The third aspect of the light that is to shine from the Body of Christ concerns what the Church has to say about God's attitude and plan with regard to the peoples of the earth. The Church possesses the truth of God. The Holy Spirit provides Divine wisdom and knowledge; oracular utterance that reveals the mind of God; instantly-gained ability to speak and understand foreign languages.

The ascended Christ has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers in order to build the Church, the Lampstand of God, so through the Church the knowledge of the Lord can be given to the nations of the earth.

That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (Philippians 2:15)

As the spiritual darkness is settling on the earth in our day, just before the coming of our Lord, there appears to be a growing willingness of people to openly mock and scorn the Lord Jesus and His teachings.

God knew well in advance that this darkness would come upon us. He always is in perfect control of every situation because of His unlimited power and foreknowledge. God never turns back from what He sets out to do. God never changes.

It is the will of God that the peoples of the earth walk in accordance with the laws of His Kingdom. The laws of His Kingdom are the guides to human conduct Jesus presented in the Sermon on the Mount. How, then, in view of the fact that people are moving further away from rather than closer to these guides, will God have His way in the earth?

God is moving according to the principle of the firstfruits. First came Jesus. He is the One who perfectly observed the laws of the Kingdom of God in the earth. One Man among the hundreds of millions on the earth. Yet He walked without fault, keeping all the laws of the Kingdom of God.

Next, the saints of the Lord are being guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit so they can keep the laws of the Kingdom. Keeping the laws of the Kingdom in a demon-filled world is not easy, and doing God's will means a complete overthrowing of the works of darkness in our lives. How our flesh kicks and rebels! But little by little, command upon command, rule upon rule, teaching upon teaching, the Spirit of God is converting us from the inside.

The Holy Spirit begins in the core of our being, in our "holy of holies," creating Christ in us. Total conversion from our wild fleshly nature to a person who walks in the Spirit of God does not take place overnight. But if we follow the Spirit of God as He brings us to Christ, our conversion to righteous, holy, and obedient conduct is as certain as the promises of God.

To be continued.