The Last Three Days of Creation

The first chapter of Genesis contains one of the types of the Divine redemption. We have seen already how the first three days portray the initial work of salvation.

On the first day, the light was created and separated from the darkness.

On the second day, the waters were separated—speaking of the raising of our new born again nature to the right hand of the Father in Christ, while our adamic personality remains on the earth.

On the third day, the earth and its vegetation were revealed, symbolizing the new life in Christ that results from the born-again experience.

The work of the fourth day, corresponding to our baptism with the Holy Spirit, brought forth light in the expanse of the heavens. The sun typifies Christ. The moon portrays the Church, lighted by the reflected Glory of Christ. The stars symbolize the victorious believers—the saints who turn many to righteousness.

The overcoming saints are fighters and they lead others into the righteous ways of the Lord.

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (Daniel 12:3)

They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. (Judges 5:20)

The stars enable men to stay on a straight course at night. God’s saints will enable people to find Christ during the blackness of the night. The night is coming in which no man can work, but Christ will give light through His saints in that day.

The bringing forth of light is the work of the Holy Spirit. The world can see the Glory of Christ at "night" by looking at the saints, who shine by the light of Christ who is dwelling in them. It is God’s "stars" who keep on pointing the way toward the purpose of God. It was a star, not the moon, that led the wise men to the baby Jesus.

Now we come to the last three days of the creation. Animal life began on the fifth day. Man was created on the sixth day. God rested on the seventh day. The spiritual counterparts of these types are fulfilled after we receive the Holy Spirit, for the giving of the Spirit is the work of the "fourth day," according to the pattern here.

The number seven is associated with the perfect work of redemption. Our discipleship is strengthened when we begin to realize redemption has a specific conclusion as well as a specific beginning. The hour will come when redemption has been completed to God’s satisfaction, and then God can rest in joyous contemplation of the works of His hands, and we in him.

God will not rest until mankind has been redeemed. God will not rest until mankind has been created in His image. God will not rest until sin has been demolished completely. God will not rest until He is satisfied with His workmanship and is dwelling in Christ—Head and Body—in total love and joy.

The fact that the Scriptures state "God ended his work that he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had made" reveals that God already beholds the finished product through to the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. God is able to speak of things that are not in existence as though they were.

The day will arrive when we shall be able to behold the completion of God’s workmanship, including our own perfection in Christ. Let us labor to enter the finished work of God so God can rest in us and we in God. Such rest is possible only when every particle of creative wisdom in the mind of God has been fulfilled in His workmanship, we having set aside our own schemes in order to do God’s will with a perfect heart.

We Christians are both human and spiritual. Both our humanity and our spirituality are being perfected by the Lord. Being in the image of Christ means being perfectly human and perfectly spiritual.

We are the firstfruits of a new creation of God. There is no end in sight of the size of the number of inhabitants of the new creation. It is possible that it will grow forever. "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, . . . ." (Isaiah 9:7)

And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. (Isaiah 51:16)

The above words are spoken to the Lord’s Servant, to Christ—Head and Body. The role of Christ is to plant the heavens, to lay the foundations of the earth, and to reconcile God’s people to Himself. Christ is a planting, a foundation.

Christ is the firstfruits of a new creation of God that reaches into a future so vast in scope that the extent of the plan is known only to the Father and is understandable only as God places part of His mind in us. Some day, a billion years from now, we may begin to gain some faint concept of the greatness of God Almighty.

We are at the beginning of the new creation and are being created the bedrock on which the structure can be erected.

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)

The fifth day: the beginning of "life."

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23)

The fifth of the seven dimensions of redemption concerns the beginning of doing business in the Kingdom of God. Five is the number of entrance or beginnings. The fifth of the Levitical feasts was Trumpets, the first day of the first month of the agricultural year—New Year’s Day.

The fifth step of the wilderness wanderings was the organizing of Israel into an army. Silver trumpets were made and were used for the "calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps." Prior to this time the Israelites were a disorganized congregation of former slaves. The silver trumpets marked their organization into an army prepared to accomplish the purposes of the Lord.

The fifth of the holy vessels of the Tabernacle of the Congregation was the Altar of Incense. The Altar of Incense stood at the entrance to the Most Holy Place, signifying that we are to come before the King of kings with prayer and adoration, letting our love and our needs be made known to Him.

The Altar of Incense typifies the preparation for the coming of Christ and the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord begins on a personal basis in the heart of every Christian who accepts without reservation the rule of Christ in his heart.

We notice that when Gabriel appeared to Zacharias to bring him the good news of the coming birth of his son, the son who was to be the forerunner of Christ, the angel stood "on the right side of the altar of incense" (Luke 1:11). Zacharias was ministering at that time at the Altar of Incense. The birth of John, the prophet who announced the King, was associated with the Altar of Incense, the fifth of the seven furnishings.

Also, the two witnesses of Revelation, Chapter 11, whose role will be to announce the coming of the King, are spoken of in context with the Altar of Incense (Revelation 11:1).

There was no animal life of any kind before the fifth day of creation. Vegetable life is different in kind from animal life. An animal is a "moving creature that has life." Therefore the fifth day marked the beginning of true life.

Everything created before the fifth day was for the purpose of providing a suitable environment for the animals and mankind. The environment was the background for what was to come.

The creation of animals was a "trumpet" announcing the arrival of the first of the inhabitants of the new creation. Animal life began in the oceans, seas, rivers, and lakes of the earth. Every form of marine life sprang forth in abundance at the Word of the Creator. Also, every kind of bird was created on the fifth day.

In our Christian discipleship we receive Christ, are born again, are baptized in water, are forgiven all our sins, receive the Holy Spirit, receive ministries and gifts, and, if we are in need of physical healing, in many instances we are healed. All this is foundational. It is the forming of an environment in which life can begin and be sustained.

The gifts of grace are the prerequisite for what God has determined to create in us.

The fish that were created on the fifth day typify the bringing of "fish" to Christ. Christ made His disciples fishers of men. After we receive the Holy Spirit we are to become witnesses of Christ to every nation.

The birds created on the fifth day portray our entrance into heavenly life in the Spirit, including our ever-increasing resurrection life.

The birds portray also the ministry of angels (Hebrews 1:14; John 1:51). The Body of Christ is to sound the trumpet of the Lord, bearing witness in the earth of the coming of the Kingdom of God. These are matters in which the angels are both interested and involved. Angelic activity will increase with the approach of the Day of the Lord, as we understand from reading the Book of Revelation.

The greatest revivals are yet ahead. It is God’s intention to give to Christ the nations for His inheritance. As soon as God has brought the Church to the desired level of maturity, the light of God will arise on the Church and the Holy Spirit in the Church will flow as a river. The result will be a worldwide ingathering of souls.

And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. (Ezekiel 47:9)

Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles [nations] shall come unto thee. (Isaiah 60:5)

In the above two passages we read the account of the bringing of the nations of the earth to the Lord Jesus Christ. This enormous ingathering of souls will result from the flowing of the rivers of eternal life that will proceed from the Church when it becomes one in Christ in the Father.

