The Purpose of the Ages
Dearly beloved of God, the new birth is the first step in God’s plan of redemption, and it comes with an inheritance. There is much more coming to those in Christ Jesus.
If we confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead we will be saved.
In the new birth we are sealed with the holy spirit of promise. The gift of holy spirit is the earnest, the down payment, a token of the inheritance that is to come.
The glory of the inheritance is an eternal, exceedingly heavy weight of glory. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, and we will acquire the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes. We will be glorified with him.
The Lord Jesus Christ will return to gather us together on the Day of Redemption. On that day Christ will redeem the members of his body, the Church; he will come to acquire that which he purchased with his life, unto the praise of God’s glory.
But, dearly beloved, that will not be the end, it will be a new beginning. We will physically enter the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son as citizens of the heavenly realm.
Behold, I show you a mystery. Not all of us will fall asleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
First the Lord Jesus Christ will raise the dead in Christ, and they will be raised incorruptible.
Then the Lord Jesus Christ will transform our humiliated mortal bodies to be like his glorious body according to the working by which he is able to subordinate all things to himself.
Together we will be snatched up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
God our Father has showed us these things to come to comfort and encourage us, dearly beloved.
The Lord Jesus Christ our Savior justified us and there is no more condemnation coming to those who are in Christ Jesus; only glory.
He has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him!
Today we have the new birth spirit, a token of salvation; then we will have the inheritance of that salvation; the reality for which we hope today. But, dearly beloved, that is not all.
After the Church is gathered together, the events concerning the Day of the Lord will begin to unfold. These events are described throughout the Word of God. The book of Revelation concerns the events of the Lord’s Day, not the current events taking place today.
We accurately know from God’s Word that we will not go through the events pertaining to the Lord’s Day. We will not go through this period of judgment on earth because we have already been judged in Christ as righteous. We will have been glorified with Christ before these things begin to take place on earth.
During the Lord’s Day, Jesus Christ will come to the earth and rule until he puts down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign until he puts every enemy under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for God is to put all things in subjection under Jesus Christ’s feet.
When he comes to earth he will take the dominion of the earth that is rightfully his as King of kings and Lord of lords, and he will subdue every enemy.
Today man does the judging; in that day the Lord will do the judging for the Father has committed all judgment unto him.
Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and come forth; some unto life, and some unto damnation. God has given His Son this vast power.
The Lord Jesus Christ will carry out all judgement. He will raise all the dead and separate the just from the unjust, the good seed from the tares.
His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his threshing floor, and gather his wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
When all things have been put in subjection under God’s Son, the Son himself will also be subject under God Who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.
God will make all things new in the new heavens and in the new earth. God Himself will dwell among them and He will be their God. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things will have passed away.
Rejoice, dearly beloved, it will take God our Father the ages to come to display the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. O rejoice! It is Christ in you, the hope of glory!
When we consider the new birth we must consider it in light of the purpose of the ages, which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. The new birth is the beginning of all the glory that is to come.
So as we with unveiled face behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are all transfigured into the same image, from the glory of the new birth, to the glory of the inheritance, even as by the spirit from the Lord. Rejoice!
Thanks be to God Who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you now that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. He is coming!