Copyright © 2019 by Robert B. Thompson. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
It may be noted that some of this text has been taken from a previous essay titled “God’s Grand Plan.”

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There are three platforms of redemption: (1) the forgiveness of sins, (2) the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome sin and follow Jesus, and (3) entering God’s rest, which qualifies us to rule and help the nations after Christ’s return.

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Salvation in Christ is referred to as “redemption”. When we say a person or thing has been redeemed, we mean that he or it was removed from his or its original state or owner, but now has been returned to its original owner. Satan claims ownership of each human being. Each person originally was created by God working through the Lord Jesus. Since the first two human beings disobeyed God, Satan views them as belonging to him. Satan’s spirit of disobedience is in each human from the time of birth. This is why every person must be redeemed, given back to God. The Lord Jesus is our Redeemer. The price of our redemption is the blood that was shed on the cross of Calvary.

Not only have we been restored to the ownership of God, but also God has announced that the people He is creating shall be in His image. This is a remarkable promise. If we are an experienced Christian, it is plain to us that accepting the Lord Jesus as our Savior does not immediately enable us to behave like God, like the Lord Jesus. Probably after knowing us for a while, people could not honestly say that they have seen God in our behavior.

So God, after determining who owns us, first fills us with the Holy Spirit, and then, through the Spirit, sets about to fill every aspect of our personality with the personality of the Lord Jesus. Our natural adamic (i.e., Adam-like) nature may make a stern determination to behave like Jesus but it always will fail at some point or other. You probably have noticed that failure in yourself and in others, as you have sought to be a faithful disciple of the Lord. But I have good news for you. When God announces that He is going to make mankind in His image, that is exactly what He means. God did not say the moment someone “accepted Christ as his Savior,” he would be in His image. Making a person in His image is a process that takes time as the Holy Spirit works in him.

Finally, Hebrews chapter 4 speaks of the “Rest of God”, which is the most important component of the third platform.

Thus, there are three platforms of redemption:

1. Based on the blood of Jesus, God forgives us of all our previous sins.
2. God puts His Spirit in us.
   Many believers know and experience these two platforms of redemption, but we must admit that we still are not thoroughly in the image of God in our behavior.
3. God has kept the best wine until now. We enter God’s rest in which we stop striving to accomplish our will, and start accomplishing God’s will for us in complete obedience. The Christian redemption is to conclude with a perfected Israel teaching the members of the nations, who are pleased to learn (1) what God is like, and (2) why it is absolutely necessary that all citizens who make their homes on the new earth obey every Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. The concluding chapters of Revelation portray the Kingdom of God that is to be established forever on a new earth where righteousness and holiness of behavior are practiced.

Unfortunately, there are three great errors that are taught commonly in our day:

1. By believing in Christ, we will be assured of a warm and eternal residence in Paradise when we die.
2. God’s “grace” causes God to overlook our behavior.
3. When the Lord returns, those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus will be caught up to Heaven when He appears. This doctrine of the “rapture” of the Christians has had a destructive effect on the moral growth of the disciples of the Lord.

Also, the Kingdom of God is not stressed in our time. But the New Testament presents entering the Kingdom of God as being the goal of our discipleship.

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14–KJV)

The Bible teaches clearly that we must be found worthy of the Kingdom of God if we are to be admitted to it.

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:15–KJV)

Whatever happened to the Gospel of the Kingdom? Jesus said that in order to see and enter the Kingdom of God we must be born again. It may be true that many of God’s people do not understand what it means to be born again. A human being is composed of many parts—a brain, a will, a nervous system, various senses such as sight and hearing, and so forth. An individual has not been completely born again until each of these abilities has been surrendered to the Lord Jesus and then “born again” of His person.

Just as a human baby must first be conceived and then endure a season in the womb before it is born as a baby, so must a member of the Kingdom of God endure a season in which each of his parts must be recreated, so to speak, before it can rightfully be termed a “new creation.” All of the new personality must be of God.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (II Corinthians 5:17,18–KJV)

If we claim to be born again, then our first personality must have passed away. All that we are as a personality must now be part of the Lord Jesus. All that we are must be of God.

This new state must be created by God Himself. Our role is to obediently present ourselves to Christ at all times in every aspect of our thinking, speaking, and doing. We must continually keep ourselves in a state of prayer. We learn to do this by taking one small step at a time. Christ will help!

