A Redeemed People in a Redeemed World

When the Lord Jesus said, "Lift up your heads because your redemption draws near" He was speaking of a new world filled with righteous people. He was announcing the coming of a redeemed world to be inhabited by redeemed people. All that Satan has stolen is to be restored to its original and rightful owners.

The new world does not belong to angels but to mankind.

For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Hebrews 2:6)

Redemption as the receiving of eternal life, the Presence of God .

There is a literal Heaven. There is a literal Hell. We must remember, however, that in the beginning God did not threaten Adam and Eve with Hell but with the loss of life . "In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die," not you shall go to Hell.

The popular concept of salvation, that it is an escape from Hell and a ticket to Heaven, is certainly not the emphasis of the New Testament writings.

Paul and John do not use the term "Hell" in their epistles, which would not be the case if escape from Hell were a principal subject of the new covenant. The expression "go to Heaven" is not found in the entire King James translation of the Scriptures!.

What is stressed in the Gospels and the Epistles? Eternal life is stressed. The Lord Jesus emphasized that He came to bring us eternal life. It is eternal life that was lost originally. It is eternal life that must be redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

Eternal life is the Presence of God in us and with us.

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)

Adam and Eve had the unimaginable privilege of having the Lord God walk near them in the garden in Eden. You and I would be very glad to have the same privilege—to walk in Paradise with God!

But God will not dwell where there is disobedience, whether on the part of an unbeliever or a believer. The grace of the Lord Jesus does not make it possible for God to walk with the sinful and rebellious. Rather, the grace of God enables the sinful and rebellious to turn from their wicked ways and to serve God with a glad heart, to behave righteously and do God's will.

The Lord Jesus came to give righteousness and eternal life to those whom the Father gave Him, to those who believe in Him and receive Him.

Eternal life is in the body and blood of Christ. As we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood we have eternal life. We have the Presence of God in us, and the Lord Jesus will raise us into His Presence at the end of the present age.

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40)

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:53,54)

The Lord Jesus is our Redeemer. We were born in sin and rebellion, that is, we were born in spiritual death. The Spirit of eternal life was not in us. The Lord Jesus came that we might have eternal life and have it more abundantly.

We have eternal life now. At the coming of the Lord we shall have eternal life in abundance.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. (I Corinthians 15:22,23)

Those who are abiding in the Lord Jesus shall be made alive in Him at His coming.

And so we lift up our head because our redemption draws near.

Man lost the Presence of God by listening to the enticement of Satan. The Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, has come to forgive our sins and to enable us to live righteously so we may receive eternal life and grow in eternal life.

Redemption as forgiveness of sin and deliverance from sin .

Adam and Eve were created without the guilt of sin and without a sin nature. Satan, the adversary led them into Divine condemnation, the same condemnation he himself is under. Also, Adam and Eve received at that time a sinful nature, a rebellious personality.

Whoever would redeem mankind must make provision both for the guilt of sin and also for the sinful, rebellious nature that dwells in our flesh and soul.

The Lord Jesus has done both. Through the blood atonement made on the cross of Calvary He has gained forgiveness , freedom from condemnation, for all who truly repent of their sin and worldliness and put their trust in Him.

Deliverance from our sinful, rebellious nature takes place as we confess our sins, repent of them, and gain total victory over them by the power of the Holy Spirit acting on the authority of the blood of the cross.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13)

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

By the wisdom and power of the Spirit of God we are to kill the sinful lusts of our flesh. As we walk in the Spirit of God we are to keep the upper hand over the sinful, self-willed tendencies of our flesh and soul.

As we obey the Lord, read the Scriptures, pray, gather together with fervent saints, give, serve, forgive those who harm us, are ministered to and minister the gifts we have, the Lord removes the graveclothes from us. The graveclothes of sin and self-will are not removed all at once but piece by piece. We enter the promised land of freedom from sin one city at a time, so to speak.

Our forgiveness is total provided we continue to walk in the light of God's will. Our deliverance shall be total if we press forward each day. At the coming of the Lord, all that was sinful in us will have been judged previously and its power broken as we have lived in open confession and repentance. The Lord Jesus then will remove the remaining presence of sin from us. We shall be clothed with an incorruptible, aggressively righteous body that will cover our resurrected flesh and bones. This is the promised redemption.

We are to lift up our head. The Presence of God in its fullness will be given to us at the appearing of the Lord. Complete freedom from sin and rebellion will be our inheritance.

Our redemption draws near!

Redemption as the change from bodily corruption to bodily incorruption .

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (I Corinthians 15:53)

We have come to accept physical death as a natural event—part of human life on the earth. But physical death is not part of the creation of God. Physical death is an enemy of mankind.

For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (I Corinthians 15:26)

The last enemy to be conquered, in the plan of redemption, is physical death.

As we stated previously, it appears there were ingredients in the tree of life that prevented corruption in the physical body. No doubt Adam and Eve would be alive in their physical bodies to the present hour if they had eaten and then continued to eat of the tree of life.

Physical death is an enemy, the last enemy. It is the last enemy because there are numerous enemies in the human personality that must be conquered before the individual is ready for immortality in the body.

No person will be permitted to eat of the tree of life until he or she overcomes sin.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)

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