The Future of God’s True Church

By Minister Gary Boyd

The true Church is now in the time of its greatest danger, persecution of Christian’s worldwide, beheadings, torture and people of the book dying in mass. Nevertheless, the ultimate future of the Church is utter glory.

Jesus Died & Rose Again

The apostle Paul reveals this mystery in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18, “For if we believe Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that sleep in

Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

Glory Glory

This my friends is indescribable glory for each of us, those who are waiting for Jesus and nothing else.

Not better times, more luxuries, better government, better healthcare, or a better retirement.

Requirement for the Rapture

We should be aware that a requirement for the Rapture is given in verse 14….”For if we believe Jesus dies and rose again….” Those who reject the

resurrection of Jesus separate themselves from this glorious promise. So what is the ultimate glory you might ask? “To meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” That is the comfort which many teachers and preachers are desperately trying to take away from the true Church. They enumerate many other events which should take place first and therefore deviate from our real target. We should not look for the Lord, but rather for events presumed to take place before the coming of the Lord.

Paul

The apostle Paul very clearly concludes the description of the event of the Rapture, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).

Our comfort is 1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hasth not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Jesus Promised

Jesus said that when he went away the Lord indicated that He would be leaving to go prepare a "mansion" for each of those who believe in Him. Do you think these "mansions" are literal buildings in heaven that we eventually will live in, or something else?

Here is how that passage is quoted in the King James Version of the Bible:

“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for

you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2,3—KJV)

However, Jesus indicated that wherever He is, we would be in the "place" He has prepared for each of us. After He returns back to earth, to rule and reign, then how could we be in our "mansions" in heaven if He is on the earth, yet we are to be wherever He is? I do not believe that our "mansions" are great big physical structures, which will be brought to earth when we return with Him from heaven, at His second advent. I believe that they are "heavenly" only in the sense that they have been (or will be) manufactured in heaven and will be located in heaven until He appears in the clouds.

Description by Paul

Now consider the following description by Paul:

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)

This seems to indicate that each of us actually will be clothed with our own "eternal house" or "heavenly dwelling," which now is in heaven, but which Jesus will bring with Him when He comes in the clouds. It will not be a structure that we will

enter and exit as we would a building, such as the home in which we live here on earth. Rather, it will be something that will be with us all the time.

In the same passage, Paul also spoke of an "earthly tent" in which we presently live. He noted that after it is destroyed, then we will have a "building" from God, our "eternal house." What, then, could our "earthly tents" be other than our bodies of flesh and bones, within which our spirits and souls presently dwell? Do not our physical bodies clothe our spirits and souls? I believe they do.

The Rapture Event

Describing what will occur at the Rapture event, Paul wrote, “For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then

the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." (1 Corinthians 15:52b-54)

Clothed Spirit & Soul

I believe that the "eternal house" of a believer will be the glorified, imperishable, immortal body which will "clothe" the believer's spirit and soul for eternity. A believer's present "body of death" (Romans 7:24b), indeed, will be transformed into, or "swallowed up" by (1 Corinthians 15:54; 2 Corinthians 5:4), his/her resurrection body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). That everlasting body will be at least as much superior to a physical, earthly body as a mansion is greater than a tent. It will be a perfect, glorious body, made in heaven, with which each of us will be clothed, and in which we will dwell, happily serving God eternally.

Our Reward

The reward then is to follow the light of Jesus to be in the spirit of forevermore for he knows all the secrets that ever were, coming to the light of true knowledge making us pure in our glorified bodies. May God bless you for reading this and I trust I will see you at the Rapture. “Maranatha” ( an Aramaic

word that means “the Lord is coming” or “come, O Lord”).