The feast of Tabernacles signifies Christ will come to the believer with the Father. They will make Their eternal home in him or her.

War and judgment against the enemy, reconciliation to God in every aspect and element of our personality, and the indwelling of the fullness of the Godhead are necessary if sin is finally, utterly, and eternally to be removed from us. This is a wonderful prospect, isn't it?

Internal Conquest and External Conquest

Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (I John 2:6—NIV)

To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery—just as I have received authority from my Father. (Revelation 2:26,27—NIV)

One may notice that the first verse (above) has to do with our personal walk in Christ, that is, with the internal conquest of our personality. The second has more to do with external conquest.

Before the Jews were directed to cross the Jordan River and conquer the Canaanites, the external enemy, they first had to suffer many experiences at the hand of God in order to conquer their own personality.

So it is with us Christians. We have been told that one day we will govern with Christ the nations of the earth. But it is obvious before we govern the world with Christ we first will have to learn to govern our own personality. Would you agree with this?

The common understanding among Christians is that we will change from imputed righteousness to actual righteousness when we die and go to Heaven or when the Lord returns. (Some may believe we never will be righteous except by imputation. We always will be sinners who are seen through Christ.) There is no scriptural basis for the concept that the Kingdom of God consists only of imputed (ascribed) righteousness.

Our transformation from the adamic nature into a life-giving spirit cannot occur by virtue of death; cannot occur by virtue of the fact we are in Heaven (after all, sin began in Heaven around the very Throne of God); cannot occur as an instantaneous act when the Lord appears.

Cannot occur by virtue of death. Death is our enemy, not our redeemer. Our sin is spiritual in nature and will not stay with our body in the ground. It has to be dealt with somewhere. There is no scriptural basis whatever for believing death will cause us to become a new creation of righteous, holy behavior.

Cannot occur just because we are in Heaven. The mere fact of existence in the spirit realm will not cause us to become a new creation of righteous, holy behavior. There is no scriptural basis for the concept that when we arrive in Heaven we will automatically be delivered from sin. Dying and going to Heaven does not solve the problem of the sinning Christian, rather it intensifies the problem. It is appointed to men once to die and after this the judgment.

Our transformation cannot occur at the time the Lord appears from Heaven. We must be ready to appear with Him. There is no scriptural or logical basis for the commonly held concept that Christ will transform us instantaneously at His appearing.

To be continued.