad you did OK? Some Christians then go onto say it's actually faith that saves us, but that's said to be gift from God, not something you muster up. So we can't then worry about "faith without works isn't real faith" because it's not our saving factor.
Belief has an immediate effect, not a future effect!
If you know and really believe you have that £1 billion in the bank, you'll go use it. You won't be like "that's great, I'll use that in the distant future".
Belief and corresponding orientation (not actions) can presumably ebb and flow through the days, weeks and months of your life. Whilst you believe the £1 billion is there, you can benefit from it, whilst you don't, you don't benefit.
Does believing create the £1 billion pounds?
Does the £1 billion pounds not exist, until you believe?
Can the £1 billion pounds, dissappear/reappear, if you stop believing, then start again?
Of course not, that's nonsense!
And when Jesus said "it is finished" I believe He put £1 billion pounds in every human's bank account throughout history, now and the future.
It's there, you just need to believe it.
But unlike "believing" eating well and exercising is good for you, and then demonstrating this belief through actions, faith is different. Faith is a gift from Dad/Christ/The Holy Spirit. You don't muster it up by believing harder. It comes from resting in union with Christ. In doing so, you recieve God's motives and desires, you don't conjure them up through will-power. From this stems zoe life and good works. You can't manufacture or pretend this zoe life or good works, to achieve or prove anything. They are a consequence, not precursor.
Everyone throughout history, now and the future, is now seated with Christ in Heaven, outside of time.
We who are alive currently, are in Heaven and here, at the same time. We're just more aware of being here. Whether we believe it or not.
We who are alive currently, also have an old Ademic man (soul and body), prone to corruption, seperate to our Christ nature (spirit, soul and body). Whether we believe it or not.
Believing, being a Christian, is simply apprehending this heavenly, "Christed" identity, now in this life, as much as we permit, because God/Jesus is a gentleman and doesn't force this new species identity on us.
Those who are currently dead (not in bodies with us on earth) or yet to be born, are in spirit, not in, or aware of time like us. They, and us, if time doesn't end before our bodies do, will be returned to the new heaven and earth in new bodies (the promise they did not receive). That is to say, being in a body is the ultimate / eventual state for everyone, not floating body-less in heaven.