Laying the foundations of the earth
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It is the desire of the Father that His Kingdom come to the earth, that His will be done in the earth as it is in the heavens. When the spiritual travail has been accomplished in the heavenly realms, the will of God can be done in the earth as it is in Heaven. The strong man of sin must be bound before his house can be spoiled.
God has founded the earth, the physical creation, on the seas and the floods (Psalms 24). God deliberately has placed the material creation on an unstable foundation, having in mind to build everything eventually on Christ. Abraham understood this and was looking for the city that has foundations. That city is the new Jerusalem. The wall of the holy city has twelve foundations and in them are engraved the names of the Apostles of the Lamb.
Walls and foundations are exceedingly important in the Kingdom of God. Where there are no walls, as in Eden, sin enters.
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalms 11:3).
God will establish the entire universe on Christ, on the Word—the Person who has issued from God Himself.
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)
Every person and thing God saves, both in the heavens and on the earth, will be gathered together into one and headed up by the Lord Jesus.
In the present hour there is chaos in the earth. Men and devils run here and there, each following his own fears, lusts and self-will. There is confusion, uncertainty, destruction. The Divine curse is on the earth. The inhabitants are destroying themselves. The large nations of our day will not be able to withstand the Divine testings and shakings that are at hand because they are not trusting in God.
But we saints are the firstfruits, after Christ, of the new, eternal world. Every area and particle of our personality is being filled with the eternal Life flowing from Christ. The old nature, the old world in us, is passing away. The new creation is being developed and it is of God through Christ.
The new creation is spiritual and eternal. It cannot be shaken by any test or stress. What dies and is raised again in Christ can never die again. It has been created in and founded on the unshakable, incorruptible Christ.
Christ Is the Resurrection and the Life. The Resurrection and the Life now are being fashioned in the members of the Body of Christ.
As soon as the Divine Truth that is the Life of Christ, which indeed is the true Light that illuminates every person who comes into the world, has been developed perfectly in the personalities of the saints, Christ will appear to the world along with all those whose life He is.
The Life of Christ will flow from the saints into the nation of Israel causing all Israel to be saved. Jerusalem will become the capital city of the world. The Holy Spirit will fill Jerusalem and its surrounding cities and villages.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. (Jeremiah 3:17,18)
The Jews will return from Europe, from Russia, and from all other countries in which they have been dispersed. They will return to the land of Israel.
God gave Abraham two inheritances. He gave Abraham the Seed and He gave Abraham the land. The Seed is Christ and all who are part of Him. The land is the traditional Holy Land.
As soon as Christ’s Body has been brought to the necessary standard of maturity the Lord will appear with His Body. This is the return of the spiritual Seed of Abraham to the land.
The natural seed will have returned to the land of Israel by then. Those Jews who are dwelling in Israel when Christ returns will all be born again and filled with the Holy Spirit because of the overflow of the glory of His appearing. All Israel shall be saved.
We see an example of the effect of the overflow of glory when many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were revived after the Lord rose from the dead.
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Matthew 27:52,53)
The light of Christ will arise on all the elect and the nations will come to that light. The peoples of the earth will come to Jerusalem to learn of God: of His Person, of His Word, and of His will concerning them.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2,3)
God will lay the foundations of the earth on Christ. Every saved man, woman, boy, and girl on the earth will live by eating of the Tree of Life, which is Christ. Every angel of the heavens will live and move and have his being according to Christ. Every created thing of the physical universe will reflect the Glory of Christ.
We who are being brought into total union with Him by eating His body and drinking His blood will be His fullness, His Bride, His living, holy city. Those who have suffered and have overcome Satan through Christ’s Virtue and power will govern the earth as His kings and priests.
The new Jerusalem will be the capital city of the world, and the victorious saints of today will be as Zion, as the wall of protection surrounding the living Temple of God. The saints are the pillars, the strength of the eternal Temple.
Now we can see why it is so important the heavens be planted in and by Christ. Christ is totally righteous, totally the Personification of the Word and will of God.
Christ came to earth as the Babe of Bethlehem. As an adult He was known as the Rabbi from Nazareth.
Christ was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem as an offering for our sins.
Christ was raised from the dead and placed at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. Now God has given to Him a people chosen from the ranks of mankind, especially from among those who are Jewish by race. Each member of Christ is called by predestination, chosen on the basis of his response to his calling, and proven faithful in the furnace of tribulations and afflictions.
Each member of Christ is righteous by imputation (ascribed righteousness) and is being fashioned in actual righteousness of personality and behavior by means of tribulation. Zion is being redeemed by judgment, that is, it is being released from the personality of Satan by the coming of Divine judgment upon the sin and rebellion that abide in the saints. The fourth chapter of First Peter describes the redeeming of the saints by fiery testings and afflictions.
Each aspect of personality of each member of the Body of Christ is delivered to death. The part of the personality that Christ desires to save is raised to eternal life in Himself. In this manner the heavens are being planted in the Life and righteousness of Christ. The living Word of God is being enlarged in people through the working of the power of God.
Next, that Life and righteousness must come down from Heaven in the saints and rule, teach, and bless each of the nations of the earth that Jesus has decided to save—each of the "sheep" nations. God has chosen Israel to be a kingdom of priests to Himself, a chosen race, a holy nation. Israel will rule the rest of the nations of the earth forever (Isaiah, Chapter 60; also, Revelation, Chapters 21 and 22).
We have come now to the third work of Christ—reconciling God’s people, Israel, to Himself.
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