We must die to the world (Egypt) in order to begin our journey into life.

We must die to the sins of our flesh (Sinai) in order to escape from the spiritual death of sin. Sin is of Satan, and Satan is eternal corruption and death. It is impossible for us to dwell in the Light and Life of God and serve Satan at the same time. Eternal life can enter our personality only as eternal spiritual death (sin) is cast out.

The third death is death to self (the Jordan River). We must die to our own self-will and be living in and by the Lord Jesus Christ before the Father in Heaven will trust us to rule His creation.

Death to the world brings us into the family and Kingdom of God. Death to sin brings us into eternal life.

Death to self-will enables us to become part of the Lord Himself. God never will give His glory to another. In order to become part of the ruling family, of the Kingdom of God, we must become one with Christ as He is One with the Father. In order to become one with Christ we must experience the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

The three deaths, and eternal life, begin to be developed in us the moment we truly receive Christ into our personality.

Our Christian pilgrimage consists of a continual dying to the world, sin, and self-centeredness and a continual living to Christ. Our task is to maintain our confidence in Christ as the Holy Spirit brings us continually through death and resurrection.

The task of the Holy Spirit is to slay every vestige of the world, every vestige of sin, and every vestige of self-rule in us; and to fill every area of our personality with eternal resurrection life—the Life that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead and by which He lives today.

Christ has come so we may possess eternal spiritual life and possess it in abundance. We receive abundant life as we are willing to die to the world, to sin, and to our self-will. We trade our natural, adamic life for the Life of God.

Trading our natural life for the Life of God is not a figure of speech or doctrinal position or textual affirmation. It is an actual destruction of our first personality and entrance into us of a new life resulting in a new creation. This is what is meant by being "saved by grace."

Precisely how is Divine grace, which is God's mercy and virtue flowing toward fallen man, related to eternal life?

Divine grace is best defined as Christ helping us work out our own salvation. Divine grace is not an alternative to righteous behavior but the Virtue, wisdom, and power that enable us to live righteously. Divine grace includes forgiveness of our sin but is primarily deliverance from sin and transformation into righteous behavior.

To be continued.