“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permits.” Hebrews 6:1-3
No true interpretation of Scripture can be clearly understood when that scripture is isolated from its context. Not only must the expositor consider the relation of the text to the context, but in order to arrive at a correct exposition, he must know the historical background of the book and the theme and purpose of its author.
Dr. Charles Ratz
Additional Comments:
The reason that I have chosen this portion of Scripture from the commentary by Dr. Charles Ratz on Hebrews is the fact that Hebrews 6:1-3 has often been used by many well-known men of God to establish a sure platform of truth for the New Testament believers of the present day Church. However, in tholeir desire to lay down a sure foundation of truth for NT believers, they have overlooked the overall theme of the book of Hebrews in that the Hebrew believers continually longed to return to their old familiar and seemingly reliable traditions, This is why the writer of Hebrews presents a contrast in the first 3 verses of chapter 1, making a clearly distinction between the Old and the New Covenants. The difference is Jesus Christ Himself, not another substitute person or any other Jewish means of sanctification, but God speaking in these last in His Son, i.e. in the Greek “in Son.”
With this is in mind we need carefully study the background truth to not be taken in by the seemingly apparent development of truths as NT teachings. In a most careful study Dr. Charles Ratz has presented us with a most excellent insight into these Scriptures. Trusting these truths may be used to correct current inaccurate interpretations regardless of how well meant they are.
Heb 6:1 Therefore, (leaving) having left the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again (the) a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.
John Mol, M. Div.
Excerpt from Outlined Studies in Hebrews
The proposition set forth in this epistle is to show that the New Covenant is superior to, and supplants the Old Covenant. These Hebrews who had been brought to the knowledge of the New Covenant were in danger of lapsing back to the Old Covenant with its types and shadows, and its multiplicity of symbols and sacrifices. Though they had been made ‘partakers of the heavenly calling” they were sluggish, they had make no progress. The apostle had given them a serious rebuke for their spiritual inertia. Instead of being teachers, they were only babes needing instruction in the first principles of the oracles of God. (Heb. 5:11-14)
In the first three verses of chapter six the apostle exhorts the Hebrews to progress in spiritual realities. They were to abandon the first principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on to perfection. The strong appeal is found in the words ‘leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection” This does not mean, as many have thought, leaving the elementary Christianity and going on to the higher life. The principles which these Hebrews are exhorted to put away, are not the teachings taught by Christ, nor the fundamental principles of the Christian religion. They refer to the Levitical ritual and things taught in Judaism in their time of infancy, when Israel was under the Old Covenant.
There was a time of infancy such as we see in the fourth chapter of Galatians where Judaism is spoken of as a period of infancy, when ‘a child differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. (Galatians 4:1-5, 3:24,25) “The Law was a school master to bring us to Christ.” The fullness of time had come. Christ had redeemed them from the law. The time of infancy had come to an end. These Hebrews are no longer under tutors and governors. They had graduated from the kindergarten of law to the university of grace in accepting the new covenant. They were now under a new instructor, the Holy Spirit, who would guide them in all truth.
The Hebrews were dull of apprehension in the spiritual realities. (Heb. 5:11) They were in constant danger of lapsing back into earthly types and shadows. (Heb.10:1; Col. 2:17) The apostle appeals that they progress and go on into perfection. The word ‘perfection’ here can be translated ‘maturity.’ To remain or to turn to the old covenant with its symbols and sacrifices demonstrated that these Hebrews were immature. Since the new covenant had been ushered in by the death of the Messiah, they were to leave the principles of he doctrine of Christ, leave the shadows and go onto perfection which is only realized by embracing the new covenant.
The law made nothing perfect. It was holy, God given, but weak through the flesh. The old covenant could not make the comers or worshipers perfect, pertaining to the conscience. (Heb.10:1-4) These Hebrew believers are strongly urged to be borne along in the new covenant and thus go on to perfection, which is only possible through the mediation of the new covenant. To go back to the old covenant would be laying again the foundation, the principles of the doctrine of Christ, namely Levitical ritual.
The word ‘perfection’ and its cognates appears 13 times in the epistle. It is found 12 times translated from the Greek word ‘teleos’ meaning to mature or equip. It is found once translated from the word ‘katartitzo’ meaning to adjust.
