Our response to this fact, that we shall be clothed in our own acts, should be to go to the Lord and ask Him to prepare us for His coming and the day of resurrection. Don't you agree? To put off such preparation because of our notion that we are saved by grace and everything will be fine is to ignore the clear warnings of the Scripture. Paul tells us several times that those believers who continue to live according to their fleshly appetites and impulses will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

I think of all the messages the American churches need to hear, the most important has to do with the resurrection from the dead. There will come a point in time when you and I come forth from wherever we have been interred. It does not matter if we have been buried, cremated, or blown to bits by a bomb.

The first man was made from the ground. The first woman was made from a piece of the man. God will have no trouble assembling our elements wherever they are located. We shall come forth and stand before Christ in our flesh and bones.

But this is not the issue, for every person who has been born will be raised and stand on his or her feet.

The issue is, what happens next!

What happens next is that the consequences of our behavior will clothe our flesh and bones. Brother, Sister, this is the beginning of eternity. It is no laughing matter. The present teaching that we will be "raptured" without being resurrected and clothed with our behavior is utterly false, misleading, and destructive. No such event will take place. The order of events will be that our flesh and bones will be raised and then clothed with the consequences of our behavior.

Where we go after that depends on what we are suited for.

Those who have overcome the evil of the world through the Lord Jesus will be caught up to meet Him in the air in preparation for His descent to attack the armies of wickedness.

The foolish virgins will not go to meet him. The man who buried his talent will be sent to the outer darkness with others of his kind.

What ridiculous fables we have been taught!

Picture yourself. You have died and been waiting somewhere in the spirit world. Suddenly the trumpet of the Lord sounds and you find yourself standing in your body on the earth. How do you think you will feel at that time, for it surely will come to you?

If you have lived a victorious life in Jesus the angels will come and clothe your flesh and bones with a body of unbelievable glory and power. Your exultation will know no bounds.

But if you have not lived a victorious life in Jesus the angels will come and clothe your flesh and bones with a robe that shows in itself the kind of life you have lived. This is what Paul means when he says if we choose to live in the flesh we will reap corruption.

How ashamed you will be in the Presence of Christ, His holy angels, and the victorious saints! It would not be necessary for Jesus to tell you that you cannot enter among the victorious saints; you yourself would choose to slink away into the darkness in order to escape the observation of those who are filled with Divine Glory.

To be continued.