The Goal of Redemption
The Goal of Redemption
As I pondered this essay I became aware that Christianity in America is at a low ebb, as far as faithful adherence to the written Word, and an understanding of the Divine redemption, are concerned. I wonder if there is any place in the world where there are genuine disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ who are hearing what Jesus is saying to us in our day.
I believe we Christians use the term "salvation" more often than we do "redemption." Perhaps this is unfortunate, in that "redemption" may cause us to think about what God intends to take place in us.
The word "salvation," or "save," occurs many times in the Bible.
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. (Exodus 14:13)
I think the general meaning of deliverance from peril of some sort is often the meaning of "salvation," as it is used in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, I would say the usage of "salvation" appears to have more to do with deliverance from the wrath of God and escape from punishment and destruction, particularly in a spiritual sense.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
I have not checked the use of the term in all the verses of the Bible; but I have read the Bible several times and the impression I have received is as I have expressed above.
I believe that today by being "saved" we mean escaping Hell and going to a mansion in Heaven after we die. Since there is no Bible basis for a mansion in Heaven, we will content ourselves with saying by being "saved" we mean escaping Hell and going to Heaven when we die.
In the Old Testament, the word "heaven" may mean the spirit world where God is, or the sky. This is true also in the New Testament.
If I am not mistaken, "Hell" in the New Testament is associated with wicked behavior, not with not "accepting Christ." However, I am convinced that an individual who refuses to obey Christ will finally make his or her home in the Lake of Fire.
I believe it is true also that a truly wicked individual will enter Hell when he or she dies, whether or not the person has "accepted Christ." Yet a wicked person can turn from his or her wickedness and be forgiven so as not to be placed in the outer darkness.
One problem with using residence in Heaven as the goal of salvation, or redemption, is that Christ and His Apostles did not preach going to Heaven. They preached the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God.
Only Matthew uses the term "Kingdom of Heaven," so I will use the expression "Kingdom of God." The two expressions refer to the same kingdom. There only is the one kingdom!
There is a difference between going to Heaven and entering the Kingdom of God. Leaving the earth and going to the spirit Heaven is nothing more than a movement from one place to another. It has nothing to do with the personality of the believer, except that his or her body remains on the earth.
Salvation is not a change of where we are but of what we are. Until we are changed we cannot have lasting fellowship with God.
Absolutely nothing would be accomplished if God were to remove to the spirit world all the believers in Christ, except that Satan would inherit the earth. The wicked would remain wicked. The morally filthy would remain morally filthy. The disobedient to Christ would remain disobedient to Christ. The liars would still be liars. The boastful would still be boastful.
We can understand from this that the current emphasis on "accept Christ and you will go to Heaven" is misleading. It is not scriptural. I know of no passage of the New Testament that states if we "accept Christ" we will go to Heaven when we die. Do you? If there is no such passage, then this message should not be preached.
Salvation is not a ticket to Heaven. Salvation is a change in us so we can have fellowship with God.
Can you see from this that the message of "grace," which claims that if we "accept Christ" we can go to Paradise to live forever even though we never have denounced our sinful behavior and turned away from it, is misleading?
It may be true that the "lawless grace" and "Jesus did it all" doctrines are the most destructive errors ever to enter Christian thinking.
It is not God's plan that man should live forever in Heaven. God's plan, as we read in the Book of Genesis, is to make man in God's image and likeness. We are created in God's moral image as Christ is formed in our personality. We will be in God's likeness when we are raised from the dead and clothed with an incorruptible, immortal body.
When such transformation takes place in us, we can take our place as a brother of the Lord Jesus and have unhindered fellowship with God.
I am not certain the New Testament ever mentions going to Heaven or inheriting Heaven; but it does speak of inheriting the Kingdom of God.
By "Heaven" we mean the spirit world; or particularly the heavenly Zion which is located in the spirit world. The Kingdom of God is an entirely different matter. It is a change in us such that God and Christ are located on the throne of our personality and our behavior is of the moral image of God.
We are not born again so we can go to Heaven. Being born again has nothing to do with Heaven, that I know of. We are born again so we can see and enter the Kingdom of God.
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
If we are living in the Kingdom of God we are in the same state whether we are on the earth or in Heaven. We can be in the spirit world and not be in the Kingdom of God. We cannot, however, be in the heavenly Zion if we are not in the Kingdom of God.