The former word, ‘teleos’ meaning to mature or equip can be illustrated as follows: “An institution brings perfection when it effects the purpose for which it is instituted and produces a result that corresponds with the idea of it.” For example, a college which is equipped with the proper facilities, is provided with an efficient staff of teachers, and has all that which is required to fulfill the purpose for which it was intended, is fully equipped. It is a perfect institution.
The old covenant was an institution to bring the worshiper to God. However, the Law and Priesthood in this covenant was not perfect. It was not equipped with the necessary thins which would remove sin and its guilt. It did not remove the obstacle out of the way that hindered man from approaching into the presence of God. The blood of the old covenant in spite of its many sacrifices could not remove the sin that was lying on man’s conscience. There was no access to God. Thus the old covenant was imperfect. “The Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did by which we draw night unto God.”
The new covenant mediated by the Messiah through His blood was ushered in at Calvary and is fully equipped and brings perfection to every believer. Only as these Hebrew believers are borne on unto perfection through the new covenant can they realize perfection. Perfection can only be realized through the offering of Christ on Calvary and His own personal life. “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ (the Old Covenant) let us go on unto perfection.” To go back to the Old Covenant sacrifices would mean the laying again of the foundation of the old covenant and building upon it again. The apostle describes this foundation as follows: Repentance from dead works and faith toward God, The doctrine of baptisms; laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, eternal judgment. These are the principles of the doctrine of Christ.
1. Of Repentance from dead works and faith toward God.
All through the Old Testament repentance was constantly spoken. Perpetually wandering from Him, God was constantly calling the Hebrews back to repentance. Their works were but dead works. You will find no Gentiles ever commanded to repent from dead works. The Gentiles were to repent of sin. Dead works were the works of the law, of no avail as regards to obtaining eternal life. The conscience was cleansed from dead works by the blood of Christ. The law is a ministration of death and must be repented of must as sin must be. Faith toward God is first testament teaching and is contrasted with New Testament teaching of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. No longer resting in dead works of the law but in a faith in Christ and His finished work which alone brings life is the requisite for those who would enjoy the blessing of the new covenant.
2. Of the doctrine of Baptisms and of laying on of hands.
This is the next couplet which describes Judaism in its ceremonial character. The teaching of baptisms does not refer to water baptisms, neither John’s nor sill less Christian baptisms and definitely not the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It is the same Greek word translated ‘washings’ and a word entirely different from that referring to water baptism or the Holy Ghost baptism. It refers to ceremonial ablutions or washings of Judaism. It had to do with the sprinkling of the blood, the washing of the laver, and other ceremonial ordinances connected with outward approach to God and is typical of the cleansing of the conscience from dead works to serve the living and true God (Heb. 9:14) by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. (Titus 3:5)
The laying on the hands, closely connected with baptisms, is not Christian laying on of hands. If one refers this to things of Christianity, he will miss the entire connection and importance of this passage. It refers to the imposition of hands by the offerer upon the sacrificial offerings. (Lev 1:4) This is also typical of the act of the sinner today laying his hand of faith upon the head of the spotless Lamb of God.
3. “And of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”
The resurrection of the dead was also an Old Testament doctrine. (Isa. 26:19, Dan. 12:2; Job 19:25) The Jews in the days of the apostle were divided in their opinion respecting a general resurrection of the bodies of men. However, it was a resurrection of the dead, not a resurrection of the saints. The out-resurrection from among the dead indicates there are two resurrections, one of the saints and one of the lost, with a period of time intervening between the two events. This time element between the two resurrections was foreign to the Old Testament. As to eternal judgment, there was no knowledge of the fact that there was no judgment. The old covenant was one of perpetual sacrifices, a remembering of sins every year, but no remission of sins; thus offering only eternal judgment. What a contrast to the new covenant which cries, “There is therefore now no condemnation.” (Rom 8:10 The man Christ Jesus by one offering ‘perfected forever them that are sanctified.’ (Heb. 10:14) when He had Himself purged our sins.
