Salvation From Emptiness to Fullness

Thus far we have spoken of forgiveness, eternal life, spiritual freedom, obedience, and God's image. The next aspect of salvation has to do with the coming of the Persons of God and Christ through the Spirit to dwell in us.

It is one matter to have our personality transformed into the image of God. It is another matter to have the Father and the Son through the Spirit enter us and make Their abode with us. The one is a change in what we are. The other is the coming of two distinct Persons, the Father and the Son, into the throne room of our personality, there to abide with us for eternity.

There is an emptiness in every man, woman, boy, and girl born on the earth. There is a place in every human being for God's use alone. No person can be satisfied until the Father and the Son have settled down to rest in him.

The Kingdom of God is in us. It is an inner kingdom although it does have an outward manifestation. It is a kingdom of the heart. God through Christ rules from within us. He governs us, and through us those whom we govern. He rules and blesses from within us.

In the preliminary stages of the development of the Kingdom of God there are many kinds of graces that are of benefit to us. Redemptive acts take place that are external to us. The cross of Calvary is external to us. The resurrection and ascension of Jesus are external to us. The pouring out of the Spirit from Heaven is external to us.

All these circumstances and events are designed to bring about and reveal the true Kingdom: God in Christ in the saints—and finally in every saved person.

God is a Spirit. He finds rest in the hearts of His children.

The feast of Tabernacles, the seventh of the feasts of the Lord, portrays God and Christ entering us. Here is the climax of the work of redemption.

We spend our life seeking to satisfy the inner longing that we have. Sometimes our immediate object is money, or prestige, or material possessions. If we just could own this or that!

The lover believes if he can gain the love of some person, or possess him or her, he will be happy. The curse on the woman was that her desire would be for her husband instead of for God. Until the curse is lifted the woman never can be satisfied. She continually will be seeking from her husband what only the Lord can give.

No attainment, no thing, no relationship, no accomplishment can bring lasting peace and joy to the human personality. The human personality has a throne room in itself that is to be occupied only by God and His Christ.

When God and Christ enter the inner room, finding a welcome there, all attainments, things, relationships, and accomplishments fall into their proper place. Then all is righteousness, holiness, obedience, love, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit of God.

It is not good for any human being to be alone. Human marriage is but a foreshadowing of the one true marriage—the marriage of God and His creature.

God will rule from within all saved persons: in some to a hundredfold extent; in some to a sixtyfold extent; and in others to a thirtyfold extent. There will be greater and lesser in the Kingdom. Christ will abide in some measure in every person who is saved to life on the new earth.

To be continued.