The old saying that we have been saved in order to save others will eventually prove to be true. God has created His Church to be a royal priesthood so that by means of the Presence of Christ in the saints, all people of the nations who are willing will be reconciled to God.

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5:19–KJV)

What is preached today is that if we will confess that Jesus is Lord, we will go to Heaven when we die. Our misbehavior is covered by “grace.” That is not the good news of a Kingdom that is at hand, nor does the phrase refer to the place in the spirit world we refer to as “Heaven.” It is no wonder that church attendance is declining! It may be true that for most people this corrupt version of the Gospel of the Kingdom is not relevant to their current needs in our money-driven sex-driven culture.

Platform One: Forgiveness

The shedding of the blood of Christ on the cross of Calvary is the centerpiece of the Divine redemption. People burdened with sin and other problems can look to the cross and have their problems resolved. From the highest respected leader to a vagrant in the gutter muttering his or her need for a dollar or two to buy some wine, each one can look to the cross for total forgiveness and the wisdom and power to begin serving Christ in humility.

Thus begins a lifetime of obeying Christ. Unfortunately, in most churches we will hear an emphasis on gaining forgiveness by looking to the blood of Christ for God’s acceptance in order to qualify the believer for entrance into Heaven regardless of his behavior. Because of the emphasis on unconditional entrance into Paradise upon one’s death, the Christian churches and people are not in the image of God. So the Christian churches in America are immature in moral behavior. Christ is like a badge that sets the believers apart for the service of God, but their lifestyles hardly can be regarded as holy.

The actions of the nations of the earth suggest that a third world war may occur in the fairly near future. The Christian believers of today are wise if they prepare themselves for the physical hardships that always accompany war. We prepare ourselves for war by walking carefully in Christ concerning every action we take during the day and night, praying continually to know the mind of Christ concerning the daily decisions that confront us.

But viewing our belief in the atonement made on the cross as the fullness of the Divine salvation is a mistake. We are not regarding seriously the continual demands of God’s desire to create us in the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every day of our life on the earth contains trials of our faith in Christ and our desire to always please him by our behavior.

Christians often are heard to claim that they “accepted Christ” a long time ago. By saying this they reveal that they do not realize the Divine redemption is an eternal response to God’s desires for each one of us. Coming to the cross and continually submitting the desires of our human nature to the will of Christ, is absolutely necessary if we hope to be conformed to the image of Jesus.

Platform Two: The Holy Spirit

In addition to the forgiveness of our sins through the offering of the blood of the Lamb on the cross of Calvary, God has found it necessary that His Spirit govern our decisions and behavior. Thus we have the second platform of redemption—the giving of His Spirit to us. The Holy Spirit of God:

1. Enables us to overcome the temptations that dwell in our flesh.
2. Equips us to minister the will and power of God to others.

The second platform of redemption could be titled “Pentecost” because it is celebrated fifty days after the feast of Unleavened Bread. Pentecost and Unleaved Bread are two of the seven Levitical feasts that God imposed on Israel in the Old Testament. Each feast symbolizes an aspect of redemption. The oil of Pentecost comes upon the Blood of the Lamb, shed upon the cross of Calvary. After this, we have been reconciled to God and have access to the numerous supernatural workings of God’s Spirit.

In the New Testament, speaking in diverse languages (tongues) is associated with receiving the filling with the Holy Spirit. Christian people who have not had the experience of speaking in other tongues are sometimes critical of this practice. However, believers who often speak in tongues find that it aids prayer and is a welcome supplement to our prayer life. Christians who have been unable to break through into speaking in tongues should just continue to praise the Lord and patiently ask for this practice. It may come suddenly and unexpectedly to the believer who has been asking for this gift, as it did to me while I was praying for a bus to return to the Bible school in San Diego.

This is all fine and good. But what is the big picture?

The entire period of time from the fall of Adam and Eve to the coming down to earth of the new Jerusalem has been for the purpose of teaching mankind stern obedience to the Father. God has begun this program by selecting from mankind a Church and teaching the church people to obey God carefully according to God’s standard.

(As we may observe, God’s goal of obedient children often is neglected in favor of “believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.”)

These people, the Church, the Body of Christ, the Wife of the Lamb, will be brought down from the spiritual Zion to the new earth, as we read in the last two chapters of Revelation.

