It is the immutable decree of God that His beloved Son, Christ, shall inherit the heavens and the earth. None other can inherit the works of God. All the promises of God are directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of the inheritance is His. Therefore a "living" church, a church that has its own life, cannot enter the Kingdom of God. It is dead to the purposes of God.

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. (Revelation 3:1)

The church in Sardis was alive in the flesh and soul but dead as far as Christ was concerned.

It is only as we die that Christ can live and come into the fullness of His inheritance. His inheritance is in the saints. It is only as Christ lives that the accuser can be wrested from his throne and forced into the earth by the elect angels.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Before the accuser can be cast out of the heavenlies (which is the goal of the wrestling of the Church of Christ—Ephesians 6:12), the blood of the Lamb must proceed at the head of the army of God; the Holy Spirit must utter the Divine Testimony; and the saints must die the death of absolute obedience to the Father so Christ, and not the self-will and self-seeking of human beings, is established firmly and eternally on the throne of the personality of each member of the Lord's army.

The blood is of the Lamb of God, Christ.

The testimony is of the Holy Spirit of God.

The death of the saint is the death of obedience to the will of the Father.

The Son, the Spirit, and the Father are all directly involved in overcoming the accuser.

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. (Revelation 12:12)

How the anthems of worship, praise, and rejoicing will roll from one end of the heavens to the other! The holy angels finally have been authorized and empowered to drive Satan out and down. It requires the Divine Godhead working through the members of the Body of Christ to remove Satan from his place of dominion in the spirit realm and to force him down into the earth.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (Isaiah 14:12)

To be continued.