The purpose of the past two thousand years has been the building of the Church, the Body of Christ. As soon as the Church has been readied, the Glory of Christ will flow to the farthest reaches of the earth. Then the Lord’s "fish" will be caught and He will receive the nations that the Father has promised Him.

Birds were created on the fifth day—the "fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." During the "fifth day" there is communication and activity heavenward and earthward. The angels of God ascend and descend on "Jacob’s ladder" (Genesis 28:12).

The members of the Body of Christ become active in their ministries and gifts, which are the trumpet of the Lord, and at the same time make headway in their understanding of the spiritual origin and purposes of the Lord’s creation. We begin to understand that a "man can receive nothing, except it be given from heaven" (John 3:27) and that the "flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63).

The power that establishes the earth and its inhabitants does not originate in the earth but in God in Heaven. It is Christ who upholds all things by the Word of His power.

The three hangings of the Tabernacle portray the three deaths of redemption. The hangings were identical in color. However, the third hanging, the veil before which the Altar of Incense stood, was decorated with figures of cherubim. The cherubim may be associated in meaning with the birds of the fifth day of creation.

When the members of the Body of Christ receive the empowering of the Holy Spirit and begin to bear witness of the Kingdom of God, the Lord Jesus working with them and confirming the Word of God with signs following, then there will follow an increasing degree of cooperation between the righteous forces in Heaven and the righteous forces on the earth (I Peter 1:12; I Timothy 3:16; Acts 8:26; Acts 10:3; Acts 12:7; and Acts 27:23).

Angels were active in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ from the announcement of His birth, through the temptation in the wilderness, the garden of Gethsemane, to the day of resurrection and then the ascension. Jesus continually was surrounded by angels.

The ministry of angels appears several times in the Book of Acts. Angels are involved in the events described in the Book of Revelation, and the holy angels of God will accompany the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns to the earth. Angels are spirits whom God employs to minister to the needs of the heirs of salvation.

The importance of the ministry of angels, and of the role that spiritual forces play in the development and activities of the Christian Church, does not become apparent until we begin to move past Pentecost and make some progress in building the Body of Christ.

On the "fifth day" the Church of Christ is to lift up its voice as a trumpet and announce the coming of the Kingdom of God. The Church is to prepare herself for her Lord from Heaven, and the peoples of the earth are to submit to the King of kings and Lord of lords who is coming to shepherd all nations with a rod of iron.

Great will be the multitude of "fish" caught by the Lord in the days preceding His glorious appearing, the days into which we are entering now. Righteousness, peace, and joy are flowing from the Holy Spirit in the hour in which we are living. Let us look to the Lord Jesus for "rain in the time of the latter rain." Then the rivers of God will be full of water.

The sixth day: the creation of the image of Christ.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:24-27)

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)

The animals, with the exception of marine life and birds, were created on the sixth day. So it is true that the major work of creation in the Kingdom of God is ahead of us. All that has taken place in the Church, from the time of Abraham to the present day, has been preparation for the Day of the Lord that now is at hand.

Speaking figuratively, the Kingdom of God has been developed as far as the separating of the light from the darkness, the dividing between the soulish and the spiritual, the springing up of the first signs of life of the new creation, and the appearing of the sun (Christ), moon (the Church), and stars (God’s saints) in our spiritual consciousness.

Many "fish" have been caught in the last two thousand years. The Holy Spirit now is testifying that a downpour of God’s Spirit, and a revelation of Christ far greater than has ever been witnessed, are upon us. The inhabitants of the earth are to see and hear the Good News of the Kingdom of God in preparation for the coming of the King Himself to rule the earth.

The "sixth day" is the greatest day of all. Everything that has been created before, in the work of the Kingdom, is in anticipation of the sixth day. The Holy Spirit will bring forth the likeness of Christ throughout the universe so that all peoples will be touched by the Life that is in the Son of God. The creation of God will be transformed into one great expression of Christ.

Some of the aspects of the "sixth day" of God can be studied in the other types and symbols of the Scriptures. For example, the "sixth day" of the wilderness wanderings was the crossing of Jordan and the occupying of the land of promise. In the process, the inhabitants of the land had to be slain.

So it is that the sixth day is a time of judgment for the enemies of God and a day of warfare and enlargement for the members of the Body of Christ. The temporary manna ceases and we begin to eat the fruit of what is grown in the Kingdom of God.

The sixth item of furniture of the Tabernacle was the Ark of the Covenant, indicating that the Lord Jesus Christ will return from Heaven and rule the earth during the "sixth day." The sixth day is the Millennial Jubilee, the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

The thousand-year Kingdom Age will be inaugurated by the coming of the Father and the Son into the Church in power and glory. Then the "tares" will be destroyed from the land.

The sixth Levitical feast is the Day of Atonement (Leviticus, Chapter 16). The authority and power that are in the blood and in the resurrection of Christ will be applied to the peoples of the earth so that every person and every thing on this planet will be transformed by the eternal life that flows from the redemption.

The only persons who will not be transformed are those who refuse God and decide to resist the reign of the Lord Jesus. It is the will of God that the earth be redeemed and that the Person and ways of God’s Divine Son be expressed in every personality and every thing of which the creation is composed.

For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. (Isaiah 60:12)

We have been born again into the Kingdom of God—the only manner in which one can see or enter the Kingdom, because it is the Kingdom that is born in us when we are born again. We now are learning to live and move and have our being in the Kingdom. The full power and glory of the Kingdom scarcely have begun.

We have been brought to the birth of the Day of God. Our eternal personality is now in the forming stage. We are a firstfruits of the Kingdom of God—the Kingdom that in all likelihood will continue growing in the image of Christ and in number of inhabitants forever.

God is pleased with His workmanship and no doubt will build on this foundation for billions upon billions of multiplied billions of eons to come—an age without end. Christ will multiply in a limitless fashion, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham to a most astonishing extent.

An extraordinary number and variety of species of animals were brought forth on the fifth and sixth days, portraying that God is creating all kinds of living forms in His Kingdom. We are surprised at times by the expressions God brings forth in us. We behold in our nature the ox, the lion, the eagle, and the man. Each of these is essential to the fullness of our personality.

As the Kingdom of God is being created in us there are wild as well as domesticated forms of life that reveal themselves. Yet, because of the touch of Christ the wild learns to lie down with the tame and there is nothing that hurts or destroys.

The "little child" of our personality leads us in the innocence and simplicity of the Kingdom of God. We learn the diligence of the ant, the craftiness of the serpent, the harmlessness of the dove.

All the while the dominating person of our being is in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this new man in us who, through the wisdom and power given daily by the Holy Spirit, learns to subdue all the other aspects of our personality.

We humans are intricately put together. We reflect the diversified and comprehensive Personality of our Father, God Almighty. There are many parts of us, all "fearfully and wonderfully made."

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalms 139:13-16)

The creation of man in the image and likeness of God is the crowning work of the Lord God. The kingdom-wide spiritual fulfillment of the sixth day of creation is the thousand-year Kingdom Age; and so we can expect to see a tremendous increase in the expression of Christ during the Kingdom Age.

The four directives defining mankind. In the beginning, four awesome pronouncements were made concerning mankind: (1) that mankind is to be in the image and after the likeness of God; (2) that mankind is to be male and female; (3) that mankind is to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth; and (4) that mankind is to subdue the earth and have dominion over every other living creature.

