| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Purpose of the Resurrection of the Priesthood
Ye also, as lively [living] stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (I Peter 2:5)
There will be a resurrection of the royal priesthood in advance of the remainder of the dead of the earth.
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 20:6)
The bodies of the members of the royal priesthood will be raised from the dead at the coming of the Lord. Then their bodies will be filled with righteousness, immortality, and glory by the Holy Spirit who is dwelling in them.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [make alive] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)
The bodies of the righteous people who are not members of the priesthood will be raised at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. They will enter eternal life in the Presence of the Lord. They are part of the inheritance of the royal priesthood.
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 bodies of the wicked will be raised to judgment. Apparently the wicked will be cast into eternal fire in their bodies. The intersection of the material and spirit realms at this point, while not clearly understood by us, has enough support in Scripture to warrant our statement.
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases [bodies] of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. (Isaiah 66:24)
"The bodies of the men that have transgressed"!
Both the judgment and the rewards or punishments have to do with our bodies—with the manner in which we have used our bodies while alive on the earth:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (II Corinthians 5:10)
In the current teaching of the "rapture," the impression is given that the purpose of the resurrection of the righteous is to bring us to Heaven. When the Lord Jesus returns He will carry us off to Heaven, it is believed.
A little reflection will reveal that this thinking not only has no scriptural support, it also is not logical. There is no need for our body to be raised from the dead in order for us to go to Heaven. We (the saints) go to Heaven when we die, not when we come to life again. Heaven is the abode of the departed, bodiless spirits, not of the resurrected, glorified saints.
When the Lord Jesus returns in the power of His Kingdom He will bring the deceased saints with Him, the members of the royal priesthood who are destined to govern the nations of saved peoples of the earth (I Thessalonians 4:14). Does it make sense they then should turn around and go back to Heaven? Have the saints descended from Heaven and received back their bodies from the ground so they may return to Heaven? What need is there for flesh and bones in Heaven?
To be continued.