At what point do the destiny of the Christian Church and the glorifying of the nation of Israel converge? The beginning of the convergence will occur, we believe, when Christ through the Holy Spirit comes to reconcile a remnant of His own nation to Himself. This initial reconciliation will take place, as we see it, during the great tribulation.

At the same time, Christ will draw out from the Gentile churches a holy remnant, using Antichrist to force the remnant to flee from the major cities of the earth.

We believe the Jewish remnant and the Gentile remnant will become one stick in the Lord's hand. This will take place in the Valley of Achor, spiritually speaking, in the place of judgment. It is only as everything is stripped from us by the judgment of God that we are betrothed to the Lord.

And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. (Hosea 2:15)

The reconciliation of the two remnants, whom we hold to be a firstfruits of the larger Church, is revealed in the type of Joseph and Asenath being reconciled to Jacob and his sons during the famine.

Asenath was one with Joseph to such an extent that her two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, became Jacob's sons and tribes in Israel. Yet, Asenath was an Egyptian by birth.

If we are one with Christ we are of the true and only Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:29). We have a common inheritance with the Head, a common destiny, a common work to perform. God has put His words into our mouths and has covered us in the shadow of His hand in order that we may, as Jesus enables us through the Holy Spirit, plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and reconcile God's elect to Himself.

The Work of Christ

Planting the heavens. The Lord God of Heaven, the Father, has determined to remove all sin and rebellion from the heavens and the earth.

Sin is a spiritual force, not a physical force. Sin originated in the spirit realm, not in the garden of Eden.

One of the present-day assumptions is that after we die and pass into the realm of spirits we can sin no longer. We are looking for physical death to accomplish what we have not allowed the Lord Jesus to do for us during our lifetime on the earth. We are regarding physical death as our redeemer from sin.

There are religions and movements that regard matter as evil and spirit as good. The proponents of these religions do all they can to leave the body and live in the spirit realm while they yet are physically alive on the earth. They are seeking peace, power, and assistance from the realm of spirits. Hindus stream into their temples at night, hoping to obtain assistance from the spirits.

When such worshipers die they will discover to their dismay that the spirit realm is filled with personages of all types, not all of whom are friendly. Some of the inhabitants of the spirit realm are incredibly lovely and filled with the love, joy, and peace that humans desire. Others are unbelievably hideous and filled with murder, violence, misery, and raging unrest. The worst nightmares of humans have to do with being trapped by horrible demons and fallen angels.

To be continued.