Before the plan of redemption has been completed, each of these four directives will be carried through to completion.

The first concept is that of our being in the image and after the likeness of God. The first Person on the earth who revealed in Himself the fullness of the image and likeness of the Father was and is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Adam could have said, "He that has seen me has seen the Father"; and he would have been speaking the truth to a very limited extent. But Christ is the fullness of the image of the Father.

Now it is our turn. The working of God in us is for the purpose of creating us in the image of Christ.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be changed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:28,29)

"Changed into the image of his Son."

Christ is the Son of God and He walked the earth in the image of God. Whoever saw Christ saw God Almighty, as Jesus stated. God has in mind to bring forth many sons in His image, although Christ always will remain preeminent, being the Firstborn.

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Hebrews 2:10)

It is our understanding that we shall have all of the thousand-year Kingdom Age in which to be perfected as the Wife of the Lamb; and that once the Wife has been made perfect she will spend eternity multiplying the image of Christ throughout a universe limitless in size and populated with creatures so vast in number and varied in uniqueness that there will be no end to the increase.

It may be true that those who press on in Christ now will retain throughout eternity a peculiar splendor before God, just as it is said that Christ retains the scars of the nails in His hands.

The jewels that have been formed in the saints as the result of the pressure and heat they have had to withstand are the sparkling adornments of the new Jerusalem. It appears unlikely that there ever again will be a similar opportunity to have precious jewels of character formed in one’s personality. It may never again be true that men and women must bear a cross through a lifetime of pain and bewilderment.

The character of the saint is created through suffering, and there will be no suffering in the new age. Christ Himself was perfected in the earth, revealing that the development of the quality of absolute obedience to God cannot be accomplished in the serene environment of Paradise.

While we point toward the future development of God’s creation, let us keep in mind that the program in which we are enrolled today well may be the most significant of all, when viewed in the light of eternity.

What we can accomplish today in the Kingdom of God, whether it is in the realm of our own perfecting or in the realm of the salvation of other people, will be blessed and multiplied in the eons to come to an extent beyond our ability to imagine.

Certainly the concept of Christ growing forever in the universe would have been incomprehensible to Abraham as he picked up the knife that was to have severed his relationship with Isaac. Just as certainly, God has sworn to us that if we will obey Him sternly, after the manner of the faithfulness of Abraham, our own fruit and strength will reach into the future with an effect comparable to the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham (Isaiah 41:15, 51:16, 60:5, 22, 61:9, Daniel 12:3). Let us believe God.

We have been predestined "to be changed into the image of his Son," and already are glorified in the mind of God. All the resources of Heaven and earth are cooperating in the work of bringing about our change into the image and likeness of Christ.

God is resting because the work is finished in His sight. We are still experiencing the fulfilling of the creative Word in our spirit, our soul, and—when Jesus appears—in our body. To be created in the image of God is the greatest gift we can receive from His hand. Let us not complain as we are brought through the three deaths and three resurrections of redemption.

The first of the four Divine pronouncements is that mankind will be created in the image and after the likeness of God, as we have just discussed. The second decree is that mankind will be male and female. This refers to the capacity of man for union, especially our capacity for being brought into union with Christ in God.

And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Genesis 2:18)

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (Genesis 2:21-23)

Not only are we to be created in the image of God but we also are to be united with Christ in spiritual marriage. Christ is the "Adam," the Son of God. God has decreed that mankind is to be "male and female." In order to fulfill the purpose of God, Christ must take to Himself His Wife. The image and likeness of God consists of both Christ and the Body of Christ.

God was pleased with all His creation, stating it was "very good." There was one aspect that was not good. It was that the man whom He had created had no one like himself with whom to communicate.

The animals were not able to satisfy the need for companionship for Adam. The creatures of the heavens are not able to satisfy the need for companionship for the Lord Jesus Christ. Eve was created in order to complete Adam. The Body of Christ is being created in order to complete Christ. The Wife of the Lamb is being created in order to complete the Lamb.

Calvary was a "deep sleep" that fell on Christ, to take a figure from Adam. God drew from the Lord Jesus His body and blood. The body and blood of Christ, the Substance of Christ, is being made a woman, just as the rib taken from Adam was made a woman.

The Wife of the Lamb is taken from the Lamb. She is bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh. She is the fullness of Him. The Bride is in the image of the Lamb. More than that, she is the Lamb in the sense that she is created from Him and is part of Him. She is not separate from Him and has no life apart from Him. What therefore God has joined together can no longer be torn apart.

We notice that the Bride is arrayed in fine linen at the appearing of Christ (Revelation, Chapter 19), and then comes down from Heaven in the fullness of glory at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age (Revelation, Chapter 21).

The "wife" of Revelation, Chapter 19 refers to the saints who overcome the world in the present age. The remainder of the holy city will not be ready until the thousand-year Kingdom Age has been completed.

It seems that the thousand years of the Kingdom Age will be required in order for the whole Church to become completely reconciled to Christ, every member being perfected in his place in the new Jerusalem. When every member of the Church of Christ has attained the fullness of the knowledge of Christ, the new covenant will have performed its work.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13)

And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. (Hebrews 8:11)

Being incorporated into the holy Personality of the Consuming Fire that spoke the universe into existence is no small accomplishment, considering that we began as dust of the ground.

The third creative Word of the Almighty God is that man is to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." We have mentioned before that it requires the third death of consecration in order for us to bear the amount of fruit that God envisions. Classic Bible examples of fruitfulness through death are as follows:

The Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.

The offering of Isaac.

The testing of Joseph.

The Epistles of Paul written from prison.

As long as we are striving in our own strength and wisdom our fruitfulness is limited. In order to fulfill the Divine edict concerning fruitfulness we must "fall into the ground and die."

The uniting of the Lamb and His Wife brings forth spiritual children. By this we mean that Christ is formed in people as the Life of Christ is revealed in the saints.

The universe will be populated to an unimaginable extent in the eons to come through the union of the Lamb and His Bride. From Adam and Eve came the billions of people alive today, and there might have been many times the present number if it were not for sin. Eve is the mother of all living.

The children who will proceed from the union of the Lamb and His Wife will be superior in quality, when compared with the descendants of Adam and Eve, to the extent that the Lamb is greater than Adam and the Church is greater than Eve.

The whole creation will be filled with the offspring of the Lamb and His Wife. These spiritual children will be in the image of the Lamb and His Wife and will be trained properly in the way they should behave. The children will show the virtues of their parents and will fill the earth with the praises of God. God the Father will love them and bless them.

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6)

And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles [nations], and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. (Isaiah 61:9)

The offspring of Christ and His Church will be arrayed in God’s own virtues. In order for such fruitfulness to occur we must submit to the barrenness and death God has ordained for each of as an individual.

If we are willing to die in Christ, God will raise us up in His own time, and our fruit will proceed from the uniting of our spirit with the Spirit of God. We must keep our hands off the process and allow God to bring us through death and resurrection. If we will allow God to do that, His promise to us is that we will "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."

