◄ Heaven’s March - Man’s Nature and Destiny (12) ►

A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Philippians 3:21

Heavenly Places

We come to Jesus as saviour. We live in Christ for sanctification. We work for the Lord in service, and one day we will be with Him in person – in heavenly places. And that day we will be like Him in character – forever.. an example of His grace towards us, to the principalities and power that be. John tells us that: now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed, what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2.

Future Inheritance

Job in the dire consequences of his situation was taken to the extreme of endurance, until Job received a revelation of God, which surpassed all earthly understanding – and Job was at last able to cry: I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You Job 42:5. This Psalmist rejoiced at this similar hope for the future. He writes: as for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness. Psalm 17:15. And what more glorious reminder of our future inheritance than the words of Paul, who writes: for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20,

Different Bodies

He came to earth to be born into a body of flesh, just like yours and mine, but through His perfection, He broke the sting of death and took on His glorified body – so that we also could escape this restrictive body of sin – to be just like Him. Today we are imprisoned in terrestrial bodies where the life is in the blood. Tomorrow we will be released into celestial bodies – life from the Spirit of Life: bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, Ephesians 5:30.. with the Spirit pulsing our being. Body and soul made perfect, to unite with our already-perfected spirit.

Transformed Likeness

What a transformation –  from our weak, helpless, diseased, deformed bodies we have.. changed into His likeness and His image – body soul and spirit: and we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. 1John.3:2

Earnest of the Spirit

Oh yes – that place in heaven, together with the Lord is already yours. Each believer has been given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, Who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. That guarantee is more stable and secure than the Rock of Gibraltar. This earnest – this love-token is more lasting and established than the shining sun: His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Psalm 145:13

Victory in Christ

But until that time of future bliss we live on this earth with its trials and pain, and every day we have a choice.. we can live our life in Him in victory or we can live our lives in defeat and despair. That is what our life in this world amounts to – trials and pain. Jesus Himself told us that: in the world, ye shall have tribulation, but He continues: but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Christian Challenge

And Paul reminds us how we are to live each day of this life: brethren, he writes, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil.3:13, and THEN comes the challenge: therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. Philippians 3:13ff