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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Ark of His Covenant, continued
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23)
Participation in the first resurrection was the goal of the Apostle Paul and is to be the goal of the saint who is living in victory. The remainder of these particular essays discuss the requirements for participating in the first resurrection, the resurrection out from among the dead.
There are several types and statements in the Scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament, that portray the temporary division of the Christian Church, the Body of Christ, into a warlike remnant, and the remainder of the Church. The purpose of the division is that the warlike remnant may defeat the enemy and establish the Kingdom, a David-type victory over Goliath, so that the remainder of God's Israel may enjoy the righteousness, peace, and joy of the Kingdom.
It is our point of view that only the warlike remnant will be raised when the Lord appears, at the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, and that these saints will serve as a ruling priesthood with the Lord Jesus over the saved nations of the earth.
The rest of the dead, including the remainder of the elect as well as all the peoples of the earth, will be raised at the end of the thousand-year period, according to our understanding. Those whose names are found in the Book of Life will be given back their bodies and will enter the glory of the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. They are saved to the new world of righteousness. Those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Each individual will stand before God in his body and be judged according to his or her works.
Some of the types and statements that suggest to us the temporary division of the Church are as follows:
* Gideon's 300. The story of Gideon and how his remnant of warriors defeated the enemy may be the strongest of the Old-Testament pictures of the coming of the Lord.
The mention of the barley bread, in the story of Gideon, is significant in that barley was the grain reaped during the feast of firstfruits. The barley bread suggests that Gideon's 300 were a firstfruits of Israel.
And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. (Judges 7:13)
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: (Leviticus 23:10)
The "sheaf of the firstfruits" was from the barley harvest.
To be continued.