All we have known and loved on the earth will be there, waiting for the new life to begin. All that is worthy that we have given up for the sake of the Gospel will be handed to us, now greatly magnified in glory and desirability.

A few more weary steps. An abiding for a little while longer in our prison of weakness, frustration, and confusion. Then, glory upon glory with all those who likewise have borne their cross, who have waited patiently for the promises made to them.

Christ is the Alpha. He also is the Omega. He is the Author and the Finisher. What He began so gloriously on the cross He will bring to completion and perfection—not one detail being overlooked.

He is faithful who has promised. Let us take up our cross and follow after Him.

The land of promise, Canaan, the inheritance, the goal of our salvation, has an internal dimension and an external dimension. The internal dimension is the change in the man. The external dimension is the change in the man's environment.

Our present writing has discussed the change in the man, the internal "Canaan."

The external dimension consists of all the inheritance of Christ (for we are coheirs with Him) in a wonderful Paradise of glory. In particular, we inherit the earth, the nations of the earth, the new Jerusalem, and the new heaven and new earth God will create in the future.

Of all the areas of the current Christian misunderstanding of redemption, the most desperately in need of clarification concerns the fact that the internal inheritance must be attained before the external inheritance can be given to us.

It is useless to bring an unredeemed person into a redeemed environment. To bring an unchanged Adam back into Paradise is to invite a repeat of the original disaster.

Current Christian teaching implies that the Christian salvation, at least in the present life, is ninety-nine percent forgiveness. However, to forgive an individual and then not to transform him is to leave him unprepared for the new world of righteousness. Whether or not God has forgiven him, he still cannot be brought into a redeemed environment. To do so, as we have stated, is to invite disaster.

The assumption of Christian doctrine is that the necessary transformation of the believer takes place after he dies, or when the Lord comes, or some combination of these two.

But except for the transformation of the body, there is no scriptural basis for the concept that God waits until we die to transform us or that He will bring about the necessary changes in our character at the coming of the Lord.

The understanding of the writer is that the bringing of the saved to the fullness of redemption is taking place as "seasons of refreshing" come from the Presence of the Lord.

The critical issue is not where we are when the blessing of increased redemption is brought to us, but the faith and diligence with which we respond to the Lord's invitation when it comes.

There is no basis for the belief that those of us who have demonstrated unbelief and spiritual lethargy in the present world will be filled with faith and diligence when we pass into the realm of spirits. After all, rebellion and sin originated in the spirit world.

All redemption is in Christ, not in Heaven. Redemption is in Heaven only to the extent Christ is in Heaven. It is not going to Heaven that transforms the believer, it is coming to Jesus that transforms the believer.

Let us look to the Lord now—today. Now is the day of salvation as far as we are concerned. We shall be held accountable for the grace being presented to us today. Those who neglect the current salvation will not escape the anger of the Lord.

The land of promise is before us. The Body of Christ is ready to cross Jordan, ready to begin its assault on the forces inhabiting our land—both the interior land of our personality, and then our exterior land of God's created universe. Now it is time to take possession of the several areas of personal redemption. After we gain the fullness of victory, there is a whole world of wonder and glory waiting to be occupied by the sons of God. (from The Fullness of Salvation)