A Christian Family Watches the Heavens BurnBible World
3:132 Peter 3:13
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
According to God's promise believers look for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness alone dwells, to come after the present heavens and earth and its works are dissolved and burned up. They do not appear until after the thousand years, after the wicked are raised and destroyed by devouring fire from God and after the saints have rested and reigned, when that same fire purifies the whole earth and removes every sign of the curse. It is not this present earth darkened by death and the curse, but the earth cleansed by fire and restored to its original loveliness, where there is no sin, sorrow, sickness, mourning, death, violence or oppression, but peace, security and joy in the presence of God and the Lamb. This renewed earth is the promised inheritance of the meek, the saints and those loyal to God who keep His commandments, a renovated immortal people who bear Christ's likeness, while the rebellious, disobedient and impure have no place there. Because all these things shall be dissolved and such things are looked for, believers must consider what manner of persons to be in all holy conduct and godliness, being diligent to be found in peace without spot and blameless, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.
Promise and Dissolution
According to God's promise, believers look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness, to come after the present heavens, earth, and its works are dissolved and burned up. This promised renewal is the reason for looking for the coming day of God and for living in holiness to be found in peace, without spot, and blameless. Those living in the close of this earth's history look for it according to that promise, growing in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and beware lest, being led away with the error of the wicked, they fall from steadfastness.
This belongs to the coming day of God, the day of the Lord that comes as a thief in the night, stealing unawares upon people. The coming is near at hand in the close of this earth's history, in the last remnant of time when prophecy is fulfilling, Christ will soon come with power and great glory, and the end of all things is at hand. Therefore no one should say in the heart that the Lord delays His coming, but life is lived with both time and eternity in view, with souls to save or to lose, calling for repentance and flight from coming wrath, keeping the soul in the love of God, and rousing to immediate preparation with no time to lose. This requires not only watching but praying and working and waiting, sounding the note of warning in earnest words, being instant in season and out of season, opening the door to all who will come to Jesus repenting of sins, with youthful zeal and ardor and all powers trained and consecrated to service in well-organized effort to glorify God and bless others.
The dissolution means the heavens pass away with great noise and being on fire are dissolved, the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth and its works are burned up and totally dissolved. It will be even more thorough than great city fires like Chicago and London, proving how quickly God can create and how quickly He can destroy. Because all these things shall be dissolved, those who look for such things must consider what manner of persons to be in all holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. They must take heed to themselves lest hearts weighed down with excess and drunkenness and cares of this life let that day come unaware as a snare upon all on earth, but watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape and to stand before the Son of man, receiving divine inspiration from heaven as the only safety that qualifies finite men to be co-laborers with Christ and to heed every word of solemn instruction for this time. This calls finite men to fear God rather than exalt themselves against Him with corrupting vain words, to hear His voice calling to repentance, to go forward without standing still, to leave the neither-cold-nor-hot Laodicean condition for a fresh new experience, and to count His longsuffering as salvation.
The chapter upholds Bible truth alone as worth living for, upholding God and His glory against any pleasing sophistry of human wisdom. Its prophecies of the wickedness that would prevail during the last days are fulfilled in the abominations and crimes of the present state of the world and call true Christians to live lives of humility and prayer. It is also part of the warning about people who caused trouble in the early church, whose like must be faced today.
Timing and Cleansing Fire
The promised new heavens and new earth do not appear until after the thousand years are finished, after the wicked dead are raised and destroyed and after the saints have rested in the holy city and reigned as kings and priests. Their future establishment in the kingdom at Christ's second coming and in the judgment has not yet taken place, but belongs to the close of the thousand years when judgment has been executed. All the righteous dead are raised by the voice of the Son of God at the first resurrection, while all who are raised at the second resurrection are burned up and cease to exist. Only then, when the wicked have received the punishment meted out by the saints in unison with Jesus during the thousand years, does the glorious inheritance open before the saints.
At the end of the thousand years Satan is loosed out of his prison just at the time the wicked dead are raised. He deceives them by making them believe they can take the Holy City from the saints, and with Satan at their head they all march up around the camp of the saints and gather around the city ready to take it. Then God breathes from His high throne upon the city a breath of devouring fire that comes down upon them and consumes them. As Christ is the vine and His children the branches, so Satan is the root and his children are the branches, and at the final destruction of Gog and Magog the whole wicked host is burned up root and branch and ceases to exist.
