The Daily Word of Righteousness

A Basic Concept, #9

And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. To sum up what we have stated thus far, the peoples of the earth may be divided into three groups: (Revelation 21:24)

The nations of the saved.

The Divine elect.

The lost.

God's plan is to bring the nations of the saved into eternal life, into Paradise on a new earth.

The elect are those persons, Jewish and Gentile, whom God has chosen to be a firstfruits of mankind to himself. The role of the elect is to bring the blessings of God to the nations of the saved. The nations of the saved are the inheritance of the elect.

The elect were chosen from the foundation of the world. They are God's witnesses, God's servants, God's royal priesthood, God's rulers of the ages to come. While they also will enjoy a paradisiac environment, their primary destiny and inheritance is to be with God, to be an integral part of God through Christ for eternity.

God's Immediate Objectives for His Elect

God has two immediate objectives for His elect:

That they be in the image of Christ.

That they be in complete, perfect union with God and with one another through Christ.

None of the eternal purposes of God for His elect is possible until the two immediate objectives have been accomplished.

The Christian ministry has pointed toward residence in the Paradise of God as the goal of the Divine redemption. Paradise was lost because there was no protection against sin, no wall that would keep out rebellion against God.

God has no intention of bringing anyone back into Paradise on the earth until provision has been made that will insure there will be no more sin and rebellion in Paradise.

God's first action to insure a sin-free Paradise was to perfect the Lord Jesus through suffering. Christ learned obedience to the Father by the things He suffered on earth.

God's second action is to form Christ in a firstfruits of His elect, His people. The firstfruits, the victorious saints, also will learn obedience through suffering. Each one of these future guardians of the peace must overcome, through Christ's Virtue, his love of the world, his love of sin, and his self-will. As soon as the firstfruits have overcome the three aspects of the fallen nature they will be seated on the thrones of the universe, the thrones currently occupied by Satan and his followers.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)

God's third action will be to expand the victory gained by the victorious saints to the remainder of the elect until the entire body of chosen people is one great tabernacle of God. The Tabernacle of God is the new Jerusalem, the holy city. Every member, from the least to the greatest, will know the Lord.

God's fourth action, in His program for preventing future rebellion, will be to employ His elect, His royal priesthood, as teachers and judges of the nations of the saved until every knee has bowed in submission to Christ and God the Father is All in all.

To be continued.