The second stage of entering life and the Kingdom is entrance into our own inheritance as a king and priest over the creation of God.

We have, then, two stages of entering life and the Kingdom of God.

Entering life in our own personality.

Entering our own inheritance as a king and priest over the creation of God.

These two stages of life constitute "Canaan"—the goal of the Christian life. They are the spiritual fulfillment of the land of promise. They are the rest of God, the inheritance toward which we are to be pressing with unrelenting vigor, diligence, courage, hope, trust, faith, consistency, and determination. The gate that leads to life is small and the way is restrictive. Few of us find it, it appears, even though we are involved in religious activities.

We must keep in mind that "Canaan" is as unique as the individual. Each of us has had a unique "mark" set before him. Our task is to grasp the unique role for which we have been grasped by the Lord. To come short of our own mark is slothfulness. To reach beyond our mark is ambition.

It is possible to reach our own mark. It is possible, through Christ, to achieve victory over the world, over sin, and over self-will.

It is possible to escape death and enter incorruptible life, and into our unique inheritance.

To him who asks, seeks, and knocks the way will open. The reward of life is glorious enough to deserve all the persistence that any human being can apply to the seeking of it. Keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking. Never cease. Christ is there, testing the desires of our heart.

The two principal stages blend into one act of God. The land of promise, the Kingdom of God, is the Life of Christ entering the entire material realm. The resurrection (awakening from the dead) of the material creation began with the resurrection of the material body of the Lord Jesus.

The next step is the development of eternal life in the personalities of the victorious saints. The victorious saints are those who, through Christ, escape from the death that is in the world, in sin, and in self-will.

When the elect have been developed sufficiently in the Life of Christ, the Day of the Lord will come. The Day Star now is rising in the hearts of the saints. The inner "armageddon" is being fought. The inner "kingdom age" has commenced.

At the appropriate stage of our development the Lord Jesus will come, bringing with Him those whose life He is. He will reveal His saints, whom God loves as He loves Christ. He will reveal them in that He will clothe their invisible spiritual personalities with bodies of life and glory.

The saints have become one with Christ. They now are Life-giving spirits. They are Trees of Life. They will go forth throughout the material realm, lifting the curse and breathing the Life of Christ into the spiritually dead. The nations of the saved and all nature will be released into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

To be continued.