We are satisfied from the Scripture that Armageddon will be fought by a Gideon's army, a remnant of Israel, and that these are the participants in the first resurrection. They are a firstfruits of the Bride, having clothed themselves in the radiantly white linen of their righteous conduct, and will follow the Lord on the white war stallions as He invades the earth and establishes His Kingdom.

We have also written elsewhere of our opinion that one of the major purposes of the thousand-year Kingdom Age is to give the Lord's firstfruits time to assist the balance of the Church, to prepare those who did not qualify for the first resurrection for the descent of the entire Church to the earth as the new Jerusalem, the Tabernacle of God among the saved nations.

Now let us think further, for we rapidly are approaching the time of the Lord's return when these ideas will pass from concepts on paper to the substance of the Kingdom of God.

I believe the spirit realm is somewhat different from what we suppose. I think it is a place of intense activity. I believe people are trained there, educated, judged, punished, have wonderful opportunities to minister. While some aspects of character such as iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern obedience are probably learned best on the earth (the Logos Himself learned obedience on the earth), yet it must be true that we can grow in many aspects of Divine Life after we leave our probationary period on earth.

We are in a sort of boot camp now. As I see it our present embryonic existence on the earth is only the first of a multitude of stages through which we will pass until we truly are in the image of Him who can inhale or breathe out firmaments at His will.

One day, I do believe, we will be in the image of Christ as presented in the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel.

So we might think of the spirit realm as a very busy place where the spirits of the righteous are perfected, where people are punished, or healed, or educated. This present life is really the valley of the shadow of death because of the presence of Satan and his followers.

What I picture, then, is the coming of the Lord to raise the members of His army into the air in preparation for their descent with Him in the attack of Armageddon.

But what about the majority of the elect, those who are nowhere near qualified to ride behind Christ in the great cavalry charge?

For example, how about those Corinthian believers who were sick or who died prematurely because God had judged them for taking the Communion improperly? By no stretch of the imagination are they members of the royal priesthood, ready to ride behind the Commander in Chief.

How about those who are saved as by fire, having lost all inheritance as did Lot? These hardly are members of the Lord's firstfruits who will follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

To be continued.