The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Terror of the Lord, continued

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)

The purpose of the first resurrection from the dead, the resurrection of the royal priesthood, is to change the occupants of the thrones located in the air above the earth.

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Ephesians 2:2)

"The ruler of the authority of the air."

The reason the royal priesthood is caught into the air to meet the Lord is that God's priests, the brothers of Christ, are to be seated on the thrones presently occupied by the fallen dignitaries of the heavens.

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. (I Thessalonians 4:17)

"To meet the Lord in the air."

Earth's multitudes will be forced to continue in their debauchery, in their howling agony, until the rebellious lords of the heavens are forced down from their thrones in the air and the Lord's victorious saints assume those thrones.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: . . . (Revelation 20:4)

But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. (Daniel 7:18)

The purpose of the first resurrection is not that the saints may go to Paradise to dwell in beautiful mansions but so the thrones that govern the creation may be occupied by holy people of the highest integrity—saints who obey God with great sternness and exactness.

God's intention is to replace the fallen angels and demons that are controlling the physical world with the spirits of righteous people made perfect.

Only the victorious saints will be raised at the next coming of the Lord. To tell the lukewarm believers of today that they are going to be raised from the dead, given glorious bodies of supreme power and ability, and then caught up to meet the Commander in Chief in Heaven so they may live in golden mansions is a cruel, unscriptural promise. Nothing of the kind shall ever take place. Tremendous disappointment, and in some cases intense terror, are ahead for the believers of today unless God sends us a revival of repentance.

We need to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, to rejoice with trembling, as the Scripture commands us.

Every person who is raised in the first resurrection is no longer under the authority of the second death.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of [be harmed by] the second death. (Revelation 2:11)

To be continued.