Creating the dwelling place of the Lord God of Heaven is one of the main concepts of the entire Scriptures. It is the Father's House that is to be constructed.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal dwelling place of God. He is the Father's House. However, as He informed us, He is not to be the only room in the Father's House. He went to the cross to prepare a place for us so we also could become rooms in the Father's House.

The Father always dwells in Christ. In order to become the dwelling place of the Father, Christ must be formed in us. The things of our old personality must pass away. All aspects of our personality, including our body eventually, must become new and must be raised as part of Christ if we are to be the Father's House.

The Father desires a house so He may dwell among His creatures. The new Jerusalem is the perfected and glorified Christian Church, the eternal dwelling place of God and the Lamb.

The new Jerusalem will be placed on a high mountain of the new earth so the nations of the earth may be able to come and be blessed. However, if people are to be permitted to enter the city and partake of the Tree of Life they must be obedient to the laws of the Kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount gives us an idea of the laws of the Kingdom of God. The nations will be compelled to keep these laws by the saints who will be governing them.

In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. (Isaiah 2:2—NIV)

The fact that the philosophy of democracy is directly opposite to the Kingdom of God can be seen in the fact that American people resist violently any attempt by the government to enforce righteous behavior. They want to be free to behave as they please, and they litigate against or otherwise seek to overthrow constraints on their behavior. Yet it is the Lord's view that the first duty of government is to enforce righteous behavior on the part of the citizens. The Kingdom of God will enforce righteous behavior throughout the new earth.

God takes no pleasure in smashing people with a rod of iron. He will do it if He has to; but He prefers the gentleness of the lamb, not the savagery of the lion. The Bride is the Bride of the Lamb, not of the Lion of Judah.

God is making a covenant with mankind. God's covenant is Christ, and then those in whom Christ is dwelling. The first-century Apostles are themselves the covenant of God with man. The New Testament writings are not the covenant but the testimony of those who themselves are the covenant.

The nature of the Divine covenant is that Christ living in us portrays the Divine Nature, will, way, and eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. When people obey the covenant they are blessed; when they rebel against the covenant they are punished.

To be continued.