The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Person and Work of Christ, #5

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. (Revelation 3:4)

The emergence of the true members of the Body of Christ can be observed in the words of the Lord Jesus to the believers in Sardis. Of this assembly of Christian believers only a few were found worthy to participate with the Head.

What, then, of the Christian believers who have not been found worthy to walk in white with Christ? We are not certain. The Father has given all judgment to Jesus.

Present Christian doctrine holding that all believers in Christ will be given approximately the same reward is a destructive error. Will all those who followed Jesus of Nazareth sit on thrones judging the tribes of Israel and the nations of the earth, or just those who left all and bore His reproach to the end? (Matthew 19:28).

It is not true that all who profess faith in Jesus Christ will participate in the glory of the first resurrection from the dead. This marvelous reward will be given to those who, through the Divine grace in Christ, have overcome the world, Satan, and their own lusts and self-will (Revelation 12:11).

Christ, the Servant of the Lord, is Jesus. He is Lord of all. One of the main purposes of the interval of time between His first and second comings is the forming of a Wife from His body and blood. She is His Body. She is His fullness, His glory. She is bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh.

She eternally will be with Him in all He is, in all He does, in every place He goes. She is one with Him. His inheritance is her inheritance. His destiny is her destiny. He has surrendered His individuality in order to be one with her and she has surrendered her individuality to be one with Him. It is the greatest love story of all.

She has been made perfect in Him, having been refined in the fire of God. She never can be considered apart from Him and He never can be considered apart from her. She is one in Him as He is One in and with the Father. The Father loves her as He loves His only begotten Son. She has been formed from the body and blood of God's dear Son. She is of His Divine Nature as well as of His humanity.

This is the true Church, the Body of Christ. She is called, justified, and glorified by election. She is made perfect in righteousness, in holiness, in obedience to God, and in union with her Head, by Divine Glory and fiery suffering.

She is "the choice one of her that bare her" (Song of Solomon 6:9). There is a firstfruits, a bride who will be born of the larger bride, the Church, who will be a "holy of holies" to the Lord Jesus (Revelation 14:1-5). She is as beautiful as the moon, as pure as the sun, and as terrible as an army with banners.

To be continued.