The House From Heaven
One of the great truths of the Gospel of the Kingdom that is being restored has to do with the effect of our behaviour today upon the quality of our resurrection.
For centuries the churches have believed that the resurrection of the Christian to eternal life in Heaven will be an inevitable event that will take place independently of our success in living a victorious life. The resurrection will occur in some manner after we have died and have been in our mansion in Heaven for awhile. In the meantime we live in the hope of going to Paradise when we die.
The truth is, our response each day to the lessons placed before us is having a direct effect on the kind of resurrection we shall experience. Compared with what will happen to us in the day of resurrection, our life in the spirit realm after our physical death, and before the resurrection, is of little importance.
In the Book of Second Corinthians Paul speaks several times of his being brought down to the death of the cross and of the imperishable life brought to others as an overflow of the life of Christ that kept raising Paul from death.
Paul revealed that the process of dying and then living was forming before the Throne of God a heavenly "house" that would clothe his mortal body in the day of resurrection. The "gold" of Divinity was being hammered into shape in Heaven so that the "wood" of Paul’s mortality could be covered in the day of resurrection. Remember that the Table of Showbread and the Ark of the Covenant, articles located in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, were made of wood covered on the inside and the outside with refined gold.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; (II Corinthians 4:17)
God continually was striking Paul down and then raising him up by the power of Christ’s resurrection. This process of death and life was producing an eternal weight of glory in Heaven. The eternal weight of glory is the "house from heaven" that will clothe Paul’s body when his body is called forth from the grave by the voice of Christ.
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: (II Corinthians 5:2)
What is happening to us today is forming an eternal body in Heaven, and also is preparing our inner spiritual personality that we may receive such a tremendous vehicle of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest [pledge]of the Spirit. (II Corinthians 5:5)
The Holy Spirit who is dwelling in us now is God’s guarantee that one day we, as sons of God and brothers of Christ, will live and move and have our being in the fullness of the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
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) The Spirit who will give eternal life to our mortal body already is dwelling in us. 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)
If we, through the wisdom and power of the Spirit, put to death the deeds of our sinful body, we will attain immortality in the fullness of the Spirit of Christ. But if we continue to live in the appetites of our flesh and adamic nature we will die spiritually, thus slaying our own resurrection.
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)
Here is the absolute righteousness of God. Whatever we sow we shall reap. If we sow to the Spirit of God by praying, reading the Scriptures, resisting Satan, confessing and turning away from our sins, giving, serving, gathering together on a regular basis with fervent disciples (as possible), obeying God in every detail, we will attain to the early resurrection which is from among the dead.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:7,8)
But if we spend our time and strength in eating, sleeping, playing, working, and reproducing, giving a minor role in our life to the things of Christ, all our works will be burned away by the Divine fire. Our spirit may be saved in the Day of Christ but we will be a naked spirit having little inheritance in the Kingdom of God. If indeed we are saved into God’s Kingdom we may be required to begin again as a small child, having no memory of our previous life.
Make no mistake! Every one of us shall appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ in order that we may receive the things done in our body, whether they have been good or evil.
Many would teach us today that we need have no fear of the Judgment Seat of Christ because by grace and faith we will be raised unto glory as the result of our trust in Christ’s righteousness. Such teachers are deceived and are spreading deception. Because of their teaching the believers of our day are living below the standard set by the Scriptures and shall be rewarded accordingly in the day of resurrection. This is the teaching of the Scriptures. Flee from such teachers and give yourself to Christ that you may become a new creation in Him.
The Lord desires to raise up an army of strong, holy believers that will be powerful enough to bear witness during the age of moral horrors that is approaching. Numerous church members of our day will not be able to cope with the severity of the demands the preachers, pastors, and evangelists will be making on them. They will flee to more comfortable surroundings and thus disqualify themselves from being a member of the warlike remnant that is emerging from the churches.
The firstfruits of the Bride of the Lamb will be clothed with the white robe of their righteous behaviour, a righteous behaviour created as they have been brought down to death each day and then raised again by the Virtue of Christ.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness [righteous acts] of saints. (Revelation 19:8)
When today’s believers are exhorted to press forward to victory they complain that there is too much emphasis being placed on works and not enough attention paid to mercy and grace. The truth is, they are seeking to justify their half-hearted, weak, double-minded Christian walk.
The crowns will go to the warriors. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches in our day. The Evangelical spirit with its lawless-grace-rapture carnality, immorality, stubbornness, rebellion, and self-love is coming up before God for judgment.