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The two core tenets of the New Covenant are "Life" and "Rest."
For his part God provides us with Eternal Life whereby we are accepted into the family of God by the rite of "spiritual circumcision" and become partakers of the divine nature, that is the very life and nature of Jesus Christ himself.
Our obligation is to enter into his rest, that is to find through faith in Christ alone all the spiritual resources we need.
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. (Heb. 4:1)
There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for anyone who has entered God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. (Heb. 4:9-11)
A study of this portion of Scripture makes us become aware that we are being told something of extraordinary importance. But what does it all mean?
When we are "born again," that is delivered from the power of spiritual death and made partakers of the divine nature, the grace of God has wrought within us the deepest, most fundamental and radical change possible within the human spirit. Some of this is evident immediately, sometimes in the most spectacular fashion.
But in many ways, the outworking of this inner transformation is an on-going and continuous process whereby the now indwelling life of Christ finds its ever-increasing expression in the daily practicalities of our lives.
This process of gradual change is necessary because there is another factor in the equation which has not yet been considered.
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1Cor. 2:14)
In fact, following the "new birth," there are two sources of life and energy which motivate and drive the thoughts and actions of the redeemed child of God. These are:
Paul had this in mind when he addressed the Corinthians.
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly - mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? (1 Cor. 3:1-3)
What was wrong with the Christians at Corinth? It was that, although they were saved and Spirit-filled, they were living as "mere men" that is "men without the Spirit." In other words, their lives were still dominated by the "natural man."
The process of spiritual growth which follows our initial transformation, has everything to do with the relationship between these two forces and sources of energy within us. To understand this process and to comprehend the dealings of God in our lives, it is necessary to understand the following facts about the "natural man."
The only way that this situation can be dealt with by the Holy Spirit is by the process of weakening the natural man. By this process we "enter into his rest."
Unfortunately, this is where we at times find ourselves at odds with the purpose and dealings of God in our lives. As we begin to understand the standards of faith and behaviour that God has set for us as children of the New Covenant, our first reaction is often to attempt to refine and purify our natural life. We clothe the natural man in high moral standards, involve it in "good works," civilise it with a veneer of good manners and empower it with education and learning. Indeed the natural man can, up to a point, demonstrate all these characteristics and can cap it all by giving every appearance of deep spirituality.
Many of these attributes are admired and highly valued by the world and human-kind in general but they are of no value to God. Only that which is a product of the indwelling life of Christ is of any value in the eternal purpose of God.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor. 13:1-3)
The essence of the divine nature is love. "God is love" 1 John 4:16. Thus it is clear that unless all the outstanding gifts and qualities of character described in the above Scripture are the product of the divine nature then they have no value in time or eternity to us or to God.
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15:4-8)
The New Covenant union and fellowship that we have with God is described here as the relationship of a branch to its vine. As the branch remains in close union with the vine, the life-giving sap flows from the vine and the branch produces fruit. Our relationship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, that we are given the right to enjoy under the New Covenant, opens the way for the life of Christ to flow from him, through us, to produce "fruit." This is the outworking of that new nature in the everyday details of our lives.
On the other hand, the severing of that relationship with the vine results in the branch withering and dying only to be gathered up and burned with all the other rubbish. Thus our failure to maintain that union of faith and love results in works which, as the products of the natural man, will be consumed in the fires of judgement.
If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Cor. 3:12-15)
As we have already seen, the Holy Spirit is not working to strengthen or refine the natural man but to weaken and ultimately destroy its dominance in our lives. This is where tensions can arise in our relationship with God. We start to find that what we are trying to build up is being pulled down and that events take place in our lives that we find at first hard to reconcile with the love of our Heavenly Father. Resentment can build up within us and can be buried very deeply within our consciousness.
While this is often the result of our ignorance of his ways and purposes, these feelings poison our relationship with God, drain away our joy and peace and place us outside the New Covenant blessings.
