The return of Christ is not to bring His Bride back to Heaven with Him. It is to establish justice among the nations of the earth.

The coming of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom we cannot see or enter until we have been "born again," is the arrival of the rule of God among mankind on the earth.

The spirits of the righteous indeed will pass into Heaven when they die physically, but only to await their return to earth with the Lord Jesus in the Day of the Lord.

"We shall reign on the earth."

If going to Heaven is not the goal of salvation, then it may become necessary for us to place a different emphasis on how we live in the world.

If "accepting Christ" is a "ticket" that we hold until we die, a ticket that admits us to endless delights in Paradise, then godly living is a good thing but not a necessity.

But if salvation is not the holding of a ticket to Paradise in the spirit realm but the re-creation of what we are as an individual in view of the coming of God into the earth, then our ungodly behavior may be establishing for us a frightful future. Our neglect of salvation may be leading us to destruction.

In discussing the spiritual-physical reality that is the fulfillment of the Old Testament land of promise, we are not engaging in theological exercises. We are bringing to the attention of the Lord's people the true goal of redemption. For a clear knowledge of what redemption is all about, to what end it is working and leading, has a direct effect on how we address ourselves to the Christian discipleship.

What, then, is the Christian land of promise?

The Christian land of promise is, first of all, rest in Christ in God, and after that the inheriting of the nations of the earth and the earth itself. The earth and its nations were promised to Abraham. The earth and its nations were promised to the Lord Jesus and His co-heirs, the one Seed of Abraham. The promise will be perfectly fulfilled in the days to come.

And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. (Genesis 12:7)

Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. (Genesis 13:17)

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:18)

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen [nations] for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. (Psalms 2:8)

And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. (Isaiah 61:4)

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)

Notice, in the above passages, that the inheritance of the saints is in the earth among the nations of saved peoples of the earth.

To be continued.