If we are continuing to live a wicked life we have no place in Zion no matter how many times we "accept Christ." Accepting Christ does not excuse wickedness, although from today's preaching one might never realize this.
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (Hebrews 10:26,27)
So we see that our goal is not residence in Heaven but that of inheriting the Kingdom of God, in which we are behaving in the image of God.
There is an advantage to using the term "redemption" rather than "salvation." "Salvation" has come to mean escape from Hell and eternal residence in Heaven. As a result, it sometimes is true that believers do not care about fellowship with God and Christ. They just want to go to a world in which there is no trouble. In fact, they would not be overly concerned if God and Christ were not there, just as long as they were having "fun."
When Jesus said, "that you may be with Me where I am," they think, "Hallelujah! I will have a good life when I go to Heaven!" They are not thinking about the Lord's desire for our company.
Do you think that may be true in some cases?
So today's evangelistic message that if you "accept Christ" you will escape Hell and have a good time living in Heaven, is misleading; it misses God's purpose. God did not give His Son on the cross of Calvary so we could have fun after we die!
I don't believe most of us use the word "redemption" to mean we will have fun in Heaven. So let's think about this term.
To redeem an individual or something is to gain him or it back from a person who has gained possession of him or it by some sort of forfeiture or force.
It is Satan who has a claim on us until we are redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ has paid the full price of our redemption. But Satan maintains a hold on us as long as he can deceive us into doing his will.
To be fully redeemed (saved) is to be entirely free of the person and works of Satan; to have Christ formed in us so our new personality always obeys the written and spoken Word of God; to have our new personality occupied by the Persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit into Whom we are baptized in water; and to be clothed with a morally pure, incorruptible resurrection body.
Can you see how different this is from merely having conscious existence in the spirit world after our death? This is why I prefer the term "redemption" to "salvation."
We can understand from this the meaning of "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." We are not saved and given the fullness of eternal life the moment we "accept Christ." Our salvation, our redemption, has to be worked out.
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)
To be entirely free of the person and works of Satan.
To have Christ fully formed in us so our new personality always obeys the written and spoken Word of God.
To have our new personality occupied by the Persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
To be clothed with a morally pure, incorruptible resurrection body.
This is the goal of the Divine redemption, or salvation.
To be entirely free of the person and works of Satan.
It often is stated in Christian circles that as long as we are in this present life we can never be completely free of sin. Have you ever found a Bible passage that says this? I haven't!
But what about the following?
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (I John 1:8)
The verse above is not telling us as long as we are in the world we are obliged to sin. Rather, it is pointing out that we must do something about the sinful nature in our personality.
Notice the next verse:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)
"Cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Does that sound to you like we have to sin as long as we are in this world?
And how about the following:
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (I John 3:6)
And:
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (I John 3:8)
Who do you think is telling the Christian people that they cannot be delivered from sin? It is Satan, of course.
It requires continual, night and day, warfare if we are to follow the Spirit of God as He points out to us the parts of our behavior that are not of the image of God. It is not easy to gain victory over sin. But there is a big difference between being difficult and being impossible!
I am not referring to some sudden experience in which we gain sinless perfection. That is nonsense! Rather I am saying that in the day in which we live, the Lord Jesus is ready to lead us in victory over our sinful nature.
It does not happen all at once. It is like entering Canaan. One city at a time. Most of our misbehaviors can be overcome if we set our mind to it and ask Christ's help. But then there are those "kings" in our personality. We find ourselves fighting against them throughout our life.
It is helpful to realize we can be "perfect" for the day. The blood of the Lamb keeps us righteous provided we are obeying the Spirit each day. Day by day, here a little and there a little, we enter the rest of God in which we abide in the center of God's will and Person.
The blood of the Lamb takes care of those areas to which we have not been directed as yet.
My point is this: we do not have to sin. Satan cannot make us sin, only deceive us. Sinful behavior always is sinful, and has consequences. However, when we are cooperating at all times with the Spirit of God, we are not being judged as sinning. There may come a time later in our life when the same behavior God is overlooking now will at that time be counted as sinful.
There may be and probably are behaviors we are performing now, that in the future will be regarded as "sinful." But God does not regard them as sin until we have been confronted with them and have chosen to keep on behaving that way instead of confessing and renouncing our sin.
When a new Christian is not aware that smoking cigarettes is sinful in that it defiles his or her body, which is the temple of the Spirit of God, the Lord does not condemn him or her for smoking. Yet, the person may die of lung cancer even though God has not pointed out as yet to this new believer that smoking cigarettes is sinful.
