By John Thiel, Restoration of the Marriage Institution Seminar, Study 9, mp3

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Those who are dwelling very close to the second advent of Jesus are spoken of in Daniel 12.

Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

The words of Jesus describe these as the wise virgins. The foolish virgins did not understand. They wanted light and oil in their vessels. They did not understand but the wise understood. To understand our preparation for the heavenly society and the sanctification that is to be engaged in before we cross over the border there is a puzzling aspect that Jesus speaks of. This is something we need to understand if we are wise virgins. The Sadducees came to tempt Jesus and posed before him the condition of a man who had a wife and loses her in death and the same thing happened seven times. They asked him whose husband he will be in heaven out of those seven.

Mark 12:24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

Jesus said you err, you have an erring way of thinking. In heaven there will be no marriage. In heaven we will be as the angels a-sexual. Does this have anything to do with our preparation for heaven? As we prepare to cross the border, is there something we need to prepare our minds with? You will be surprised how much is written in regards to a-sexuality in the bible.

Nicodemus

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Except a man be born again he cannot even see the kingdom of God. The term born again means to be born from above.

Nicodemus 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Unless a person is born from above;

1. He cannot see the kingdom of heaven

2. He cannot even enter there.

He needs to be born of the spirit and not merely of the flesh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven so we need to be born again of the spirit to enter there. This term born again, how is it to be understood? We shall be changed at the second coming.

Being Born Again

“That the new birth comprises the entire change necessary to fit us for the kingdom of God. A change to fit us for the kingdom of God and consists in two parts. First, a moral change wrought by conversion and a Christian life. Second, a physical change at the second coming of Christ whereby if dead we are raised incorruptible and if living are changed into immortality in a moment at the twinkling of an eye.” What Seventh-day Adventists Originally Believed Point 5 1872.

This is what true Adventism understands about new birth. If someone comes to you in modern Christianity and asks if you are born again, you can say I’m being born, I’m re-birthing as it’s not finished yet. It won’t finish until my body is changed. It is wrought by conversion and a Christian life. That is the first part. Is that done once and now I’m born again? No, the Christian life is an ongoing metamorphosis until finally God can change the body.

A New Birth Morally

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And [that] he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we [him] no more. 17 Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

He is a new creature when he is in Christ if he has been buried but not buried alive. Many people are baptised but they have not died and they are buried alive. The true meaning of baptism was not in their understanding. When Jesus comes into your life apostle Paul says when the law came sin revived and I died. Is self dead? It will be every time you look at God’s law through the eyes of Jesus Christ. You will see yourself wretched, poor, blind and naked and you won’t want to do anything as you are dead and you will only do something if God asks you to. These are the elements of true Christianity of being born again. This is the ongoing path of Christianity. He is a new creature. Old things are passed away, all things are become new. What becomes new at this moral change?

The Wise Will Understand

Ephesians 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

A new creature morally. That’s where the new creature is, in the spirit of your mind. As Christians we can dissemble which means to lie.

Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

The original mind set has been recreated if we have heard him and understood the truth as it is in Jesus. The people who have got the truth as it is in Jesus have actually had a mind birth, a new birth, a totally different way of thinking. A totally different way of rationalisation from the past as old things are passed away.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The wise will understand. Why? Because the wise will have had their minds renewed. This is new birth in the first segment of understanding. This mind set, this new man, is what?

We Are Neither Male or Female

Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

We are internationally one. Whether German, Australian, Indian or whatever you are, we are none of those things anymore. We are citizens of the heavenly kingdom. We are brothers in Jesus Christ and neither is there male nor female. In heaven we will be neither male or female and in the new birth, in the new mind, we are not to consider ourselves as male or female in Christ. What mind is it? Those who are baptised into Christ have put Christ on in the mind.

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The truly born again person has a new mind and what mind is it? It is the mind of Christ. Where is that mind encompassed in? What is the place that that mind is couched in?

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Into our dark minds Jesus has shone.

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Jesus said if the world loved me then they would have loved you but because the world doesn’t love me they won’t love you either. If you really walk in the light of this true message of Christianity you will be attacked and gossiped about by everyone in the world as they cannot understand. It is impossible. To take God at his word is ours to do. If we will by faith take it not with the natural man, that is impossible but under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he creates in us a different mindset. That mindset is in earthen vessels. What is the description of this earthen vessel? What is it like? Is this just a non-entity vessel? What was meant with this? The apostle Paul discovered this earthen vessel. He had come to see Jesus and his mind had changed.

Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Paul is describing his transition from his ignorance of the past to the truth as it is in Jesus. Jesus said that which is born of the flesh is flesh, the natural man can’t understand the things of God. This is what apostle Paul discovered in his transition;

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

I want to do the things of the kingdom of heaven and I have a mindset that is my earthen vessel. What did he say? The mind lusts against that spiritual birth and doesn’t want to leave it alone.

What Has Sin Done to this Earthen Vessel as We Wait for the Transition of Our Body?

The infinite value of the sacrifice required for our redemption reveals the fact that sin is a tremendous evil. Through sin the whole human organism is deranged, the mind is perverted, the imagination corrupted. Sin has degraded the faculties of the soul. Temptations from without find an answering chord within the heart, and the feet turn imperceptibly toward evil. {8T 312.2}

You don’t even think it, it happens imperceptibly. When you have this new mind, this sin affection has been interfered with as the new mind now says no. The hormonal system and genetic makeup is a mess and it plays havoc with your mind. My heart is burdened with our ability to handle this as you will go insane with the inroads that Satan puts to our mind gets to you sometimes. Unless you have the answers of the Lord in these matters you will crumble and fall and die spiritually. I have battled through it myself and I’m still doing it now. The mind of Jesus, the truth as it is in Jesus is the answer to the problem. In preparation for heaven my moral developments have to take place through an understanding of what I must do with this earthen vessel in the process of preparation for heaven.

A Quick Answer

Romans 8:1 [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The flesh is flesh and the spirit is spirit, these are two separate entities. Through the conversion we are now bipolar good and proper. We are of two different activities in our body. What to do with the deranged organism. We are not to walk after that, we are not function according to its influences upon my mind.

The body is to be brought into subjection. The higher powers of the being are to rule. The passions are to be controlled by the will, which is itself to be under the control of God. The kingly power of reason, sanctified by divine grace, is to bear sway in our lives. {MH 130.2}

We have the mind of Christ. What was it like? It was subject to his Father. I do not do my own will, I do the will of my Father. What is to bear sway in your life? The kingly power of reason. If you want to study it in depth read the book called ‘Holy War’ by John Bunyan and the war that takes place in the city of Mansoul. In the citadel resides the kingly power and he is bombarded by the enemy, the flesh. We are to be sanctified by divine grace.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

How do I possess my earthen vessel? We need to know the understanding of Jesus mind in human flesh spelt out to us as Jesus had to the same vessel with the evil condition of human genetics. Jesus had that with his new mind inside. It is a born again persons experience. In sanctification and honour is re-birthing in process. What to do with this body that was before happily subservient to the fleshy mind?

Romans 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.

The desires will come out from the flesh, don’t let them rule you. You can yield but don’t, let the mind control. Our earthen vessels are to be controlled by the divine mind of Jesus. We will possess our vessels and know how.

Fellowship with Each Other

We are to understand the fellowship with each other that Jesus wants us to have on earth. He wants us to have something of what is in heaven where there is neither male nor female.

John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Would you call this intimacy? Is this the word to describe this? To have an intimacy with each other that exists between the Godhead.

Romans 12:10 [Be] kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

As we interact with each other in the mind of Christ, we are to come into an intimacy that includes a kindly disciplined affection. It requires bodily discipline to be engaged with.

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, [see that ye] love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

The seed in you is in the mind of Jesus, it is incorruptible. What does unfeigned mean? No pretence. Saying I love you but underneath you don’t. What is the love we are to have? The pure love of Jesus Christ as he loved. That love is a-sexual. It is a love that could permit to wash Jesus feet. It is a love that can have fervent affection without surmising. In the spirit of prophecy there are some very clear concepts that are to be remembered.

Christ desires His soldiers to stand shoulder to shoulder, united in the work of fighting the battles of the cross. He desires the union between those who work for Him to be as close as the union between Him and His Father. Those who have felt the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit will heed the lessons of the divine Instructor, and will show their sincerity by doing all in their power to work in harmony with their brethren. . . . {UL 366.3}

Those who are drinking from the same fountain of blessing will draw nearer together. Truth dwelling in the hearts of believers will lead to blessed and happy assimilation. Thus will be answered the prayer of Christ that His disciples might be one even as He is one with the Father. For this oneness every truly converted heart will be striving. {FLB 343.2}

What sort of a heart? A truly born again heart will be striving for that unity.

This Amazing Unity

To be so close it has no limits. It is in fact eternal because it’s part of the Godhead. The wise will understand.

