The Day of Resurrection

The resurrection from the dead marks the destruction of the last enemy, which is physical death. It also is the time when people will be judged according to how they have behaved during their lifetime.

The fear of judgment is a powerful deterrent of sinful behavior for most people. This precisely is why the dogma of evolution is so appealing during our present age, when people are in love with themselves. If there is no final judgment, I do not have to worry about pleasing God by my behaviour.

This precisely is true also why the unscriptural doctrine of the "rapture" is so appealing during our present age, when people are in love with themselves. According to the "rapture" doctrine, everyone who makes a profession of faith in Jesus Christ need no longer fear judgment but soon will be carried up to a mansion in Heaven, where there will be no worries or distress of any kind.

Have you ever noticed how the doctrine of the "rapture" has done away with the hope of the resurrection, which is the central hope of the Gospel of the Kingdom? Have you ever heard any preacher speak about the resurrection, except perhaps during Easter? And then he talks about Christ’s resurrection, not ours. This is because the unscriptural doctrine of the "rapture" has shoved aside the scriptural doctrine of the resurrection.

Ask a fellow Christian about the relationship of the "rapture" to the resurrection from the dead. The response you get will reveal to you the damage that has been done by the doctrine of the "rapture." Satan has managed to eliminate the resurrection as our goal, substituting for it an unscriptural ascension into Heaven, with no resurrection taking place.

The Lord Jesus told us that every person who has died shall come forth from the grave at the sound of His voice. Some will come forth to eternal life in His Presence. Some will come forth to condemnation.

The reason for the difference in destinies is not that one has "accepted Christ" while the other has not. Rather, the reason for the difference is that one has done good and the other has practiced evil.

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:28,29)

I am not teaching here that we can reject the salvation that is in Christ, and then save ourselves by "doing good." What I am saying is that in the current teaching we can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, continue to practice evil, and then "rise to live."

We cannot practice evil and then rise to live, even if we "accept Christ." This is the destructive error of our day.

The nature of our resurrection depends on whether we have done good or done evil, just as Jesus stated, and as the Apostles of the Lamb wrote in their epistles.

We have been deceived!

Now I will explain the perfect justice of God. The body that will clothe our resurrected flesh and bones in the Day of Resurrection is being prepared for us in Heaven. Every thought we think, every word we speak, every action we take, is shaping that body.

Perhaps the most important idea associated with kind of resurrection each one of us will experience is that it will be a reaping of that which has been sown during our Christian life. I have never heard this concept brought forth in Christian preaching, although I am sure it has been.

But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised?" With what kind of body will they come?" How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else (I Corinthians 15:35-37)

We are not sowing the body we will have at the resurrection. We are sowing our adamic personality.

All through our discipleship we are sowing. We are sowing our thoughts, our words, and our actions. In the Day of Resurrection we will reap what we have sown.

Our flesh and bones will be raised, and then clothed with what we have sown. The resurrection is the time of reaping!

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7,8)

Obviously the goal of our salvation is not eternal residence in a mansion in the spirit world. Our goal is a body of eternal life and power, filled with righteousness, love, joy, and peace. Once we have been clothed with these, it does not matter where we are located. It is the kind of person we have become through Christ that is all important.

The "fine linen" with which the saints of the first resurrection are clothed is formed from the righteous behaviour they have practiced as Christ has been formed in them.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! for the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. (Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) (Revelation 19:7,8)

Notice that the expression "stands for." This does not appear in the Greek text. The translator cannot understand how the righteous acts themselves could be the fine line. But they are. If we practice moral purity, in the Day of Resurrection we will be clothed with moral purity! There is an infinite difference between "stands for" moral purity and "is" moral purity.

When we are raised from the dead, what we have reaped will cover our flesh and bones. We will be clothed in our own deeds. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote to the Christians in Galatia that if they continued to live in their sinful nature they would reap corruption.

When the adulterer is raised, he will be clothed with adultery. He will look like adultery.

When the liar is raised, he will be clothed with lying. He will look like a lie.

The the thief is raised, he will be clothed with thievery. He will look like thievery.

By the same token, the Christian who has followed Christ faithfully will be clothed with faithfulness, and with all the attributes a grateful King will bestow upon a faithful servant.

The Lord Jesus Christ did not come from Heaven to scold us because of our sinning or to condemn us. He came to set us free from the chains of our sin so we can delight in behaving righteously. Christ came to bring to us righteousness, love, joy, and peace, all through the Spirit of God.

If we will confess our sins and turn away from them, the Lord Jesus will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if we insist on continuing in sinful behaviour, our experience in the Day of Resurrection will be as I have described.

It is appointed unto people once to die and after that be judged. We can choose "to die" now, so to speak, by counting that we have died with Christ and have risen with Him. The moment we take that stand, having been baptized in water if possible, our judgment begins. We continually are coming before Christ, the Spirit is showing us our sins, and we are confessing and turning away from them through the wisdom and power that Jesus gives us.

This deliverance is taking place today for everyone who can hear His voice. We are responding by confessing and turning away from our sins. If we will be faithful in doing this, then, when we are raised from the dead, we will be clothed with the white garments of the righteous conduct that Christ has created in us.

Now we will enter into eternal life in the Presence of the Lord Jesus, for eternal life always follows genuinely righteous behaviour, in spite of what the Christian teachers of our day are proclaiming.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7,8)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (II Corinthians 5:16-18)

Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. (Hebrews 11:35)