"Sin" has to do with God's attitude toward us. Our behavior is not sinful until we are aware it is sinful. When it is pointed out to us as sinful, then it becomes sinful and we can drive it out of our behavior with the assistance of the Lord. Whatever is not of faith is sin.
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)
Adam and Eve were naked. However, this was not a problem for them until it was pointed out to them that they were in a shameful state. This was why God told them not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He was not ready as yet to clothe them.
Their sin was not in being naked. That was the state in which they were created. Their sin was in disobeying God when He told them not to eat of the tree. It was then that they died.
So it is with us. God does not condemn us, although we were born with a sinful nature and are dead, separated from God, because of the sin dwelling in our flesh. Rather, God through Christ pulls us out of the pit, if we will be obedient.
No person will be condemned at the Judgment Seat because he or she was born with a sinful nature. Rather the judgment will be based on the choices the individual made when he or she had an opportunity to do good.
If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. (John 15:22)
To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone's account where there is no law. (Romans 5:13—NIV)
It is not at all true that we cannot be set free from sin.
Notice that the Apostle Paul tells us we are not obligated to live according to our sinful nature.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. (Romans 8:12)
Because this is true, Paul tells us what to do about our sinful nature:
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13)
In context this means that if you choose to live according to your sinful nature you will lose the Spirit of God you now have; and in the Day of Redemption your body will not be made spiritually alive.
If, as the Spirit of God assists you, you choose to put to death the deeds of your sin nature, you will retain the eternal life given to you when you received Christ, and in the Day of Redemption your mortal body will be clothed with resurrection life.
The choice is ours. We can choose, through Christ, to overcome sin each day; or we can bury our talent, so to speak, live a careless life, and face an angry Master when we die. This is true whether or not we "accept Christ" at some point in our life.
The beginning of the Divine redemption occurs when we receive forgiveness of our sins by placing our faith in the atonement made on the cross of Calvary by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we have been forgiven, but we still have sinful compulsions residing in our flesh. However, as we noted previously, we can choose to confess our sins, thus obtaining forgiveness and cleansing.
These two primary acts of redemption, forgiveness and deliverance, are described in the account of the Jewish Day of Atonement.
A goat was slain and its blood sprinkled upon and before the Lid of Reconciliation, located in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. The purpose was to make an atonement for the sins of Israel.
A second goat was not slain. The High Priest laid his hands on the second goat and confessed the sins of Israel, laying them on this goat. Then the "scapegoat" was led away into the wilderness.
By this ceremony the Lord portrays the fact that His plan of redemption includes both forgiveness of sins and also the removal of the sinful compulsions themselves.
So full redemption includes complete deliverance from the person and works of Satan.
It may be true that we Christians often have thought of redemption as being open-ended. We will be pretty much as we are throughout eternity. We always will need to be "saved," since the job cannot be finished.
This is not true. Redemption has a specific beginning, when we receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Redemption has a specific conclusion, when we are totally delivered from the person and works of Satan and are filled with the fullness of God.
God always finishes what He begins in us, if we will obey Him strictly. He is utterly faithful and true. He desires that we also be faithful and true so He can perfect His work in us. He can make us faithful and true if we will ask Him to. Full redemption is a choice we make!
Being fully redeemed does not mean we will not grow in Christ during future ages. We shall. Rather, "Redemption" has to do with our release from Satan and all his works. It is a Jubilee of return to our original inheritance, which is to be in the image of God.
To have Christ fully formed in us so our new personality always obeys the written and spoken Word of God.
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. (Galatians 4:19)
The old covenant consisted of obedience to the writings of Moses, which God gave to him.
The new covenant occurs as God writes His eternal moral laws in the mind and heart of the believer.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. (Hebrews 8:10)
The new covenant is made with the "house of Israel." However, it is the only Christian covenant. It applies to Gentiles, because when we receive Christ we become as much a part of Israel as does the Jew after the flesh who receives Christ.
Christ is the Word made flesh. As He is formed in us, the Word of God is formed in us—not the Torah of Moses, but the eternal moral law of God that Christ Himself is.
God gave us this new covenant because He was not pleased with the Jews.
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. (Hebrews 8:9)
The Law of Moses was the Covenant. The Jews of that day could not totally obey God's statutes because no provision had been made for deliverance from their sinful nature. So God made another kind of covenant, one that operates from within the personality of the worshiper and includes deliverance from the chains of the sinful nature.
