And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. (Luke 13:32)

In Christ we lose our individuality (in the sense of being a person separate from God) but we retain our identity. It is paradoxical that as we lose our life in Christ to the extent it no longer is we who live but Christ who lives in us, our own personality is then brought into its God-ordained uniqueness.

We lose our individuality in that we become an inseparable part of Another, of Christ. Our personality, that which God had in mind when He created us, becomes many times more sharply defined.

Truly, if we seek to save our life we will lose it; but if we lose our life in Christ we will gain it. There is no disappointment in Jesus.

There are thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold in the Kingdom of God. Three out of twelve were chosen to stand on the Mount of Transfiguration.

There are many examples, in both the Old Testament and the New, of the variety existing in the Israel of God, in the Body of Christ.

Since the Wife of the Lamb appears in white raiment at the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, and then appears as the glorified holy city at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, it seems reasonable that one of the principal purposes of the Kingdom Age is the perfecting and glorifying of true Israel, the Body of Christ.

Jesus referred symbolically to the need to perfect the members of His Body by stating He would walk two days, referring, we believe, to the two thousand years of the Church Era, and then be perfected on the third day, the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

When the Lord's people die physically they pass into the spirit realm in widely varying states of maturity. Some, as the Apostle Paul, are spiritual giants. Paul is of the first rank. After that there are many levels of spiritual maturity down to those who had been given little time in which to come to know the Lord on the earth.

The Song of Solomon suggests the different stations occupied by the members of the household of God. One passage in particular points to the work of perfecting the immature members of the Church:

We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. (Song of Solomon 8:8,9)

"We will build . . . we will inclose."

The immature members of Israel will be assisted by the stronger, we believe, until they attain their place and role in the Kingdom of God.

To be continued.