The Kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy, is in us. The Kingdom of God, the rule of God, is formed in us. It is not a delightful place where, by the application of grace or faith, the unrighteous go when they die. This is our current tradition but it is incorrect.

The Kingdom of God begins in our spiritual nature and will extend into the material realm when our spiritual nature has been brought into union with Christ. God always creates the heavens before the earth.

The human being begins in the material realm because the material realm is the form of the Kingdom; not the eternal substance, but the outline, as it were, of that which will be eternal one day if the program of redemption is allowed to succeed in his life.

If the person is faithful with the "unrighteous mammon" he then will be entrusted with the true riches, which are spiritual. "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual" (I Corinthians 15:46).

First we are natural. Next, our spiritual nature is perfected in Christ. After that our perfected spiritual nature will return, take up the dead material outline (the resurrection), and fill it with incorruptible life, substance, and glory. This is the Kingdom of God.

If in this present life we "overcome"; if we through the Holy Spirit resist the opposition of Satan and enter God through Christ; if we allow Christ to bring us into restful union with God; if through the grace of Christ we conquer the world, Satan, our lusts, and our self-centeredness, and put on the image of Christ; then we "attain unto the resurrection of the dead" (Philippians 3:11).

If we attain the resurrection from the dead, the first resurrection, we will be given back our visible form, our body, when the Lord Jesus returns from Heaven with the saints and holy angels. Our present body will be tremendously strengthened and enlarged, being brought into the likeness of the body of the Lord Jesus. Such is true of the ruling priesthood of the Kingdom of God.

Having received the Kingdom from the hand of the Lord Jesus we now are ready to work and rest in total righteousness, peace, and joy alongside Christ in the activities of the Kingdom of God. Perhaps our most important task will be developing the righteousness, peace, and joy of the Kingdom in other people.

The Kingdom of God will be formed in the elect, whether Jew or Gentile by natural birth, and also in the members of the nations of saved peoples of the earth.

The first resurrection from the dead, that which will occur when the Lord Jesus returns, is for the purpose of gathering to Christ His army, His kings and priests—the nobility of the Kingdom. These have had the Kingdom created in them in this life and now are able, through Christ's Presence and the Spirit of God, to bring the power and glory of the Kingdom wherever Christ directs them.

To be continued.