As soon as the victory began to be won by Gideon's three hundred the remainder of Israel was able to join in the victory. So it will be that all of God's Church will be able to gain the redemption of the physical body as soon as the warlike remnant presses through to the full attainment of Christ.

All mankind died physically, being denied access to the Tree of Life (Christ) when Adam and Eve disobeyed God.

The six thousand years of human history are a record of mankind waiting for redemption, that is, the restoring of eternal life to the children of Adam.

Before resurrection was possible an atonement had to be made for the sins of the world. The atonement was made by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary.

And he is the propitiation [appeasement] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (I John 2:2)

Then the long struggle began, the struggle to attain eternal life.

One may ask, Why was a long struggle necessary? The revelation of eternal life and of the Kingdom of God was given by the Apostles in the first century. Why did God withdraw the apostolic anointing when the eleven died, making it possible for spiritually inclined men to attempt to explain the Kingdom by human reasoning, and also to organize the great Catholic denomination?

Why the hundreds of years of darkness in which so much of the apostolic understanding was lost? Why the torturous route since the Protestant Reformation as the several denominations and movements gained some of the original truth and also added various errors and traditions?

Even today we have the overemphasis on God's love, the "salvation by faith alone" excess, the pre-tribulation "rapture" doctrine, the "faith" and "prosperity" errors. Why does God not speak clearly so that all believers can press into the resurrection?

The reason for God's willingness to allow the teachers and leaders to go back and forth and sideways has to do with the concept of being convinced.

Perhaps you may have noticed in your own life how God waits until you are convinced of righteousness. The writer, having been a Christian for fifty years, has often pleaded with God to remove all sin from him and to make him perfect. Yet the hoped-for deliverance does not take place immediately. Rather there is a very slow process of dealing with each area of personality one inch at a time. The written Word of God invites correction and change. The correction of one small part of his personality occurs when the believer becomes convinced of God's way.

The convincing is more than a mental convincing or a verbal statement of the decision to go God's way. The mental convincing and the verbal statement are of great importance. But the actual redemption of the personality, the convincing of the necessity for choosing God's path, must occur in every area of the personality at a level so deep it can be said truly that old things have passed away, all things have become new, and all things are of God.

The experienced believer will recognize instantly the operation we have just described.

To be continued.