The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Heavenly Jerusalem, #48

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5:5)

The endowments of authority and power that bring status and abilities in the Kingdom of God are denied him because he has not overcome his covetousness. According to II Corinthians 5:10 he will receive the reward of covetousness. He is in danger of being cast into outer darkness.

If the reader should think this too harsh he needs only to consider the following:

And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)

Not the unbeliever, the "unprofitable servant."

Now the full authority of Christ comes into play. It is Christ's decision, and His alone, whether this man is granted eternal life or is cast into outer darkness. Christ has been given all authority of judgment by the Father. He has authority over all flesh, and gives eternal life to whom He will. (We see this full authority exercised in the case of the thief on the cross, whom Jesus took with Him to Paradise.)

If Christ judges the individual to be worthy of the Kingdom of God, he will be brought forward to eternal life in the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. If Christ decides that the individual is not worthy of the Kingdom of God, and blots his name from the Book of Life, he will have his part in the Lake of Fire.

In the Day of Redemption, Christ will complete the work of deliverance for whomever He will. There is no way of appealing the decision of Christ. The Father has given Him all authority in Heaven and on the earth.

The Scripture does not say in vain:

Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalms 2:10-12)

It is not that the Lord willingly keeps us from the glory of the Kingdom. It is that we ourselves allow the things of the world to prevent our pursuit of the Kingdom. It is we who judge ourselves unworthy of eternal life.

If someone gave us a valuable horse which, if properly trained, would be worth many thousands of dollars, and we allowed the horse to starve to death, we could not rightfully claim someone took away our gift because we allowed the horse to die.

So it is in the Kingdom of God. If we slay our own resurrection life by allowing the things of the world to choke out the Divine Life that has been planted in us, we cannot then say Christ kept us from the glory of the Kingdom. The truth is, we kept ourselves from the Kingdom, not being able to rise when the trumpet sounds because of our lack of spiritual life. In this manner, we demonstrated that we are not worthy of the Kingdom of God, not having been willing to suffer for it (II Thessalonians 1:5).

To be continued.