Does the Scripture teach he will be clothed in glory in spite of his laziness and be forever with Jesus as one of the ruling saints? Is this what the Lord and His Apostles taught? Or is it not rather true that our traditional teachings concerning Divine grace have made Paul's doctrine a basis for unclean, rebellious behavior?

The perishing of our outward man and the renewing of our inner man are accomplished by the work of Divine judgment. If the power of the rule of our outward man has been overthrown, and our new inner man is ruling, then God's judgment has done its work. When Jesus returns there will be those who immediately are glorified and from then on are always with the Lord. There is no area of their personality in which the sin and rebellion have not been confessed and renounced.

Spiritually they have died and been raised again while still in the physical body. Their sentence is to be in and with the Lord Jesus forever and to receive a body of such surpassing glory that the sun by comparison is a flickering candle. The Father and the Son already are in restful union with them while they yet are alive on the earth.

Our heavenly body is "an house not made with hands" (II Corinthians 5:1). Our new body is created as a spiritual counterpart of the death and resurrection taking place in us today. What is being sown to death on the earth is being raised in Heaven before the Throne of God. This is occurring now.

When we overcome trouble through the grace of God in Christ, a part of our soulish life dies and a corresponding spiritual element has its rise in the heavens. When Christ works in the midst of our perplexities, our soulish confidence and abilities die and the Life of Christ is added to our spiritual house in the heavenlies.

When the Spirit of the Lord strengthens us during persecution, power and breadth of spirit are added to us in the spirit realm. When the resurrection life of Christ raises us up in spite of prolonged imprisonment and sometimes great pressure, a crown of life is added to our body in the heavens.

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: (II Corinthians 5:2)

The last act of redemption, the conquering of the last enemy, is the raising of our physical body from the dead and the clothing of it with eternal life. The resurrection of our mortal body is the climax of the Divine redemption in Christ.

The clothing of our resurrected body with the house fashioned as the heavenly counterpart of our earthly struggles is an important part of our inheritance, of the reward the Lord Jesus will give us at His appearing.

Having received our heavenly body, we now have been transformed completely. We are a new creation. All the old has passed away. Everything we are has been made new and is of God. This is our reconciliation to God. This is the marriage of the Lamb.

To be continued.