That which is glorious, the believer has his part in, although it is invisible now.
If the present body passes away "we have a building of God, eternal in the heavens." Nothing in this world is certain, but there is certainty as to heaven and things to come. Of these things we know and are sure.
There was a life yet to come, full of blessing with Christ, and Paul groaned for it. Not that he should be unclothed, but clothed upon, with his house from heaven.
How wonderful when the heart finally finds an Object that satisfies thoroughly. The person no longer desires what is passing and wasting but groans because this present body hinders the laying hold fully of the Object that is on the heart-Christ and the body of glory.
How good to know that God has wrought all this for us and has wrought us for this blessing and has given His Spirit as an earnest of it. Being in the body we are absent from the Lord. We are willing rather to be with the Lord, so we endeavor to be acceptable to Him.
As we arrive in heaven, the first thing will be the judgment seat of Christ. Gain or loss will be seen then when all will be manifested. Christ will be the Judge as our works are judged. He will also be the Judge at the great white throne.
The believer loves the light, loves to be in the light with everything manifested, and desires that what is contrary to the light be taken away forever. "God is light." Except for grace, we fear the light, but then being as Christ is with bodies of glory, we will love the light; all shall be manifested.
The wicked will be judged at the great white throne. What terror will grip souls in that awful day. It must be so because God is holy; His character must be maintained.
When the apostle was beside himself it was when alone he entered into the depths of what grace had brought to him. When Paul was sober it was because he had the care of the saints upon his heart.
There is a new order for those who are in Christ. Those who were dead, but now live, should no longer live to themselves, but to Him that died for them and rose again. Since I live, it is a new order of life, a new creation, of which Christ is head.
Christ is no longer known in the flesh, but if we know Him, it must be in resurrection life.
In the new order "all things are of God," and we are new creatures (a new creation) in Christ Jesus. It is an entirely new world, and of God.
Christ was made sin for us in order that the message of reconciliation should reach us and also go out into the world.