Members of his body

 With reference to Ephesians 5:30—Now, the appearing at the tribunal of Christ by all the saints of these two classes is, that the just may be separated from the unjust; and that the unjust may be driven from the presence of judicial majesty into the darkness of the outer world, where they may ignominiously partake in the vengeance which is to "devour the adversaries." This explains the phrase in that text "the time of the dead to be judged." The judicial separation completed on this basis, and the unworthy expelled from the Royal Presence, those who remain are "the called, and chosen, and faithful" (xvii. 14). They are the 144,000, having the Lamb’s Father’s name indelibly written in their foreheads; they are "the redeemed from the earth;" the undefiled virgins; the First-fruits unto the Deity, and to the Lamb; the guiltless and faultless before the throne (xiv. 1-5). These are the saints, who have the honor of executing the judgment written against the kings, priests, and aristocrats of the Great City. They are all like to Jesus, who is their Head; and "equal to the angels." They constitute the Household, of which He is the High Priest, or Pontiff-King, after the order of Melchizedec. To manifest this household, or Divine Family, with all the attributes of Deity, is the great and interesting preliminary work for which "the time of the dead" affords sufficient scope. -- The house being thus put in order and strengthened, the constituent members thereof are prepared to "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth;" which is equivalent to the phrase "whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went" (Ezek. i. 20). They go with him in all his warlike expeditions, and royal progresses and visitations. They are one and indivisible, and inseparably knit together in all the bonds of love, power, and devotion; being "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Eph. v. 30).