All through history ambitious men and women have attempted to use God in order to gain their own ends. This is the False Prophet. Such individuals always will murder the true prophets—those who are being obedient to the Spirit of God.

It is union that is so extraordinarily important. During the thousand-year period the Wife of the Lamb will come into perfect union with Him. The thousand-year period is the kingdom-wide Day of Atonement, of image and union. It is the marriage of the Lamb.

We are so wrapped up in ourselves! We want to be something in Christ. But then the Lord in His own way breaks our heart. He gives us an inkling of the fierceness of Divine love. We understand that redemption is a love story. Apart from love and union there is little else of lasting value.

God has created us so we may become part of Himself. It is not our joy and rest that are so important, it is God's joy and rest. We belong to Him. Religious exercises not directed toward entering union with the Father through Christ are not directed toward the eternal purpose of God.

The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the saints ruling the creation.

God's love is in Christ. Christ's love is in us. The Divine love flows through us as Christ directs us toward those whom He is making part of Himself.

Love is the desire for union. Love is by far the strongest power in the universe. All other matters are insignificant compared to the Divine love, the creative, fiery love that is enlarging God's Being. God never will give His Glory to another. It is only as we become an eternally inseparable part of Him that we receive the Glory He has given to Christ.

Love is central. The Gospel is a love story. The Kingdom Age will witness the marriage of the Lamb. At the conclusion of the thousand-year period the Wife of the Lamb will descend from the new heaven, having attained total image and total union.

The third aspect of the Divine commission is that of fruitfulness. Each of God's elect is a matrix, a mold for a multitude of people who will be created in the future.

A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time. (Isaiah 60:22)

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6)

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. (John 15:8)

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)

To the degree we are willing to die and allow Christ to live in us—to that degree we bear fruit. As we enter union with the Lord Jesus, fruit is brought forth in our personality. The fruit is the moral image of the Lord Jesus in ourselves, and then in others toward whom the Lord directs us.

To be continued.