There are many believers today who have had the Substance of Christ conceived in them, but not all are pressing forward until every aspect of their personality has passed through the death and resurrection necessary for the formation of Christ in each element.

The Lampstand of the Tabernacle of the Congregation was hammered into shape from one mass of gold. So it is true that the Wife of the Lamb is hammered into shape from the Substance of Christ.

We live, but it is no longer we who are living but Christ who is living in us.

If we truly are following the Spirit of God, some aspect of our personality is being brought down to death each moment of our discipleship and is being raised again, through the body and blood of Christ, into newness of life in Christ. The "wood" of our personality is passing away while the "gold," which was begotten in us when we received Christ, is being hammered into the shape the Lord desires.

Let us say there is a person whom we despise. We carry bitterness and hatred in our soul toward that individual. We must come to understand two facts: one, the bitterness and hatred are coming from our original personality and are being intensified by Satan; and two, the hatred never will be accepted in the Wife of the Lamb. If we are to be a member of the Wife of the Lamb, we must get rid of the hatred toward another person no matter how justified we may believe our bitterness to be.

We go to the Lord. We confess our hatred. We ask the Lord to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness through His holy blood.

The Lord responds by forgiving us so we may remain without condemnation. Then He begins to remove this darkness from us. This is salvation. He may require us to perform some act of repentance or restitution. Or He may do the work Himself without any further action on our part. However, it is our responsibility to resist the enemy when he seeks to move us to continue in hatred. The Lord will help us resist if we ask Him.

God uses the body and blood of the Lord Jesus to form new Substance in us. Divinity is added to us. Change enters us from Heaven. New life comes forth while the old personality withers and dies. The finished product is a new nature. In this manner we continually are passing from death to life. We are washing our robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Every aspect of love for the world, the lusts of our flesh, and self-will that are in us are dealt with in this fashion. God keeps on bringing tribulations and enemies upon us in order to display the evil that is in us. We must cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He forms Christ in us. We ourselves must judge ourselves, as the Spirit directs us, and ask the Lord to cleanse us. The Wife of the Lamb is not formed in a moment.

To be continued.