LIFE IN HEAVEN – PART THIRTY-FIVE
Saturday – December 22, 2018, Tevet 14, 5779
TIME FRAME SIX
THE CATCHING AWAY TO THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
Greetings and welcome back precious ones of God to this engaging and imagination stimulating study with some speculation of Life in Heaven. God is so good not to hide things from us and make them open for us to gaze at in wonder and fall to our knees in thanksgiving. The wife of my youth entered Heaven on the 9th of April and has been enjoying all that we know and speculate about Heaven and today would have been her 73rd birthday. Happy Birthday Patti! Of course, that is meaningless for there are no more birthdays when we leave this mortal body forever. Birthdays are meaningless in eternity. We are currently looking at Life in Heaven in the sixth time-frame of eight given me of God to divide this study. This time-frame is from the Catching away until the Second Coming. This will be a breath-taking time for all of us who know Him and are looking for His coming. For those Christians who are alive on the earth at His coming life in Heaven starts with the catching away when we meet Him in the air. Now, let’s take a look at two passages which deal with those who are alive on the earth at the coming of the Lord to catch us away and those who have physically died and their spirits have gone on before us. Those who have gone on before having discarded this physical body, our humiliation, have been enjoying all that Heaven as to offer. Let’s listen carefully to the Apostle Paul, by extension to our Lord and Savior, and to our Father who are speaking through him to us.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (KJV)
16 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:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
In the preceding Scripture we see that Jesus Himself comes to get the Church, those who remain alive at His coming. In the same moment He will also unite the physical with the spiritual for those who have already gone on before. All of the saints of God will be united (brought together as one body) at this event, those we knew and those we didn’t know, those who died in the Lord and went (spirit man) before and those who remain alive. One thing I want to lay to rest right now is that those who have physically died are not in a “soul sleep” with their body and spirit man awaiting in the earth the coming of Christ Jesus. No, they (the spirit man) are quite alive and vibrant in Heaven. At the Catching Away their spirit man will come with Christ from Heaven and they will receive their new body for the old was sowed in corruption but now reaped incorruptible.
I think we have all seen the pictures of the graves being thrown open and the persons buried there being united with their spirit man in a new glorified or uncorrupted body in the air. As we explore this a little further let’s remind ourselves that all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27). Does God regather all the scattered fragments of our dead bodies? Remember most dead bodies are long since returned to dust, some were burned entirely, some were evaporated by bombs in war, and so on. Do our physical man and our spirit man look identical? Most certainly! Where does the genetic material of our spirit man come from. Our spiritual DNA material came from God and is identical in all of us but apparently allows for infinite variation of appearance (we all look different). The DNA material of the physical body arose from the natural elements of the earth (Genesis 2:7) and was perfect in the creation. Initially when God created this body it was perfect uncorrupted and so was all other things created by God. For example, there was no waste. By that I mean, man did not need a septic system, there was no human waste and there was no other kind of waste in all of creation. That all changed of course with sin which brought instant death to the spirit man then corruption spread like an infection to all physical things. However, we think about the raising of the dead bodies we can agree that God with whom all things are possible will create an uncorrupted glorious body of identical DNA makeup as the original. By that I mean our general appearance will be as now but without the effects of the curse. The difference of course between the original and the new is that the new is perfect, no corruption at all. Oh, what a day, I know my body could use the upgrade. As I finish for today let’s consider the following Scripture and Lord willing I will pick up here next Saturday.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (KJV)
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Until our next publication, confess the following passage and walk before Whom we have to do with great rejoicing and thanksgiving. This physical body is our humiliation but soon it will be no more for the glory of God and our eternal benefit.
John 14:1-4 (KJV)
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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