Platform Three: The Rest of God

Each member of the Church, the Body of Christ, must be perfected in obedience. As soon as God is satisfied that all members of the Church have been perfected in obedience, that is, have ceased from their own works and are resting in the will of God in order to complete their personal destinies, they will be used of God to teach the remainder of mankind to obey God and also to worship the one true God.

I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. (Isaiah 66:19)

I would say this is quite a different concept from the current teaching that after Christians die they will rest forever in Paradise.

I might add that all members of God’s Royal Priesthood, His Church, shall govern and teach the members of the saved people of the nations. However, some Christians, who are referred to as the “elect” in the Bible, will be chosen from among the members of the Church to be part of Christ and to sit in God’s Throne with the Lord Jesus. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” These chosen saints are more interested in Jesus Himself than they are in any other aspect of the Kingdom of God. The elect are selected members of the Church, being members of the Body of Christ, and are pictured as a firstfruits of the Body of Christ:

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. (Revelation 14:1-5–KJV)

The next appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth indeed will be an epochal event.

The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small—and for destroying those who destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18)

After Christ returns in His Glory there will be a thousand (literal or figurative) years in which Christ, and the firstfruits of the Church, govern the world. It is my opinion that the purpose for the thousand-year period, that follows the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, is to bring the members of the Royal Priesthood up to the level of maturity required to govern the creation. They will need to wait in the spiritual Mount Zion where they will be taught how to give themselves to the fullness of the indwelling of Christ. They must be taught to look to the Lord Jesus in all that they think, all that they speak, and all that they do.

This is the manner in which the Lord Jesus is related to the Father, and the manner in which we will portray the image of God. Today, all members of the Church who are giving their whole attention to being filled with Christ, as did the Apostle Paul, must, in every decision of their lives, be continually yielding their thoughts, words, and actions, so that Christ is portrayed by their behavior.

Also, the nations on the earth during the thousand years will be becoming accustomed to a government consisting of Christ and His saints. This would be in preparation for the final eternal government exercised by the new Jerusalem.

At the end of the thousand-year period, God will release Satan from the bottomless pit. At this time a multitude of earth’s people will follow Satan, revealing that even a righteous government cannot make the peoples of the earth obey and worship God. Each person must decide individually.

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. (Revelation 20:7-9)

I wonder if these rebels, so easily seduced by Satan, remembered what they had read in the Bible. They were doing what the Bible taught would lead to their destruction. So it is today. We read about Noah’s flood and the fire that destroyed Sodom and other cities of the Plain. But Americans, although Bibles are in plentiful supply, tend to forget in the midst of their material abundance that our God is a God of wrathful destruction of the disobedient, as well as a God of incomprehensible love, in that He watched His Son go to Calvary for the redemption of mankind. As I watch the news on the television it appears that the East coast of America is being deluged with rain, which is a hint of what is to come.

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-27)

It may be true that the testimony of the two witnesses, described in Revelation chapter 11, is being prepared in our day. I believe that the two witnesses are a symbolic representation of Christ and His victorious saints. Christ, who is dwelling in the mature saints, is viewed as one witness. The saints, in whom Christ is dwelling, are viewed as the second witness. Thus, the two witnesses consist of the saints and Christ in them. They are analogous to the dual testimony of the Father and Christ, which Jesus explained as follows:

And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. (John 8:16-18–KJV)

Historically, God has begun every age with two witnesses who testify and portray the nature of the upcoming age. For example, the Father and Christ began the present Church age. The two witnesses of Revelation 11 testify of the coming of the Kingdom of God to Earth, portraying its power with great miracles. Then, during the Kingdom age, Earth’s population will be taught and trained in the ways of God for a thousand years. At the end of that age, people rebel against their training, attack the saints, and are destroyed.

We must stop here and consider what has been stated. How many people are we considering? “The nations in the four corners of the earth” and “In number they are like the sand on the seashore.” These people obviously were an enormous multitude. Apparently they had not agreed with the restrictions placed upon them by Christ and His saints. Fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them. We may be tempted to think of this as a necessary evil, and go on about our business. But these were fathers, mothers, and their children, each one having a name. I wonder if their names were written down somewhere by one of the survivors. Perhaps not, but that is a shame, isn’t it? All these spirits may have gone to a penal camp in the spirit world in the Land of Darkness. It appears to me improbable that they all were cast into the Lake of Fire, even though they were disobedient to God. But it is not impossible.