The fourth proclamation concerning mankind is that we are to "subdue" the earth and "have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth on the earth." Not only are we to be in the image of Christ, to become united with Him, and to be fruitful and replenish the earth with Christ’s image, but in addition we are to "subdue" the creation. It is given to mankind to rule the works of God’s hands.

"He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17). When our spirit is joined to the Lord we are able to govern the flesh and the material creation. The flesh and the material creation are never to have power over our spirit when it is joined to the Holy Spirit of God.

The only reason we have been made subject to the flesh and to the material creation is that we may be humbled and taught the righteous and compassionate ways of the Lord. As soon as we have been humbled and instructed we are to rule with Christ.

Man is not to be in subjection to his flesh or to the creation. When the spirit of a man has found its rest in God’s Holy Spirit, the flesh and the material creation are to be brought into subjection and governed with diligence.

No creature or thing is to have dominion over a disciple of Christ. To subdue means to overcome. We are to subdue all things, as the Holy Spirit leads and enables, and to rule diligently in Christ. We have been created so we may subdue and rule the creation.

Much of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is for the purpose of bringing us into correct relationship with the creatures and things of the universe. When we commence our discipleship there are many people and things that govern us, that we worship as gods.

Little by little the bondages that control us are removed until Christ alone rules over us. The Lord re-relates all relationships, circumstances, and things to us by bringing us down into death and then raising us up again. He whom Christ sets free in this manner is free indeed.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: (Psalms 8:3-6)

When we consider the immeasurable expanse of space and the number of the celestial bodies, the planet Earth and its inhabitants appear microscopic in comparison.

Then we ask the question, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?"

The answer returns to us that man is the offspring of the almighty God and was fashioned in His image. Man is destined to rule the works of God’s hands. Man is God’s throne.

In the Book of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit interprets the eighth Psalm and reveals that the "Man" who is in God’s image is Christ, the Son of Man, and that He is the captain of the salvation of many brothers.

Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. (Hebrews 2:8)

The Lamb and His Wife will receive dominion over all the works of God. The Lamb already possesses all authority and power and is waiting until every one of His enemies has been subdued under His feet. He intends to share the throne of authority and power with His Wife.

Christ has been crowned with glory and honor in fulfillment of the promise made to mankind.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9)

We understand, then, that Adam and Eve were only a partial, a beginning fulfillment of the Word of God concerning the creating of mankind in God’s image.

The complete fulfillment can occur only in Christ and His Wife, His Body. It is They who are in God’s image, who will replenish the creation, and to whom have been assigned authority and power over all the works of God.

It appears that the creation of the Church is only the beginning of the expansion of the Person and ways of Christ throughout the universe. During the ages to come the Church will bring the Spirit of Christ to every saved person on the earth so there will be no one who does not have the touch of Christ on his life to some extent.

As the endless ages of eternity roll by, Christ will increase until the universe is one marvelous reflection of His Glory.

God dwells in His fullness in Christ. As Christ is multiplied the resting place of God is multiplied. God Almighty ultimately will fill all the creation through Christ.

The eternal destiny of the Church is to keep on being transformed into an increasingly accurate expression of Christ, and the role of the Church is to transform the universe into an increasingly accurate expression of Christ.

We can see this process operating today. As we ourselves receive more of the Person and ways of Christ, God is increased in us. As we become stronger Christians our environment begins to reflect the Kingdom of God which is working in us. Our testimony of the risen Christ is growing in power and effectiveness.

Christ is destined to be the center and circumference of the universe.

We have been anointed with the Holy Spirit so that we may bring Christ everywhere we go, that all persons, circumstances, and things may be brought into subjection to Him.

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22,23)

The seventh day: the rest of God.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (Genesis 2:1-3)

God worked for six days, and then He rested. Every thing, every animal, and every person ever to be formed was finished in those six nights and days. The creative activities of God extend into the future. This is why the process of redemption is governed by foreknowledge and predestination. Known to God are all His works from the creation of the world. The creation was completed and perfected in God’s mind before the elements described in the first chapter of Genesis were formed.

Our task as a Christian is to press into that completed and perfected creation. We are not to seek a new rest, a new inheritance. Rather we are to enter the inheritance already finished and perfected in the mind of God.

Seven aspects of the rest of God. There are at least seven closely related and interdependent aspects of the rest of God:

The completion of God’s eternal purpose in Christ; the resting of God from all His work, and entrance into our individual role in that plan and into that rest.

Entrance into rest from our trials and tribulations at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven or at our physical death—whichever comes first.

The destruction of the enemies of Christ.

Our grasp on the fullness of the inheritance of fruitfulness and rulership promised to Christ and to the coheirs.

Entrance into the fullness of abiding in Christ—awaiting His pleasure, putting down all rebellion, all stubbornness, all disobedience in our nature, resting with Him at the right hand of the Father until the will of God has been accomplished in us and in our environment.

The Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit abiding eternally in us.

Being changed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit, in soul, and in body.

The first aspect of the rest of God is that of the accomplishment of everything God has purposed and the joyous repose of God in contemplation of the exceeding excellence of all He has created.

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (Genesis 2:3)

The fact that God already has completed His works leads to the concept of predestination. The doctrine of predestination in terms of Divine foreknowledge is found in the writings of the Apostle Paul. The grace of God is related to foreknowledge and predestination in that God makes choices concerning people before they are born.

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) (Romans 9:11)

Because we are finite creatures, limited in our ability to comprehend the mind of God, we cannot understand how God can work out in advance the details of such an undertaking without depriving people of their opportunity to make choices. The opportunity to choose, and predestination through foreknowledge, are both set forth in the Old and New Testaments. The Scripture has spoken. It is our responsibility to mix faith with the Word of God and to trust that God is just and merciful.

The two concepts of predestination and choice, which are opposites from our point of view, are reconciled perfectly in the mind of God. The reason God can complete a work as complicated as the creation, a plan that stretches back into ages unknown to us and forward into a future so distant our minds cannot define it, is that He has absolute foreknowledge. God "knows" thousands of years in advance what each person will do, and He plans accordingly.

We put quotation marks around "knows" because God does not completely know what is in a person until the individual responds in a given situation. Consider the following:

And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. (Genesis 22:12)

"Now I know that thou fearest God."

It seems that salvation is a window of opportunity. We make our choices as God brings us into various situations. God tests our heart. We respond according to what is in our personality. Somehow God is able to perceive our responses in advance and plans accordingly. In this manner God can design His Kingdom in advance but our power to choose has not been violated.

Those of us who are responsible for other people may have a limited idea of what predestination according to foreknowledge is like. We develop a feel for the way people will react in a given situation and we plan accordingly. Yet we do not take away their power to decide.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit imparts to us part of the thinking of God concerning the future. We then are enabled to act wisely in advance of a given situation. No one’s power to accept or reject Christ is harmed in the process.

Before Esau and Jacob were born the Lord informed their mother, "The elder shall serve the younger" (Romans 9:12). God could make this decision because He knew every choice that each of the twins would make in his lifetime.

So great is God that every detail of the new heaven and earth reign of Christ was completed before the events of Genesis 1:1 took place. Time, space, things, people—all are proceeding with precision. Every choice each person makes is bringing about certain conditions in the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. The choices are being made with a certain amount of freedom, although no person is totally free to make the smallest of decisions. All of us are hemmed in by many pressures.