The same fire that consumes the wicked purifies the whole earth. It melts the broken, ragged mountains with fervent heat and consumes the atmosphere and all the stubble. Every sign of the curse is gone, the curse itself is gone and the universe is clean, the great controversy is forever ended, and the renewed earth stands beautiful and holy. The feet of the wicked will never desecrate the earth made new, for they never defile the renewed earth prepared as the Paradise of God.
The city remains in heaven for a thousand years and then comes down to this earth. Then Jesus descends with the saints upon the Mount of Olives, Christ again stands upon it, and as His feet rest upon it the mountain parts asunder and becomes a mighty plain, a great plain prepared for the Paradise of God and the city of God to rest upon. This sin-cursed earth, including Jerusalem, is purified from every stain of sin by the purifying fires of heaven, for Jerusalem has rested under God's curse and a dark blot of guilt since the rejection and crucifixion of Christ and will never again be sacred until that cleansing. The New Earth is thus the setting for Christ's glorious reign following His coming, the resurrection of the dead, and the destruction of Satan and sin, when the earth is purified so the city can rest upon it without corruption and none of its inhabitants shall ever know corruption.
Character of New Earth
The promised inheritance is not this present earth darkened with the shadow of death and the curse, but new heavens and a new earth wherein righteousness dwells. This earth will be purified by fire and cleansed of sin and every defilement and every mark of the curse, and made without sin for a better place. Once purified from every defilement, it will be restored to its original loveliness as when God pronounced creation very good, renewed by God and freed from sin and sorrow, to the rejoicing of heavenly beings.
There righteousness alone dwells, the curse is gone, the universe is clean, the great controversy is forever ended, and every sign of the curse is gone from the beautiful and holy renewed earth. After the wicked have been consumed and the earth purified, the new earth is the saints' eternal inheritance, belonging to them forever where they possess the kingdom forever and nothing impure will disturb their peace and happiness. It is the eternally secure home of glory and the eternal weight of glory, purified so that the city can rest upon it without corruption and none of its inhabitants shall ever know what corruption is, as part of the final triumph and the end of the conflict between Christ and Satan.
There is no disappointment, sorrow, sin, sickness, funeral processions, mourning, death, partings, broken hearts, crying, violence, hunger, thirst, or striking heat and sun, but peace, security, and joy. Heaven is likewise free from dissension, selfishness, poverty, sickness, and oppression, for it is a home for a renovated people who bear Christ's character and walk with Him in white. There God's people will live in peace and security and enjoy the work of their hands.
The throne of God and of the Lamb is in it and His servants serve Him, Jesus is there and peace is there, and He who has mercy on them leads them and guides them by springs of water. There God's people will live in the city of God, which remains in heaven for a thousand years and then comes down to this earth, and will see what God has done for them. At Christ's coming He will change the earth by His own power and make all things eternally new into a secure abode of matchless beauty and perfect loveliness that present nature only faintly reflects, bringing His people to a life with no sin or sorrow. Christ's sacrifice redeems humanity and restores the dominion lost through the first Adam, so that God's purpose in creating the earth as the home of holy, happy beings will be fulfilled in the eternal home of the redeemed. The renewed earth will thus fulfill prophecies that had been applied to Christ's first advent.
Heirs and Inheritance
The whole earth made new is the promised, glorious inheritance of the meek, the saints, and those loyal to God who keep His commandments. It is not this present earth darkened with the shadow of death and the curse, but the earth purified by fire after the wicked are consumed, with every sign of the curse gone, the universe clean, and the great controversy forever ended. Then the glorious and beautiful inheritance opens before the saints after the execution of the judgment at the close of the thousand years, when fire breathed from God consumes the wicked and the same fire melts the broken ragged mountains with fervent heat and consumes the atmosphere and all the stubble. They inherit the whole earth made new with shouts of Glory, Alleluia, and possess the kingdom forever as enduring heavenly treasure that cannot perish, be defiled, or fade away.