This request of Christ has no limit to its fulness. He desires that his followers shall reveal to the world his spirit of unity and love. But before this unity can exist among them, there must be a genuine renovation of every heart; there must be a vital connection with God; the character must be formed after the divine similitude. {RH, November 3, 1896 par. 3}

Do you wonder why this love is so rare today? To see a company as Jesus by this the world will know? The world will look and say there is something going on here. To see a company of men and women fellowshipping together in pure holiness and fellowship that is unlimited, how only can it exist? If there is genuine renovation of every heart, if there is a vital connection with God. When will the church stand like that? When Jesus is ready to come. Do you see what we should be prepared for? To dwell in a-sexual simplicity. You won’t see this in your natural mind. Be careful as it has to do with new birth which isn’t complete until we get a new body. The intimacy that is unlimited can be confused with sexuality.

Don’t get your sexuality confused with your spirituality. There is more to this than we would acknowledge. This earthen vessel is male or female and the affections and emotions cannot and mustn’t come into that equation and yet they are things that God has installed but as sin has confused the organism, what God has implanted will twist you into emotional madness. Our vessel must not come into the equation. Our human sensations and feelings cannot interfere with that intimacy. We are not in heaven yet. Our bodily affections are still present. Hormonal influences will confuse intimacy and we have to learn the new birth process that we will be able to have an intimacy and fellowship that is a representation of the divine unity without any dissembling of loving intercommunication. We are to keep our mind in Christ an a-sexual mind and wait for the redemption of the vessel. It must not interfere. Are you weary of earth? I’m laden with my sin. I look to heaven and long to enter in. My bodily functions are horrible for me to sense. I have to put them down, Jesus suffered it and he only permitted the pure mind to control. As Jesus did that, he looked forward to his body being changed.

Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only [they], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, [to wit], the redemption of our body.

When that happens that which Jesus is praying for, without disaffection as we yearn for that we long for this body to be totally redeemed out of its deranged state. What kind of a body will we have?

What Sort of a Body?

Can you see why it’s a mystery?

1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality.

What change is he talking about now? The body. What sort of a body is going to be changed?

1 Corinthians 15:35 But some [man] will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 42 So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

There is a natural and there is a spiritual body.

The Spiritual Body

1 Corinthians 15:47 The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven. 48 As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

The new birth of the body is a different component of the body. It’s still the same body. We will be the same in frame but the material is a different material no longer in a confused state of what sin had made. There will be no more confusions, we will be as the angels with no more deranged sexuality to confuse the intimacy and our affections. First comes the mind and the mind yearns to live on earth with a character in this confused body. There comes to a point in time where we will be safe with the affections of character and all God has to do is to change the body and then the metamorphosis is complete.

By the power of His love, through obedience, fallen man, a worm of the dust, is to be transformed, fitted to be a member of the heavenly family, a companion through eternal ages of God and Christ and the holy angels. Heaven will triumph, for the vacancies made by the fall of Satan and his host will be filled by the redeemed of the Lord.—UL 61. {TA 287.1}

A third of heaven will be replaced, will you be there?

God created man for His own glory, that after test and trial the human family might become one with the heavenly family. It was God’s purpose to repopulate heaven with the human family, if they would show themselves obedient to His every word. Adam was to be tested, to see whether he would be obedient, as the loyal angels, or disobedient.—1BC 1082. {TA 287.2}

Adam failed but God has been working to restore us. We come to the border, we are ready, our mind is governing our frail bodies and we are in a representation of heaven and everything is in order. God changes the body and what can happen then?

The loves and sympathies which God Himself has planted in the soul, shall there find truest and sweetest exercise. The pure communion with holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels and with the faithful ones of all ages who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, the sacred ties that bind together “the whole family in heaven and earth” (Ephesians 3:15)—these help to constitute the happiness of the redeemed.—GC 677. {TA 287.3}

Do you yearn to be there? I want to be there. We have to learn it here. If every heart is renovating then unlimited unity is available before we even get there but every heart must be renovated and when we get there, there the truest sweetest exercise of the love that we crave for on this earth that so frequently evade us, we want this love, there will be a little company at the end who have that love but it will be at its truest there. I long for that. I remember my childhood. I had deep intimacy with my mother, it was in the mind. It was a beautiful fellowship. I find it difficult to find that beautiful unity because we are not yet completed renovated at heart. May God help us to be completely born again so we will be of the born again in body and enjoy the precious unity and the love that exists between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Further reading: http://sabbathsermons.com/category/marriage-2/