Only then could Paradise be restored and maintained.
Only then could Paradise be restored and maintained.
In the beginning, we so stupidly ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil when God had planted Paradise on the earth. Well, we lost Paradise. God sent the Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven to help us regain Paradise on the earth—not to do all the work Himself, as some are teaching—but to help us regain and keep Paradise once it has been regained.
From what I have written I think we can see the need for each of us who is part of the Christian Church to cooperate with the Spirit of God as He is preparing us for the early resurrection.
To attain to the early resurrection, we must be involved with the world only as much as necessary; have put to death the urges to sin in our flesh; and always obey Christ promptly, completely, and cheerfully.
You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (I Peter 2:5)
I think the idea of the Christian Church being a Royal Priesthood who will supervise and bless the people whom God saves from the nations is not preached as frequently as its importance warrants.
The Church consists of people who are called out from the ranks of mankind to represent God to people and people to God. The two thousand years from the time of Christ is the Church Era. Its purpose is to call out and train those who will install and maintain the Kingdom of God on the earth, and ultimately throughout the creation of God.
Apart from this understanding, the Scriptures, especially the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation, are deprived of much of their meaning.
One cannot avoid the fact that the New Testament shows the simple, direct means of being saved from destruction; and also the complex and totally demanding requirements placed upon those who would press through to the hundredfold reaping of Christ in their personality.
It is my point of view that the hundredfold reapers of Christ, shall we say, consist of those who attain to Paul's goal—the first, or early resurrection from among the dead.
The sixtyfold also are of the Royal Priesthood; and the thousand-year Kingdom Age, during which the hundredfold govern the nations alongside the Lord Jesus Christ, is for the purpose of bringing to maturity those (the sixtyfold) who are of the Bride but were not ready to govern with Christ at the time of the first resurrection of the dead.
The thirtyfold reapers, then, would be the people whom God has saved from the nations of the earth. They will outnumber greatly the members of the Royal Priesthood and are the inheritance of the priesthood. They are within the righteous boundaries of the curtain, to use a figure from the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
They are the "sheep" whom the Lord Jesus separates from the "goats." The difference between the sheep and the goats has to do with how they treated the Lord's "brothers," the members of His Body.
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (Matthew 25:31,32)
It may be true that by this time I already have mystified multitudes of good Christian people. But I think if you bear with me you will discover some explanations that will be of value to your discipleship.
I am going to employ the term, "resurrection from among the dead." This resurrection (out from) is the "first" resurrection, I believe. It will take place when Jesus next appears.
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6)
I am persuaded that attaining to this priestly resurrection was the goal of the Apostle Paul, toward which he was pressing so fervently.
And so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection (Gk. exanastasis) from the dead. (Philippians 3:11)
Ex-anastasis implies a resurrection "out from." I am not certain the word "resurrection" with the preposition "out of" prefixed is used more than once in the New Testament. But "first resurrection" could be viewed as a resurrection "out from" the dead, I believe.
The extraordinary consecration of those who attain to the first resurrection can be observed in the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation:
No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. (Revelation 14:5)
It does not require total knowledge of every aspect of the Kingdom of God in order to attain to the first resurrection. But it does require that Christ is formed in us; and that through Christ we live in victory over every prompting that would urge us to disobey Christ.
What would Paul would have been like had he attained to the early resurrection? He would be completely free from worldliness. He would dominate and put to death the urges to sin in his body. He would be free from headstrong behavior so there no longer would be a need to permit Satan to afflict his eyes so the power of Christ would not be hindered.
And so with us. We will have attained to the early resurrection when we have turned away from electronic games; movies; and parties, and all other unnecessary attachments to the world. We have put to death the urges to sin that reside in the members of our body. And we obey Christ promptly, completely, and cheerfully.
We now are an eternal priest of God, serving the Lord Jesus Christ. He always is the Head of the Body of the Anointed Priesthood.
In addition, the priests of the Lord will pray for a diamond-hard character that always will remain faithful and true; and a razor-sharp will that always will choose to do what which is righteous and God's will for us.
We can observe the difference between those who attain to the first resurrection, and the rest of the church people, in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation, in that those who overcome the evil that comes against them are singled out for unusual Divine endowments.
The believers who gain victory over Satan and his helpers are awarded many elements of fellowship with Christ and authority, which actually are steps toward the first resurrection from the dead. The destinies of the rest of the believers are not as pleasant.
As for the victorious saints, the participants in the first resurrection:
The right to eat from the Tree of Life–the resurrection. The original punishment, in the days of Adam and Eve, was removal of access to the Tree of Immortality.
The victor's crown of life. This makes us think of Melchizedek, who governed by the-power of an endless life (Hebrews 7:16).
Next part Not hurt at all by the second death.