There is no greater error in Christian thinking than that which relegates the resurrection of our body to a minor role in the Divine redemption. Part of this error is the lack of understanding of how our present behavior while living on the earth is enabling or destroying our resurrection into eternal life.

In the present hour a house is being fashioned for us in Heaven. When the Lord returns He will call forth our body from the grave and then clothe our body with our house from Heaven, which He will have brought with Him.

The house, or robe, is being formed from our behavior. When we lie, the lie affects our robe in Heaven. When we repent of our lie and, through Jesus Christ gain victory over lying, our robe is washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Our heavenly robe is a composite of all we have done on the earth, good and bad, except as we confess and thoroughly denounce and renounce our sinful behavior and from then on resist the devil. Then the bad is eternally removed.

In the Day of Resurrection we will be clothed with our behavior. Here is the perfect justice of God.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) (Revelation 19:7,8—NIV)

The fine linen, bright and clean, is formed from the righteous acts of the saints. The Bride of the Lamb prepares herself for the wedding by repenting and turning away from sin, through Christ, until her heavenly robe—that with which she shall be clothed in the Day of Resurrection—is bright and clean.

I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Revelation 7:14—NIV)

The destructive, unscriptural error of Christian teaching is that when we profess Christ we automatically wash our robes clean once and for all time. Now we are ready to go to Heaven.

The truth is, we wash our robes by confessing our sins and turning away from them throughout our Christian discipleship. It is only as we continue to walk in the light of the Father's will that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.

The promises of the Kingdom are for the saint who is pursuing victory in Christ, not for the casual believer who is hoping to go to Heaven on the basis of some commitment he made many years ago.

In fact, the purpose of washing our robes is so we can ride behind Christ on the white war stallions and assist in the establishing on the Kingdom of God on the earth. It is not so we can recline at ease in a mansion in Heaven.

At least, this is what the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation tells us.

As we said, there is no greater error in Christian thinking than that which concerns the importance of the Day of Resurrection, and the relationship of our conduct to the kind of resurrection we will experience when the Lord returns from Heaven.

To be continued.