It is a home for a renovated, redeemed, immortal people who bear Christ's character and likeness, share the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, and walk with Him in white in God's Paradise. There righteousness alone dwells and nothing impure disturbs their peace and happiness, with no dissension, selfishness, poverty, sickness, or oppression. Those who share that divine nature begin to live the heavenly order here below and carry it into every line of work, showing a purified life now in preparation for the higher life, with physical, mental, and moral powers trained under the Holy Spirit in purity and goodness and talents faithfully used now for wider and nobler service hereafter. When Christ comes He takes only those who have purified their souls by obeying the truth, who have fully received and believed in Jesus and followed His example unto sonship, some raised from the grave and some changed alive from mortal bodies subject to disease to immortal and glorified with a higher nature.
The rebellious and disobedient have no place there, for those who refuse to learn obedience and submission here cannot share its peace. Those who persist in breaking the fifth commandment by refusing to honor parents with respect and love will not enter the promised eternal home. No swindlers, falsifiers, liars, adulterers, or cruel-minded persons will be there nor see His face. So the life belonging there puts off fornication, uncleanness, evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech, and lying, and puts on mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, charity, the peace of God, thankfulness, and doing all in word and deed in the name of the Lord Jesus.
This hope gives purpose to teaching people to honor and obey God's law, that they may be prepared for life there and have a part in the saved home together with the holy city. These heavenly treasures give joy and consolation to those who long for God, and contemplating them draws the heart toward God and away from the world.
Holy Living While Waiting
Because all present things will be dissolved, those who look for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells must consider what manner of persons to be in all holy conduct and godliness and be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless. This looking belongs to the coming day of God, when the heavens pass away with great noise and being on fire are dissolved, the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth and its works are burned up totally, more thoroughly than in great city fires like Chicago and London, showing how quickly God can create and destroy. That holy, godly, spotless character is the standard for every Christian, reached not by natural ability but through grace given by Jesus Christ, by faith in Jesus Christ working by love and purifying the soul, wrestling for mastery over every sin and checking every impatient, fretful expression, and walking even as Christ walked. The nearness of that day calls those in the close of this earth's history to leave the neither-cold-nor-hot Laodicean condition for a fresh new experience, to fear God rather than exalt self against Him with corrupting vain words, to hear His call to repentance and go forward without standing still, and to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour lest, being led away with the error of the wicked, they fall from steadfastness.
They look for and hasten the coming of the day of God by repenting and fleeing from coming wrath, watching and praying always to escape and stand before the Son of man, and working and waiting while warning others that the end of all things is at hand with immediate preparation needed and no time to lose. No one should say in the heart My Lord delayeth His coming, but all having souls to save or to lose must keep souls in the love of God, count His longsuffering as salvation, be instant in season and out of season, open the door to all who will come to Jesus repenting of sins, and sound the note of warning in earnest words, not only watching but praying and working and waiting. They must beware lest hearts weighed down with excess, drunkenness, and cares let the day that comes as a thief in the night come unaware as a snare, and lest being led away with the error of the wicked they fall from steadfastness instead of growing in grace and knowledge.
Readiness does not come from relying on one's own righteousness but requires the righteousness of Christ, received by divine inspiration from heaven which alone gives safety and qualifies finite men to be co-laborers with Christ as a people bearing a solemn message where every word of instruction for this time must be heeded. Only those who have purified their souls by obeying the truth, who have fully received and believed in Jesus and followed His example unto power to become sons of God, will be taken when He comes, some raised from the grave and some changed alive from mortal bodies subject to disease to immortal and glorified with a higher nature. Physical, mental, and moral powers trained under the Holy Spirit in purity and goodness, with nothing of Satan's science spoiling Christ's pattern, begin the heavenly order here below and are strengthened and prepared to do heaven's appointed works, with faithful use of entrusted talents in this life leading to their use on a wider and nobler plan in the future life, and with youthful zeal and ardor employed to glorify God and bless others through well-organized effort. The life belonging there puts off fornication, uncleanness, evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech, and lying, and puts on mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, charity, the peace of God, thankfulness, and doing all in word and deed in the name of the Lord Jesus, for no swindlers, falsifiers, liars, adulterers, or cruel-minded persons will be there nor see His face, having shared the divine nature and escaped corruption in the world through lust.
The verse therefore calls for diligence and readiness for the appearing of Jesus Christ, for solemn waiting and earnest, vigilant preparation with both time and eternity in view. Life is lived keeping the soul in the love of God while looking beyond the present world to the coming day of God when heavens and elements are dissolved.