It can be said in truth that God does not cause any person to sin. If God did He would come under His own judgment.

If God has planned the whole creation through to the new heaven and earth reign of Christ, and now is resting in joyous contemplation of His workmanship, the wisest thing we can do is to enter that rest—into the perfection and joy of the finished creation.

Christ Himself is resting, waiting until God brings every one of His enemies under His feet. Let us rest with and in Christ until God brings all our enemies under our feet.

The sovereignty and grace of God operates in all areas of redemption.

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (John 15:16)

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be changed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:28,29)

What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, (Romans 9:22,23)

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (Ephesians 1:4,5)

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (Ephesians 1:11)

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the world began, (II Timothy 1:9)

Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (I Peter 1:2)

The above passages are a sample of the manner in which the Scriptures describe the sovereignty of God in building the Kingdom of God. The idea of a "chosen nation," a "church," is an illustration of the manner in which God chooses, God calls out, according to His own counsels.

There were millions of people dwelling in the progressive city of Ur. God spoke only to Abraham. On what basis? On the basis of the election and grace of God. The people of Ur knew nothing of what transpired between God and Abraham.

No passage of the Scriptures suggests that God picked Abraham because he was seeking God or living a more righteous life than the other people of Ur.

The history of the events in the life of the father of the believers is a clear example of the sovereign manner in which God reaches down and works on the earth according to His own blueprint.

God did not cause the inhabitants of Ur to sin. They had the created world plus their own conscience to guide them. God did not deprive one person of Ur of his opportunity to choose to obey the degree of the knowledge of God available to him.

Yet in Abraham the Church was brought into existence by Divine grace.

In terms of deliverance from the kingdoms of the world, from Satan’s authority (such deliverance constituting the first death and resurrection of redemption), the Lord God spoke to Abraham as follows:

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3)

In terms of a holy walk of sanctification, the second death and resurrection of redemption, the Lord God spoke to Abraham in these words:

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. (Genesis 17:1)

In terms of the obedience of absolute consecration, the third death and resurrection of redemption, the Lord God tested Abraham to the uttermost:

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt [test] Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Genesis 22:1,2)

We can observe from the above passages that all areas of redemption are sovereign acts of God’s grace coming to us and working in us and through us.

The dramatic manner in which Saul of Tarsus was struck down and called to the apostleship is another outstanding example of the calling of God according to God’s own foreknowledge and counsel.

Your life and mine are a third and fourth example of Divine grace in redemption. It is not by works of righteousness we have done that God reveals Christ to us. Rather, it is His grace operating in us that gives us the faith to receive salvation through the blood atonement.

We are saved, sanctified, and perfected by God’s grace through the faith of Christ imparted to us. Our salvation is the gift of God to us, not a reward for our own righteousness or religious fervor. Christ loved us before we heard of Him. He reached down and opened our eyes just as He did the eyes of Abram of Ur of the Chaldees. He then placed in our heart the burning desire that causes us to pursue the Lord Jesus Christ with singleness of spirit and mind.

No man can come to Christ except the Father draw him, and Christ will turn no person away. Our task is to respond to the drawing of the Holy Spirit and to cooperate with Him as He brings us into the complete, perfect creation of God.

It is possible for us to lose our glorious inheritance through unbelief or slothfulness. There is abundant security for us in Christ if we will be obedient children and do the things each day that the Holy Spirit presents to us.

The first aspect of the rest of God is our responding to the Holy Spirit so we can enter the creation that God finished in six days but which from our standpoint still is being worked out. All the brothers of Christ already have been called, already have been justified, already have been glorified (Romans 8:30).

The Body of Christ was completed in perfection and brought into union with Christ from the creation of the world. This is the interpretation of the expression "male and female created he them." Although Christ remains preeminent in all things, it is not only Christ but Christ (the Lamb) and His Wife who are the Heir of all things. Such is the decree of God.

Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (Genesis 5:2)

In the Mind and Word of God, the Lamb and His Wife already have been brought to the fullness of fruitfulness and to absolute dominion over the works of God’s hands. Truly, He "calleth those things which be not as though they were" (Romans 4:17). The wisdom, strength, greatness, and Glory of God are more than we can comprehend.

The seventh day of creation points toward our rest in God’s accomplishment.

The second aspect of the rest of God is our own Sabbath-day rest. It begins when we finish our tribulations and tests in this life and emerge as victorious saints, being ready now to welcome with the greatest joy the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven.

We have fought the good fight. We have kept the faith. Now we can rest as the Lord Jesus descends in His galactic power from Heaven, recompensing with tribulation those who troubled His saints.

And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, (II Thessalonians 1:7)

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (II Timothy 4:7,8)

We labor on, pressing toward the mark of God’s upward calling in ourselves and assisting others as we have the opportunity. We continue to fight, serving our own generation by the will of God until Jesus says, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter the joy of your Lord."

The first aspect of the rest of God is our entering the work of God that was finished from the creation of the world. The second aspect of the rest of God is our entering the joy of the Lord upon the completion of our service in this life—that which we have been commissioned to perform.

The third aspect of the rest of God concerns the destruction of God’s enemies. We must keep on fighting the good fight of faith until the Lord gives us rest from His (and our) enemies.

When the Lord was charging the Israelites concerning entrance into their inheritance, the land of promise, He gave them strict orders concerning the destruction of the enemy. In like manner, the Lord Jesus Christ commands us to make no peace with the evil spirits of sin but rather to destroy them from our personality as the Holy Spirit leads and provides the wisdom and power.

If we are faithful in resisting uncleanness in our own life, in due time the Lord Jesus will extend our influence so that others may be delivered from the bondage of the enemy. We cannot rest until all unclean spirits, root and branch, have been destroyed from the inheritance of the Lord.

And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee. (Deuteronomy 7:16)

There is to be no compromise in the war against the kingdom of darkness. Christ is giving us power against all the power of the enemy. Nothing is able to harm us as long as we are in Him.

We are to cast out evil spirits, to destroy all their works and influences, to have no pity on them, to resist all their ways and desires, to drive them from ourselves and others every time the Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, delivers them into our hands.

The demons cried out in terror whenever Jesus came near. So it is to be in the Church of Christ. We are to follow the Holy Spirit in the strictest obedience, moving relentlessly against the enemy as Christ provides the wisdom and power.

If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; (Deuteronomy 7:17,18)

Many Christian people have been taught (and therefore believe) that as long as we are living in a physical body in the earth we must sin, we must be sick, we must have allergies, we must be defeated at every turn. According to this belief, the only true release from the bondage of the devil is to die and go to Heaven.

This is not a scriptural attitude. God has commanded us to not be afraid of the enemy. We are to look back frequently to the destruction of the authority of Satan on the cross of Calvary and then to press forward in Christ, being full of faith that God will destroy all sin, all sickness, all confusion, and every other work of Satan from the warrior-remnant, from the whole body of believers, and finally from the heavens and the earth, leaving sin and sinners neither root nor branch nor any influence in the heavens or on the earth.

It is Jesus who is our Deliverer from sin, not physical death or Heaven.