These tensions are also due to the fact that our natural man desperately wants to control the process of our own spiritual growth. Many of us came to Christ in the first place because we felt a deep sense of need in some area of life. So we have clearly in mind what we want the Lord to do in us and we constantly look for the evidence that he is doing what we want.
But it never works like that. We are being changed into his likeness so that we may please God and not ourselves. What we are to become will enable us to enter into a meaningful relationship with God that will bring satisfaction and joy to his heart. This is, of course, the highest good for us too, but the natural man does not recognise this.
Thus the dealings and processes of God within us can, at times, appear to be contrary to what we perceive as our own well-being. It is here that we enter into the life of faith because we are being called to walk in ways that are, at the start, beyond our own understanding.
The processes of dealing with our natural man are of infinite variety. The Holy Spirit never deals with two people in the same way. He works in each one of us according to our own personality and our particular strengths and weaknesses.
However it can be said that the first objective of this transforming work is to cause us to lose confidence in our own natural resources and to have it replaced with a confidence soundly based upon the power of the indwelling Christ. This can only be done by bringing us into situations where the resources of the natural man fail us.
What an extraordinarily delicate operation this is! It is the stuff that nervous breakdowns are made of. Only the Holy Spirit in his infinite wisdom and understanding is capable of bringing a human being unscathed through such experiences. No one should ever meddle in this process either in themselves or in others. We can and must leave this work completely to him.
This process produces a "weakness" or "brokenness" in the natural man. The apostle Paul understood and wrote about this principle clearly.
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:7-10)
Paul is talking about the weakness of the natural man. The resurrection life of Christ is not, therefore, manifested in the presence of human strength but rather through human weakness. It is the weakening of the natural man that provides a way for the life of Christ to be manifest in our mortal flesh.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Ps. 51:17)
This weakening or brokenness is also referred to as the "death" of the natural man.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. (1 Cor. 4:8-12)
Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Cor. 1:9)
This is the goal towards which the Holy Spirit ceaselessly works. Without fail we vigorously resist this attack upon our self-life. Why do we resist? Is it because we are wicked and evil? Not really. It is because this natural life is all we have known. We are, more than anyone else, acutely aware of its shortcomings, but it has got us through more or less and it is all we have had anyway.
To leave behind what we have known, to possess something of which we have no experience is taking a journey into the unknown. This is why we need faith, absolute faith, in the wisdom and the love of God as he leads us through experiences which we would otherwise do our utmost to avoid.
This is the situation Abraham found himself in. He is called "the father of us all" because he is our example of faith.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. (Heb. 11:8)
The faith that is being referred to here, however, is not a general type of faith in God, but a very specific faith born of a deep understanding of the ways and purposes of God. There is nothing "blind" about faith. Although we will seldom be fully aware of our final destination, this faith is based upon an understanding of the way he deals with us and the reasons for it all.
Looking again at the Scripture from which we started out, we can now see why Paul prayed this prayer.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,... (Col. 1:9)
For this principle of strength out of weakness, life out of death and victory out of apparent defeat, we have no greater example than that of the Lord himself.
For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you. (2 Cor. 13:4)
Jesus himself said:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
Allow me to paraphrase that a little.
Happy indeed are those who find brokenness in their natural life through the dealings of the Holy Spirit for it is they who enter into the blessings of the New Covenant and experience at first hand the resurrection power of Christ.
From all of this we can begin to understand what is meant, under the New Covenant, by "entering into his rest."
Under the Old Covenant the Israelites were commanded to observe a Sabbath day of rest on the last day of the week, that is Saturday. They were strictly forbidden to do any work on the Sabbath. This was of such great importance that it was included among the Ten Commandments.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Ex. 20:8-11)
At first sight it is hard to understand why such a commandment should be included among the Ten. Furthermore, it has been assigned 4 verses which is more than any other of the commandments. For some reason it was given this place of prominence among the most fundamental and universal set of spiritual, moral and ethical principles ever known.