“And this will we do if God permit.” This seems to be a strange statement. The apostle had exhorted that they go on unto perfection and then says, “This will we do if God permit.” It was God’s purpose for these Hebrews to go on unto perfection. But God’s will for these could be thwarted if these Hebrews were not willing to go forward in the New Testament teaching. Though there is such a thing as the sovereign grace of God, yet there is also such a thing as the free will of man. God never violates man’s free will in that which pertains to his salvation and spiritual development. The choice of progressing, going unto perfection depended upon these Hebrews. Either they would go back to the Old Hebrews. Either they would go back to the Old Covenant or progress in the New Covenant. To persist in spiritual declension would eventually put them beyond the reach of the Holy Spirit. They are warned against hardening their hearts. To harden their hearts to the Holy Spirit would lead them into apostasy.
Study taken from Outlined Studies in Hebrews, by Dr Charles A. Ratz.
Used by permission
Hi!
I very much enjoyed the reading of this article. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to add the below concerning the ‘resurrection of the dead’.
While Dr. Charles Ratz is clearly learned concerning the ‘Gospel of Repentance’, he’s evidently lacking knowledge of the ‘Gospel of the Kingdom’ (See Matt 24:14).
The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead may be called the most important pillar of fundamental Christianity (1Cor 15:13-14). Our inner as well as our outer man is concerned in the resurrection of the dead; it is the restoration of soul, spirit and body. It is a process of renewal starting at repentance and regeneration and for those who are in Christ, finishing with a physical return to life at the Lord’s coming. We are speaking of those who share in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4-6). The first resurrection starts when man’s life is restored on the new foundation of God, it is completed in the physical resurrection. The temple of God is complete when the Christian has been restored in soul, spirit and body, when he is completely filled with the Spirit of God.
The resurrection of the dead draws our attention to the fact that man lives forever and ever. The bible teaches that man’s visible life is transient, but his unseen life is eternal. (2Cor 4:18). Soul and spirit belong to the spiritual world and so make man’s inner life indestructible just as the celestials. Ephesians 2:1 says that we were dead through our trespasses and sins, which does not mean that our inner man did not exist before, but was alienated from real life with His Creator, not functioning after His laws, a prey of evil powers. Therefore it continues: ‘In which you once walked, following the course of this world (which is ruled by the evil one), following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.’
The inner man being dead means that he is in the power of the evil spirits. Death of the outward man is the separation of the inner man and the body. A dead body does not remain unchanged, it is subjected to the influences of negative and destructive forces. A person who is inwardly dead is subject to the destructive forces of hate, jealousy, lies, uncleanness, depression, etc. He functions after the law of powers of sin and death. In the body, death manifests itself in decomposition, a return to dust. Life after the laws of God, life in righteousness, manifests itself in joy, peace, and strength in the inner man and Health for the outward man.
Resurrection is the change from death into life, from darkness into light, deliverance from the power of Satan and return to God. In the case of the prodigal son resurrection started when he said: ‘I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ His resurrection became a fact when the Father accepted him, put the best robe on him, and provided a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. Then the Father said about his son: ‘He was dead, and is alive again.’ (Luke 15:11-32). Jesus described the spiritual resurrection in these words: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live’ (John 5:24-25).
When he is baptized in water, a Christian testifies that his old ways of thinking, his old man, is buried and that a new life has begun which is nourished from the heavenly places. Many Christians think that a believer goes to heaven only after he dies. If so, how can his ways and citizenship be in heaven? How will he be able to fight and conquer in the heavenlies if he is not present there? It says: ‘And raised us up with him, and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Eph 2:6). He who is in Christ, that is, he who belongs to his spiritual body of which He is the Head, is in heaven, in the Kingdom of God, which is the good part of the Kingdom of heaven. In him our Lord’s prayer is fulfilled: ‘Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory’ (John 17:24). Our life there is in faith, and we see with eyes that are opened spiritually. Natural feet cannot tread in the spiritual world, physical eyes cannot see it hands of flesh cannot touch it. There we hear God’s voice in the inner man and express ourselves in images derived from natural life, to create a picture of the unseen, unheard and untouched realities. Jesus spoke of this world in parables. He started his parables with these words: ‘The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to …’ Jesus said: ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ We are resurrected with Him when we adopt his ways of thinking, for then we will speak and act as He did. Then we view earthly circumstances from the heavenly places, from ‘above.’
