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In these last days of the countdown to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, I find my heart and mind turning more and more to what lies just ahead for the believers, the born again children of God.The scripture teaches that all Christians will experience a judgment of our works and all will receive or lose a reward based on what remains following the burning of those works. Please notice, it is not the believer (spirit, soul or body) who will be burned and judged, but rather our works.The gospel of our salvation is to believe that Jesus died for our sins and that he was resurrected on the third day. Simple logic dictates that Jesus would not have died for our sins if it was not necessary, but since he did die for our sins, it was necessary that he die for our sins, therefore it is a fact that all men are sinners and that this sin incurred a death penalty. In order to be saved, man must first acknowledge the fact of his sinfulness and agree with God that he is deserving of judgment. The judgment that will be measured out to those who refuse the gospel will finally be the eternal lake of fire. We must judge ourselves guilty and admit that this is what we deserve but that we cannot pay the price ourselves, and when we do, we are saved and delivered from that same lake of fire.Why? Because we have agreed with God that his standard of righteousness is just and perfect and have accepted the remedy, the blood of Jesus, that God himself provided.It is an amazing and awesome thing that salvation could be so very simple.The simple definition of sin is to miss the mark. The law gives us God's standard of perfection, it establishes the mark that we are to aim for, and Jas. 2:10 says to keep the whole law (which consists of six hundred thirteen separate commandments) yet to offend on one point, is to be guilty of all. Other than Jesus, no man could keep the law perfectly because all of us humans have a sin nature dwelling in us.There is one major difference between Jesus and all other humans, and that is the identity of our fathers. All of mankind has inherited a sin nature from our father Adam, but Jesus' father was God. Until the advent of DNA testing, when it is necessary to establish the paternity of a child, the doctors did not check fingerprints or skin, hair or eye color, they checked blood type. Why? Because the blood of a pregnant woman never comes in contact with the blood of her unborn baby. While a woman's body produces eggs every month, those eggs never develop into a baby, or are made alive, unless they are fertilized by the father's sperm. Lev. 17:10 states that the life of the flesh is in the blood. So the egg is not made alive until it is fertilized by the sperm, which in turn produces the blood which makes the fertilized egg (baby) alive.The blood type, then, of the developing unborn child is determined by the father.All of mankind has inherited our blood from our father Adam (Acts 17:26) but Jesus received his blood from his Father, which was God. Therefore the sin nature which all humans (including Paul - Rom. 7:15-25) struggle with is contained in our blood. In order for us to become heavenly creatures, fit to live in God's perfect, holy heaven, that sin nature, which is in our blood, will need to be destroyed.This will happen at the rapture. I Cor. 15:50 states, "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and BLOOD cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. " I John 3:2-3 says, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." We do know some things about Jesus' resurrection body, particularly that it does not have any blood in it. He shed his blood on the cross, and in Luke 24:39 he said, "…handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." We see here a reference to flesh and bone as opposed to the flesh and blood mentioned in I Cor. 15:50.
All living humans have a sin nature dwelling in our blood, Christians are sealed in our hearts with the Holy Spirit which counteracts but does not override this sin nature, and we are only sealed with the Holy Spirit until the redemption of the purchased possession (the body of Christ) which will happen at the resurrection/ rapture (Eph. 4:30). This sin nature will have to be destroyed at the resurrection: like Jesus, our resurrection bodies will not have blood in them. I personally believe the blood will be removed by fire: fire represents judgment and fire consumes. Will it hurt? Probably about as much as having a particularly annoying splinter pulled out of your finger!...
