God's witnesses want everything God has for us, every bit of Divine wisdom and Virtue that will bring us to the promised maturity. Therefore they surround us that they might increase in the plan of redemption. They without us cannot be made perfect.

The knowledge of the Divine redemption was lost at the end of the first century. Men, not having the Spirit of revelation of the Apostles, began to apply human reasoning to the study of theology.

But over the course of the two thousand years of the Christian Age the true knowledge of the Lord, that which can come only through the Spirit of revelation, has been increasing. That which was given so freely to the Apostles had to be gained by saints who gave themselves in obedience to the Lord.

Today we have been brought as far as the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Pentecost. It may be true that the witnesses who are surrounding us have also partaken of the fulfillment of Pentecost.

Three feasts lie ahead of us—spiritual experiences that will bring the Body of Christ to the maturity necessary for its return with the Lord Jesus.

The three feasts are as follows:

The Blowing of Trumpets, signifying that Christ is standing before the members of His Body and declaring war on the aspects of our personality that are hostile to God's Person and way.

We might think, "How could such a confrontation take place in the spirit realm among the deceased witnesses?"

Why not? Peter says that God judges the living and the dead—the dead as though they still were alive in the flesh.

For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. (I Peter 4:6—NIV)

The next convocation is the Day of Atonement. The fulfillment of the Jewish Day of Atonement occurs as every aspect of our personality is reconciled to God. The Blowing of Trumpets announces the Day of Atonement, we might say.

If we are to come to maturity as a member of the Body of Christ, all worldliness must be driven from our personality.

But would the saints in the spirit realm have tendencies toward worldliness? Why not? Where did the love of the world come from if not from Satan and his followers? It no doubt is possible to be in the spirit realm and still have a desire to find our survival and security in the world spirit. We need to understand that physical death does not change what we are. The only difference in living in the spirit realm and living in a mortal body on the earth is that while in the spirit realm we do not have a physical body.

It gives us insight into what may be true in the ages to come when we consider that Enoch, Elijah, and the Lord Jesus still have physical bodies even though they are in the spirit realm. And why shouldn't they? The things of the heavens are more similar to what we have experienced than they are different. To be continued.