It is unthinkable that an untested, untransformed inner man could ever be put in charge of the power of the body of glory. Perhaps our heavenly body, like our present animal body, will have a life and personality of its own. God must make certain that such a tremendous creature remains under the stern control of a disciplined inner nature.

Yet the Christian churches continually present the concept that once we go through the "four steps of salvation" we are ready to be revealed in glory with the Lord at His coming. The assumption is that the Kingdom of God is built on a profession of belief in doctrine rather than established on the creation of the Rock, Christ, in the personality of the saints.

The Three Major Dimensions of Redemption

Forgiveness through payment.

The correction of the problem.

The restoration of what was lost.

At one time, most or all of what we associate with Heaven was on the earth. There was a surpassingly beautiful and peaceful environment. God Himself was present. The two people were charged with taking care of the garden, having been given dominion over the works of God's hands.

Adam and Eve had access to immortality but were banished from the garden before they had availed themselves of the tree of life.

The Scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament, have to do with restoring to man what Satan by cunning wrested from him. The term redemption means to recover what has been lost.

In order for man's inheritance to be recovered there must be, first of all, the payment of the debt that was incurred. The soul that sins against God must die. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the debt with His own blood on the cross of Calvary. God now can forgive us because the debt man incurred has been paid in full.

Second, there must be a correction of the problem. The problem is disobedience on the part of man. The disobedience is in the inner man, in the adamic nature. Until that problem has been corrected by the death of the adamic nature and the creation of the new Life of Jesus, it is impossible for man to recover his inheritance. He cannot recover his inheritance by imputed (ascribed) righteousness. There absolutely must be a correcting of what caused the loss of the inheritance: namely, disobedience.

Man never will be permitted back into Eden nor given access to the tree of life, to immortality, until God is certain the disobedience has been removed from his nature.

Third, there must take place an actual restoration. The restoration will take place when the Kingdom of God comes to the earth. The Kingdom of God will teach obedience to the nations of the earth.

As the nations become obedient to God, the spiritual and material blessings we associate with the Kingdom Age, with the thousand-year reign of Christ on the Throne of David, will fill the earth. "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9).

To be continued.