The true saint of today is not seeking power with God, he is seeking the Presence and will of Christ. He is seeking union with Christ—not to "get something from God" but because he loves God. If we have the Presence and will of Jesus, and are in union with Jesus, and He is being exalted in us, we have gained everything of value in the universe.

If we do not have the Presence and will of Jesus, if we are attempting to use the authority of His name and the power of His gifts apart from His Presence and direction, if we are not abiding in union with Him, trusting Him and resting in Him in every circumstance, we are in danger of becoming part of the False Prophet. Divine Glory and satanic exaltation can be confused when we are not living in Christ as we should. The two forms of power and revelation, Christ and Satan, are separated from each other by the personal cross of the believer.

Christ knew He was the Son of God, the Heir of all things. Yet He did not clutch this status to Himself. He offered Himself to the will of God and went as a Lamb to the slaughter. He was mocked, humiliated, beaten, subjected to cold, hunger, weariness. His "trial" was a travesty of justice. Pilate found no fault in Jesus, but handed Him over to be crucified because of the pressure being put on him by high-ranking Israelites.

Jesus fell beneath the weight of His cross, not being able to keep up with the other two prisoners. Then He was hung naked on the cross to suffer humiliation and excruciating physical and spiritual agony. He suffered these things in order to pay the price for our redemption and to learn obedience to the Father.

Jesus suffered in His obedience to God more than any other man. Now He has been exalted above every other man. Since to man has been assigned the rulership of the creation, Jesus, being the fullest expression of what God means by "man," is the supreme Lord over all. Jesus is King over all other kings and Lord over all other lords.

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:8-11)

The Kingdom of God is the mature expression of the Divine edict that man is to rule the creation. The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the saints ruling and blessing the nations of the earth.

The Kingdom of God shall impose the will of God on all God's creatures. The way of God, the law of God, is to be obeyed. There is to be no disobedience throughout the universe. The holy city, the new Jerusalem, is the Wife of the Lamb. The servants of God will go forth from the new Jerusalem to rule the creation.

. . . and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)

To be continued.