View source for '''To him that overcometh.'''

=="To him that overcometh."==
<p>The tree of life is still in the middle of Paradise. It is still guarded. No one is allowed to partake of the tree except as he or she gains victory over sin. </p>
<p>The Lord Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life. As we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood we receive eternal life into our personality. If we continue to live by His Life, as He lives by the Father, He will call us up to Himself when He appears. Then the eternal life we have gained will enter our flesh and bones. </p>
<p>Where the slain Lamb is, there those who live by His Life will be gathered together. </p>
<p>The Apostle Paul groaned for the redemption of His physical body. </p>
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<p>And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23) </p>
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<p><em>For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (II Corinthians 5:4) </em></p>
<p>We do not understand Paul's groaning today because we view the Lord Jesus as a ticket to Heaven. The Apostle Paul did not view the Lord Jesus as a ticket to Heaven but as the One who would crown him with righteousness and eternal life. </p>
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<p><em>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 love his appearing. (II Timothy 4:8) </em></p>
<p>How many believers of our day are hoping for a crown of righteousness? Of <em>righteousness </em>! The believers of today are hoping for an escape from tribulation, not, ordinarily, for the power to observe God's eternal moral laws, the laws of the Kingdom of God. Their misguided hope is the result of the spirit of error that is in Christian teaching. </p>
<p>Paul was an Orthodox Jew. His one desire in life was to be righteous. He found he was not able to keep the <em>Torah </em>, the Law of Moses. Paul realized that through Christ would come the righteousness of heart that he sought. </p>
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<p><em>O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24) </em></p>
<p>Paul groaned for the breaking of the chains of mortality so he no longer would be driven to sin. Paul was pursuing righteousness. </p>
<p>We are to lift up our heads because our redemption is drawing near: redemption that will bring to us the Presence of God; redemption that will produce a personality and behavior that are free from sin; redemption that will change our corruptible body to an incorruptible body. All this will come to us with the appearing of the Lord if we are abiding in Him. </p>
<p>Redemption as the exaltation of Jerusalem and all Israel . </p>
<p>In some respects the Kingdom of Solomon may have been the most exalted, the wealthiest, of all the kingdoms of history. Because of the righteousness of David in God's sight, the Israelis gained dominion over all their enemies. Solomon, David's son, inherited a magnificent, powerful throne. </p>
<p>The most important aspect of Jerusalem (after the Presence of the Lord) was the Temple of God. The moral law of God as expressed in the Law of Moses was the standard for moral behavior for all the peoples of the earth. No other nation possessed the Words of God. Their religions were given by demons. </p>
<p>The Jews continued to sin and rebel against the holy Law. The punishment of God came upon them, as Moses had warned. They had known the goodness of God. Now they came to know the severity of the Father of spirits (Leviticus 26:16). </p>
<p>For 2,500 years the Jews have been slandered and persecuted. The Holocaust was a climax of such torment but the attacks continue to the present hour. </p>
<p>The Jews look for their national redemption to come with the appearing of Christ. They do not look in vain. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament promise that God shall bring Jacob home and that the Redeemer shall come from Zion and save the physical land and nation of Israel from sin and the consequences of sin. </p>
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<p>And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24) </p>
<p>Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, give up; and to the south, keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; (Isaiah 43:5,6) </p>
<p>But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. (Jeremiah 46:27) </p>
<p>But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:32,33) </p>
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<p><em>And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: (Romans 11:26) </em></p>
<p>It is being taught today that the Christian Church has replaced the Jews in God's affection and that God has turned away from the physical people and land of Israel. This is not true. </p>
<p>It is a fact that the Christian disciple, Jew or Gentile, is an integral part of the Seed of Abraham (which is Christ). True Israel is the Lord Jesus Christ and those who are part of Him, whether Jewish or Gentile by physical birth. </p>
<p>However, the Scriptures teach with utmost clarity that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance and God will restore the physical people and land of Israel at the end of the Church Age and the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. </p>
<p>The Jews are to lift up their heads when they see the great signs in the heavens because their redemption draws near. The Divine redemption from Heaven will bring the Presence of God and eternal life, the forgiveness of sin for all who receive their Christ, deliverance from the presence of sin, the change from bodily corruption to bodily incorruption for those whose life the Lord Jesus is, and the exaltation of Jerusalem and all Israel to supremacy among the governments of the world. </p>
<p>Redemption as the bringing of justice and the rule of God to the meek of the earth . </p>
<p>The Book of Isaiah contains several promises concerning the Servant of the Lord. The Servant of the Lord is Christ—Head and Body. When Christ comes the humble will obtain justice. The meek will inherit the earth. </p>
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<p>But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (Isaiah 11:4) </p>
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<p><em>Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment </em>[justice] <em>to the Gentiles </em>[nations] <em>. (Isaiah 42:1) </em></p>
<p>We do not always picture the coming of the Lord as resulting in the bringing of justice to mankind. But the removing of self-seeking government and the installing of righteous kings over the saved nations is an important aspect of the redemption included in the thousand-year Kingdom Age. </p>
<p>In every nation of our day there is injustice because of the wickedness of the rulers. Some peoples are starving and their rulers will not permit food to be given to them. Children are being sold into prostitution. Robbery, rape, and murder are widespread. Bribery, corruption, lying, stealing, self-exaltation characterize every major government. Relief efforts continue to fail because those in charge use such efforts as an opportunity to become wealthy by diverting the food and money to themselves. Governments that at one time had been Christian—at least in name—are now refusing even to acknowledge God. </p>
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<p><em>Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. (Isaiah 32:1) </em></p>
<p>Much of the training given by the Lord to His saints is to make them wise, compassionate rulers. Suffering is an important part of the curriculum. The suffering the saints experience teaches them stern obedience to the Father—the first requirement of a ruler. </p>
<p>Suffering also teaches us patience. Those who govern people must be patient. They must not judge according to their physical eyes or ears but from what they hear from God. </p>
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<p><em>The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. (II Samuel 23:3,4) </em></p>
<p>The oppressed of the earth are to lift up their head. Redemption is coming! The righteous King and His righteous princes are at the door! When they come from Heaven the evil governments shall be overthrown—smashed with the rod of iron of the Spirit of God. </p>
<p>Then the poor of the earth will rejoice. The godly will dance for joy and sing in the heights of Zion. </p>
<p>Redemption as the restoration of Paradise to the earth . </p>
<p>It is hard to believe such a paradise as the garden in Eden ever actually existed on this earth. But the memory of the garden seems to be present in the subconscious mind of the human race. When we speak of Heaven we often describe it as a garden with the greenest grass, perfect flowers, fruit trees of various kinds, a place of wondrous beauty and undisturbed love, joy, and peace. </p>
<p>Perhaps at one time the spirit realm and the material realm were blended as one environment. Because of the rebellion of the first people, the spirit realm, including the garden that had been in Eden, was withdrawn beyond the clouds. Such a withdrawal would account for the spiritually dead, decaying nature that surrounds us today. </p>
<p>The Scripture states that God, in the hope He would be able to liberate the spiritually dead creation and bring it into the freedom of the glory of the children of God, temporarily subjected the physical world to corruption and worthlessness. When the sons of God are revealed, at the appearing of the Lord, they will go throughout the earth releasing the material world from the bondage of decay and corruption. </p>
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<p><em>For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21) </em></p>
<p>The spirit Paradise still exists. The Tree of Life is still in the middle of the garden. But now we cannot see Paradise or the Tree of Life or approach them because they are in an invisible area termed "Heaven." </p>
<p>The redemption that is coming will restore Paradise to the earth. </p>
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<p><em>The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9) </em><strong></strong></p>
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