The highest level of salvation belongs to all saints saved by grace. Grace means that God gives them a special gift of salvation which they do not deserve. God cleanses them from all sin in soul and spirit by the blood of Jesus the moment they believe. God further cleanses them of all sins of the flesh every day they repent and then completely at the Rapture of the Church by His Word symbolized by the water shed from Jesus' riven side. I John 1:7; Ephesians 5:25-27. Without this cleansing, Satan would hold them in hell forever. Acts 26:16-18. These saints receive the "more abundant life" promised by Christ in John 10:10. These saints receive the everlasting life of Christ within themselves the moment they believe. Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:4. This everlasting life is the Spirit of Christ. Romans 8:2.
All saints saved by grace will enjoy far greater benefits and blessings than the recreated people who live on the earth. Heaven will be the home of all saints saved by grace. They will enjoy far greater bliss than those who live on the recreated earth. John 17:24; I Peter 1:4. The Church Age saints will become the Bride of Christ. Revelation 19:7-9; Ephesians 5:25-27; Romans 7:4. One cannot even begin to imagine the benefits and blessings that will accrue to such a position. Saints saved by grace also become the adopted children of God and "joint-heirs with Christ." This can only mean that they will own and enjoy everything that Christ Himself owns and enjoys. Romans 8:14-17. God will also allow all saints saved by grace to retain their basic identities and personalities. When God saves a person by His grace, He cleanses their souls and spirits of all sin by the blood of Jesus and recreates them. This miracle changes their personalities to some extent because they become better and more loving people. Yet, they also retain their basic personalities and identities. The recreated people who live on the recreated earth will lose their former identities and personalities because God will have recreated them as different individuals from a pool of good elements which God recovered from the destruction of their identities and personalities by His wrathful fire. Jesus taught these truths in Matthew 16:24-28; Mark 8:34-38; and Luke 9:23-26. Those who give their lives to Christ to receive His grace will save their lives; that is, they will retain their basic identities and personalities in heaven. Those who attempt to retain their sinful lives will be destroyed by God's fire, but God will recover their good elements from the fire and use them to recreate new people to inhabit His recreated earth. The Old Testament burnt offerings symbolized this burning of sinful systems and God's recovery of His good elements. Matthew 16:27 teaches that God will "reward every man according to his works." When God's Word states "every man," it means exactly that which it states. Every man has done some good works and some bad works. Most of his good works have been tainted by his bad works. God will burn every person not saved by grace with His wrathful fire in order to recover all the elements of His good works which He created in the first place. I Corinthians 3:12-15; Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:15-20.
The second level of salvation rests on God's promise that He will preserve the religion and the nation of Israel forever. I Chronicles 17:9-15; 28:8; Romans 11:26-29; Numbers 18:8. But this promise applies only to Jews who faithfully practice their religion. God will disqualify all Jews who fail to believe in Him from participation in this promise. Ezekiel 20:38; Numbers 15:30-31. Recreated Jerusalem will be the capitol of the recreated earth, and all recreated people will go there to worship. Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 3:17. In Ezekiel 20:40, God promises to restore the original Jewish religion with all of its laws and offerings. In Ezekiel 22:17-22, God promises to melt Israel in His purifying fire, burn the dross, symbolic of sin; and preserve the metals, symbolic of her righteousness. In Ezekiel 37:23-28, God promises that He will cleanse Israel and restore her religion and nation forever. In Ezekiel chapters 40 through 48, God describes the future Temple of restored Israel with its offerings and sacrifices. I Chronicles 17:10-12 relates that Christ alone will build this future Temple. The saints in heaven will enjoy the privilege of seeing and worshipping Christ anytime they desire, but the Temple worshippers on earth will only get to see and worship Christ on the Sabbath and the day of the new moon. Ezekiel 46:1-2.
The third and lowest level of salvation will comprise all recreated people living on a recreated earth. These recreated people will be divided into those of the Jewish religion and nation who will rule the world, and those nations subject to the laws enacted by the ruler nation Israel. Revelation 21:2-3. These recreated people will not be the same individuals who inhabited the former earth. These people will constitute a wholly new creation of God from a pool of all His good elements that He recovered from His consuming fire. God will give them immortal life and freedom from all suffering and pain. Revelation 21:3-5. These are the meek that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 5:5. God calls them "the meek" because He will have stripped them of all excessive pride which is the basis of all sin. God will absolutely separate and recover all of His good elements from all sinful systems. These recreated people will only get to see Christ and worship Him at times when they travel to Jerusalem for the Temple ceremonies on the Sabbath or the new moon. Ezekiel 46:3; Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 3:17.
God casts only the dead into the lake of fire. Sin causes death and so death, as a total separation from God, must be totally evil. Revelation 21:8 describes these dead as being totally evil. Revelation 22:11 describes God's absolute and complete separation of all that is good and righteous from all that is totally filthy and evil. Revelation 22:12, interpreted in the light of Revelation 21:5, can only mean that God will separate all of the good things He has ever created from its being tainted by evil, and will reward every man with a blessed recreation. God promised in I Corinthians 15:26 that "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Revelation 20:14 records the destruction of this death which is totally evil.
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