On the seventh day of the creation, God did not work. Rather He developed in His mind the plan that would bring about obedience on the part of all mankind, except for those who refuse to obey Christ. The rightful place of residence for the rebellious is the Lake of Fire. If they were permitted to remain among the saved people of the nations, they soon would reproduce what we see in the world today.

At the present time, God is watching over His Word, to perform it.

For anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his works, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10)

We enter God’s rest when we are completely and joyously obedient to every detail of God’s will for us.

Today God’s people are being taught that God has given us His “grace” so that we do not need to obey Him rigorously. We can disobey His will for us, and if we appeal to grace we are forgiven. In fact, I was taught in Bible school that God’s requirements are so strict that no one can obey them. But notice:

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (I John 5:3)

God’s commandments are not grievous. An individual who trusts in grace to save him and continues to disobey Christ is not revealing love toward God. A person raised in the current Evangelical doctrine of “grace” is not being prepared to teach the people of the nations obedience to the Father, because he himself has not been taught obedience to the Father.

The conversion of the nations to obedience to the one true God, and the worship of Him, will come about as the members of the Body of Christ serve as channels through which the living Water can flow.

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him. (John 7:38)
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)
When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. (Ezekiel 47:7)

The above are trees of life. Having been through the waters of judgment, the Water of Life pours out from them to the nations from the Throne of God that is in them. This is the fulfillment of the Levitical feast of Tabernacles.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)

The work of evangelism should continue throughout the world. But I believe the primary emphasis of the present hour should be upon learning stern obedience to Christ and God. We can develop this characteristic by looking to the Lord Jesus for every thought we think; every word we speak; and every action we take. This is how we enter the rest of God.

God has completed in His mind all of His works through to the coming down of the Wife of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem, through the sky to be established upon a high mountain of the new earth. From there the members of the Wife will nourish, teach, and judge those people of the nations who bring their treasures to the new Jerusalem.

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. (Revelation 21:24)

In the passage above we can see clearly the distinction between the new Jerusalem, which is the glorified Christian Church, and the people from the nations who have been saved to citizenship on the new earth. This is what being “saved” means. It is to live forever under the Presence of Christ and His Church. This is the Kingdom of God, and we must be found worthy to be part of it.

All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. (II Thessalonians 1:5)

I previously referred to a part of the Body of Christ that is especially close to the Lord Jesus (“many are called but few are chosen”). Many people are called out from the ranks of mankind to be Christians, but it appears that from among these only a few have sought the Lord Jesus with total fervency.

My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? (Song of Solomon 6:9,10–KJV)

The opportunity is available in our day to become an integral part of Christ. It is up to us to choose to be “the only one of her mother.” But you must decide to be entirely subject to the Lord. Such slaves of Christ shall sit for eternity with the Lord Jesus in the Throne of God.

We see this pattern in the design of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, which was a portable shrine described in Exodus starting at chapter 25. Inside of it, a veil separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Those who choose to be part of our Lord to this special extent must figuratively press through the veil by giving over their desires to Christ—all desires—in order that Christ may fulfill their desires according to His will for them. Christ is choosing such followers today. He is requiring that we confess to Him all of our idols, and forsake them, so that we will be free to worship Him alone.

Thus the entire Church, which is portrayed symbolically by the Tabernacle, is divided into the Most Holy Place and the Holy Place. Those who have not been chosen to this extent will be kings and priests over the multitude of “saved” people from the nations. Both offices of the Church, those represented by the Most Holy Place, and the larger group representing the less fervent disciples, are undergoing training today so they may be able to obey and serve the one true God.

Then there are the hundredfold, the sixtyfold, and the thirtyfold, mentioned in Matthew 13:8:

• The hundredfold Christians are those who sit closest to Christ on the Divine Throne, and they have Christ’s Divine Life in them.
• The sixtyfold Christians are the balance of the Royal Priesthood, the Church, the Body of Christ.
• The thirtyfold believers represent the members of mankind who have not been called to be members of the Royal Priesthood; they have not been called to be members of the Body of Christ. They are “saved” to live in glory forever as members of the Kingdom of God, although they are not set apart as members of the Priesthood.

Isaiah describes the lives of thirtyfold believers in the Kingdom as follows:

And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. (Isaiah 65:21)

This is my understanding of what Revelation is revealing to us. If I am incorrect, I am ready to be corrected.

