Since we have died with Christ and have risen with Him, it is as though we had fulfilled all the requirements of the Law of Moses and thus are without condemnation in terms of the Law. In addition, the Holy Spirit begins the work of judgment of our personality, for it is appointed once to man to die and after this the judgment.

The judgment that every saint experiences is not a judgment of condemnation. The guilt of our sins was done away on the cross. We continue without condemnation as long as we obey the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.

The judgment we experience concerns the sin resident in our personality, the sin that has come from Satan and is found in mankind. The sinful nature of mankind includes the following:

* Depending on the world for our survival and security.

* The lusts and appetites of our flesh and soul, the uncleanness of our spirit.

* Our self-will, stubbornness, and willingness to disobey God.

Until we are delivered from sin in these three areas we are not qualified or competent to return with Jesus Christ and bring the Throne of God into the world.

The significance of Israel entering Canaan was not primarily the establishing of a home for the Jewish people. It was the creating of a holy land, a land that would typify the making holy of the entire earth, a place of rest for God and those who love God.

The Jewish people were bringing with them the holiness of God in the form of the Ten Commandments, the Covenant. The Canaanites had never heard of such a holy law. They were the prey of demons. When the Israelite army brought the Ark into Canaan it was the coming of the will of God. This was the foreshadow of "Your kingdom come. Your will be done in the earth."

When Jesus Christ appears with His saints it is the coming of the holy law of God, the will of God, into the earth. Jesus Christ Himself is the Ark of the Covenant in that God's eternal moral law is in Him. We also are having the eternal moral law of God written in our mind and heart.

The nations of the earth are the prey of demons. They have little concept of the righteousness and holiness being created in God's saints.

One can see at a glance why Satan has labored to change the original new covenant, the writing of the eternal moral law in the mind and heart of the Christian, into a ticket to Heaven, a ticket we receive by taking "the four steps of salvation." Such "believers" are not the counterpart of the Ark of the Covenant. Their coming with the Lord Jesus would only bring more worldliness, lust, and self-will into the earth.

When we received Christ a firstfruits of our personality was seated in Christ at the right hand of God. This is the place of supreme authority and power. God's will is done here. Our task is to bring God's will into the remainder of our own personality and then into the entire creation.

To be continued.