Being born again does not take place in an instant. First there must be a conception. After that comes the forming of the new creation. Numerous believers experience an aborting of what had begun in them, as we learn from the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:18-23).

It seems there are relatively few who escape the efforts of Satan to destroy the Divine Seed, who bring to full term what has been planted in them.

It may be observed that the Lord, in His parables, portrayed the Kingdom of God as a seed (Matthew 13:31). The Kingdom of God is not a place to which we go when we die. The Kingdom of God is a state of being of our personality. The Kingdom of God is formed in our inner man and then is extended to include our outward man, provided the conversion of the inner man has proceeded to the Lord's satisfaction.

Isaiah spoke of the step by step conversion of the inner man, of the converting of the human soul to the eternal Law of God:

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: (Isaiah 28:10)

Peter expressed the process somewhat differently:

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (I Peter 2:2)

As the eternal Word of God enters it slays the adamic nature and forms Divine Life in us. The adamic nature perishes like the grass of the field under the burning sun of the Word (I Peter 1:24).

We must, in our human personality, with the help of the Lord, keep our adamic inner man and outward man in control, making our fleshly nature serve the Lord, until the new Life in us begins to dominate our thoughts, words, and deeds. Only an honest and good adamic heart can keep the human personality serving the Lord until the new Life is developed (Luke 8:15).

Notice how Peter emphasizes the necessity for adhering to the Scriptures until the new life is born in us:

We have also a more sure word of prophecy [the Scriptures]; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (II Peter 1:19)

Each day the Lord Jesus sends some form of death upon our inner nature. The death may be in the form of trouble, or perplexity, or persecution, or some other kind of painful, humiliating, vexing, frightening situation.

As we pray for the strength to overcome our distress, the Life of Jesus lifts us up. The adamic nature dies and in its place is formed the new inner man. This is how the inner man is converted step by step from the first, soulish creation to the new creation. Death, and new life. Death, and new life. Death, and new life. The final result is a new creation in which Christ is the Life and the Center. It is the Kingdom of God. It is the life-giving spirit.

The conversion of the inner man as Divine judgment.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)

After men die they are judged.

To be continued.