According to God's promise believers look for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness alone dwells, to come after the present heavens and earth and its works are dissolved and burned up. They do not appear until after the thousand years, after the wicked are raised and destroyed by devouring fire from God and after the saints have rested and reigned, when that same fire purifies the whole earth and removes every sign of the curse. It is not this present earth darkened by death and the curse, but the earth cleansed by fire and restored to its original loveliness, where there is no sin, sorrow, sickness, mourning, death, violence or oppression, but peace, security and joy in the presence of God and the Lamb. This renewed earth is the promised inheritance of the meek, the saints and those loyal to God who keep His commandments, a renovated immortal people who bear Christ's likeness, while the rebellious, disobedient and impure have no place there. Because all these things shall be dissolved and such things are looked for, believers must consider what manner of persons to be in all holy conduct and godliness, being diligent to be found in peace without spot and blameless, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.
Promise and Dissolution
According to God's promise, believers look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness, to come after the present heavens, earth, and its works are dissolved and burned up. This promised renewal is the reason for looking for the coming day of God and for living in holiness to be found in peace, without spot, and blameless. Those living in the close of this earth's history look for it according to that promise, growing in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and beware lest, being led away with the error of the wicked, they fall from steadfastness.
This belongs to the coming day of God, the day of the Lord that comes as a thief in the night, stealing unawares upon people. The coming is near at hand in the close of this earth's history, in the last remnant of time when prophecy is fulfilling, Christ will soon come with power and great glory, and the end of all things is at hand. Therefore no one should say in the heart that the Lord delays His coming, but life is lived with both time and eternity in view, with souls to save or to lose, calling for repentance and flight from coming wrath, keeping the soul in the love of God, and rousing to immediate preparation with no time to lose. This requires not only watching but praying and working and waiting, sounding the note of warning in earnest words, being instant in season and out of season, opening the door to all who will come to Jesus repenting of sins, with youthful zeal and ardor and all powers trained and consecrated to service in well-organized effort to glorify God and bless others.
The dissolution means the heavens pass away with great noise and being on fire are dissolved, the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth and its works are burned up and totally dissolved. It will be even more thorough than great city fires like Chicago and London, proving how quickly God can create and how quickly He can destroy. Because all these things shall be dissolved, those who look for such things must consider what manner of persons to be in all holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. They must take heed to themselves lest hearts weighed down with excess and drunkenness and cares of this life let that day come unaware as a snare upon all on earth, but watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape and to stand before the Son of man, receiving divine inspiration from heaven as the only safety that qualifies finite men to be co-laborers with Christ and to heed every word of solemn instruction for this time. This calls finite men to fear God rather than exalt themselves against Him with corrupting vain words, to hear His voice calling to repentance, to go forward without standing still, to leave the neither-cold-nor-hot Laodicean condition for a fresh new experience, and to count His longsuffering as salvation.
The chapter upholds Bible truth alone as worth living for, upholding God and His glory against any pleasing sophistry of human wisdom. Its prophecies of the wickedness that would prevail during the last days are fulfilled in the abominations and crimes of the present state of the world and call true Christians to live lives of humility and prayer. It is also part of the warning about people who caused trouble in the early church, whose like must be faced today.
Timing and Cleansing Fire
The promised new heavens and new earth do not appear until after the thousand years are finished, after the wicked dead are raised and destroyed and after the saints have rested in the holy city and reigned as kings and priests. Their future establishment in the kingdom at Christ's second coming and in the judgment has not yet taken place, but belongs to the close of the thousand years when judgment has been executed. All the righteous dead are raised by the voice of the Son of God at the first resurrection, while all who are raised at the second resurrection are burned up and cease to exist. Only then, when the wicked have received the punishment meted out by the saints in unison with Jesus during the thousand years, does the glorious inheritance open before the saints.
At the end of the thousand years Satan is loosed out of his prison just at the time the wicked dead are raised. He deceives them by making them believe they can take the Holy City from the saints, and with Satan at their head they all march up around the camp of the saints and gather around the city ready to take it. Then God breathes from His high throne upon the city a breath of devouring fire that comes down upon them and consumes them. As Christ is the vine and His children the branches, so Satan is the root and his children are the branches, and at the final destruction of Gog and Magog the whole wicked host is burned up root and branch and ceases to exist.
