There will be citizens, so to speak, of the new world. These are people who have been saved by the preaching of the Gospel. They have been spared destruction and brought forward to eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

Then there is another scenario. It is the creation of the governing priesthood. Each member of the royal priesthood is called out by election and then trained night and day for his place in the government of the Kingdom of God.

To not understand the difference between the calling and training of the royal priesthood and basic salvation from wrath causes confusion and sometimes a lack of consecration and diligence.

Confusion is caused because some of the verses of the New Testament imply that all we have to do is believe in Christ and the job is finished. There is nothing else to do but wait until we die and go to Heaven. Other verses of the New Testament indicate we are running a race that demands every ounce of consecration and diligence we can bring to the effort. The Apostle Paul toward the end of his life claimed he still was trying to gain Christ, to attain the resurrection from the dead. Obviously Paul was not straining every nerve in order to be saved from wrath and be accepted in Heaven! This is foolishness.

A lack of consecration and diligence is caused because we humans, being naturally spiritually lazy and willing to settle for the least amount of dedication on our part as long as we can escape Hell, will emphasize the verses that suggest we need only believe in Christ. No further effort is required. We just ignore the numerous passages that command us to present our body a living sacrifice, to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow the Lord Jesus.

The royal priesthood of the New Testament is a continuation of Israel of the Old Testament. When God called out Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees God was summoning from the world the Church, that is, the governing priesthood. This did not mean the great city of Ur was doomed to destruction like Sodom. It meant only that the time had come for the creating of the royal priesthood.

Because the purpose of the royal priesthood is to prevent further rebellions against God, Abraham was tested very severely in the realm of obedience, just as was the Lord Jesus at a later time.

The promises to Abraham are that he will inherit the physical land of Israel, that his Seed (Jesus Christ and all who belong to Christ) will conquer the enemies of the Seed, and that in his Seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

Thus the setting apart of Abraham, and Israel, was not to say that the Jews were to be saved and all the other nations destroyed by Divine wrath It was to reveal that the Jews are God's firstborn, so to speak, His firstfruit from among mankind and through whom mankind is to be saved.

To be continued.