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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Keeping the Law of God, continued
The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; (Isaiah 33:14,15)
The preceding passage applies with full force today as it has from eternity past and shall continue to eternity future. The historical error is that the new covenant is a state of grace such that Isaiah 33:14,15 no longer applies. Will we Evangelicals ever recover from such a misunderstanding of the new covenant?
Being saved means we have been rescued from union with Satan and the image of Satan and are participating in the program that will have been completed when we are in perfect union with the Father through the Son, and are revealing in our thoughts, words, and actions the Personality of the Son. To view the new covenant as being primarily the forgiveness of our sins is to miss the main purpose, which is the bringing forth of a new creation in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ and in union with Christ.
The things that happen to us from the moment of receiving Christ are for the purpose of "saving" us. "Saving" us means removing from us the behaviors that God will not accept in His Presence (see Revelation 21:8 for eight behaviors over which spiritual death always has authority whether or not we have made a profession of Christ). To abide in God's fiery Presence we must live according to the ten aspects of His eternal moral law that we mentioned previously.
Our God is a consuming Fire and He always destroys that which violates His eternal law. We Christians must understand that Divine grace through Christ does not make it possible for God to dwell with the behaviors He rejects. Rather, Divine grace under the new covenant covers us while God changes our behavior, making us new creatures. Christ was revealed for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil, not to make it possible for God to dwell with the devil.
There are rewards of rulership, of power, of opportunities for service, for closeness to God, available to those who are willing to follow God through the perils and sufferings associated with gaining the Glory of God. It appears that predestination plays an important role, especially in the establishing of positions of rulership in the Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God is made up of the greatest and the least of members and all those in between. We are happiest when we allow God to prepare us for the particular role and place in His Kingdom for which He has created us.
In every instance, the works of darkness must be removed from us. From the beginning of salvation forward, our actual position in the Kingdom depends on our individual calling and also on the diligence we apply to achieving the destiny for which we have been grasped by the Lord.
To be continued.