The Daily Word of Righteousness

Perfecting the Church, #13

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13)

As soon as the saints, the Church, the Body of Christ, have been brought to maturity in righteousness and praise, the Lord God Himself will enter His perfected temple. Now will the Persons of the Godhead shine through the Church. All men will come to the light shining from the temple.

And the Gentiles [nations] shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. (Isaiah 60:3)

The elect will be priests among the nations of the earth. People will look to them for deliverance from the works of Satan. The nations of the saved will be set free from their chains of sin and disobedience and ushered into eternal life.

Because the creature [creation] itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:21)

But before the Church can perform its work of releasing the creation from the bondages of sin and death, the saints themselves must be perfected. Jerusalem must be filled with righteousness.

For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. (Isaiah 62:1)

As soon as the righteousness of the Church, of Jerusalem, goes forth as brightness, the nations of the earth will glorify God.

And the Gentiles [nations] shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. (Isaiah 62:2)

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Having your conversation [behavior] honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (I Peter 2:12)

The Christian Church is destined to become perfect, without spot, wrinkle, or blemish of any kind whatever. Also it will become perfectly united in Christ in God. We believe Christ will employ a firstfruits of the Church to assist in bringing about the completeness and perfection He requires of His whole body.

The stronger saints may be separated for a season from Israel by being raised from the dead in advance of the main body of the elect. They will work with the Lord Jesus in establishing the Kingdom of God.

But at the dawning of eternity there will be only three primary groups of people, as we understand the plan of God: the new Jerusalem, in which God and Christ are dwelling in unconcealed glory and splendor; the nations of saved peoples rejoicing on the new earth; and the lost who are in torment in the lake burning with fire and sulfur.

Thinking once more in terms of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, it is as though the veil dividing the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place is removed and the Glory of God flows from the firstfruits into all Israel. Then the door that leads into the Holy Place is removed and the Glory of God flows out from the tent into the Courtyard, into the nations of the saved of the earth. The Glory of God fills the whole earth and there is no more "sea," no mass of people in whom Christ is not dwelling and whom He is not governing. Every saved individual will be learning to think, speak, and act in the Spirit of God.

The Tabernacle of the Congregation reveals the Kingdom of God established on the new earth. Every individual has been born again. Every individual has Christ in him to a greater or lesser extent. Christ is central in all persons, all circumstances, and all things. All creatures have been subdued and are in obedience to Christ. Now will Christ be subject to God the Father so God may be All in all (I Corinthians 15:28). (from Perfecting the Church)