'Such relief is not the end, however.'

A vacation is not our eternal destiny—that for which we have been trained so carefully in faith and good works.

At the sounding of the seventh trumpet we shall be summoned from where we are employed so happily in Heaven; for we have been commanded to return with Jesus to this arena of unrighteousness, filth, and rebellion, to this valley of the shadow of death, to these suburbs of Hell, so that once again we may fight against man making himself God, against Satan, and against the spirit of religious delusion.

We shall return with our Lord Jesus, the Commander in Chief, to the air above the surface of the earth. On the earth the embattled remnant will be being filled with the Presence of the Father and the Son. Christ in them will be shouting for the battle. The nations of the earth will be streaming toward the light that now is radiating from the saints.

At the Word of Christ, we who are accustomed to obeying Christ without question shall descend to the graves in order to take up our bodies that have been confined there while our spirits and souls have been enjoying Paradise.

Our personalities will enter our bodies and the angels of God will open our places of confinement, just as the angel rolled back the stone blocking the entrance to the cave of Joseph of Arimathea.

After a period of reunion with others who have been newly raised, and with the suddenly immortalized living saints who are joining our ranks, we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.

Now we are the army of the Lord. Now our resurrected mortal body has been clothed with a body of eternal life that is of the Substance and likeness of the eternal body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the army of Joel, Chapter Two; Habakkuk, Chapter Three; Ezekiel, Chapter 37; Revelation, Chapter 19.

We have been ordered to leave the peaceful joys of Paradise and once again struggle with Antichrist, Satan, and the spirit of religious delusion. Not a pleasant prospect after having spent such joyous hours in Paradise!

There is a difference, however. The difference is that our body has now been clothed with our house from Heaven. If we have performed faithfully the tasks on earth that Christ required of us, then our house from Heaven will be glorious beyond our imagination.

But if we have been faithless in serving Christ, our robe will be skimpy and threadbare. We will be found naked in the Day of the Lord.

We shall not be allowed to conceal our nakedness with the house belonging to another person. No matter how we cry, wheedle, moan, gnash our teeth, we shall be clothed with our own deeds.

Do you remember the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, and of the servants and the use of their talents? In the Day when Christ hands out our rewards, the righteous will remain righteous and the filthy will remain filthy.

Many of the believers are accustomed to shirking the work they ought to be doing in the Kingdom of God. They are not being punished now, apparently, and suppose they will be able to evade the reaping of what they have sown.

The Scriptures do not have pleasant things to say concerning the lukewarm, the lazy, the disobedient.

The conquerors will be rejoicing with superabundant joy as they gather together with the Lord, now clothed with indestructible bodies.

Down from the clouds will thunder the mightiest of all cavalry charges, the soldiers of Christ’s army—indestructible, impervious to pain and death, able to perform that which the Holy Spirit guides them to do.

Antichrist and his armies are doomed before the Battle of Armageddon commences no matter what supernatural assistance they receive. Soldiers of the earth cannot overcome saints who are led by the Lord Jesus, who are clothed with incorruptible, indestructible bodies fashioned from the Substance of eternal life, who through the Spirit are wielding the Word of God in Divine judgment. The Commander in Chief of the heavenly army will be clothed with a robe dipped in the blood of atonement. His name is called the Word of God.

How would you like to face that army?

Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. (Joel 2:6-8)

When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. (Habakkuk 3:16)

In that day, Antichrist and the armies of the earth will have the supernatural assistance of Satan, fallen angels, and demons. But because of the righteousness of the blood of the cross, the power of the Father will be with the saints and that supreme Power will overcome and destroy all the power of Satan.

It will be a joy to go to Paradise, there to enjoy the peace and Glory of God, Christ, the saints, and the holy angels.

It will be an even greater joy to return to earth with the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed with a body like His, having the opportunity to subdue all sin, all rebellion—all that exalts itself against the Lord Jesus Christ.

The saints will be issued the power to destroy those who destroy the earth. What glory and joy will be ours as we release the creation from the chains of futility! As we lift the curse from the earth!

Therefore the Apostle Paul did not groan that he would die and go to Heaven. He groaned that he would be clothed with his house from Heaven.

When we have been clothed with our body of life we still shall have access to the spirit Paradise, but in addition we shall be able to rule the earth according to the will of Christ. This is to be preferred over sitting idly in Heaven while Satan exercises dominion over the inheritance of Christ.

We Christians are coheirs with Christ over the nations of the earth. We will never give our inheritance to Satan!

As we stated previously, our momentary light affliction is bringing into existence the massive "weight" of surpassing glory, the body of incorruptible life, the "mansion" that is having its rise before the Throne of God as our physical body is sown to the death of the cross. We shall receive that living, heavenly body as a reward in the Day of Christ.

If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. (II Corinthians 5:3)

There will be a wide variety of rewards issued to "saved" individuals. The reward given to each person will depend on his or her response to the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Lot was saved in the Day of the Lord, but he was saved "as by fire." He lost his wife—his source of fruitfulness and dominion, and all his possessions.

Noah and Abraham, on the other hand, were saved to marvelous fruitfulness.

Lot was found "naked" in that day. Noah and Abraham were clothed with the glory and blessing of God

For we that are in this tabernacle [our physical body] do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (II Corinthians 5:4)

Paul’s life as a Christian apostle placed him in many difficult, painful, wearying situations. At times he had a desire to depart and be with Christ. All true saints share this anticipation of going home to be with the Lord.

When we think about it, we are not anxious to lose our flesh, for our spirit and soul to be unclothed. Actually we would prefer that our present body be clothed with the power and glory of eternal life. Isn’t that true? Which would you prefer: to die and go to Heaven or to be clothed with a glorious body of the nature and substance of incorruptible resurrection life?

Think of the good we could do in the world if we possessed a body like that of the Lord Jesus Christ! Think of the blessings and release that we could bring to our family, our neighbors, the starving of this planet!

Could we be trusted with such awesome majesty and power?

We are not hoping to be naked, to be unclothed. We are hoping for and pressing toward that Day when we have the authority and the power to bring the Person, the will, the ways of God in Christ to the nations of the earth. This we can do as soon as we are clothed with our house from Heaven.

Now he that hath wrought [fashioned] us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest [pledge; guarantee] of the Spirit. (II Corinthians 5:5)

Christ has gone to prepare a place for us in the house of God. Our house that is from Heaven is the outward form of the eternal Temple of God. We as a personality must be "wrought." We must be prepared and strengthened in order to receive properly the "mansion" of glory being created before the eternal throne (Ephesians 3:16).

One day the Holy Spirit of God will make alive our mortal body. In fact, the resurrection life that soon will be made manifest in the redeeming of our body is already dwelling in us. We shall be made alive by the Spirit who even now is dwelling in us.

The making alive of our mortal body is the Day of Redemption. It is the adoption of our body as a son of God. It is the conquering of the last enemy—physical death. We shall be declared to be a son of God by the redemption of our body from the hand of the enemy.

We already possess the guarantee, the pledge of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit who dwells in us now is the Divine guarantee that one day God will complete the work of redeeming us by clothing us with our "mansion" from Heaven.

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