We have said God has a need. God needs a house, a place of rest. Jesus Christ is the House of God, the place of His rest. But in God's house there are to be many dwelling places. Christ went to the cross and then to Heaven to prepare a place for us in God and a place for God in us.

If we have been called to be a saint, if this is true of us, then we were created originally to be the dwelling place of God. This is our eternal destiny. If such is our calling we will never find fulfillment, perfect peace, perfect joy, until Christ is living in us and the Father in Him.

We have observed that entering the fulfillment of Tabernacles such that Christ and the Father can find rest in us requires that we choose Christ's will over our own will in every issue of life. Any aspect of our personality or behavior that is not counted as garbage and discarded as the occasion arises is incredible loss for us; incredible loss of Christ; incredible loss for the people who will be assigned to us in the future—incredible, incomprehensible loss of inheritance.

The cross is the engine that destroys our self-will. First we by faith take our place upon the cross of Calvary. Then we take up our personal cross and follow the Master. God takes us at our word and sends many tribulations and perplexities our way so our crucifixion might be accomplished in actuality. At the same time God raises us from the dead, so to speak, and we receive an added portion of eternal, incorruptible resurrection life.

Let no person reading this suppose the program of transformation from self-life to Christ-life is all joy. It is not. But God will set enough joy before us that we can carry our cross successfully to the conclusion of our pilgrimage.

We have noted that it is time to join the Body of Christ to the Head. The age of moral horrors is approaching. Deception fills the land. Every form of lust and sin is available for the asking. We can no longer survive spiritually in our adamic nature, in our religious striving and activities. We must cease from our own works and enter the rest of God. If we do not we will surely fall! Only Christ within us can bring us safely through the days that are ahead.

Rejoice in the Lord, O Christian. He has kept the good wine until now. The best is at hand. The glory of the latter house shall surpass the former.

The days of greatest spiritual opportunity and greatest spiritual danger are at hand. Those who turn again to Christ, separating the precious from the vile, will go on and on until they are seated on the throne of glory. Those who remain involved in the toys of civilization will be resurrected to corruption. The issues are just this stark.

All the talents go to the diligent. Outer darkness will be the home of the slothful. The foolish will have the door shut in their face.

There is no power in the heavens or on the earth that can prevent your achieving God's highest and best, only your own unbelief and disobedience can do that.

Go for the gold! Christ is for you. The righteous are cheering you on. Don't quit until you find your place in the army that is poised, ready to appear with Christ and bring justice to the nations of the earth.

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." (Revelation 14:13—NIV) (from The Mystery of the Gospel)