No one will be permitted to rule the nations with a rod of iron until the Morning Star, Christ, has been formed in him and is abiding in him. Christ and the Father will come to abide only in the individual who guards carefully and observes to practice that which Christ has spoken.

As we press forward in the rewards to the overcomer we can see the difference between the Divine pardon of the sinner, and the spiritual development of the saint.

The believer who is walking in the flesh is not having Christ formed and abiding in him. He is not being given the morning star. How, then, could he rule the nations of the earth?

Each believer in Christ will be raised from the dead. Then he will receive what he has practiced while living in the world.

When the Lord comes, each of us will enter a unique destiny. Great diversity will result. Some will shine as the stars forever. Others will be beaten with many lashes because of the evil they have practiced. In between these extremes will be found a variety of rewards and punishments, praises and rebukes. This is true of all whose names are in the Book of Life.

Those whose names are not found in the Book of Life will suffer the maximum sentence of the judgment bar of Christ: eternal banishment from the face of their Creator.

Those who would rule with Christ must walk in righteousness because the scepter of Christ's Kingdom is the scepter of righteousness.

To walk with Christ in white (3:4).

We are learning to walk in white now. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. We are purifying our actions, our words, our motives and imaginations. We are coming out from the world and cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

As Christ is, so are we in the world. We are walking as He walked in the grace of His resurrection life.

The blood of Jesus has pardoned us from the guilt of our sin. Now the authority of the blood and the power of the Spirit are enabling us little by little to escape from the corruption that is in the world through lust. Meanwhile we are without condemnation because we are doing the Lord's will as He is revealing it to us.

It is not possible to have fellowship with Christ and continue to walk in unrighteousness, in uncleanness, in disobedience to the Father. Christ did not pardon us so we can continue in our sins. Christ pardoned us so we can learn to please God by our conduct.

To be continued.