of our Lord will be honored among men, because mankind will know of their position, as it is written:  “Of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her; and the highest himself shall establish her.  The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there.” (Psalm 87:5,6) Then shall the people rejoice that it has pleased the heavenly Father to select out from amongst poor, imperfect men the 144,000, and to make them perfect through Christ Jesus.  He will cause the peoples of earth to honor them, as he has promised:  “I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever".—­Psalm 45:17.

[511]The Apostle says also that these are seeking immortality.  That word here means incorruptibility; a condition not subject to death.  The Messianic class, head and body, will not be subject to decay, sickness, or death.  Even a perfect human being requires nourishment to sustain his organism; but the exalted church, the Messiah, the Christ, will need nothing in the way of food to replenish any powers, because their powers will not be exhausted.  These will have life in themselves in such an abundant measure that they can give it out, and will give it out, and still need no replenishing.  Of himself Jesus declared:  “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given the Son to have life in himself”.  —­John 5:26; 4:14.

[512]This same promise is made to those who participate in his sacrificial death. (John 6:53,54) These have the promise that they shall be partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and thus shall have power to give life unto others.  The great prize that is here to be given is eternal life; and immortality is that quality of eternal life that is indestructible.  To those who have entered into relationship with the Lord through Christ, he says:  “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life”. (Revelation 2:10) And again says St. James:  “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation [trial]; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him".—­James 1:12.

[513]When one is begotten to membership in the body of Christ, he has new hopes, new ambitions, and new aspirations.  He looks forward, not to the glorious things of the earth, but to the glory and honor of being with the Lord and serving in the capacity in which the Lord places him.  He has in mind the words of St. Paul:  “Your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”—­Colossians 3:3,4

[514]David, being a type of the church, prophetically wrote concerning the church, and his words apply in a broader sense to the church.  He expressed the heart’s desire of the members of the body of Christ:  “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple”. (Psalm 27:4) Here he has hope of the glory of dwelling in the house of the Lord, in his presence, beholding his beauty and acquiring knowledge concerning his great plan.