As we learn to trust in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, He makes all our enemies our footstool. The Christian warfare requires much experience and wisdom for its successful pursuit. Jesus is Victor. As we walk with Him He "teaches our hands to war so a bow of steel is broken by our arms."

One of the four living creatures "in the midst of the throne" (Revelation 4:7) has "a face as a man." The face of a man is the image of God.

To be in the image of Christ we must be like Him in spirit, in soul, and in body. The new covenant is the transformation of the believer into the image of Christ in spirit, in soul, and in body.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (II Corinthians 3:18)

"Are changed into the same image"!

The image of Christ's Spirit is described by Paul:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: . . . . (Galatians 5:22,23)

What is Jesus like? He is loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, gentle, good, faithful, meek, and self-controlled. This is the kind of personality the Lord Jesus has, and which we also will have if we walk in the Spirit of God.

The Lord is ferocious in battle. His wrath is terrible against His enemies. Ferocity and wrath are adult spiritual characteristics. The saints are not as yet able to be trusted with destructive power, but the day will come when they are commanded and empowered to administer judgment and wrath.

Through the Holy Spirit we are to be made like Him, not only in spirit but also in soul and body.

The soul of "man" is the origin of his decisions. It is the soul that sins and is responsible before God. It is our soul that is to be possessed by us and saved from the wrath of God.

Angels and animals have wills but they do not have the same kind of souls that people do. It is our soul that makes us unique. In the soul resides the image of God in exercising judgment. All judgment has been given to "man." Man will judge the world and also the angels.

Jesus possesses all authority of judgment, not because He is the Son of God but because He is the Son of Man.

And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:27)

The mark of maturity in the saint is the ability to "judge righteous judgment." Judging righteous judgment means we do not make judgments after the sight of our eyes or the hearing of our ears. Rather, we wait on the Lord until we know what the Spirit is saying about a given situation.

Waiting on the Lord for wisdom in judgment requires death to self-seeking and self-will. We are prone to rush about making decisions of all kinds before we know the mind of God in the matter.

To be continued.