All of God’s enemies shall be destroyed without mercy. Even the memory of sinners and their works will be removed from the consciousness of the redeemed (except as the Lord specifically directs otherwise—see Isaiah 66:24, for example). If we but realized it, the terror of God already has fallen on the forces of Hell. They are aware that their destruction through the saints is at hand (Joshua 2:9-11).

The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. (Deuteronomy 7:19)

In the above passage, the Lord is reminding the Israelites of the Divine power that God exercised in destroying Egypt and in bringing His people through the Red Sea. The concept is that God will employ the same mighty power, the same signs, the same wonders, the same outstretched arm in bringing us into the land of promise He employed in bringing us from Egypt (the bondage of the world spirit). Satan could not resist the Lord when the Lord first delivered us from the world, and Satan will be unable to resist the Lord in His further works of redemption in us and through us.

Those of us who are Christians recognize that Christ defeated Satan on the cross and as a result we were forgiven all our sins and redeemed from the kingdom of darkness in a moment’s time. Our translation from the kingdom of darkness was not our own accomplishment but the accomplishment of the Lord God of Heaven.

In like manner, God will bring us into the land of promise, employing the same power, the same sovereignty, the same Divine grace. Although we must fight our way into the land of promise (which was not true of our exodus from Egypt, from the spirit of the world), the Lord of Calvary has promised to be with us and give us victory.

We have no need to be afraid of evil spirits or of human beings who are moved by them provided we remain in the secret place of the Most High, the center of God’s will.

Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. (Deuteronomy 7:20)

When we begin to move in the Spirit of God, destroying the bondages placed on people by the kingdom of darkness, the evil spirits will attempt to hide in people—sometimes in our own person. Sin is deceitful, and we can be deceived if we are not prayerful and obedient to the Scripture.

If we are walking in the Spirit, God will cause circumstances to arise that will drive the enemy into the open so that through the Spirit we can destroy him.

God does not intend to hide the sin that is in His people. Instead, He is causing situations to come about that force into the open the sin and rebellion that remain in us—the envy, malice, lust, lying, profanity, and every other evil work.

Do not be surprised, after having been a Christian for a number of years, to discover that some of your thoughts and deeds are not glorifying the Lord. The Spirit is causing the unrighteousness and rebellion that are "hiding" in you to come out into the light so you can confess your sins and rebellion and obtain forgiveness and cleansing.

Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. (Deuteronomy 7:21)

Again, God commands us not to be frightened. When we enter spiritual warfare we begin to fear for our safety. We are not to yield to fear but are to keep looking to Christ. He possesses all authority in Heaven and on the earth. As long as we are abiding in Him there is no cause for us to fear.

Christ is greater than all. The evil spirits quake in anguish at the Presence of Christ. When He is dwelling in us we are a terrifying threat to the workers of lawlessness. We must make certain we are walking in Him and not in terms of our own impulses or ambitions.

And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. (Deuteronomy 7:22)

There have been Christian teachers who have taught we can become sanctified instantly.

It is true that we are justified instantly by putting our trust in the blood of Christ. Also, we are sanctified (set apart to God as one who is holy) when we receive Christ as our Savior.

But the abolishing of the tendencies and effects of sin and rebellion in our lives requires a period of time for its accomplishment.

The reason God does not destroy instantly the works of Satan in us is that we would not be able to maintain the land that would be opened up (See Deuteronomy 7:22 above). The Israelites had to conquer the cities one at a time because of the lions, bears, and other wild animals that would increase rapidly as soon as the Canaanite peoples were killed.

While Israel was conquering one city, the Philistines in the remaining cities were keeping those cities intact and the farms maintained. Of course, the Philistines had no idea they were preserving the land against the day that the Israelites were ready to assume control. Even if they had understood the plan of the Lord there was nothing they could do about it unless they wished to destroy their own possessions.

So it is with us. God delivers us from bondage little by little, giving us a specific victory and then enabling us to grow into and possess our new "territory," our new liberty in Christ. When we make a success of our enlargement, He brings us into new conquest. If the Lord were to give us all of our inheritance at once we would not be able to keep it. One way or another we would lose it.

If there is a "room" in our personality that is "swept and garnished," but Christ is not in control there, the enemy returns in greater numbers and we are worse off than before.

When we move along on God’s schedule of conquest, all things work together for good—even the "husk" of our nature. The husk serves a purpose until the corn is ready to be used. If we will trust and obey the Lord, Christ will work a work of conquest in us, causing even our mistakes and shortcomings to bring us into the rest of God.

But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. (Deuteronomy 7:23)

We are to follow the Spirit of God into battle against the forces of Hell. If we do, God will deliver the evil spirits into our hand and through the Spirit we will destroy them with terrible destruction. The rooting out and destroying will continue until there is not one evil spirit left in the heavens or on the earth. It is a work of total, complete destruction of Satan and his entire empire.

The Israelites seemed never to be able to gain the determination necessary to destroy the Canaanites as God wanted them destroyed. In the end-time, the remnant whom the Lord calls will attack the enemies of God and slay them until every trace of uncleanness has been destroyed from the earth.

The Day of Christ will witness a work of destruction of the enemy, leaving not one alive (not one unclean spirit left in a position to hinder the will of Christ). The destruction of evil will be carried out without pity or mercy for the enemy. He will be treated as he has treated us, for so the Lord God has commanded us.

And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. (Deuteronomy 7:24)

The kings of darkness, those described in Ephesians 6:12, are to be torn down from their heavenly vantage points and crushed beneath the feet of the Church. There is no lord of darkness who can withstand the Lord Jesus Christ moving through His Body.

Christ has commanded us to tread on serpents, scorpions, and all the power of the enemy. In God’s time the enemy himself will be cast down and all his power destroyed (Habakkuk 3:13).

It is wonderful to contemplate an earth in which there is no sin, no spiritual pressure to rebel against God. Such freedom from sin and rebellion is no fantasy. It is solid reality and it shall come to pass before long.

Even now the trumpet of God is sounding in the spirit realm, awakening God’s mighty men to the battle. Who, then, will enlist his services in the Lord’s army? Each saint who enlists in the army must have in his heart the unchanging determination to root out and crush every unclean spirit. There is to be no compromise, no halfway measures. This is fierce warfare until every trace of resistance has been eliminated and Christ is Lord of all.

It has happened in history that wicked leaders of nations have prevented complete victory for their own country by making peace with the enemy at a crucial moment, in the mistaken notion that something of value can be gained in this manner. Wicked men are determined to dwell in the palaces of ease, and they will sacrifice every person, every virtue, all that is worthy, in order to maintain their position.

The lords of darkness know they cannot win against the Lord. It is not unlikely that in the last days they will reveal themselves as supernatural creatures who desire to make peace with man. If this happens there will be no lack of treacherous political leaders and other people of "importance" who will be ready to accept the fallen lords in the name of peace and good will, hoping thereby to maintain their own comfortable positions of leadership.

But the day of the self-seeking destroyers will have come to an end. The sons of God will come upon the lords of darkness, and on their human hosts as well, and hack them to pieces in the name of the Lord. There will be no compromise in that hour!

