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AN INTERACTIVE SUMMARY OF ENFORCING THE WILL OF GOD
The following paragraphs are presented as a summary of Enforcing the Will of God. The review questions are designed to facilitate a clear comprehension of the thesis statements contained in that document. Click on the answer of your choice to determine the level of progress you are making in understanding the major points presented in this summary. For your convenience a link to the entire document is provided at the end of this lesson.
He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. (James 1:18)
One of the misunderstandings in Christian thinking is that the members of the Church are the only people to be saved. The truth is, the members of the Church are a firstfruits of mankind, separated out to serve as a light to mankind. It is not at all true, and totally unscriptural, that the only saved people are those of the Church, and the remainder of the population of the earth shall be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Actually, the remainder of the population of the earth are the inheritance of Christ and His brothers.
I am not stating that everyone ultimately will be saved from destruction. This is not true; it is not scriptural. The characteristics of those who will be thrown into the Lake of Fire are listed in Revelation 21:8. Any individual, beginning with those who are members of the Church, can choose to be saved from those characteristics and thus escape the Lake of Fire.
But any individual, beginning with those who are members of the Church, if he or she does not choose to be saved from the behaviors over which the Lake of Fire retains authority, will be confined in this most severe of penalties.
"Those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."
Predestined, called, justified, glorified. All in the past tense.
In between justification and glorification lies the change from the image of Adam to the image of Christ. The change is wrought out during our lifetime, provided we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. The change is announced from the beginning but must be established in the present.
The Book of Hebrews employs the term "the rest of God." A member of the Body of Christ enters the rest of God when he or she chooses to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and flow along into the destiny already determined by the Lord.
To not enter the rest of God is to continue, because of our unbelief and disobedience, living our life in the manner we deem best, not endeavoring to grasp that for which we have been grasped by the Lord.
Review Question#1. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
How do we enter the "rest of God"?
The Kingdom of God is the Church, the new Jerusalem. The people of the world who will be saved from destruction, and who will receive eternal life from the members of the Bride of the Lamb, from the royal priesthood, are designated "sheep." They are brought into the blessings of the Kingdom because they assisted the brothers of Christ when the brothers were in distress.
All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. (Matthew 25:32,33)
The Kingdom is being prepared (we saints are being prepared) to bring God’s will and blessing to the "sheep" God has chosen.
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22:17)
The above is the invitation given by the Spirit and by God’s priesthood, the Bride of the Lamb, to God’s sheep. The sheep are invited to receive eternal life, just as today we would invite people to receive eternal life in Christ.
Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." (Matthew 25:34)
Then they [the goats—those who refused to assist Christ’s brothers] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matthew 25:46)
We understand to this point that God’s elect are a kingdom which the sheep nations will inherit. We inherit them, and they inherit us. God loves the people of the world and He is changing us into the image of His Son that we may bring His Presence and blessing to every person who calls on the Lord. The reason we are tested and shaped as we are is that the people God has created may receive the good that God has for them. We are being formed to benefit people, some as yet unborn.
The most important gift we will bring to the sheep is the will of God. In fact, we shall enforce that will with a rod of the Spirit until they are doing God’s will perfectly.
The Kingdom is the doing of God’s will in the earth as it is in Heaven.
Review Question #2. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
For what reason is the Kingdom of God being prepared?
a. to bring God’s will and blessing to the "sheep" God has chosen.
b. to make Heaven as comfortable as possible for those who believe in Jesus.
After the Lord returns, the members of the nations who were not destroyed in the Battle of Armageddon will be in an environment filled with the Holy Spirit. The Glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
The sons of God will go throughout the earth destroying the works of Satan and casting out evil spirits. Satan himself will be bound in the bottomless pit.
Consider: a Holy Spirit-filled environment; no demons; no works of Satan; and no world spirit polluted by Antichrist.
The Lord Jesus Christ will be seated on the throne of David on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The nations will recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of the world.
Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3)
Many of the sources of evil have been removed from the earth.
The major source of evil remains.
And what is that?
The will of human beings.
God made all of us, and the angels also, with the ability to make choices. The ability to choose is the essence of the human being. If we no longer could make choices, we could not love God; for love is a choice one makes. For this reason God shall not remove our will.
But if we are to maintain Paradise, once it is restored to the earth, there cannot be even one individual who makes a choice outside the will of God.
How can God leave our wills intact, and yet insure that no person will choose to disobey God?
The answer is, God is creating the Church, the Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, the Bride of the Lamb, the sons of God, the brothers of Christ, the new Jerusalem. Call them what you will. These people are the royal priesthood, God’s elect, God’s true Israel, whether of the Old Testament or the New; whether Jewish or Gentile by physical birth.