1. You shall have no other Gods before me. 2. You shall not make any idols. 3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God. 4. 5. Honour your father and mother. 6. You shall not murder. 7. You shall not commit adultery. 8. You shall not steal. 9. You shall not covet. 10. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
As the fourth we have a commandment that they should refrain from working on a particular day of the week. Why?
Was it to safeguard their health? Hardly. If that was what it was for it could have found a place among the administrative laws.
Was it put there for a "remembrance" of God's creation? Well it certainly achieved that purpose Deuteronomy 5:15, but if that was its only purpose it could have been included in the ceremonial law along with many other "remembrances," not least of which was the feast of the Passover.
It is also hard, at first, to understand the severity of the punishment handed out to those that violated the Sabbath. Exodus 31:12-17 defines death as the penalty for breaches of the observance of this day. In Numbers 15:32-36 an incident is related in which an Israelite was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. The man was stoned to death.
All of this would suggest that it was of supreme importance that the concept of "rest" be deeply impressed upon the human consciousness. But it is also apparent that it was not talking about a physical rest as this was only a symbol or "type" of what was to come. Rather it was talking about a spiritual rest. Thus the Old Covenant Sabbath is really a forerunner of the central New Covenant concept of "rest."
We can therefore understand that this command to "make every effort to enter that rest" is absolutely central to the outworking of the Eternal Purpose of God in our lives, in the church and, for that matter, throughout the universe. This is no side issue or an abstract theological point. It is on this principle that our on-going relationship with God either grows or withers on the vine.
We have seen that God, in the working out of his Eternal Purpose over centuries and even millennia, caused the idea of the Blood Covenant to become implanted within the human consciousness in order to prepare the way for the outworking of his plan of Redemption.
In the same way he has, with great force, impressed upon the minds of his Covenant people, over a period of more than fourteen hundred years the overriding importance of this New Covenant "law."
Thus we see that our central obligation under the terms of the New Covenant is to "enter into his rest." Failure to enter into God's rest means that the natural man remains in a place of dominance and we will forever be wallowing in the gutters of spiritual poverty.
Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. (Heb. 3:16-19; 4:1)
The command to "make every effort to enter that rest" appears, at first sight, to be a contradiction. We cannot by any effort of our natural man enter into this rest as this means an end to the striving of the natural man, and is thus a contradiction in terms. The natural man will not in any way participate in its own demise. Nor can it by its efforts contribute to its own brokenness. We cannot therefore initiate this process nor determine the direction it will take.
This is a work which can only be started and directed by Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is "the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). Our part is to co-operate with what the Holy Spirit chooses to do with us and within us. The work of God, that is our "every effort," is to believe in the Christ who lives in us.
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29)
We are to utterly trust the infinite love and wisdom of the Holy Spirit as he leads us along the pathway he has chosen. We are to believe in the presence and power of the life of Christ within. We are to believe in his absolute ability to control and direct every detail of our lives according to his will and purpose. Surely this is enough for us to go on with. He lovingly and with great tenderness instructs us to leave everything else to him.
We can become stiff-necked and rebellious and resist the Holy Spirit. We can allow the natural man to make us resentful of the way God has chosen to deal with us. This can delay and, tragically, even put off altogether the fulfilment of God's great eternal purpose with us as individuals. But we cannot direct this process, nor by any effort of our own contribute to its success.
We have now reached the ground where there is no room for pretence. This is the place where we believe in God or fall in the spiritual wilderness. This is where we learn the life of faith. The parallel the Bible draws between the Israelites whose bodies fell in the wilderness and the children of the New Covenant who fail to enter into God's rest that we have just seen, is very powerful and very sobering indeed (Hebrews 3:7-19; 4:1-11).
As long as our natural man remains unbroken, the "fruit" we bear will be "wood, hay and straw" which shall be burnt up in the fires of God's judgement. There will be no excuses and no special cases, although we ourselves shall be saved.