The doctrine we frequently hear and which is known as the ‘sleep of the soul’ interferes with the foundation of our Gospel, that is with Jesus Christ. The doctrine claims that the spiritually resurrected will die again. Such ideas are derived from a cultural religion occupying itself with the visible world and not with the Kingdom of God. A well-loved text of those who teach the so-called ‘sleep of the soul’ is Psalm 115:16: “The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth He has given to the sons of man. The dead do not praise the Lord”. Many fail to see that this verse shows the tremendous difference between the Old and the New Covenant. Yet, the Lord says to His followers: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given’ (Matt 13:11). Ecclesiastes says: “The dead know nothing, and they have no more reward; but the memory of them is lost”. This verse can be applied to those Christians who live at the Old Testament level because it may be said of them that, while they do have knowledge of the things happening on earth, they know nothing of that which is related to the unseen Kingdom of heaven. Nor do they have a spiritual understanding concerning the body of the Lord which is formed there.
When we bury someone, he is dead for us but he lives for God who dwells in the unseen world (Luke 20:38). The so-called doctrine of the sleep of the soul is based on the assumption that at his death the entire person dies. He is assumed to cease existing in body, soul and spirit. This error is in flat contradiction with the things the New Testament teaches about the Kingdom of heaven. Just think of Abraham’s discussion with Lazarus and the rich man. Revelation 6:9 tells us of the crying of the souls which were slain for the Word of God. These dead are capable of crying even though they do not have a physical body. God Himself, and the host of spirits, are capable of calling, sometimes even with a loud voice (Rev 14:5). A sleeping person is not dead but moves in the unseen world only. In the spirit he is able to walk, to struggle, to have fear, even to make long journeys, traveling in the spirit.
When a Christian dies he merely ceases to be able to function on earth. He falls asleep and lives on in the unseen Kingdom of God. When a person is Born Again, he rises to a new life. To him applies: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead.’ This should make it clear that this unseen man, the inner man, does not die a second time to be resurrected a second time at the coming of Jesus. Jesus said to the faithful of the New Covenant they would never see or taste death (John 8:51-52), and those who believe in Him shall live, even though they die, and whoever lives and believes in Him shall never die (John 11:25-26).
Once we have risen from spiritual death, and persevere in faith, we will not die to fall victim to death and Hades. We belong to the body of Christ and have, just as that body, eternal life only. When the believer dies, (when his soul is separated from his body), he will be at home with the Lord (1Cor 5:8). Death no longer has dominion over him because he is united with Jesus Christ, the Head of the body, who has conquered death (Romans 6:9). On earth he lived in the power of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. He who is united with such a Spirit will not enter death and neither will the Spirit abandon man when he dies. Timothy 1:10 says that Christ Jesus abolished death and has brought to light life and immortality through the gospel. That means He has done away with death.
God said to Adam: ‘In the day that you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall die.’ For us, however, there is a Tree of Life, and those who eat of it will live forever. ‘I am the bread of life. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and those who eat it shall not die’ (John 6:48-51). The most well-known text in the bible is John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.’ Because of this eternal life the inner man is able to go on, to persevere forever. This life cannot be damaged by death, for it is sustained by the Holy Spirit. It is life of a high quality.
In 2Cor 5:1-10 Paul compares our death with the destruction of the earthly tent. He shows that even then the faithful have a building from God in heaven, an eternal house. The apostle longed for the moment of taking up a dwelling place in that heavenly house. It is a heavenly home, that is, a purely spiritual body. It functions in the unseen world only.
What then is the resurrection of the dead? Does it mean that the graves are opened and the tombstones lifted and dead people suddenly arise? But then how about those who died ages ago whose graves have vanished? How about the martyrs who were burned, their ashes strewn out in the river? The answer is in 1Cor 15:35-49: ‘But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.’
The kernel has the invisible life in itself and this life is the beginning of the new plant. The kernel does not produce a kernel, but a new plant which will produce new kernels later. The new life starts at regeneration and it grows just like a plant develops from the seed. The seed is not made alive, it dies. But that which was its life develops into a new plant. In the same way the physical body that dies is not made alive again but decomposes in the same way as the outside of the kernel. The inner life develops into a new appearance, different from the seed, but in keeping with the laws of life that were hidden in it. From every seed an individual body develops. It may be a tree, a shrub, or some kind of corn or any other kind of plant. The plant that develops may be compared with the spiritual house. The seed that vanished decomposes to dust, picture of the natural body, but the plant itself develops in another atmosphere where there is light and air and sun.
