Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28,29)

The main vision of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is that of the resurrection to eternal life. Every person who has lived on the earth will be raised from the dead, some to eternal life and some to judgment and possibly shame and everlasting contempt—if not worse!

The resurrection of the physical body from its place of burial is taught in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is clear that the righteous will be raised in their body to eternal life in God's Kingdom while the wicked will be raised in their body to shame and judgment.

One source of confusion concerning the resurrection has been the idea that the destiny of Christian people is eternal residence in a mansion in the spirit Paradise (Heaven), and that the purpose of the resurrection is to bring us there. We know that Heaven is a real place. Our joys, and treasures are there—fixed on the rainbow throne, the Lion of Judah, the twenty-four elders, the four living creatures, the tremendous angels who do God's will, the saints in light. Heaven is a real place and we have set our heart there. We hope to go there when we die. Heaven is our place of waiting until the day of resurrection.

We must understand, however, that very little is said in the Scriptures about our having eternal residence in Heaven. Much is stated about the Day of the Lord and the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The new Jerusalem, which is the perfected Church, the Bride of the Lamb, is described in Isaiah and in the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation.

But passages that describe our life after death and before the resurrection of the dead are very few in number. The mental picture we have of mansions, parks, the children playing, come mostly from the near-death experiences of the saints, not from the Scriptures. We do not doubt these experiences, but in the spiritually dark days in which we live we must follow the written Word very strictly.

It appears certain that after we have been raised from the dead we shall be able to pass into the spiritual realm at our will. However, we know that the Lord Jesus will be on the earth ruling the nations from the city of Jerusalem. Most of us would not want to be up in Heaven while the Lord was on the earth! The Scripture teaches we shall always be with the Lord, and this is what we desire.

We may discover when we die and pass into the spirit realm that we are not as content there as we once imagined we would be, even though we are surrounded with every imaginable delight. People are not people when they have no physical body. As pure and free from trouble as Heaven is, there may be something in our personality that longs to return to the physical world in a physical body.

To be continued.