The result of righteousness is peace. We cannot enter the rest of God or help others to enter the rest of God until God begins to deliver us from "the body of this death," that is, from the sin that dwells in us.

As soon as God's purpose for the thousand-year Kingdom Age has been fulfilled, Satan will be released and the nations of the earth will be tested.

After that, the earth and the heaven will flee from the Face of God, the dead will be raised, and each individual who was not raised in the first resurrection will stand before God and be judged according to his works.

The individual whose name is not in the Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire. The person whose name is found in the Book of Life will be saved to eternal life on the new earth.

God then will create a new heaven (sky) and a new earth. Down from the spiritual Heaven through the new sky will descend the entire royal priesthood, the Israel of God, Christ, now radiant in the beauty of holy, Divine glorification.

There will be no sin on the new earth, all the forces of sin having been confined in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. The nations of the saved will be given to eat of the tree of life, of the Divine Life of Christ that dwells in the saints.

The royal priesthood will bring the rule, Presence, blessing, and knowledge of God to the members of the nations of the saved, for the nations are the inheritance of Christ and His coheirs (Psalms 2:8).

The atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ has two dimensions. The first dimension is the forgiving of the sins of the whole world. There is no need for this sacrifice ever to be performed again. God has accepted it for all people (whom Christ judges worthy of life) for all time.

And he is the propitiation [appeasement] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (I John 2:2)

The second dimension of the atonement is the removing of the Presence and power of sin from the world, that is, the removing of Satan and his supporting spirits, and of all worldliness and self-will, from human beings. The removing of the presence and power of sin has begun already in the royal priesthood; also, God is requiring the saints to separate themselves from all worldliness. In addition, some of the saints are being brought into a deep crucifixion of their adamic nature. The inner crucifixion is an essential part of the preparation of those who are to be rulers and judges.

The reason for the crucifixion of the inner nature of the rulers and judges is that they may become perfectly responsive to God's will. There is but one legitimate will in the universe—the will of God. All trouble comes from the exercise of wills other than the will of God. The Kingdom is the doing of God's will. Therefore the rulers and judges of the Kingdom must be in perfect accord with the will of God.

To be continued.