In Romans 8:11 Paul says that the Holy Spirit, or the majesty of the Father, raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit enabled Him to leave Hades, and it deserves our attention that Jesus’ humiliated body had not decayed and also shared in the glorification. Jesus is not only the model of all who will rise in a spiritual body, but also of those who, physically alive, will meet the Lord at his coming and whose bodies are changed in a point of time. Their mortal bodies have been swallowed up in the victory of the spiritual body. (1Cor 15:54).
Through baptism in Holy Ghost we are brought in a new situation by Jesus. Our spiritual body is baptized (immersed) in, and therefore covered with and surrounded by the Spirit of God. A new unity comes into being, a more intense relationship, with more and farther reaching possibilities for fellowship and inspiration. To us the baptism in holy Ghost means “being where Jesus is” (John 14:3). Our life is from that moment on “hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). That which surrounds and fills Jesus also surrounds us and gradually fills us. The first and most direct consequence of this is that our Lord Jesus can begins to participate and cooperate in our formation of thoughts. Within us, directed inward, being active in our inner man, can and may the Lord contribute, from His heart and His possibilities, because we have become unto one spirit with Him (1Cor 6:17). Through this the possibility comes into being to start speaking in a way that was not possible before that moment, namely in tongues: to heaven and earth proof that the effectual working of Jesus Christ has this way become possible in our life.
The consequences of this becoming one are beyond our imaginings. Jesus can, directly and without any intermediary, effectuate all our inner abilities in the core of our existence. He can help working on the formation of new thoughts and on the deliberations, judgment of all words or images that come at us; He can immediately “think along”! This makes renewal of the mind truly feasible, and brings the complete transformation of our life within reach. It can rightfully be said that the baptism in holy Ghost the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph 1:14).
On the other hand too:
In the bible is spoken of the antichrist, the son of perdition, a man in whom and through whom the anti Christian spirit will become fully active in the endtime. In Revelation 13 is spoken of people who receive the mark of the beast; this is a description of being baptized and filled with the spirit of the anti-Christ. Only then will the highest form of inspiration from the darkness become possible.
When the Lord returns those who slept in Christ will be raised, they will arise first. Their spiritual body is raised (1Cor 15:44), but their physical body has long returned to dust and will not be raised.
Resurrection is a new life and work in the unseen world. Those who have fallen asleep have rested from their labors, but at a sign of the Most High they will arise and take up their work. The power of God gives substance to their spiritual bodies, giving it flesh and bones, similar to that of the glorified Lord. At all times, however the spiritual body remains spiritual, that is subjected to spiritual laws only, not to earthly laws. For that reason it is not confined in time or place; this body cannot be localized or entered into a time-scheme.
Life in the body of resurrection is a mystery. Nevertheless, here is an admitted weak comparison: we know that water vapor is invisible. It is subject to the physical laws for gases. Water vapor is even able to penetrate walls. Under certain circumstances, however, it is transformed and becomes visible as water, fog, hoarfrost, snow or hail, which are all subjected to the laws for solids or liquids. The Lord’s immortal body was able to penetrate doors but at the same time Jesus said: ‘See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have’ (Luke 24:39). When Jesus ascended to heaven a cloud ‘took Him out of their sight.’ Now He is in the heavenly places only, although the possibility exists for our Lord to appear in a visible shape (Mark 16:12). This is what happened to John at Patmos, and to Paul, who is told that he is appointed ‘to see the Just One and to hear a voice from his mouth’ (Acts 22:14).
During his life on earth a Christian moves in two worlds. In his physical body he is on earth, ‘away from the Lord’ in a foreign country but his spiritual body is in Christ, that is in Christ’s body. When he dies he is detached from the natural sphere and dwells with the Lord only. When Jesus returns to earth He is accompanied by the saints who have fallen asleep. When He appears they will appear with Him. The Christians who are alive left until the coming of the Lord. will be changed in a moment, ‘in the twinkling of an eye,’ and their perishable bodies will be transformed into immortal and glorified bodies. In these bodies they will be caught up to meet the Lord to join the saints who have already risen (1Thess 4:16-17). Then the time has come that the ‘planting of the Lord’ will be functioning anew and bear new fruit. These ‘trees of life,’ the bible says, will bear fruit twelve times, yielding it each month, and their leaves (the gifts of the spirit) are for the healing of the nations.
