My Reward Is With Me 6

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20,21—NIV)

The power of the Lord Jesus Christ will transform our humble body until it is like His body.

But if we are to have a wonderful new body we must place our present body in Heaven, so to speak. We must offer our body as a living sacrifice to God, not obeying its lusts and appetites but keeping it under the strict control of our will. We must never let our body dictate our choices. We can overcome our body if we will pray continually, meditate in the Scriptures, assemble with fervent saints, seek the gifts of God so we can build up the Body of Christ, serve, give, and do all else consistent with wholesome Christian living.

Such domination of the body is exceedingly difficult in the United States of America because of the emphasis given to material wealth and enjoyment. We are coaxed continually to yield to the desires of the flesh.

But if we do not keep our body as a sacrifice before God in Heaven, if we choose instead to surrender to the insatiable lusts of our flesh, then, when the Lord returns and our flesh and bones are resurrected, we shall be clothed in the corruption of the flesh. I am not certain what this shall entail, but it is what the Scripture says. If we sow to the flesh we will reap corruption and not eternal life.

Isaiah speaks of those who have not obeyed the commandments of Christ.

And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind. (Isaiah 66:24—NIV)

Notice, in the above verse, the emphasis on the body. Of course we cannot go out and look upon the inward spiritual nature of those who rebelled against Christ. Nevertheless, it is not often contemplated that the punishment of the rebels will be endless torment in a body that continually is eaten by worms. Maybe this is what it means to reap corruption.

You know, the Bible is much more severe in its statements than is true in American preaching and teaching today. It appears that among us Christians there is a feeling the Bible is more severe than Christ intends; that all really harsh judgments of people belong to the Old Testament. We feel "It just couldn't be true that a nice member of a Christian church could actually end up as the point of interest of a field trip, laying in a pit somewhere with worms eternally feeding on his flesh."

Whoever would preach such a thing in America today had better be prepared to be resisted and scorned.

Yet, if the severe statements of the Bible are not true, then the promises are not true either. The Bible is the Word of God or it isn't. If it indeed is the unchangeable Word of the Almighty God of Heaven, and if the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, stated that not the smallest part of the Word will pass away—even when the heavens and the earth pass away, then something is wrong with the "feelings" we Christians have concerning the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Continued. My Reward Is With Me 7