The Daily Word of Righteousness

Judgment and Rewards, #28

And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. (Matthew 20:23)

Also, we must be called and chosen for our rulership.

"For whom it is prepared of my Father"!

Ranks in the Kingdom of God are by Divine appointment, just as in any other kingdom. Not everyone is given the same number of talents or the same kind of talents. We can conquer only that which is set before us to conquer as an individual. We are exhorted to grasp that for which we as an individual have been grasped.

It is God's part to organize the Kingdom of God. It is our part to be obedient and faithful to the calling of God that is on our own life. We are to work out our own salvation.

We have been stressing that the rewards to the overcomer are not gifts that are given to us because we believe in the Lord Jesus. The rewards that we receive are, rather, the natural consequence of the work of redemption that has been wrought in us as we have carefully and diligently observed to do that which we have been commanded by the Lord and His Apostles.

Nowhere is this more true than in the case of ruling the nations of the earth. The rod of iron with which we shall rule is created in us as we choose to keep on doing the Lord's will under trying circumstances. No person is capable of ruling in God until the will to do God's will is as iron in him.

In addition, the love of Christ must be in us. We must be able to love people with the love of God. Such love is unknown to our adamic nature. It is wrought in us as Christ (the Morning Star) is formed in us.

He who would be a royal priest, working among human beings until they have Christ formed in them and are coming to know the Lord, must have an iron will and a broken heart. While the Kingdom of God shall enter the earth with Divine force, smashing all resistance to the will of Christ, the Lord will, as quickly as possible, begin to draw the peoples of the earth with cords of love. He will do this through us, for we shall inherit the nations along with Him and by Him.

As the Father loves the Lord Jesus, so Jesus loves us. As we come to maturity in Jesus we begin to feel the need to express that love to other people. Of the increase of the love of God in Jesus in us in other people there will be no end (Isaiah 9:7). The Kingdom of God exists when God in Christ rules in the human personality, and this is the manner in which the saints will govern the nations of the earth.

To be continued.