It is folly to speak of the lukewarm believers of today returning with the Lord to rule the nations of the earth. Such a hope is neither scriptural nor logical. If they cannot overcome the small problems of today, what would they do in the face of Antichrist and the armies of the earth?

But, the believer may protest, we shall be heroes of faith and totally sanctified the moment the Lord returns.

It is this unscriptural, vain hope of instantaneous sanctification and glory through physical death that keeps the believers in a state of eternal babyhood. Their hope is that the image of the Lord will be given to them without any effort on their part. There is no scriptural basis for such an idea. It is not the manner in which the Lord works. Every experienced saint understands this.

It is the overcomers, and only the overcomers, who will receive the rewards held out in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation. Otherwise the written Word of God is not true.

When we refer to the coming of the Lord and the raising of His warriors in preparation for the Lord's invasion of the earth, we are speaking of the first resurrection from among the dead. Remember, the purpose of the first resurrection is to take a further step in bringing obedience to the inhabitants of the earth so God may restore what was lost in the beginning through disobedience.

Let us look carefully at a passage of Scripture that describes the first resurrection.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6)

The above passage describes the nature of the first resurrection, the resurrection that will take place when the Lord Jesus appears in the clouds of the heaven with the elect angels. Current Christian teaching does not give nearly enough attention to the resurrection from the dead, regarding it as a somewhat inevitable event. The truth is, the eternal body we are given in the resurrection will reflect the way in which we have served God on earth. What we have done in the body will be given to us in the body.

The aged Paul was seeking to attain the out-resurrection from the dead. He knew that the first resurrection, the resurrection to life, must be grasped now. We now are creating the kind of resurrection we shall have. We are going to reap what we sow, and there is no way to change this immutable principle of the Kingdom of God.

To be continued.