The sequence of events described below is primarily taken from Revelation. It is primarily taken from a description of the events taking place in heaven just after a rapture event taking place a few months after mid-tribulation. My assumption is that this would apply to the first rapture of saints at the very beginning of the 7 year period of tribulation as well. It may also generally reflect what occurs when individual saints die and then immediately show up in heaven. Our spirit leaves our body and the spirit goes to heaven while the body eventually returns to the dust from which it came, Eccl 12:7.
Angels accompany us to heaven, Luke 16:22.

The angels first take us to the court of the priests just outside of the temple in heaven. We know this because those who had just been raptured to heaven after being executed by the antichrist about five months past mid tribulation show up under the altar in heaven, Rev 6:9. This is just outside of the entrance to the temple. The purpose for the altar was to sacrifice the lambs to provide the blood that the priests were to take into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle on the ark of the covenant for once per year forgiveness for all of the unintentional sins of the people, Lev 5:18. Symbolically speaking, these souls who have just arrived in heaven are “under” the altar because all of their sins had been “covered” by the once for all sacrifice of Jesus. We are symbolically washed as white as snow by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb who had been sacrificed for us. This altar was in the Priests Court just outside the entrance to the temple proper and was 16 feet high and 52.5 feet wide. We are called priests of God in Rev 5:10 and 20:6, so we have access to the court of priests. The priests had to be cleansed before they could enter the Most Holy Place and be in the presence of God. As further evidence, Heb 9:12-15 says Jesus entered the Most Holy Place one time with his own shed blood and made all believers forever holy and suitable for entering the Most Holy Place. Thus when we get to heaven we are permitted to enter the Most Holy Place and be in the presence of God himself. The altars in heaven are there as reminders to us of why we will forever be permitted to come into the presence of the Lord.

Rev 6:10 tells us that our next event will be having all of our questions answered. Since we have just entered heaven, we will likely have quite a few questions to ask.

After having our questions answered we will next proceed to the area where we receive our white robes, indicating that we have been eternally cleansed by the blood of Jesus, Rev 6:11.

We will next find ourselves just outside of the temple proper in our new white robes and we are now ready to enter the temple proper. We first go through the Holy Place where the altar of incense is located just outside of the Most Holy Place. At the altar of incense we will say our prayers of thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice for us, for our lifelong blessings on earth and for finally being ready to enter into the presence of God himself, Rev 5:8.

Finally we enter the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, where the throne of God and the Lamb is located. We next find ourselves standing before the throne and the Lamb wearing our white robes, Rev 7:9.

We know that there is a temple in heaven, Rev 11:19, and inside the temple we see the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is in the Most Holy Place, Heb 9:3, where the throne of God and the Lamb is located. We know that there is a throne in heaven from Rev 4:2-3 and that the Father is setting on the throne, Rev 5:1-7.

The Lamb at the center of the throne in heaven will be our Shepherd forever and he will lead us to springs of living water, Rev 7:17. This living water eternally flows from the throne and becomes a river in the middle of the streets of gold in the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem. We will present this in detail later in this study.