Saul, an example of self-seeking men, kept King Agag alive after God had condemned him to death. Judge Samuel dealt with Agag in the manner in which the sons of God will deal with the lords of darkness.

And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. (I Samuel 15:33)

There can be no rest for God or for His saints until every particle of sin has been destroyed from the creation—finally, totally, utterly. Victory must—and shall be—absolute!

A fourth aspect of the rest of God is the gaining of our inheritance in the land of promise, the obtaining of all God has promised to each Christian as an individual, and to all Christians collectively as the Body of Christ.

For if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. (Hebrews 4:8)

Joshua brought the children of Israel into Canaan, the land of milk and honey, the promised-land inheritance, the rest of God. The Israelites never did receive the fullness of the inheritance because they were stoutly resisted by the inhabitants of the land.

As soon as we endeavor to rest with God in the blessings of His creation we discover there are enemies already living in the places assigned to us and that they will resist being dispossessed.

The present inhabitants of "our land" are crafty, diligent opponents who are determined to destroy us. It is impossible for us in our own wisdom or strength to obtain our inheritance. We are flesh and blood. The enemy is spirit. He is wiser, stronger, and more experienced than we.

Every time we attempt to enter God’s rest something happens that produces unrest, pain, unbelief, sin, rebellion or some other evil or troublesome situation. Such opposition is caused by the enemy, with God’s permission. God is using the enemy to humble us and to instruct us, to teach us discipline, and to make us know that man does not live by bread alone but by the words proceeding from the mouth of God.

Even though the works were finished before the world was created, and the land of promise is legally ours by inheritance, yet it is impossible for us to enter. What do we do? We come to Christ and follow Him as He destroys His enemies because He and we have the same enemies.

We learn to follow the Holy Spirit into the land of promise. We labor in the Spirit of God to enter our rest, our inheritance in Christ. Anyone who is of the opinion that we just fall into the fullness of Christ by accepting Him as our Savior and then continuing with our business as usual, has no idea of what it means to enter the rest of God.

Entering the rest of God requires total diligence on our part. We must give ourselves to Christ wholly if we expect to make any progress. No one can be a disciple of Jesus until he forsakes all he has, takes up his cross, and follows the Lord Jesus.

We cannot earn the rest of God, but we must follow the Holy Spirit every second of every day of our lives in order to wrest the inheritance from the hand of the enemy. The Christian discipleship is a battle to the death. There is a crown of glory to be attained. Let us make sure we do not lose the reward but are followers of those who through faith and patience obtain the fullness of the inheritance.

The promises of glory and authority are to the victorious saints. To be an overcomer requires all that a person is and possesses. Christ must become the center on which life revolves in worship and obedience. Anything less than total devotion to Him will prevent the seeker from laying hold on the fullness of God’s rest. We must labor with everything that is in us to enter the rest of God.

That labor is not the wearying striving of the religious seeker. The labor that is effective in the Kingdom of God is the labor of perceiving the mind of the Holy Spirit and then resting in the strength of God while the Spirit brings victory.

All of the wisdom and power is of God. This is true for every aspect of the plan of redemption we are describing in this book. We must be diligent to keep ourselves in the wisdom and power of God; otherwise we drift away because of the demands and bondages of the world, the adversary, and our fleshly nature.

The first aspect of the rest of God is our coming to understand the value of all that God has planned and our joyous repose with God in the contemplation of the exceeding excellence of all He has created. Such joyous repose works out in our daily life as we cease from our fleshly, self-centered striving and look to the Lord for every expect of thinking, speaking, and acting.

The second aspect of the rest of God is the entering of rest at the end of our life on the earth. Our trials and tribulations are over and we rest in Paradise, awaiting the glorious resurrection day in which Christ returns to earth and we are glorified together with Him.

The third aspect of the rest of God is the destruction of the forces of Hell.

The fourth aspect of the rest of God is our laying hold on the fullness of what God has promised to us: the demolishing of the guilt, tendencies, and effects of sin in our spirit, soul, and body; the full maturing of the Nature of Christ in us; the making alive of our mortal body and the clothing of it with the glorious house from Heaven; our complete union with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit; the authority and power given us as God’s kings and priests as we enter coheirship with our Lord Jesus Christ; and an eternity of fruitfulness in God and the Lamb throughout the new heaven and earth reign of Christ.

The fifth aspect of the rest of God concerns our abiding in Christ.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:4,5)

While we are laboring toward the fullness of the inheritance we are to be abiding in Christ, finding in Him a rest that is free from strife, worry, fear, and self-seeking. If we abide in Christ, living by the virtue, wisdom, and strength that flow from His unlimited resources, we achieve rest from our sin, our disobedience, our unbelief, and our personal ambition.

The "abiding" aspect of the rest of God is in the realm of means, while the "inheritance" aspect of the rest of God is more in the realm of ends. The idea is that we are to rest in Christ as the means of attaining the fullness of the rest that God has for us. Abiding in Christ is the rest of the Way while we are pressing toward the rest of the Truth and the Life. We rest in Christ while we are entering the rest of God.

God surveys with the greatest of pleasure the creation He has conceived and is bringing into being. He views the tapestry from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21 and He works back and forth, weaving each detail from beginning to ending. All the energy, wisdom, virtue, resources, that will ever be needed have been provided already. They are in Christ. All we are required to do is abide in the Vine.

A thousand circumstances arise, it seems, that strive to tear us from our rest in the Vine. Our task is to remain steadfast in Christ, remaining strong in the faith, hope, and trust by which we are being saved. We are saved by maintaining an unshakable confidence that God is performing in us, and with us, exactly what He has promised.

We take our place in the Vine each morning whether we are in pleasant or unpleasant circumstances, and we cooperate as cheerfully and uncomplainingly as possible with the Holy Spirit as He unfolds the program for the day. Living in Christ is always a challenge, always a fight, always an adventure. If we keep our faith strong in Him He will bring us into the rest of God.

The sixth aspect of the rest of God is God settling down to rest in us and we in Him. This is the temple dimension of the rest of God.

The settling down of God to rest in us and we in Him is one of the central purposes of the plan of redemption. God desires to have a temple, a living house, in which He can abide in joy and tranquility of Personality. We are being created that living temple, the city of God, the new Jerusalem.

The necessary transformation is taking place in us now so that God Almighty will have a habitation through which He can live, move, and have His Being throughout His creation. God is bringing each of us into Divine peace, order, and repose in Himself. Otherwise we cannot serve as His dwelling place.

The Lord’s plan was announced at the beginning of the construction of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8)

The sanctuary (which we are) is being made for God so He may dwell among us. We enter His rest. The creation is for God first, for us second.

Christ is the only Temple God will accept. Each of us must become a part of the one Body of Christ if we expect to be included in the house, in the rest of God.

The attitude of the Lord toward His eternal resting place is set forth in the following Psalm:

Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. (Psalms 68:16)

The spiritual aspirations of mankind have produced many religions. Some of these require destructive acts of devotion. The strivings of men and women to relieve the pressures of conscience and to gratify personal ambition result in unrest and "leaping" of all kinds.

Our religious efforts are to no avail. God has chosen His own plan in Christ. All else is futile. God will dwell in Mount Zion forever.

