It is not God's will merely to set the creation free but to fill it with the government and Life of Christ. The "rest" of God comes into being when the material realm is filled with the government and Life of Christ.

How will the redemption of the creation be carried out? The redemption of the creation will be carried out as God gives His authority and power through the Lord Jesus to an army of perfected saints.

. . . a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. (Joel 2:2)

A large and powerful army of holy people shall march through the earth at the appearing of the Lord.

. . . when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. (Habakkuk 3:16)

The saints have not been perfected in the Lord as yet, and so the current efforts to impose Christian standards on secular society are premature and will result in chaos for all concerned.

The saints, the sons of God, must endure the perfecting processes of the Lord Jesus. They must overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb, by maintaining through the Holy Spirit their testimony to the Person, ways, will, and eternal purpose of God, and by loving not their lives to the death.

They must "come out of Egypt," which is to say they must not be part of the spirit and works of the present age. They must cooperate with the Spirit in the cleansing of their personalities. Finally they must pass through "Jordan," that is, they must die to their own self-will and self-seeking. Until these three deaths occur in their personalities the saints cannot be used of God to redeem the creation. It is only as the disciples conquer in the three areas that they become "a great people and a strong."

The occupying of Canaan, the land of promise, represents resurrection—the entrance of incorruptible resurrection life into the formerly dead material creation.

The members of Joel's army, those who will restore "what the palmerworm and the locust have destroyed," are dead-living saints. They have been crucified to the world, to sin, and to their own life as well. But the Life of Christ is in them so "when they fall on the sword (the Word of God in judgment), they shall not be wounded" (Joel 2:8).

The Apostle Paul is a member of Joel's army.

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10)

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: . . . . (Galatians 2:20)

The material creation is not evil, it is "very good" according to the Lord's own Word. The sky, the earth, the waters, the air, the vegetation, the animals, the people, and all other things are very good. They are all the human heart could desire.

An army of unclean, wicked spirits has invaded our (man's) world. Because of the covetousness, lusts, and rebellion of their corrupt, inflamed personalities, the wicked spirits have perverted and destroyed the beautiful world God has given to us.

We humans are the original and rightful rulers and occupants of the creation. Not a stick or stone of nature belongs to Satan or to any of his followers.

The almighty God has given to Christ and to those who meekly follow Him the creation as an eternal inheritance. They shall inherit "all things."

Let each of us who is spiritually alive lay down his life, deferring his own pleasures, until the redeeming Life in Christ flows through us and restores the Life of Christ to the entire creation of God. (from The Redemption of the Creation)