In the house of the Father there are many abiding places. Each saint is being made a room in the house of the Father. Each saint is being made a chariot of God in which God can travel to every area of His creation causing His will to be done and blessing His creatures.

The resurrection of our mortal body, the clothing of it with eternal life, is the next logical step after the Father and the Son have found Their eternal rest in us.

The Resurrection of Our Mortal Body to Righteousness and Eternal Life

It is possible that the works of redemption taking place in the saints on the earth have also taken place, or are now taking place, in the saints in the spirit realm whose bodies are sleeping in physical death. The whole Body of Christ, the Wife of the Lamb, may be coming to perfection together (Hebrews 11:40).

The righteous behavior that is being given to us now may be occurring also in the spirit realm, as suggested by the following passage:

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Revelation 6:9-11)

As we understand it, the white robes which were given to the martyrs are bodies that practice righteousness by their very nature.

After the great tribulation, the sun, moon, and stars will not give their light. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heaven above us. The peoples of the earth will see Christ coming on the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory.

Christ will send his angels with the sound of a trumpet and they will gather His elect from one end of the heavens to the other (Matthew 24:31).

In order to understand the resurrection to righteousness and eternal life we must realize that two different bodies are involved. The first is our mortal body, which for most of the members of the Body of Christ will be sleeping in death at the time of His appearing. The second body is our house from Heaven.

Our house from Heaven is constructed as the result of our being sown to death as we follow Christ. It is an "eternal weight of glory" produced by the continual renewal of our inner man in response to our "light affliction" (II Corinthians 4:16-5:2).

First of all, the Father and the Son will enter the prepared saints in the spirit realm and those still living on the earth. Such fullness of union with God and His Christ is, as we have stated, the prerequisite for participation in the victorious resurrection.

Then the unclothed spirits of righteous people in the spirit realm, those who have been filled with the Presence of the Father and the Son, will be clothed with their house from Heaven. This will take place, as we understand it, just before the time of the appearing of the Lord (Revelation 6:11; 19:8).

To be continued.