The Daily Word of Righteousness

God Has Needs and Desires, #3

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22,23—NIV)

The fruit we are to bear is the moral image of Jesus Christ, which is the new-covenant counterpart of the Law of Moses. Both the Law of Moses and the moral image of Jesus Christ (as it is revealed in Christ Himself as well as in the Christian in whom Christ is dwelling) are to serve all of mankind as portrayals of the Person and ways of the God of Heaven.

The Church is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom that shall govern the new world of righteousness. On that new earth will dwell the "sheep nations," that is, those who have assisted God's witnesses of every age; and then all others whom God deems worthy of eternal life.

In fact, the Kingdom of God, the Church, is being created in order to meet the needs of the nations. The Kingdom is being prepared for them.

Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." (Matthew 25:34—NIV)

"The kingdom prepared for you," that is, for the saved nations.

The "sheep nations" are not the Church. The sheep nations are those who were kind to God's witnesses, Christ's brothers, of every period of history.

God needs and desires to live among His creatures, to bless them, to guide them, to heal them, to love them. Therefore God has called out the Church from the nations of the earth to serve as a great house in which He can live and find rest.

The eternal house of God is the new Jerusalem. God's Throne will be in the new Jerusalem, which is the glorified Church. All the saved nations of the earth will walk in the moral light shed by the holy city. They will come up to the city to learn of God and to walk in His righteous ways. In this manner God's needs and desires will be met.

In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2,3—NIV)

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. (Revelation 21:24—NIV)

The Lord's temple, His eternal tabernacle, is Jesus Christ and the Body of Christ. There is no other house of God.

When Jesus Christ installs His Kingdom on the earth the headquarters will be at Jerusalem. From Jerusalem the Lord and His saints will govern the world.

All the nations of the earth will go up to Jerusalem to worship the King. At that time God will be revealed in Christ who will be revealed in His saints. It is through the saints that God through Christ will live among the nations.

To be continued.