To remind us of the overwhelming importance of this issue, let us look again at:
To fail to enter into his rest is to reject the offer to partake of the Divine Nature and to ignore the "unsearchable riches of Christ" purchased for us at so great a cost, and instead to look to other sources of life and strength. We may not be fully conscious of this fact, but the effect is nevertheless the same. We are treating the New Covenant with contempt, an unholy thing, not to be trusted.
Therefore "entering into his rest" means the end of the striving of the natural man and a reliance upon the indwelling life of Christ.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7)
We now rest upon the fact that Jesus has an infinite reservoir of peace that he pours into our soul and through us to the outside world. It is his peace that "transcends all understanding" that flows from us and touches the lives of those around us. It is nothing that we have drummed up or have gained as a result of our exemplary character or goodness or as a result of our strength of will. We have that peace because Jesus lives in us. We are being called to believe in the Christ who lives within and thus to "enter into his rest."
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isa. 40:29-31)
The Hebrew word translated here as "renew" is, in the Old Testament, more often translated with words like "change" and "replace" as in changing of clothes (e.g. Genesis 35:2, Genesis 41:14, Psalm 102:26, Isaiah 9:10).
Thus it is those who are trusting in the strength of him who lives within, those who partake of the divine nature, who literally have their strength replaced with his strength. It is not our own strength which is rejuvenated or patched up. Rather our natural strength is broken up and discarded and replaced with the strength of the risen Christ. It is not a product of our own personality or will-power. We have his strength because Jesus lives in us. We are participators in the divine nature, sharers in his life.
And so it is with his love, his joy, his longsuffering, his gentleness, his wisdom and all the other incomparable qualities of character that Jesus possesses. We are instructed to enter into our rest, to put aside all self-effort and instead look to the Jesus who lives within.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt. 11:28-30)
This in no way means that we will retreat from the everyday affairs of our lives. On the contrary it means that we enter into life in the power of his resurrection.
Let us never forget the words of Jesus when he said:
"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (John 7:38)
Where does today's church stand in relation to the New Covenant?
The fact is that the church today is not living under the blessings of the New Covenant. Rather it is living under the curses of a broken Covenant because it has failed to enter into God's rest.
In the history of the children of Israel there was never a sadder picture than that of the state of the nation as they suffered the curses of the Old Covenant. From a position of immense wealth and power they became weak and impoverished, divided by dissension and in-fighting, plagued by drought and famine, overrun by surrounding armies, an object of scorn to all that passed by. Ultimately they were taken into captivity and slavery by the neighbouring regional powers, and made a Roman province in 63 B.C..
An even sadder picture is presented of a church which has broken the Covenant. Instead of being a body of overwhelming spiritual power it is weak and impoverished, divided by dissension and in-fighting and parched by crippling spiritual drought. Some have convinced themselves that they are "rich and have acquired wealth" and seem oblivious to the fact that they are, in reality, "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:17), that is, spiritually bankrupt.
The territory it should be occupying through its influence and teaching has been overrun by the armies of surrounding secular learning and pagan religion. It is an object of scorn to those that pass by because the world seems to understand instinctively the place of glory and power which the church should possess and despises it for falling short of the mark.
With incomprehensible treachery the church has turned to other gods. Instead of seeking to carry out its work by the omnipotent power of the resurrected Christ it has, "as a dog returns to its vomit" (Proverbs 26:11), turned to the "weak and miserable principles" of this world to secure its survival.
Instead of seeking and yielding to the inner work of the Holy Spirit it has fostered and institutionalised the work of the natural man.
"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!" (Acts 7:51)
It has turned to economic, political and organisational power to make up for its abject lack of spiritual power. It has turned to "higher learning" and the "wisdom of this world" as a substitute for the Christ "who has become for us wisdom from God." This, despite the fact that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight."
