The Daily Word of Righteousness

Dying in the Lord, #5

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

What is God's answer to the presence on the earth of Satan and the fallen angels?

The cross. The cross of the Lord Jesus and the personal cross of the believer. God will not save what man is. God will not save the race of Adam. The race of Adam died in Christ on the cross of Calvary.

The members of the Kingdom of God are a new race. They are humans, but humans in whom every element of personality has become part of Christ. They have died; but behold—they live! They are crucified with Christ, yet they live. But it no longer is they who are living, it is Christ.

God has provided the answer to every terror of the last days. The answer is our death and resurrection in Christ.

We must reckon ourselves dead, experience the judgment of God in every aspect of our personality (which includes much suffering and the denial of our fondest hopes), and then receive the Presence of the Father and the Son. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:34). It is the provision God has made for the spiritual oppression of the closing days of this age.

In the day when so many are falling into the trap of viewing themselves as God, the Spirit says:

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)

We must bow the knee to God, turning away from our pride, our arrogance, our haughtiness. We must keep God's righteous commandments. The Epistles of the New Testament are filled with guides to righteous behavior. We must keep faith in Jesus, guarding the word of His patience.

To follow the Lord in cross-carrying obedience, turning away from the "Christian" people who tell us we can have everything we want in the world, requires patience.

Ours is a period of judgment. Every time we make a judgment it will come back upon us, for good or for evil.

He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (Revelation 13:10)

God is raising up a powerful army in our day. Each soldier has been judged thoroughly by the Word of God. In the moment of judgment the Lord's soldier will stand because he cannot be harmed by Divine judgment. He can "fall on the sword" and yet not be wounded.

Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. (Joel 2:8)

Patience! Patience! Patience and the Kingdom of God!

If we are to possess our soul we must exercise patience in the prison in which the Lord places us.

Then, in the darkest of the night, the Lord gives us the solution:

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. (Revelation 14:13)

"Die in the Lord from henceforth."

To be continued.