In Gethsemane, Jesus sought to know if it were possible for the "cup" to be taken from Him without His drinking it. His "soul" was "exceeding sorrowful, even to death."

Jesus' soul was made obedient to the Father by fiery suffering. There is no other way by which to transform the soul. If we are to be in the image of Christ in soul, we must be obedient to the Father's will to the point of death. We must "love not our lives unto the death."

The soul of mature "man" is sternly obedient to God. It always judges with the same judgment as the Father because it waits for the Father's will.

Our spirit is made like the Spirit of Christ as we learn to live and behave always in the Spirit of God. Our soul is made obedient in the furnace of afflictions. The soul of immature man is a schemer—full of wickedness and deceits of every kind. Only intense suffering can make the soul obedient to God.

The self-will and self-love of the human soul protect themselves furiously against invasion by the will of Lord God of Heaven. We are determined to express our will and often are stubborn and rebellious.

We shall die either in the Lord or out of the Lord. To die in the Lord's will is to obtain eternal salvation. To die out of the Lord's will is to enter eternal torment.

Our spirit and soul are transformed into the image of Christ through the working of the new covenant. When our spirit and soul have been brought into the image of God, the transformation of our flesh and bones into the image of Christ's flesh and bones is a relatively simple, instantaneous work.

Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:21)

The resurrected Christ received back from the cave of Joseph of Arimathea His flesh and His bones. Christ now is glorified, having been filled in every aspect of His Personality with the power of eternal, incorruptible life.

When Jesus returns He will bring with Him those who have not neglected the transformation of their spirit and soul. He then will take their flesh and bones, as He took the clay in the beginning, and create them in the likeness of His glorious body.

Our "great salvation" includes not only our being born of God but also our being created like Christ in spirit and in soul. Finally, when the Lord returns from Heaven, our resurrected flesh and bones will be filled with eternal, incorruptible resurrection life. The corruptible blood will be gone, for flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

The flesh and bones we have now will be raised and clothed with our body that is from Heaven.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [make alive] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)

To be continued.