The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the saints ministering the Presence and Life of God to other people. The Life of God is in Christ. That eternal Life is flowing into the elect. The elect then become trees of life through whom others can receive the blessing of God. This is the plan of love that works only in love and through love. Love is the desire of one creature to bring another creature into union with itself.

An individual who is in love with himself is in the image of Satan, for Satan is unable to give of himself to others. Satan is a cherub, and no cherub or angel has been invited to abide in Christ in God. Satan does not and cannot give of himself. He strives to create human beings in his own image.

In order to be successful Satan must convince people they should keep to themselves, always fulfilling and improving their individuality. This is contrary to the Nature, desire, and plan of the Lord God of Heaven.

By making us male and female, God is teaching us that we are dependent on others for our inheritance in the Kingdom of God. From this original concept God progresses to the idea of the Lamb and His Wife, of the oneness of the Church with Christ.

Satan desires to be like the Most High but he rejects the concept of being one with God. We see this tendency in the churches of today. The modern philosophies that stress the importance of man and man's rights have filtered into the thinking of the believers until Christians view the Divine redemption as man-centered. This is paving the way for Antichrist, who no doubt will be a self-centered Christian.

Have you noticed that salvation is being presented as the means God has provided to make man happy and meet his needs? Then, when discipleship is preached, the need for us to give up our life for the sake of the Kingdom of God, we have a problem of inconsistency. We are telling people if they will come to Christ they will be happy. Then we demand of them that they give up all and follow Christ.

The churches of today have been made largely ineffectual by placing man at the center of the plan of God. It is Christ, not man, who is at the center of the plan of God. We live to serve Christ, Christ does not live to serve us. We were created for Christ's pleasure, He was not created for our pleasure (Revelation 4:11).

The plan of redemption delivers us from sin and also from self-centeredness. There is neither sin nor self-centeredness in the Kingdom of God.

It is the power of the Holy Spirit that casts out the sin from us. As we confess our sins, repenting of them, the Spirit enables us to put them to death.

Self-centeredness is another matter. The sufferings of the cross are the only antidote for our self-love and self-will. God insists that we turn away not only from what is sinful but also from what is ours by right. He asks us to forsake our life, giving over to Him all we fervently desire.

God knows many devices that will destroy self-centeredness. He employs them with the greatest skill. The process is painful, but the end result is the destruction of self-seeking and the accomplishing of restful union with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Being created in the image of God is the basis for our inheritance. But image apart from union is Antichrist. God is not creating many Christs. There is one Christ, and He is Jesus—the firstborn Son of God. We are being formed as eternally inseparable members of the Body of the one Christ. God is making from the elect Jews and the elect Gentiles one new Man.

To be continued.