The second step in the development of the inner kingdom of God is man living and working by God's Spirit. The Kingdom of God is built by God's Spirit, not by human resources. Because of the lusts and self-seeking that have become part of the human personality it is exceedingly difficult even for the most faithful believers to learn to live and work in the Spirit of God. Much crucifixion of our adamic nature must occur before we are able to follow the Spirit of God.

The Christian churches of today sometimes operate by the will, wisdom, and energies and talents of religious people rather than by the Holy Spirit. The Christian leaders often rely more on money and music than they do on God's Spirit, or so it appears.

God is not waiting for all the believers to put to death their soulish behavior and learn to live and work in the Spirit. Instead God is pressing forward to the next platform of redemption—the completing and occupying of His living temple. Those who have ears to hear will understand and respond in faith to that which God is communicating.

Man becoming the habitation of God—the feast of Tabernacles. First, the initial, legal reconciliation through the atoning blood of the cross. Second, life lived in the Spirit of God. Third, the dwelling of the Father and His Christ in the personality of the saint. These are the three great actions that compose the Divine salvation.

We shall see as we proceed that the process of creating man as the Temple of God has two phases. First, the transformation of the human personality. Second, the coming of the Father and the Son through the Spirit to make Their abode in the transformed personality.

First, the creating of the temple. Second, the occupying of the temple. Both the creating and the occupying are of, by, and for the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father in Him. The operations take place by means of the Holy Spirit.

As was true of the first gathering, the third gathering, which is the convocation of Tabernacles, consists of three observances:

The Blowing of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24).

The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27).

The feast of Tabernacles proper (Leviticus 23:34).

The Blowing of Trumpets. The Blowing of Trumpets heralds the coming of the King, the formation of the army of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, and the Divine judgment of sin.

In the case of the nations who are not of God's elect, the individual is raised bodily from the dead, his works are judged, and then he is assigned to eternal life in the new world or else to the Lake of Fire (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:13-15). If he is assigned to eternal life in the new world he will come under the rulership of Christ (Ephesians 1:10).

With God's elect, His Church, the members of the new Jerusalem, the order is somewhat different. The individual is raised from the dead and ascends spiritually (when he receives Christ) and enters immediately into the program of redemption, that is, into the process of preparing him to be a room in God's house and a member of the royal priesthood.

To be continued.