So, having stated all the above:
At the Lord’s coming there are three groups who receive a spiritual body. First there are the dead who died in Christ; they will rise and receive a new body of resurrection.
The second group is the witnesses from Revelation 11, who were conformed to the death of Jesus and whose dead bodies will be raised. They, however, still have a mortal body which will afterwards be changed in a moment, this then is a glorified body as Jesus has.
The third group is those who remain alive, whose bodies will be changed in a moment, without dying.
Finally, Revelation 14:14, “Then I looked, and lo, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.”
John saw a white cloud. This image reminds us of the silver-hued or opal morning clouds in the Middle East. The summits of the mountains are like large rocks and islands in this sea of vapor. The rising sun shines through the floating mists, which soon disappear in the heat of its rays. On the ground the refreshing dew of the night is left behind, giving life and fertility to the earth. This mass of clouds is a cloud, or mist of dew, in the heat of harvest (Isaiah 18:4). In his poetical language David called these splendid towers of cloud “the wings of morning” (Psalm 139:9). The second coming of the Lord is repeatedly pictured as a coming on (with or in) the clouds of the sky. In Palestine one begins to understand that the splendid silver cumuli, filling the air in early morning, are the image of this glory.
The meaning is clear. A vapor arose from the sea and clouds have been formed. In the Bible the sea is the image of the spiritual world, as the earth is the image of the visible, material world. As a drop of water evaporates from the sea and rises up into the air, so at his regeneration man is transplanted into the heavenly places. He is made to live there, and starts to function in the Kingdom of God (Ephesians 2:6). The image is clear. The water, the invisible inner man of the heart, rises up by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is the influence of God, the Sun of Righteousness. In the heavenly places the drops form a cloud. The cloud consists of millions of drops; it is the image of the church of Jesus Christ. In the invisible world the waters, the spirits, are separated. All religions on earth are from below. Only those who belong to Jesus are from above. Jesus told the religious leaders of his day: “You are from below. I am from above; you are of this world; I am not of this world (John 8:23).
At his death a child of God is unbound from the sphere of the earth after the body, but his soul and spirit, the inner, invisible man, are eternal. This inner man remains in the body of the Lord, that is in the cloud. The Son of Man is united with the cloud just as, in another image, He is the head united with his body. On His head still is the golden crown of life mentioned in chapter 6:2.
When the Bible says that in the latter days Jesus will come with the clouds of heaven, it means that He returns with His church. As at daybreak the morning clouds descend on the earth as a dew of heaven, so in the endtimes our Lord returns to earth with His church. This descending shows that the believer’s inner man receives a new body, enabling him to function in the visible world. 1Corinthians 15:44 says that a spiritual body is raised. To be raised means that by an outside force a living person is put back into the earthly sphere. At the resurrection from the dead, soul and spirit (the spiritual body) are raised to be clothed with a body consisting of elements from the earth. Only then can the spiritual body, the inner man, rise to take up his work in the visible world. The same idea is expressed when from the world heavenly Jerusalem descends to the visible world of the earth. Our verse here shows us the moment when the dead receive their new bodies and are to be united with those who are still on earth in a mortal body. This is the time of the seventh or last trumpet. Those who were left are now changed in a moment. “For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1Thessalonians 5:15-17).
When someone dies not ‘in Christ’, that is, not belonging to the church, he remains united with the sea. For his spirit did not rise from the sea towards the clouds. His soul and spirit then disappear in the Abyss, the prison, in which also are the fallen, evil angels. We read that at the resurrection, the sea -not the earth- gives up its dead: “And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them” (20:13). Sea and Hades are synonymous, while Death indicates the power which governs Hades. Now we also understand that, once this cloud has descended from heaven onto the earth, there will be no more sea or night or mountains to be found any more. So the evil powers draw a man’s spirit and soul towards the Bottomless Pit, while the power of the Holy Spirit takes the children of God towards the cloud.