The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the LORD is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. (Psalms 68:17)

God is seeking many vehicles in which he can "ride" and go from place to place. The righteousness of God was demonstrated as Mount Sinai shook and the holy Law was carved in tables of stone.

God desires a living house, living stones made from people, of which Christ is the chief Cornerstone. Therefore God, while thundering on Mount Sinai, directed the building of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the type of His eternal home.

Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. (Psalms 68:18)

The beginning of the house of God was the resurrection and ascension of Christ. The "gifts for men" are the apostles, prophets, teacher, gifts of healing, tongues, and so forth that serve to build the Temple of God into the fullness of the stature of Christ (Ephesians, Chapter Four).

Rebellious people are given the ministries and gifts of the Holy Spirit so they may conquer their own rebellions and the rebellions of those who hear them. God cannot find rest in us as long as there is one mote of rebellion in our nature. The third death and resurrection removes every drop of rebellion from us.

The purpose of it all is that the "Lord God may dwell among them." As soon as the Body of Christ has been perfected the Lord God can settle down to rest in His living Temple.

The first Christian martyr, Stephen, speaking under the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God, revealed the purpose of God in the creation of the Church.

Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, (Acts 7:48)

The Tabernacle of the Congregation, Solomon’s Temple, and Herod’s Temple were only shadows of the true house of God. The eternal Temple of God cannot be constructed from stone and wood assembled by the skill of men. Stone and wood are perishable materials. God is building a temple that will increase in glory and perfection throughout the endless eons to come.

Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things? (Acts 7:49,50)

Notice in the above passage that the house of God is the place of His rest. God is explaining to human beings that it is impossible for mankind to provide rest for God by religious service and construction because God Himself has made all these things, including the heavens and the earth. If they were what He wanted He would have used them to fashion His dwelling.

Men cannot assist God or provide for God’s needs. The only lasting service we can render is to give ourselves to God, for this is what He is requesting. The Jewish elders realized this fact deep in their hearts, and their fear of what that might mean to them personally caused them to shut the mouth of Stephen.

We commence our spiritual service by trying to buy God’s good will with money or with part of our time or with a service. Eventually we understand that God will not accept our gifts. He is seeking us personally, not what we can do for Him. God desires unhindered access to us so He can build us into that which He considers acceptable for His purposes. Since God’s methods take the activity and planning out of our hands, and sometimes bring us into situations disagreeable to us, we resist.

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. (Acts 7:51)

The ordinary condition of the people of God is uncircumcision of the heart and uncircumcision of the ears. We may not enjoy looking at it, but that is our picture. This was the condition of Israel under Moses, the condition of Israel at the time of Stephen, and the condition of the Christian Church today.

The hearts of Christian people often are in favor of an attractive display of the flesh, preferring to be entertained and have a "Saul" rule them instead of the Spirit of God. They are unable to receive the Word of God unless it is agreeable and comfortable for their fleshly personality.

Whenever the flesh rules in the house of God the believers will resist the Holy Spirit. They may give of their time and money to "the Lord’s work" but they will not surrender their heart. Christ remains afar off.

Yet from such fleshly congregations Christ is drawing those who will hear His voice and open the door of their heart. They are as a lovely bride coming forth from the ranks of Christendom.

Christ beckons His beloved ones to ascend with Him to the Bosom of the Father. These consecrated believers sometimes have a difficult time, as we read in the Song of Solomon (Song of Solomon 5:7). However, they do not become discouraged because they have heard His call:

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. (Song of Solomon 2:10- 13)

The answer to the question raised by the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:49) is as follows:

For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)

Mankind cannot build a house for God, although that is the desire of the flesh. God’s hand has made all things and He is not interested in stone, wood, steel, plastic, or glass. God is interested in the hearts of His saints. Believers who are not rich in their own ways and devices but who are of a humble, broken spirit, who fear God and are quick to obey His Word—these are the living stones in the Temple of God.

God is unable to find rest in the proud and self-seeking.

To be a vessel of the Lord we must be washed in the blood of God’s Lamb, we must love righteousness and hate lawlessness, and we must be rich in God’s ways and poor in our own ways. These are the results in us of the three deaths and three resurrections of redemption.

The seventh aspect of the rest of God concerns our being changed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ in our spirit, in our soul, and in our body.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be changed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)

The creative Word of God was pronounced, as described in Genesis, Chapter One, stating that man is to be in the image of God. Adam and Eve were the beginning of the fulfillment of the creative Word. They were the children of God and, unlike the angels, were created in the image of God.

Then we see Jesus who, through His mother, Mary, was descended from Adam and Eve. His Spirit is One with the Holy Spirit of God. His Soul and Nature are filled with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control.

Christ is kingly in bearing, childlike in innocence, consuming in wrath. His glorified body can move faster than light and is more powerful than the stars in their courses. His mind contains all the wisdom and knowledge in the universe.

Christ is perfectly, completely the image of the Father. He is the fulfillment of the Word of God concerning the image assigned to mankind. He who has seen Christ has seen the Father. He who has heard Christ has heard the Father. He who has known Christ has known the Father.

At the present time, only Jesus exists as the fulfillment of God’s Word concerning God’s image. Now there are coming into being many sons, many brothers who are being created according to the pattern—Christ. We Christians are a long way from being in the full image of the Lord in our spirit, soul, and body; but the Word of God has stated that God has predestined us to this end.

We cannot explain when or under what circumstances the Word of God will be fulfilled perfectly in us. We do know of a certainty that the Word of God never will cease working until every member of the Body of Christ has been changed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the supreme goals of the working of God’s creative Word is the forming of the brothers of Christ in the image of Christ. This goal will be attained perfectly, as will every other stated purpose of the Word of God.

All of the creatures and things of the universe are working together so that the purposes of God may be fulfilled in Christ. The wisdom and power of the Word of God are so awesome as to be incapable of description by any human. We only can acknowledge that the Word of God has been issued concerning the conforming of the foreknown, predestined brothers of Christ to the image of Christ, and that the wisdom and power behind the issued Word is irresistible, being superior to every other wisdom and power in existence.

The Word of God proclaims that all the universe has been put in subjection to mankind. Everything God has created must come under the rule of man.

Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. (Hebrews 2:8)

The reason "we see not yet all things put under him" is that man is not yet in God’s image to the degree God requires. We do see Jesus who is in the image of God. He possesses dominion over all things—the fullness of the authority and power promised to man.

The fruitfulness and rulership promised in the Word are given to those who are in the image of the Lord God and who are united in oneness with the Lord God. God never will give His Glory to any person who is not in His image or who is not united in oneness with Himself.

The fulfillment of the Word spoken concerning mankind will occur when the Lamb and His Wife are in union, she being in His image. Then the fullness of fruitfulness and rulership will be given to Them. They will be one image of the Glory of God Almighty.

In review, there are at least seven aspects of the rest of God:

The resting of God from all His work, and our entrance into His rest.

Rest from the trials and tribulations of this life after our course on earth is finished.

The destruction of the enemies of God.

A firm grasp on the fullness of the inheritance.

Residence in the Person and will of Christ.

The settling down to rest of God in us as He finds His eternal abode in His living Temple.

Transformation into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ in our spirit, our soul, and our body.

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