The Christian Church, the elect of God, began with the patriarch Abraham. All who are part of the Lord Jesus Christ are the one Seed of Abraham. These are the brothers of Christ, the household of God of which the Scripture speaks. These compose the eternal Temple of God, the new Jerusalem.
These people will enforce the will of God on the sheep, on the people whom God has chosen to be saved but who are not part of the royal priesthood.
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. (Revelation 21:24)
There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)
"They will reign for ever and ever."
The saints will govern the nations forever. They will enforce the will of God throughout the universe. They are the judges of men and angels.
Review Question #3. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
If the human will is to remain intact during the coming Kingdom of God how will God insure no person will choose to disobey Him?
a. by creating the Church, the Body of Christ, the royal priesthood who will enforce the will of God.
b. everyone in the Kingdom will automatically obey God.
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (I John 2:17)
There are two things each of us needs to understand about the new covenant, the Christian covenant.
The first is that the new covenant is made only with the house of Israel. God’s promises always are to Israel. We can receive these promises only by becoming an integral part of true Israel, of the Seed of Abraham, through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second thing we must come to realize about the new covenant is that it is the writing of the law of God in our heart and mind—not just the blessing of God but the law of God.
The Christian religion views the new covenant as a plan of salvation that forgives us and bring us, when we die, to Paradise in the spirit realm. This is not the new covenant. The new covenant is the inscribing of the law of God in our heart and mind so we obey God in all matters.
The surest sign of the growth of Christ in us is that we can recognize the difference between good and evil, and have the desire and strength to embrace the good and reject the evil.
Many Christian believers of our day are babies when it comes to choosing between good and evil. They have been taught incorrectly that it does not matter whether they choose good or evil because they have been saved "by grace." Thus they utterly misunderstand the new covenant.
It is interesting, isn’t it, that Satan has managed to warp a covenant designed to create the image of Christ in people into a ticket to Heaven for unchanged people. Our adversary is exceedingly cunning. But there is One who is more cunning, and He shall prevail.
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Hebrews 8:10)
In our day the Spirit is emphasizing judgment, that is, He is pointing out to us Christians what is evil in our personality. When this happen to us we are to confess our sins, renounce them with all our might, and turn to God for forgiveness and cleansing. We are to do this throughout our lifetime—as often as we are reproved by the Spirit.
Review Question #4. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
Define the new covenant:
a. a plan of salvation that forgives us and brings us, when we die, to Paradise in the spirit realm.
b. the inscribing of the law of God in our heart and mind so that we obey God in all matters.
Christ is a King and a Man of war. God has put all authority and power of rulership and judgment in His hands. If we are to reign with Him we need to understand we have not been called to sit in Heaven but to work with Him in establishing the will of God throughout the creation. Man was created to govern, to rule in righteousness.
The original sin was self-will, a willingness to act outside of God’s will. Perhaps no creature had ever before thought of doing this.
How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:12-14)
All sin that exists has been the result of Satan’s willingness to choose to do other than God’s will.
The most important issue in the universe today is that of the will of God. Who will choose to do it?
We Christians, who have been chosen by Christ (we did not choose Christ; He choose us), have been made aware of the atoning blood of the cross and have chosen to receive it as the payment for our sins.
We also have chosen to receive God’s Spirit.
Both of these actions have been obedience to God.
Now we have to press forward in the Holy Spirit until we are completely obedient to the Head, to Jesus Christ, in every area of our life. Until we are totally obedient to Christ in everything, we are not qualified or competent to be raised from the dead when He appears and to descend with Him to install the Kingdom of God on the earth.
There cannot be one soldier in Christ’s army who is not totally obedient to the Commander in Chief. There cannot be one member of the Body of Christ who is not completely obedient to the Head. When a member of our own physical body is not completely obedient to the head we are ill.
How does God go about creating total obedience in us?
God brings us through many fires, many floods, many prisons, until we are obedient to Christ at the deepest level of our personality.
There are different levels of the will. We see this in the prayer of Gethsemane:
Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. (Luke 22:42)
Notice the two different levels of the will. One will of Christ was to avoid the cup of suffering. A higher will took over and chose to drink the cup.
So it is that if we are to serve a members of the governing priesthood, we must be perfected in obedience.
Review Question#5. Please click on the answer you think is correct.
Identify the original sin:
a. self-will, a willingness to act outside of God’s will.
b. hiding from God behind fig leaves.
PROCEED TO REVIEW QUIZ #2: LESSONS SIX - TEN
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Source Document:
Copyright © 2002 Trumpet Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
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