Heavenly Bodies

Last time we talked about the upcoming days of inspection for the church and why it matters now what we do and don't do for King Jesus.

This time we will talk about what Jesus is doing in heaven now and what he will bring with him when he comes back to the earth. Where are the eternal homes of Israel and the church?

Hebrews 9:24,25,26,28
"For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; as the High Priest with his own blood - he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. To those who eagerly wait for him he will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."

At this very moment there is a man in the throne room of God. He is praying for each and every one of us as our High Priest to the Father to overcome just as he did with his time on earth. His law of Love defined the law of Moses with how we are supposed to live life. We are to love each other so much that if necessary one would lay down his life for his friends, even his enemies. The law of Christ is what saves and judges man in the end. It is the righteousness of God.

What Jesus is doing now is very important for the making of what is coming to the earth later. The Bible describes salvation of man as a process, we are "being saved" now and will be finally saved when we are glorified. Salvation will finish when Christ comes back for the second time and we are changed into his likeness (1John 3:2). The salvation of Israel also happens at this time with the coming of their Messiah to rule in Israel. This has not happened yet, what we are doing now by obeying Jesus is making our heavenly bodies and eternal homes. The Jews are awaiting to live peacefully again in their home while discovering who their Messiah is and will be living under his rule like the time of King David in the land God has given them through their father Abraham.

According to Ephesians 2:20-22 we are (the church is) "being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit". Our eternal home is a heavenly body. This "dwelling place" is further described in 2 Corinthians 5:1-2.

"For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our "habitation" which is from heaven".

This Greek word "oiketerion" is used in 2 Corinthians 5 and in Ephesians 2 to describe our future glorified bodies as a permanent place of residence for us. In Jude 6 we see this same word "oiketerion" again describing the place which angels fell from.

"And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own "oiketerion", He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day".

According to scripture, where angels fell from is where we are aspiring to get to. Our real homes are heavenly bodies clothed with eternity that can look upon the face of our Lord who made us perfect by his death. Our gathering is a special occasion in heaven when we are announced to the heavens as the bride of Christ, "a festal assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven" (Heb.12:23). In Revelation we are seen in heaven as the 24 elders and on earth as reigning with the Messiah in his earthly kingdom in Israel (We are multi-dimensional by this point and are not restricted to time and space). Israel will be the focal point of his kingdom in time and space and the church will be with Jesus in the same body he is in (because of marriage and salvation) as Jesus fulfills his place as the Jewish Messiah during the 1000 year reign on earth on the throne of David.

Not only will we be with Christ as his bride but 1John 3:2 tells us that "we will be like Christ is, for we will see him as he is." Whatever new type of body he has we will have the same. This is the end of where we are going, to a home that goes wherever we go. And we will go wherever Christ goes because that's what a bride does with her groom, they dwell together as one flesh and fulfill under God one new purpose different than what they were doing before they got married. This is where the Millennial reign of Christ can get confusing because everyone has new roles in heaven and on earth but eternity has not started yet. The earth has been transformed but is not made new. The Jews have their home in Jerusalem and their Messiah ruling the earth from Israel on the throne of David. Jesus at this point is no longer our High Priest in heaven, he has come to the earth to rule the world as King of the Jews and he has his new family with him all gathered from the time of his first coming, the church. Christ will finally put an end to the Roman empire and with his church will set up a Chiliastic empire on the earth for 1000 years through Israel (just like King David's empire was in Israel). Christ will enforce righteousness on the earth to prepare it for the coming of his Father who will conclude the end of time and space as we know it.

The next phase happens to the earth after the 1000 year reign of the Messiah through Israel, when God the Father has been called their God again by the name of Jesus (Yeshua) and the Father unashamedly prepares a city for them to go into eternity with when time finally comes to an end (Heb.11:13-16). This city promised through faith to all who have walked according to God's ways since He appeared to Abraham, is the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, when all things are made new and God the Father comes to dwell on the earth and resurrect the dead at the start of eternity and the placement of all things created.

As the heavens will see it, us included, it will be the start of everything created as it should have been from the beginning. The church being the bride of Christ and attached to him as she should be, living in Israel in Jerusalem the city of their God, with her resurrected brother Jews from time passed. Jesus is the home of the church as Jerusalem is the home of the Jew. Eternity will be a wonderfully in tune orchestra that has been waiting to play their first note all together as the people of God with everyone in the right key. The key is that of righteousness and we're singing the song of the redeemed.