Are you content to be joined eternally with those who behave as you do? Are you content to be clothed in the Day of Christ with the garments you have woven by your conduct in this life?

Some visionaries have suggested that there are various levels of Hell and various levels of Paradise. There may be depths of Hell where the vicious, hardened souls are kept, consigned like chained animals to the flames that give no light; and perhaps there are realms of darkness that are not as severe in their environment.

In like manner, the visionary saints inform us that there are many levels in Heaven, and that souls of like spiritual attainment are grouped together in families. Those who would temporarily visit a higher level of Heaven must shield their eyes, and those who would descend must partially cover their glory.

Perhaps this is true, because even on earth we enjoy associating with those of like spiritual development. But do we desire to be with our chosen companions for eternity? That is the question we must ask ourselves.

One of the governing principles of the Kingdom of God is that we reap what we sow. If we sow wheat we reap wheat. If we sow tares we reap tares. If we sow to the Spirit of life we reap life. If we sow to our corrupt flesh we reap corruption.

God is perfectly righteous and cannot be mocked: we will reap what we are sowing.

Christian grace is not pointed toward changing what we reap but what we sow.

God's net brings in such extremes! There was Enoch whose faith pleased God to such an extent God took him. And then there was the man who came to the wedding without being dressed properly. (How did he enter in among the guests?) The King commanded that he be bound and cast into outer darkness (Matthew 22:13).

Is this man a type of the Christian who does not practice righteous conduct? If not, of whom then is he a portrayal?

The prevailing concept of judgment and rewards is incomplete at best, dangerously misleading at worst. No doubt our own concept of judgment and rewards proceeds from our perception of what the Christian salvation is.

Is the Christian salvation a blanket pardon of our sinful state so when we die physically we will be permitted to make Heaven, the spirit Paradise, our eternal home? Is that what our salvation means?

Or does the Christian salvation include the redemption of the material creation (Romans 8:21)?

The outward form of the Kingdom of God is the material creation with which we are familiar. The inward life of the Kingdom of God is the eternal, incorruptible Spirit of Holiness—the Spirit of God.

What is true today? The material creation is dead—cut off from the Life of God in Christ. The outward material form of the Kingdom of God is being governed and driven by wicked spirits who are in rebellion against God.

To be continued.