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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Groaning for the Adoption, #8
For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (II Corinthians 5:4—NIV)
The second aspect of the preparation for attaining the first resurrection from among the dead has to do with our house from Heaven.
We have a robe in Heaven. That robe reflects in itself what our personality is becoming. The robe is termed by Paul "an eternal weight of glory."
As we confess our sins, turning away from them, turning away from involvement in the world spirit, taking up our cross and following the Lord Jesus, our house in Heaven is modified accordingly. We keep our robe clean by turning away from that which displeases the Lord, by keeping His commandments.
Every day we add to that body in Heaven. We are adding to that body iron righteousness, fiery holiness, stern obedience to the Father, a compassionate, merciful nature, courage, faithfulness, trust in God. Or we are adding bitterness, unbelief, impatience, hatred, lust, rebellion, covetousness, pride, unforgiveness.
At some point in the future the voice of Christ will call forth from the graves the bodies of all who have died. Then their inward nature will be joined with their body, returning from wherever their inward nature, their soul and spirit, was placed after death.
Now the dead will be standing on the earth in their resurrected flesh and bones. The power that will raise and animate them is not necessarily the Spirit of incorruptible life but the power by which God operates the universe.
Then each individual will receive the robe from Heaven that has been constructed from his behavior. This is the reward the Lord will bring with Him. Here is the perfect justice of God. Mercy and grace do not modify the clothing of the resurrected body with what has been sown.
Mercy and grace may possibly modify where the individual is placed, but not what he or she has become in personality. The Kingdom law of sowing and reaping cannot be altered.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7,8—NIV)
If we could sow unrighteousness and reap eternal life we would be mocking God!
Paul said at the Judgment Seat of Christ we will receive the things done in the body. Notice how this is portrayed in the following passage:
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) (Revelation 19:7,8—NIV)
Can you see from the above that the Bride of the Lamb is clothed in her own behavior?
Other translations are even more forceful and say the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints; not stands for but actually is!
Nothing could be more just and fair than this—that we should be clothed in our own acts. What we are as a person we may be able to conceal from our friends and relatives. But in the Day of the Lord our body will reveal what we truly are.
To be continued.