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==This judgment is taking place now.==
<p>In 1948, while I was in Bible school, Jesus spoke to me. He said that the Jewish Day of Atonement portrays judgment on His Church. Now I understand what the Lord was referring to. </p>
<p>We do not realize how our life in Christ continues after we die. We really have a mythological view of the next world, of our life after death. </p>
<p>If you will consult the Scriptures you may notice that very little is said about what happens to us when we die, other than that we will be "gathered to our people." </p>
<p>One deadly misunderstanding is that when we die, God will see us as perfect. There no longer will be a need to be concerned with sin and self-will. There is no scriptural basis for this belief. </p>
<p>In fact, the parable of the talents, in the twenty-fifth chapter of the Book of Matthew, does not speak of our being delivered from laziness, if we have "buried our talent," but of our talent being removed from us. Then we are sent into the outer darkness. </p>
<p>It is my point of view that all decent people will be sent to a place of instruction in the spirit world, when they die, and taught the righteous, holy ways of Heaven. This is not true if they have been presented with Christ and have rejected Him. The first rule of the Kingdom of God is obedience to the Lord Jesus. </p>
<p>But it may be different for the members of God's elect, His royal priesthood. They are being prepared to represent God to the other people of the creation. They have to be brought through the rigorous demands that begin with faith in the blood atonement and conclude with the coming of the Father and the Son to make Their eternal abode in them. </p>
<p>The last step prior to the Royal Priesthood being filled with the Fullness of God is that of appearing at the Judgment Seat of Christ. This judgment is taking place today for those who are being qualified and made competent to participate in the first resurrection—that which will occur when Jesus comes to change their bodies and catch them up to the staging area in the air where Jesus is waiting with the army of angels. </p>
<p>The change in the body and catching up to meet the Lord in the air will take place simultaneously with the saints who have come with Christ and those who are alive on the earth at the time of His appearing. </p>
<p>Here is the meaning of: "only together with us would they be made perfect." </p>
<p>Not all people have the same destiny in the Kingdom of God. Each one of us, as did the Apostle Paul, must be diligent in laying hold on that for which God has grasped us, or we will be regarded as a lazy, wicked servant. </p>
<p>Unlike "Heaven teaching," in which there are no ranks, there will be thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold according to the fullness of Christ in us. It will be a case of having heaven formed in us. </p>
<p>Those who are greatest in the Kingdom will be servants of all. </p>
<p>This is a great deal better than just going to Heaven to "sing and shout and dance about" for ten thousand years, isn't it? </p>
<p>Both sin and self-will must be removed from us if we are to abide happily in Christ. Spirits of disobedience, great and small, have no place in the Kingdom of God and shall be removed totally with no mercy shown to them. </p>
<p>To abide in Christ is to live in the will of God, the rest of God. It is the spiritual fulfillments of the Jewish Day of Atonement and the feast of Tabernacles eternally forged together in the believer. </p>
<p>The spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish Day of Atonement occurs as the Spirit of God points out to us our sins and self-will, and we confess and turn away from them, as Christ helps us. </p>
<p>The spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles occurs as we keep the commands of Jesus Christ; and the Father and the Son make Their eternal home, resting place, and throne in us. </p>
<p><em>Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (John 14:23—NIV) </em></p>
<p>I think it is easy to see that the coming of the Father and Christ to make Their resting place in us depends on our ceasing to obey our sinful urges and our self-will. This is why I say the Day of Atonement and the feast of Tabernacles are forged together in the believer. As they are, we are prepared for an eternal life of service to God. </p>
<p>The reason people of the Christian churches are not more diligent in driving out the sin in their behavior is that they are picturing residence in Heaven as their goal rather than the rest of God as their goal. </p>
<p>If you, as a Christian, are committing some sin that you know of, you are not in the rest of God; you are not in the perfect will of God. Get busy and ask Christ how to gain victory over it. </p>
<p><em>The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. (I John 3:8—NIV) </em></p>
<p>The Lord Jesus Christ did not come from Heaven to earth merely to forgive our sins but to destroy the devil's work in us. </p>
<p>Grace does not cover known sin. If you do not get busy and gain victory over it through Christ, you may lose part or all of your inheritance. </p>
<p><em>Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. (Hebrews 4:1—NIV) </em></p>
<p>To enter and remain in the rest of God we continually must seek to know the Lord's will, praying constantly, listening, presenting our body a living sacrifice. We must do God's will. Then we can rest in God and God can rest in us. </p>
<p>We will be His home, His rest, and a place in which He can install His throne. </p>
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