We Christians have performed a treacherous act. Instead of realizing that God gave us a new covenant because He wanted His moral laws to be obeyed, we have created a "grace" that excuses us from obeying His laws. Isn't that deplorable?
We chose to outwit God. In so doing, we have destroyed ourselves!
If we choose to, we can live so that God's eternal law is obeyed. This is possible because the Divine moral Law is in our mind and heart as Christ is formed in us.
Or we can choose to outwit God with a grace that permits us to disobey God on the right hand and the left, and still go to Heaven and enjoy ourselves.
What can we do to have Christ, the eternal moral Law of God, formed in us?
We must avail ourselves each day of His grace so we can overcome the challenges of the day.
This is how it works:
We are tempted with a sin, perhaps of lying on a business contract in order to gain an advantage. The Spirit of God reproves us. We realize we are about to sin. So we confess that to the Lord and pray that He will strengthen us.
In response to our decision to overcome the temptation, Christ gives us the ability to tell the truth, assuring us we will lose nothing by placing our trust in God. And so we write on the business contract that which is truthful.
The moment we do this, we are fed in the spirit world with the body and blood of Christ. These build up Christ, the Truth, in us. The next time we are tempted we have more Divine grace by which to do what is faithful and true.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17)
Being nourished by the body and blood of the Lamb depends on our choosing to gain mastery over our sins.
There is the written Word. This is the Bible. In order to obey the Bible faithfully and correctly we always must ask Jesus to interpret the Word to us; how to apply it in the current situation. This especially is true of the New Testament, because the new covenant is not a covenant of the letter but of the Spirit.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (II Corinthians 3:6)
Then there is the Word of God spoken to us personally. The Lord Jesus told us that people are not to live only on food but also on the Words that come from God's mouth.
To every person on the earth, and perhaps in the spirit world also, a Word for that individual is proceeding from God's mouth. If we will live quietly and patiently before the Lord, and ask Him for that Word, it shall be given to us.
I must say that it requires experience, patience, and perseverance if we are to learn to live by every Word coming from God's mouth. But it is worth the effort. It will be necessary to hear from God during the period of moral and physical chaos that is approaching the United States as well as the remainder of the world.
This does not mean that everyone hears from God in the same manner. However, the Bible promises if we will commit our ways to the Lord He shall direct our paths. This is how we learn to live by the Life of Jesus.
We can understand from this that having Christ formed in us results not only in our being made in His moral image but also perfects our obedience to God. Our watchword must become: iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern obedience to the Father, if we are to be totally redeemed.
To have our new personality occupied by the Persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So far we have been set free from the person of Satan and all his works. We also have had a new righteous creation formed in our personality. Now we are prepared to have our new personality occupied by the Persons of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit already having been at work in us.
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)
Because of our humanistic emphasis on how God desires to bring us to Heaven so we can enjoy ourselves, we do not understand what God is doing. In actuality, the purpose of the Divine redemption is to provide a dwelling place, a place of rest, for God.
We must keep in mind that the plan of redemption is a response to the rebellion of the angels in Heaven. I believe we forget that sometimes, as we concentrate on how we ourselves are going to profit.
Notice God's plan from the beginning:
Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. (Exodus 15:17)
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)
And again:
Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? (Isaiah 66:1)
Can you see from the above that the plan of salvation is first, for God's benefit?
Notice how this thought is carried forward in the New Testament:
Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? (Acts 7:48,49)
And the answer:
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21,22)
In John, Chapter 14, when the Lord Jesus spoke of the Father's House, He was referring to Himself. In Christ there are many places (old English: "mansions") in which we may abide. "Abide in Me."
It appears that the mystery of the Gospel, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory, is not understood clearly to the present hour.
The Book of Hebrews exhorts us to labor to enter the rest of God. The idea here is to pursue the rest of God until both God and we find a restful dwelling place. This necessitates that the sinful nature be overcome, but especially that we accept the crucifixion of our first adamic personality so we are seeking God's will at all times rather than our own.
The last and greatest feast of the Lord is the convocation of Tabernacles. This celebration celebrates the coming of the Father and Christ to make Their eternal residence in us.
The spiritual fulfillments of the two feasts that lead to the third and final feast are occurring today.
