Many of my readers will have received Christ at some point in their life. They are saved by faith in the blood atonement made by Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Through the blood they have the authority to approach God.

Many will also have prayed until they have been anointed with the Holy Spirit, probably yielding to the point of speaking in tongues.

These two experiences are of God. But they are not strong enough to guarantee our safety throughout the age of moral horrors, the time of the increase of wickedness and lawlessness.

We can observe today that numerous people who have received Christ and also have spoken in tongues are falling into temptation. They are not strong enough to stand when the opportunity to sin is so great. They are being overcome by the attractions and guarantees of the world, by the lusts and passions of their flesh, and by their personal ambition.

God has made provision for our protection during the dangerous and yet wonderful days of the closing of the Church Age. God's provision is not to remove immature people to Heaven. It is to bring the believers to maturity and fill them with His Presence until they are more than conquerors no matter how thoroughly sin fills the earth.

The Divine provision has to do with patient endurance and the resulting protection the Lord has promised.

We have been saved through the blood. We have received the Holy Spirit. Now it is time for the Father and the Son to enter us in a manner greater than we might have believed possible during the Church Age.

Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks [Pentecost] and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: (Deuteronomy 16:16—NIV)

There are three great works of grace under the new covenant.

There is salvation through the blood of the cross, corresponding to Passover.

There is the empowering by the Spirit of God, corresponding to Pentecost.

There is the coming of the Father and the Son to dwell in the believer, corresponding to Tabernacles.

Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." (John 14:23—NIV)

I have written much about the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. The aspect I wish to stress in the present essay is the role of our will as we enter the third great work of Divine grace.

When we are saved and filled with the Spirit our will has not been affected too much. We still are in water to the knees. We still can churn about as we please.

If we are acquainted with the Evangelical churches we may have noted that there is a great deal of willfulness, of the seeking of preeminence, of divisiveness, of personal ambition, of jealousy and envy. All these traits of the self-centered personality are exhibited. The leaders sometimes vaunt themselves, obviously seeking their own glory.

To be continued.