302. Where Are the Dead Who Die in the Lord?

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Phil. 1:21. Since Christ cannot die, we who have His life cannot die either. Knowing God and the One He sent, Jesus Christ, is eternal life.

Paul writes: “For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.” Phil. 1:23-24.

It is much, much better to depart and be with Christ. It is better because then we will be free from this body of death, which has sin dwelling in it. Rom. 7:24. Our spirit will become liberated and full of joy. While we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, but when we leave this body, we will be present with the Lord. 2 Cor. 5:6-8.

As long as we remain in the body, we are afflicted by sin, both our own sin and others’ sin. If we are God-fearing, we will experience the fellowship of His sufferings while we are in the body. In this fellowship we are more and more surrendered to the death of Christ so that His life can be manifested in our mortal flesh. It costs us dearly to win this growth and development, but all of these sufferings will end on the day we leave this earth. Here on earth, God-fearing people experience a separation between their soul and their spirit, because their human spirit is being made alive by the second Adam and their soul is being poured out in the death of Christ. This is exactly what the Master experienced. Isa. 53:12; James 4:5; 1 Cor. 15:45.

When a person passes away in the body of Christ (or as we say, dies), the work in that person is finished, and they go home to the Lord, or more correctly, they are at home with the Lord. They are with the spirits of just men made perfect on Mount Zion, as it is written: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant . . . .” [Emphasis added].

Notice that it says, “You have come.” We have already come there while we are here on earth because our spirit is raised with Christ. Will we not feel more at home there with the Lord when we leave this body?

Martha said about Lazarus, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” She really believed that he was going to remain buried in the ground all these hundreds of years. But what did Jesus answer? “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:24-26.

The thief went into Paradise with Jesus on the same day that he died because he believed. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive, and God is their God.

So we can rejoice together with Paul and say, “It is so much better to depart from here and be at home with the Lord.” But we will not receive our resurrected bodies until the first resurrection. They will be glorified bodies.

There is one thing we must be conscious of which contributes greatly to our glory with Christ.

It is written that we are to grow. Being faithful to the truth in love, we grow up in all things into Him who is the Head, Christ, from whom the whole body is joined and knit together by what every joint supplies.

This knitting together will continue, and it will be a glory that lasts for all eternity. He binds us together, and what God has joined together, no man shall separate. In this case, no one can separate us because we are joined together in the resurrection. Think to be joined together for all eternity with those you have loved here. Not only that, but we will be joined together with Christ and all the saints who have lived through all the ages. What a glory, what a body, what a church!

We no longer have to live all our lives in bondage through fear of death because Christ has destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. Heb. 2:14-15. And He has raised us up and seated us in heaven together with Him.

What a glorious hope: the resurrection, where death is gain! Jesus, as Mediator and High Priest of a new covenant of the good things to come, went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Heb. 9:11-12.

This clearly shows that those who follow their heavenly High Priest into the Most Holy Place receive divine nature because they lose their life in this world. A change of nature is more than forgiveness of sins. Your sins can be forgiven, and still your nature can remain the same. The thief came into Paradise before Christ ascended into heaven, because Jesus said on the cross: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Forgiveness of sins gives us access to Paradise. Access to Paradise is open again. But the apostle Paul did not say that he had come to Paradise; he had come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, etc.

Here each one of us determines for ourselves whether we will have earthly glory or heavenly glory. Paradise is the earthly glory. The heavenly Jerusalem is the heavenly glory. The earthly glory is reconciliation by the death of Jesus Christ when we were enemies. The heavenly glory is salvation through the life of Jesus Christ after we have been reconciled. Rom. 5:10.

Jesus has the winnowing fan in His hand. The more we run in the race, the further we will get. If we faithfully follow the laws that are written in our hearts and minds, we will gain incredible heavenly glory. The way is new and living; it goes through the veil—that is, His flesh.

God is righteous. He gives greater glory to those who are faithful and who obey His laws than He does to those who are slack, indifferent, and earthly-minded. This will become evident in the resurrection of the dead. There, one has the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and one star differs from another star in glory. “There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.” 1 Cor. 15:40-41. All this is written for our instruction.

Even here, in our earthly bodies, we recognize that different people have varying degrees of spirituality. This difference will remain in all eternity, for God is righteous. He gives greater glory to those with greater godly fear than He gives to those who have less.