The Blowing of Trumpets is being fulfilled spiritually as the Lord Jesus comes to His faithful disciples and announces His war against His enemies—the sin and self-will that reside in us.
The Day of Atonement, of reconciliation with God, occurs as we confess our sins and self-will, turning away from them as Christ assists us.
When these two observances have been accomplished in us, we are ready for the climactic act for which the Spirit of God has prepared us—the Father and the Son make Their eternal Throne in us. This is the goal of the Divine redemption.
After the Father and the Son make Their eternal Throne in us, one more work must be completed. The new creation we have become must have a suitable body.
To be clothed with a morally pure, incorruptible resurrection body.
It is my point of view that not nearly enough attention is being paid today by Christian teachers to the resurrection of our body into newness of life.
There may be two reasons for this. One is the venerable idea that eternal residence in Heaven is the goal of salvation. The other reason the resurrection of the body, which is the destruction of the last enemy, making it the consummate work of the Divine redemption, is virtually unknown, is the spurious doctrine of the "rapture" of the believers to Heaven.
It can be seen easily that the redemption of his body was a chief hope of the Apostle Paul.
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23)
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. (II Corinthians 5:1,2)
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14)
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:5)
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (Romans 13:11)
The salvation ready to be revealed in the last time is the redemption of our body, the wresting of it from the death that Satan is!
Have you ever heard anyone preach about the salvation to be revealed in the last time? If you did, they probably were referring to an unscriptural "rapture." The salvation ready to be revealed in the last time is the resurrection of our mortal body, not the catching up of our untransformed personality into the air!
Can you imagine the Apostle Paul striving to attain to the catching up of his body into the air?
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (Philippians 3:11)
Think of it! The most powerful of the acts of redemption is virtually unknown today. But it is the hope of the righteous.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [make alive] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)
Our participation in the above work of redemption depends on our putting to death the deeds of our body, as we see two verses later.
The entire chapter of First Corinthians, Fifteen is about the bodily resurrection of the believers. This illustrates the importance of the resurrection.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (I Corinthians 15:52)
That the dead shall be raised does not mean caught up to meet the Lord in the air. It means raised from the dead, as Christ was raised on the third day. It is a change in what we are, not where we are.
This is brought out in the preceding verse:
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. (I Corinthians 15:51)
We find the same idea of being resurrected in Thessalonians:
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. (I Thessalonians 4:16)
"Shall rise first" means the victorious believers that returned from Heaven with the Lord Jesus shall be resurrected before the believers living on the earth at that time are changed. After the resurrection and the change, all the believers shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, not in Heaven!
I wonder how many "rapturists" understand they must be resurrected or changed before they are caught up to meet the Lord?
In any case, in the fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians, the "resurrection" chapter, there is no mention of the catching up.
The reason I am declaring that the resurrection comes prior to the "catching up" is that the "rapture," as commonly taught, implies that everyone who "accepts Christ" is qualified to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
This is not so. First, the believer must be resurrected or changed. The resurrection, or change, must be "attained to," as the Apostle Paul stated.
How then do we attain to the resurrection that is required before we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air?
We attain to this outward resurrection by first being resurrected inwardly.
How are we resurrected inwardly? By learning to live by the body and blood of the Lord Jesus.
Notice carefully the two passages that follow:
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:54)
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57)
Jesus Christ Himself is the Resurrection and the Life. As we, day by day, choose to overcome our temptations to sin, Christ is formed in us. This means the Resurrection is being formed in us.
Before we can be clothed with our house from Heaven, with an incorruptible body, we first must be resurrected in our inner nature. God has no intention of clothing the adamic nature with an incorruptible body. That is why He dismissed Adam and Eve from Paradise.
The Divine redemption finds its inner climax in the filling of our transformed inward nature with the Fullness of God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, into whose Names we were baptized in water.
The Divine redemption finds its outer climax in the clothing of our mortal body with our body from Heaven, which has been created as we have carefully obeyed Christ in all He has commanded us. This is the covering of the wood with gold, within and without.
And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. (Exodus 25:10,11)
Then we are in both the image and likeness of God.
The Ark of the Covenant is a type of Christ—Head and Body.
Such transformation is available to you and me. But we absolutely must choose each day to follow Jesus Christ, bringing Him into every aspect of our being and doing, learning to live by His Life.
The effort to attain to full redemption requires total dedication on our part. The reward is incomprehensible.
The choice is yours and mine to make.
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. (Ephesians 3:19,20)