The Daily Word of Righteousness

Bringing the Throne Into the Land of Promise, continued

At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. (Jeremiah 3:17—NIV)

When we first were saved we were raised to the right hand of God. You would think when we were saved God would bring our new born-again nature to Paradise. But He doesn't. He brings us to His throne. This is because man was created to be the eternal Throne of God.

Notice what is written about the new Jerusalem, which is the Bride of the Lamb, the Church of Christ:

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. (Revelation 22:3—NIV)

Canaan represents not only the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth but also resurrection ground.

Crossing the Red Sea symbolizes our leaving the world and entering the Kingdom of God.

Our stop at Sinai portrays our receiving the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.

Crossing the Jordan River refers to death to our first personality and resurrection into eternal life in spirit, soul, and body.

We enter eternal life in spirit when we first receive the Lord Jesus.

We enter eternal life in our soul as we put to death the deeds of the flesh through the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit.

We will gain eternal life in our body when the Lord Jesus appears, provided we have maintained eternal life in our spirit and soul. If we do not cooperate with the Holy Spirit in putting to death the deeds of our sinful body we will die spiritually. Then we will not receive immortality in our body when the Lord appears.

There is no truth more in need of expression today than that which deals with the relationship between our present behavior and the Day of Resurrection. The Christian churches are almost totally ignorant of the impact of our behavior on our resurrection, supposing the Lord is coming to whisk us all away to Heaven where we will play in Paradise. This is pure mythology.

God's plan for the Church is that it be His throne so through the Church the Throne of God can enter the earth and drive out and utterly destroy all wickedness. It has nothing to do with our being rushed off to Paradise to play with the angels. Don't we realize the world will continue in its insanity and corruption until Jesus appears with His saints? And we want to play in Paradise? What are we thinking of?

Canaan, as we have said, is resurrection ground. Every true saint today is pressing toward the mark, that is, toward attaining the resurrection from the dead. When the Lord appears it will be with an army in immortal bodies, filled with eternal incorruptible resurrection life, the Life of Jesus.

Each member of the army of the Lord must have been perfected by the Lord Jesus in iron righteousness of character and behavior, fiery holiness of personality and conduct, and stern obedience to the Father. There cannot be one Achan in the group, for this army will confront the sources of wickedness in the earth.

To be continued.