The same fire that consumes the wicked purifies the whole earth. It melts the broken, ragged mountains with fervent heat and consumes the atmosphere and all the stubble. Every sign of the curse is gone, the curse itself is gone and the universe is clean, the great controversy is forever ended, and the renewed earth stands beautiful and holy. The feet of the wicked will never desecrate the earth made new, for they never defile the renewed earth prepared as the Paradise of God.
The city remains in heaven for a thousand years and then comes down to this earth. Then Jesus descends with the saints upon the Mount of Olives, Christ again stands upon it, and as His feet rest upon it the mountain parts asunder and becomes a mighty plain, a great plain prepared for the Paradise of God and the city of God to rest upon. This sin-cursed earth, including Jerusalem, is purified from every stain of sin by the purifying fires of heaven, for Jerusalem has rested under God's curse and a dark blot of guilt since the rejection and crucifixion of Christ and will never again be sacred until that cleansing. The New Earth is thus the setting for Christ's glorious reign following His coming, the resurrection of the dead, and the destruction of Satan and sin, when the earth is purified so the city can rest upon it without corruption and none of its inhabitants shall ever know corruption.
Character of New Earth
The promised inheritance is not this present earth darkened with the shadow of death and the curse, but new heavens and a new earth wherein righteousness dwells. This earth will be purified by fire and cleansed of sin and every defilement and every mark of the curse, and made without sin for a better place. Once purified from every defilement, it will be restored to its original loveliness as when God pronounced creation very good, renewed by God and freed from sin and sorrow, to the rejoicing of heavenly beings.
There righteousness alone dwells, the curse is gone, the universe is clean, the great controversy is forever ended, and every sign of the curse is gone from the beautiful and holy renewed earth. After the wicked have been consumed and the earth purified, the new earth is the saints' eternal inheritance, belonging to them forever where they possess the kingdom forever and nothing impure will disturb their peace and happiness. It is the eternally secure home of glory and the eternal weight of glory, purified so that the city can rest upon it without corruption and none of its inhabitants shall ever know what corruption is, as part of the final triumph and the end of the conflict between Christ and Satan.
There is no disappointment, sorrow, sin, sickness, funeral processions, mourning, death, partings, broken hearts, crying, violence, hunger, thirst, or striking heat and sun, but peace, security, and joy. Heaven is likewise free from dissension, selfishness, poverty, sickness, and oppression, for it is a home for a renovated people who bear Christ's character and walk with Him in white. There God's people will live in peace and security and enjoy the work of their hands.
The throne of God and of the Lamb is in it and His servants serve Him, Jesus is there and peace is there, and He who has mercy on them leads them and guides them by springs of water. There God's people will live in the city of God, which remains in heaven for a thousand years and then comes down to this earth, and will see what God has done for them. At Christ's coming He will change the earth by His own power and make all things eternally new into a secure abode of matchless beauty and perfect loveliness that present nature only faintly reflects, bringing His people to a life with no sin or sorrow. Christ's sacrifice redeems humanity and restores the dominion lost through the first Adam, so that God's purpose in creating the earth as the home of holy, happy beings will be fulfilled in the eternal home of the redeemed. The renewed earth will thus fulfill prophecies that had been applied to Christ's first advent.
Heirs and Inheritance
The whole earth made new is the promised, glorious inheritance of the meek, the saints, and those loyal to God who keep His commandments. It is not this present earth darkened with the shadow of death and the curse, but the earth purified by fire after the wicked are consumed, with every sign of the curse gone, the universe clean, and the great controversy forever ended. Then the glorious and beautiful inheritance opens before the saints after the execution of the judgment at the close of the thousand years, when fire breathed from God consumes the wicked and the same fire melts the broken ragged mountains with fervent heat and consumes the atmosphere and all the stubble. They inherit the whole earth made new with shouts of Glory, Alleluia, and possess the kingdom forever as enduring heavenly treasure that cannot perish, be defiled, or fade away.
