Levels of Eternal Life.

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We Christians have made eternal residence in Heaven our goal. This is not scriptural. Our goal is eternal life. What is not commonly understood is that eternal life is a kind of life, like biologic life, and we can have it in degrees. There is more abundant life for those who seek it. We have to lay hold on eternal life; we have to pursue it with single-minded dedication.

The New Testament is about eternal life, not about going to Heaven. Jesus told us, "The gate is small, and the way is narrow that that leads to life, and only a few find it."

"But I have accepted Christ so I have eternal life." Do you really? Not all people who have made a profession of Christ have eternal life. You can tell by the way they behave that the adamic nature is in control. If they have any portion of eternal life, it is minuscule compared with the strength of their adamic nature. It is true, as the Lord said, that few really find eternal life.

(9/17/2006) I knew a week in advance that I was going to preach Sunday on the 47th chapter of the Book of Ezekiel. I realized that the burden had to do with the Life of the Holy Spirit. This hardly ever happens. I usually get my message about an hour before the service.

But then the son of a member of our church was killed in a car accident on Friday. And so everything fit. In the morning I spoke of pursuing Divine Life. In the evening I spoke of the reality of the resurrection of the body, which is the central message of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

We are really off the track when we emphasize making our home in Heaven. Jesus Christ came to bring us eternal life, to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden. John 3:16 is speaking of the resurrection from the dead of our physical body that we may live again on the earth.

In the forty-seventh chapter of the Book of Ezekiel we find four levels of eternal, Divine Life. There is water to the ankles, to the knees, to the waist, then a river that cannot be forded.

There are four measurements. These refer to judgment on our personality. Whenever God decides to move us into more eternal life. He first judges us.

The first judgment is that of the cross. This gives us a portion of eternal life.

The second judgment is that of our behaviour. If we pass this level we are in eternal life to our knees. The third judgment is on our self-will, our desire to retain our own life. If we are willing to die to self, the water covers the strength and fruitfulness of our personality.

The fourth judgment deals with our willingness to lose ourselves in the Lord until we are an instrument of blessing in His hand. Now we are in a river that cannot be forded, meaning God's working with us no longer is comprehensible. We are filled with all the fullness of God.

Then we see, in this same chapter, that we have become a tree of life along the bank of the River of Life. We furnish God's Life to a the dead sea of mankind. We become fishers of men.

Throughout the Christian Era the Lord has sent times of refreshing upon us. We may think of these refreshings as being intended to save the people in the world. They are not. They are the call of God upon those whom the Lord has chosen to be sources of life and healing for the nations of the earth.

The nations are dead, being cut off from the Life of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ has the designated number of prepared saints. He and they shall return from Heaven. The Apostle Paul refers to this appearing as the revealing of the sons of God. The purpose of the coming of Christ and His brothers is to bring eternal life to the dead creation, just as described in Ezekiel.

There is revival at hand in America. Undoubtedly there will be converts to faith in Christ. However, the emphasis will be upon the repentance of the Christians. God's people, because of a misunderstanding of Paul's teaching of "grace," are controlled by numerous kinds of sins of the flesh. God will not abide where there is unrighteousness and spiritual uncleanness. Consequently the Christians in America must repent of their sinning. Even if they do, America is facing severe judgments because of the practice of abortion.

At night I preached on the resurrection from the dead. The death of this young man and the grief of his mother were weighing heavily on me. I tried to show the reality of the resurrection of our flesh and bones.

It is apparent that Satan fears the doctrine of the literal resurrection of our body. From the first century there has been considerable pressure on Christian teachers and preachers to spiritualize the resurrection, or to consider it quite unnecessary, or to view it as a way of going to Heaven.

Think of it! The central doctrine of the Gospel of the Kingdom has not been emphasized throughout the centuries, to the best of my knowledge, and certainly is not being emphasized in our day. The Christian teaching always is pointing to our escape from our body and eternal residence in the spirit world.

Today we have the doctrine of the rapture to Heaven. This doctrine is not found in the Bible. Yet it is preached as though it can be found on every page.

Resurrection and rapture (catching up) are not the same experience. The resurrection from the dead has to do with the reviving of our physical flesh and bones so they can walk once more on the earth. The so-called "rapture" of the believers is a catching up to Heaven of all who accept Christ. It is a truly destructive error!

Of course, one must be resurrected before he is caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Somehow this fact gets lost as people see themselves flying away from all their troubles.

The resurrection of our body is the destruction of the last enemy, physical death. All other enemies must be destroyed first. There is a whole chapter devoted to the resurrection. There certainly is no chapter devoted to the catching up of the saints. The catching up is not an act of redemption; neither is it the destruction of the last enemy.

Perhaps the aspect of the physical resurrection most in need of teaching is the effect our behaviour today is having on our resurrection. Those who do good deeds shall experience a resurrection to life. Those who do evil deeds shall experience a resurrection of judgment. This is what Jesus said, and "accepting Christ" does not change His statement.

Sunday night I emphasized the reality of the resurrection of Christ, how He stood on the beach and ate the fish and honeycomb. According to the fifteenth chapter of the Book of First Corinthians, Christ is the first of many who shall be raised. I would rather stand on the beach, eternally alive, eating broiled fish and honey, than I would sit in a mansion in Heaven, even though the back yard were filled with diamonds. (What are people thinking of to preach such nonsense?)

So we will see our young friend again. Will he be a white sheet with a pumpkin for a head, as the Hollywood film has it, or will he be able to say: "Look at me, Mother. I am alive! I am not a ghost! I am your son whom you love. I have been busy serving the Lord Jesus. Now our family is together again?

As Americans, we are accustomed to material goods. Our life is in this world. Most of us are not mystics, contemplating invisible spiritual worlds.

If I am hearing from the Lord Jesus, the time is near when multitudes of American will die, perhaps at the hands of terrorists or a force of nature. We will not be prepared for the death of our loved ones unless we have learned to live as American citizens and also as citizens of Heaven. Only then will we be able to help ourselves and others to stand confidently in Christ.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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