If we do not repent, if we do not come out of the world, if we do not present our body a living sacrifice, if we do not take up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus, it is foolish for us to consider the possibility of our being raised in the first resurrection. The first resurrection is for the overcomers, the priests of God and of Christ. There is no place here for people who are trusting they are clothed in the righteousness of Christ but who never have yielded themselves to God as those who have been delivered from the sin and death of Satan's kingdom.

The first judgment is upon our manner of life in the world. If we truly repent, if we sweep all the leaven of sin out of our house, Christ will receive us. We will receive a portion of the eternal life of God. It is waters to the ankles.

The second judgment brings us to waters to the knees:

Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. . . . (Ezekiel 47:4)

The first judgment is on the love of the world that is in us. The second judgment is on the satanic nature that dwells in our flesh.

The Holy Spirit works in the true saint to give him victory over sin. The believer is to put sin to death by the power of the Spirit of God. When we walk in the Spirit we do not fulfill the lusts of our flesh:

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

The first judgment commands us to trust in the blood of the Lamb and to leave Egypt (the world). We are not to sit in Egypt and talk about how God has promised us the land of milk and honey. We are to put the blood over our house, get up on our feet, and leave Egypt.

The second judgment works to destroy the sin nature from our personality. If we are faithful in leaving the world, taking up our cross, and following the Lord Jesus, then the Holy Spirit will begin the work of releasing us from the inherited and acquired bondages that reside in our personality.

Repentance from the wicked behavior found in the world is an action we can take as we pray and seek the Lord. The second judgment takes us a step further. By the power of the Holy Spirit we are able to put to death the actions of our body and to walk in the holiness of the Holy Spirit.

It is not until the third and fourth judgments, however, that we are able to gain complete deliverance from every evil aspect of our personality, including our self-will. The third and fourth judgments prepare us for the redemption of our mortal body and the donning of the body from Heaven so our entire personality, spirit, soul, and—at the coming of the Lord—our body, is totally free from every trace of sin and rebellion.

To be continued.