It is a home for a renovated, redeemed, immortal people who bear Christ's character and likeness, share the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, and walk with Him in white in God's Paradise. There righteousness alone dwells and nothing impure disturbs their peace and happiness, with no dissension, selfishness, poverty, sickness, or oppression. Those who share that divine nature begin to live the heavenly order here below and carry it into every line of work, showing a purified life now in preparation for the higher life, with physical, mental, and moral powers trained under the Holy Spirit in purity and goodness and talents faithfully used now for wider and nobler service hereafter. When Christ comes He takes only those who have purified their souls by obeying the truth, who have fully received and believed in Jesus and followed His example unto sonship, some raised from the grave and some changed alive from mortal bodies subject to disease to immortal and glorified with a higher nature.
The rebellious and disobedient have no place there, for those who refuse to learn obedience and submission here cannot share its peace. Those who persist in breaking the fifth commandment by refusing to honor parents with respect and love will not enter the promised eternal home. No swindlers, falsifiers, liars, adulterers, or cruel-minded persons will be there nor see His face. So the life belonging there puts off fornication, uncleanness, evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech, and lying, and puts on mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, charity, the peace of God, thankfulness, and doing all in word and deed in the name of the Lord Jesus.
This hope gives purpose to teaching people to honor and obey God's law, that they may be prepared for life there and have a part in the saved home together with the holy city. These heavenly treasures give joy and consolation to those who long for God, and contemplating them draws the heart toward God and away from the world.
Holy Living While Waiting
Because all present things will be dissolved, those who look for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells must consider what manner of persons to be in all holy conduct and godliness and be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless. This looking belongs to the coming day of God, when the heavens pass away with great noise and being on fire are dissolved, the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth and its works are burned up totally, more thoroughly than in great city fires like Chicago and London, showing how quickly God can create and destroy. That holy, godly, spotless character is the standard for every Christian, reached not by natural ability but through grace given by Jesus Christ, by faith in Jesus Christ working by love and purifying the soul, wrestling for mastery over every sin and checking every impatient, fretful expression, and walking even as Christ walked. The nearness of that day calls those in the close of this earth's history to leave the neither-cold-nor-hot Laodicean condition for a fresh new experience, to fear God rather than exalt self against Him with corrupting vain words, to hear His call to repentance and go forward without standing still, and to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour lest, being led away with the error of the wicked, they fall from steadfastness.
They look for and hasten the coming of the day of God by repenting and fleeing from coming wrath, watching and praying always to escape and stand before the Son of man, and working and waiting while warning others that the end of all things is at hand with immediate preparation needed and no time to lose. No one should say in the heart My Lord delayeth His coming, but all having souls to save or to lose must keep souls in the love of God, count His longsuffering as salvation, be instant in season and out of season, open the door to all who will come to Jesus repenting of sins, and sound the note of warning in earnest words, not only watching but praying and working and waiting. They must beware lest hearts weighed down with excess, drunkenness, and cares let the day that comes as a thief in the night come unaware as a snare, and lest being led away with the error of the wicked they fall from steadfastness instead of growing in grace and knowledge.
Readiness does not come from relying on one's own righteousness but requires the righteousness of Christ, received by divine inspiration from heaven which alone gives safety and qualifies finite men to be co-laborers with Christ as a people bearing a solemn message where every word of instruction for this time must be heeded. Only those who have purified their souls by obeying the truth, who have fully received and believed in Jesus and followed His example unto power to become sons of God, will be taken when He comes, some raised from the grave and some changed alive from mortal bodies subject to disease to immortal and glorified with a higher nature. Physical, mental, and moral powers trained under the Holy Spirit in purity and goodness, with nothing of Satan's science spoiling Christ's pattern, begin the heavenly order here below and are strengthened and prepared to do heaven's appointed works, with faithful use of entrusted talents in this life leading to their use on a wider and nobler plan in the future life, and with youthful zeal and ardor employed to glorify God and bless others through well-organized effort. The life belonging there puts off fornication, uncleanness, evil desire, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech, and lying, and puts on mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, charity, the peace of God, thankfulness, and doing all in word and deed in the name of the Lord Jesus, for no swindlers, falsifiers, liars, adulterers, or cruel-minded persons will be there nor see His face, having shared the divine nature and escaped corruption in the world through lust.
The verse therefore calls for diligence and readiness for the appearing of Jesus Christ, for solemn waiting and earnest, vigilant preparation with both time and eternity in view. Life is lived keeping the soul in the love of God while looking beyond the present world to the coming day of God when heavens and elements are dissolved.