We are not teaching that every human being, or Satan and his demons, ultimately will be saved. Such is not the case. It is not the restoration of all things that will take place but the restoration of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets. The holy prophets did not state that all people would be saved or that Satan and his angels would be saved.

The program of redemption is directed toward the rule of Christ-filled people over the material creation. Originally the Spirit of Christ filled the creation. Then, because of the rebellion of Adam and Eve, the Spirit of God withdrew from the creation, including the bodies of people. The spirit of futility, corruption, and death invaded the material creation.

Redemption is the restoration to the original owner of what has been taken from him by forfeiture, trickery, or force. The creation was given to man in the beginning. It has been taken from him by the trickery of Satan. Through the grace of God in Christ the material creation will be restored to man. This is the meaning of salvation and is the theme of the Scriptures.

We have stated that originally the Spirit of Christ filled the creation. If this were not the case the creation would have been born dead. For as the physical body without its spirit is dead, so the material creation without the Life of the Spirit of God is dead. In the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal Life; and that Life is the Light, and the only light, that is able to light each individual who is born into the world.

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." What was the source of the light? At that time there was no sun, no moon, no stars. What, then, was the source of the light described in Genesis 1:3? How could there have been an evening and a morning for three days before the sun, moon, and stars were created?

The "light" of Genesis 1:3 was Christ, just as He will be the Light of the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:23).

The garden of Eden was located on the material earth—the earth on which we walk today. From our earth grew the tree of life. To eat of the fruit of the tree of life causes the body of the eater to live forever. Here is another example of the Presence of the Life of Christ in the original creation; for it is only the eating of Christ that can give us eternal life.

It appears that God Himself was accustomed to walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, all this changed. The Presence of God in Christ withdrew from the creation. The Father and the Son separated Themselves from what They had created. The creation became filled with futility, corruption, and death. Men began to call on the name of a Lord who no longer was willing to dwell with them.

To be continued.