Instead of feeding its people with the living Word of God it has served them with dead-letter theology, philosophy, psychology, with pagan rituals and observances, idolatry and "show-biz" type entertainment.
Instead of leading them into "the glorious freedom of the children of God" it has shackled them with innumerable commandments of men which have been presented as the commandments of God.
He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." (Mark 7:6-9)
Multitudes have come to it desperately seeking spiritual nourishment. But when they have come seeking bread they have been given stones - teaching which weighs them down. When they have desired fish they have been fed snakes - teaching which bites and poisons.
Instead of teaching them of the "unsearchable riches of Christ" and the resurrection power of the indwelling Christ it has encouraged and taught the refinement of the natural man.
Even worse it has attempted to provide the psychological means of coping with the dealings of the Holy Spirit while avoiding actual submission to his purposes within. In so doing they have actively opposed the work of the Holy Spirit and left those that have come seeking life spiritually destitute. Karl Marx was very perceptive when he said that religion was the opiate of the people. Although he certainly did not see it in these terms, he could see what the church was doing to its people more clearly that the church itself.
Sections of the church have in modern times sort life through the worldly techniques of "boosting self image" teaching that we can be what we want to be and achieve anything we want to achieve by the power of our mind. By attaching themselves to such worldly practices they have abandoned their faith in the transforming power of the risen Christ and have prostituted themselves to the goals and desires of a godless world.
Instead of being an inexhaustible fountain of the irresistible love of God the church has enslaved the "sheep of his pasture" by fear and emotional blackmail. Rather than "feeding my lambs," as was the Lord's command, they have systematically and mercilessly used them to support creaking and corrupt clerical hierarchies which have long since become an end in themselves.
How tragically far short this falls of the Lord's vision for the ministry of the church and for the ultimate destiny of his people.
We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. (Col. 1:28-29)
Rather than taking the spiritual initiative in the world the church is constantly on the defensive.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:4-5)
Instead of wielding these overwhelmingly powerful spiritual weapons, it remains on the back foot forever trying to justify itself to the world by becoming more "relevant," by becoming involved in politics and busying itself in "causes," "charity" and "good works." In so doing it has become irrelevant to God and despised by the world.
The root cause of this appalling spiritual treachery is the fact that the church has resisted the work of the Holy Spirit and has failed to enter into "God's rest." Instead of feasting on the "unsearchable riches of Christ" we have sought our strength and sustenance from other sources. That is, we have gone "a-whoring" after other gods.
The result is that the church is dead, devoid of the power of his resurrection life. "...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (John 6:53)
How the Lord's call to the nation of Israel comes ringing across the millennia to the church today.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." (Matt. 23:37)
His call to the church today is to enter into his New Covenant rest.
He has provided us with limitless spiritual riches under the terms of the New Covenant. He purchased them for us at the unimaginable cost of his own blood. And yet they lie largely ignored, unknown and, tragically, beyond the experience and understanding of so many of his people.
The church has despised the Covenant, treating it as an unholy thing, not to be trusted.
Despite all of this, God is not mocked and the work of the Holy Spirit is continuing unabated in the hearts and lives of countless men and women throughout the earth, in all nations, rich and poor, high and low and from all walks of life. God, who ignores man-made boundaries, is carrying out this work both inside and outside what is generally perceived as "the church." It is a work that is unseen by the world and ignored by the established church.
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Eph. 3:10-11)
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col. 1:27)
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)
This work is being fulfilled according to his good purpose just as he has planned it from before the foundation of the earth. He will, at the time of his choosing, display before all creation the glory of that which he has accomplished in Christ Jesus.
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. (Eph. 1:9-10)
It is true that, currently, the "tares" (weeds) are growing with the "wheat" (Matthew 13:24-30; 13:36-43) and this will continue until the "harvest" (last judgement). But at that time the glory of Christ and his Bride will be revealed and the judgement of God will be swift and sure upon those who have misused his Name (Revelation 18:1-24).
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