Clarion Letters – The Light of Life – Part 4 (Final)    

Greetings Saints –

We’ve come to our final message on God’s light.

In Part 1 we learned about God’s light in the beginning and the various lights He created. In Part 2 we learned about the radiant light of Christ – its initial entrance in the world and the Church’s current priestly calling to steward it. Then, in Part 3 we learned about evidence of His light, including genuine signs, wonders, and various miracles of power He is demonstrating in this age.

In part 4 now we’ll explore the role of God’s light in the coming age. This will bring us full circle back to His original design and intent for His creation and people.

The Age to Come

Let’s begin by first defining what the coming age is and when it will begin.

According to the author of Hebrews, this is a foundational principle and essential building block of truth for God’s saints. We should not build anything until the foundation is first completed:

Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. – Hebrews 6:1-2 NASB20

There are 6 foundational stones that must be laid down in this passage:

1. Repentance from dead works (turning from sin and legalism)
2. Faith toward God (salvation in Christ by Faith through His grace)
3. Instructions about baptisms (baptism in water, baptism in Spirit, and baptism/immersion in the Body of Christ)
4. Laying on of hands (Gifts, ministries, commissioning Kingdom work, spiritual transferences, etc.)
5. Resurrection of the dead
6. Eternal judgment

While these are elementary truths to learn, they are mostly realities to personally experience across time.

The first four are milestones to experience in this present age. Unfortunately, many saints in the Body of Christ do not have these foundations laid and are experiencing great frustrations in building up their spiritual houses as a result. 

The last two are milestones in the coming age.

Christ’s Resurrection Lights

According to the prophet Daniel, the resurrection of the dead (5) is the key foundational milestone which will signal the end of this age and the beginning of the next. Daniel saw the resurrection in a vision approximately 2193 years ago and recorded it: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace [and] everlasting contempt. – Daniel 12:2 NASB20

Notice we do not inherit eternal life, but everlasting life. Meaning, we have a beginning but will not have an ending. Our lives will last forever afterwards. However, God is the only one who possesses eternality. He has no beginning or end and has never not existed.

The resurrection will trigger Christ’s light to be seen in great measure amongst billions of people.

Recall in Part 2 that after someone receives salvation, their spirit comes alive again and becomes a lamp of Christ’s light. Their body then becomes a temple to house it. Currently, we as God’s saints are accumulating light inside us – from glory to glory – as by the spirit of the Lord:

But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB20:

During the resurrection, when Christ returns and the last trumpet sounds, the light and glory that has accumulated within our inner man will be brought forth and envelope the outer man. Once it breaks the surface, it will transform our natural bodies and make them immortal.

Christ, as our hope, will glorify our bodies by His Spirit which He has deposited in us. This is our future inheritance. When He returns, He will be fully redeeming us as His own prized possession (Ephesians 1:13).

We will experience the exact same supernatural activity Christ did when His body was resurrected from the dead, So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable [body,] it is raised an imperishable [body;] – 1 Corinthians 15:42 NASB20

Furthermore, different saints will shine with different levels of glory and brightness. This will be based on how well each of us stewarded His light in this age: There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. – 1 Corinthians 15:41 NASB20

According to the Spirit of the Lord, our glorified bodies will look like stars in the night sky. Those who have helped lead others to Christ and His light of salvation will shine the brightest:

“And those who have insight will shine like the glow of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. – Daniel 12:3 NASB20

This is a great secret and mystery which God kept hidden for thousands of years: “But as for you, Daniel, keep these words secret and seal up the book until the end of time; many will roam about, and knowledge will increase.” – Daniel 12:4 NASB20

After Christ ascended, this mystery was revealed to Paul. It will increasingly be illuminated and highlighted to His saints as this current age comes to a close. Knowing this is coming and our future reality, each should prioritize and focus on doing the work the Lord has designated to each:  

Therefore, my beloved brothers [and sisters,] be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not [in] vain in the Lord. – 1 Corinthians 15:58 NASB20

God’s Light in New Heavens and Earth

The next foundational stone in the coming age God will lay down following the resurrection of the dead will be eternal judgment. The Father has appointed a day of judgment for all people who have lived and will ever live: “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” -Hebrews 9:28.

He has divided His judgment into 3 categories of people groups:

1. Saints (those within His Household)
2. Gentiles (those outside it)
3. Jews (His original chosen people)

Each group has its own record book. Each book contains detailed information on each person named within it. Our lives are being recorded 24/7. There is no detail, intent, motive, or action which the Father will not have knowledge on.

Eternal judgment will come first to the saints (those within His household) whose names are recorded in the book of Life: “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” – 1 Peter 4:17

Saints will be judged for rewards, not sin. Of things concerning His eternal judgments, we will not go into further detail today.

After His judgments, the existing heavens and earth with its lights will be replaced with a new heavens and earth:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer [any] sea. – Revelation 21:1 NASB20

This is not something to fear, but rather, look forward to as something magnificent and far beyond our imagination. It will far excel the grand beauty and splendor of our current Universe. God will use fire to replace all existing matter with new and better materials: as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. – 2 Peter 3:12 NIV

Afterward a city, called the new Jerusalem, will descend out of the Heavenly realm where the Father is and reside within His new creation. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. – Revelation 21:2 NASB20

This is the place Christ went to prepare for us when He said: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, [there] you also will be. – John 14:3 NASB20

Christ has been preparing this place for His people for nearly 2,000 years now. This great city will have no sun or any physical light source. God’s own inner light and glory will illuminate it:

And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp [is] the Lamb. – Revelation 21:23 NASB20

At this point in the coming age, we will have been resurrected and possess our new glorified bodies which will be emanating their own light and glory. As a result, we will collectively bring our light into the city to brighten it up even more:

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. – Revelation 21:24 NASB20

We will reign in this city face to face with God and the Lamp forever more: …and they will reign forever and ever. – Revelation 22:5 NASB20

Conclusion

The resurrection will demarcate the end of this age. When Christ returns, He will sound a clarion call for His light within us to break forth. This will cause our bodies to be clothed with life, immortality, and glory. The Spirit of God inside us will perform this. After judgment, we will dwell with God and He with us face-to-face in a great city which will be illuminated continuously by His own glory and light, as well as the glory we personally inherit.

As God’s people, we need to be prepared for the age to come. We are called to accumulate His light and glory by keeping our eyes on Christ and letting it shine in the world by leading others to Him and focusing on the prophetic truths He reveals.