The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Inner and Outer Kingdom of God, #11

That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (Ephesians 3:16)

First we must be received of God through the blood of the Lamb.

Next we must enter the realm of life lived in the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God enters us and prepares the way for the coming of the Lord (John 14:17).

Now we are ready for the Lord Jesus Himself to come and summon the various parts of our personality, judging and removing what is not approved of God and infusing with His own Divine Life that which is to be brought into the Kingdom of God.

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (I John 3:8)

Lazarus being summoned from the dead illustrates the spiritual fulfillment of the Blowing of Trumpets in that the King, Jesus, appeared and revived the dead man on the fifth day. Then there must take place the removal of the graveclothes, symbolizing the judgment of the spiritual death that binds us. Lazarus was alive but the bondages of death still hindered him.

And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. (John 11:44)

The Day of Atonement. When discussing the judgment typified by Trumpets and the Day of Atonement we are not referring to the Divine condemnation because of the guilt of our sins or to the rewards or punishments that will be given to us when the Lord returns.

The eternal judgment symbolized by Trumpets and the Day of Atonement is the judgment of the sin that dwells in us. It is the redemption, the salvation that the Scriptures promise, and it has begun today.

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:5)

We now are in the "last time" and the process of redemption has begun. The salvation (deliverance) that has begun now will culminate in the redemption of our body at the coming of Jesus. It is necessary that spiritual redemption take place for the royal priesthood before the Lord returns.

The judgment of the Day of Atonement is not the judgment of our choices and resulting actions but the judgment of our sinful nature, of that part of Satan that has access to our personality. One might ask, "How can we distinguish between our choices and resulting actions on the one hand, and the satanic factors of our personality on the other hand?"

The Apostle Paul has made this distinction for us:

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (Romans 7:17)

In Romans 7:17 a distinction is drawn between "I," and "sin that dwelleth in me." The blame for our perverted behavior is shifted from "I," that is, from the choices that we are able to make, to the satanic bondages that enslave us and press us to perform acts apart from our conscious choices.

To be continued.