The “bottom line” of all my teaching is that each person who claims to belong to the Lord Jesus must stop worshiping the idols of the present world. Sexual desire, the desire for more money than one needs, and entertainment, have a strong hold on Americans. We must look to the Lord Jesus to free us from all aspects of life that are not of our personal pursuit of Jesus. It is impossible to press into Christ while we are occupied with sexual desire, money, or entertainment. We cannot free ourselves from these lusts of our body and mind. But the Lord Jesus can save us from that which is not the will of God for us, and He indeed shall do this for every individual who seeks Him with an undivided heart. If we truly are seeking each day to do the will of the Lord Jesus, our path is leading us to participation in the rest of God.

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:11)

But if we are limiting our salvation to attending church, and are not making each day a fuller grasp on the Lord Jesus Christ, we will not participate in the Heavenly wonders that are kept in store for the fervent disciples.

Going to Heaven when we die is not the goal of the true servant of the Lord Jesus. Rather our goal is conformation (change) to the image of our Brother Jesus.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:11-13–KJV)

This essay describes the various phases of our journey from Calvary to the “rest of God,” referred to in Hebrews chapter 4. Perhaps the reason most of God’s people neither understand nor seek to enter God’s Kingdom is that they do not understand what it means to be “born again.” It is time now for Christians to look to the Lord Jesus for the steps they must take to be born again and thus understand and enter the Kingdom of God, eternally dwelling in the rest of God.

Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (II Thessalonians 1:5–KJV)

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Sometimes I think about the new world of righteousness. What it will be like to walk under an open Heaven, where we can hear the angel choirs and orchestras, where we can see what is taking place in the spirit world. Better yet is the fact that God and His rulers will be on a throne in the new world. Also there will be trees of life and healing that are available to those who are obeying Christ. This vision is much better than that of a mixed multitude who are continuing in their self-will, grasping whatever they desire no matter how other people may suffer from their actions.

God is creating Israel, the Body of Christ, so they may teach and discipline the multitude of people of the future. The primary lesson is that Christ is to be obeyed in all aspects of life. Those who refuse to obey Christ will suffer great punishment, or be banned for eternity from participation in the wonderful new world of righteousness.

Wouldn’t you be happier teaching people, young and old, about the ways of God, rather than wondering what to do all day?

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I do not promise this, but the above explanation of the third platform of redemption may be my last effort to tell what I understand after many years of thought.

What I am declaring is that the Divine salvation, including the transformation of our mortal body, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It is only as He Himself is formed in every part of our spirit, soul, and body that we can show in ourselves the fullness of eternal life that God has planned for the faithful. He Himself is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). It is not that He gives us these aspects of God, it is that He Himself grows in us.

As we consider the adamic world of today, we can observe clearly what the self-seeking population of the human race finally will accomplish—every type of human misery imaginable. From the child to the experienced adult, every effort will lead to frustration, pain, and misery. This is not the world that God has planned. There simply is no relief from this frustrating cycle of destruction. One prominent magazine reported recently that the United States is currently involved in sixty wars.

Given the possibilities for fruitfulness and satisfaction inherent in the planet earth, the influence of Satan and his hordes is revealed clearly in people who have not as yet received the Lord Jesus as their personal Lord.

The wisdom the Father has given Jesus is the only recipe for a world in which love and harmony are found in every aspect of life. What the Lord Jesus says and does always bring about the conditions that consistently yield God’s will in the earth. People who are not influenced by Jesus are blind, though they claim they see and understand.

The coming years will include many wars as leaders without Christ attempt to bring about peace and productivity among the nations. God’s witnesses, those who are living in the “rest of God,” who are not seeking to obtain their own desires but those of God, will triumph in the world to come because God Himself will empower them and guide them in their efforts.

The only true and valid reason for optimism is the picture of the world to come as described in the last two chapters of Revelation. Such is the eternal Word of the everlasting God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Wouldn’t you rather be busy for eternity pursuing some challenging type of work, rather than floating about in endless bliss? I certainly would!

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After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:2,3–KJV)
And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. (Luke 13,32–KJV)
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; (John 2:1–KJV)

Dr. Robert B. Thompson, 1/15/2019.

(“The Three Platforms of the Divine Redemption”, proofed 20190223 & 20210725)