Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (I Timothy 6:12—NIV)

If we do not observe the commandments of Christ and His Apostles, if we do not live as a Christian should, then we are not undergoing the process of deliverance from sin. Then we are in danger, as in the parable of the sower, of losing the life that had been given to us.

The ten virgins went to meet the Lord. Five were too low on oil, on the Life of God. They were not permitted to go to be with the Lord.

We must remember that one of the supreme goals of the Christian salvation is the redemption, the adoption of our mortal body. This means the same Holy Spirit we have now will make alive our body at the coming of the Lord. This is a goal held before us. As Paul says, we must lay aside all else that we may attain the resurrection that is out from among the dead.

If we, as a Christian, insist on living in the sinful nature, we will not attain the resurrection that is out from among the dead, the first resurrection, the resurrection to life and glory. We will be held over to the second resurrection and receive the reward of our works.

Paul warns us that if we live according to the sinful nature we will die, that is, we will not have a life-filled inward personality in the day of resurrection and thus are not eligible for the filling of our resurrected body with Divine Life.

So we Christians, perhaps without realizing it, are in a struggle to press through and overcome the last enemy. If we faithfully follow the Lord Jesus in all matters, then, when He comes, we will receive eternal life in our body. But if we do not follow the Lord Jesus in all matters, then, when He returns, we will find ourselves in a state of corruption. Whoever sows to his or her sinful nature will experience corruption in the day of resurrection.

The believers of today must be made aware their supreme goal is not to go to Heaven when they die but to attain life in the day of resurrection. It is what takes place regarding us in the day of resurrection that is so utterly important to us, not what happens when we die.

The doctrines of the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment are hardly known today. Yet, according to the writer of the Book of Hebrews, they are but elementary principles of the Kingdom. We certainly have lost much of the original revelation given to the Apostles of the Lamb!

To be continued.