The holy city, the new Jerusalem, is the fullness of Israel. Jerusalem will reveal Christ and will rule the works of God's hands for eternity.

At the beginning of the thousand-year period the Wife of the Lamb will be arrayed in the white linen of her righteous deeds. At the end of the thousand-year period the Wife of the Lamb will appear as the holy city, the new Jerusalem. The manifestation of glory will have increased a thousandfold.

The firstfruits, the advance guard, will join together with Christ in the initial stages of His parousia, His manifestation. Perhaps as the thousand-year period progresses an increasing number of God's elect will be brought to the place where they can enter the work of bringing life and light to the nations of the earth. The Scripture is clear, however, that no individual will be resurrected from the dead (except those who are raised when the Lord appears) until the end of the thousand-year period.

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:5)

How are the firstfruits chosen? We know from the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation that the victorious saints represent only a fraction of the churches on the earth:

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. (Revelation 3:4)

Both the reduction of the size of Gideon's army and the latter verses of the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Matthew point toward the selection of only a part of Israel for participation in the parousia :

Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. (Matthew 24:40)

Where will the chosen be taken?

For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. (Matthew 24:28)

The "carcase" is the slain Lamb, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The victorious saints are the "eagles" who live by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Lamb. The eagles will fly to the carcass. Life calls to life. The Lamb will call to those in whom part of Himself is abiding.

No person will participate in the first resurrection from the dead, and the ascension of the saints to meet the Lord in the air, on the basis of his or her doctrinal beliefs. It is the indwelling Life of Christ that will determine who is taken to the Lord and who remains. It is those whose Life Christ Is who will be revealed with Him (Colossians 3:4).

Many have a "lamp," have a knowledge of the Scriptures. But it is the Life of Christ, the "oil," that will pull us upward toward Him. How many believers of today are living by the Life of Christ? They—and only they—are ready to be taken to Him were the heavens to be shaken today.

The development of Christ's Life in us, and our position with Him and in Him at the right hand of God in Heaven, is the basis on which we are competent and eligible to participate with Christ in the parousia, in the coming, the presence of the Lord.

To be continued.