"I will raise him up at the last day." Several times in the sixth chapter of John, Jesus speaks of His raising us up from the dead in the last day. Therefore we understand the resurrection from the dead is associated with eating the flesh of Christ and drinking His blood.

Who will be raised to meet the Lord in the clouds when He appears? It is those who continually are receiving into themselves His flesh and His blood. This is because our eternal life, that which will lift us from among the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom, consists of His body and blood.

The body and blood of Christ are the resurrection Life that dwells in us.

When the "carcass" of the slain Lamb comes down from Heaven to the clouds above the surface of the earth, those who live by feeding on the body and blood of the slain Lamb will be raised by the body and blood that are dwelling in them. Life will call to Life. The body and blood will raise us up.

If we are not living by the body and blood, that is, if we merely are making a profession of Christ while continuing to live in the flesh, in our coveting, lusting, hatred, fleshly pleasures, we will not be raised to meet Him when He appears. We will not participate in the redemption that will remove the last vestiges of sin and corruption from the saints.

It is not that Christ will prevent us from rising to meet Him.

Rather it is that the Life, the Oil, is not in us. There is nothing in us to raise us up to meet the Lord. Even if He called our name there still is nothing there but the spiritually dead life of the flesh. We are not prepared for His coming. It is we who are unable to respond to the call. It is not possible for flesh and blood to enter the Kingdom of God.

He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (John 6:56)

"Dwelleth in me, and I in him."

Notice carefully:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (I Thessalonians 4:16)

"Dwelleth in me." "The dead in Christ."

Only those who have died in Christ will rise from the dead at the sound of the trumpet of God, insuring their entrance into the new Jerusalem.

Therefore, the all-important question is, what does it mean to be "in Christ"?

If to be "in Christ" means to assent to the facts of His atoning death and triumphant resurrection, then righteous behavior is not necessary for entrance into the new Jerusalem.

If being "in Christ" means we are dwelling in and participating in His Divine Life so the world is being driven from our personality, then righteous, holy, and obedient conduct is the evidence that we are prepared for entrance into the holy city. In that case, Revelation 21:8 stands as written, applying to both non-Christians and Christians alike.

To be continued.