Hebrews 2:10 says that God is leading many sons into glory. How will God bring the many sons into glory? Will all the Christians remain the same day after day until they are suddenly transported into glory? No indeed! In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says that the resurrection is like the growth of a plant. After a seed is sown into the earth, it dies and begins to grow. At first, the plant is a tender sprout. This tender sprout must grow until it reaches maturity and blossoms. The blossom is its glorification. The plant, unlike a mushroom, is not glorified suddenly. No, it is glorified by its gradual growth. Likewise, we all have been regenerated and are growing. Many are like tender sprouts which have a long way to go before they can be glorified. The distance between regeneration and glorification encompasses the process of sanctification, transformation, and conformation to the image of the Firstborn Son of God. A few among us who have grown in life throughout the years are on the verge of glorification. They are ready to blossom. How about you? If you are still a tender sprout, then you are not ready to blossom. You must continue to grow until you reach maturity. Then, at the time of your maturity, you will blossom into glorification. In this way God will lead the many sons into glory.
At this point, we need to read Romans 8:29 and 30: “Because whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He should be the Firstborn among many brothers; and whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Recovery Version). Verse 30 does not say, “And whom He justified, these He brings to heaven.” No, it says, “These He also glorified.” We must also read Romans 8:16 and 17: “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, heirs also; heirs of God and joint-heirs of Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him.” Verse 17 does not say that we may be brought to heaven. No, it says that we “may be glorified with Him.” The goal is glorification. This glorification is the perfection, the completion, of conformation. In other words, glorification is the perfection and completion of sonship. The sonship has begun in us, but it has not been perfected and completed. Presently we are undergoing the process of sanctification, transformation, and conformation. Daily we are being saturated by the indwelling wonderful One. He is constantly seeking an opportunity to spread Himself into every part of our being. He desires to saturate us until we are sanctified, transformed, and conformed to His image and reach the perfection and completion of sonship. This is God’s desire today.
This is not a matter of being right or wrong, proud or humble, ethical or unethical. It is not even a matter of being “spiritual” or unspiritual. God does not care for these things. Thirty years ago, I was with some people who sought spirituality. But the more we pursued it, the more it eluded us. Even the pursuit of “spirituality” is vanity. God’s intention is to conform us to His Son. His Son, the prototype, has been wrought into us and is awaiting the opportunity to saturate us with His element. We must cooperate with Him by living according to His nature and moving according to His Person. We should say, “Lord, I don’t care for spirituality. I only want to live according to Your nature and move according to Your Person.” By the Lord’s mercy, I have been living and moving this way throughout the years. All I have received for it is condemnation. I have been condemned because I refuse to tolerate the religious things. Having passed through the teachings and the Pentecostal things, I can testify that they neither work nor supply us. Although they may help to a small extent, they do not supply us. But if you live according to the nature of this wonderful One and move according to His Person, you will be abundantly supplied and others will be supplied through you. This is what the church life needs today.
The church life in the Lord’s recovery is absolutely and wholly different from Christianity. Because we are different, we are condemned as being heretical. I admit that we are different, but I do not admit that we are heretical. Our understanding of the Bible is according to the pure Word with the light from the heavens. We do not care for traditional teachings. We only follow the pure Word of God in the Bible. Although we are absolutely different from tradition, we are absolutely according to the Bible.
The working of the law of life and the moving of the anointing will complete the sonship in us. We all have been destined to sonship and we are presently undergoing the process of becoming the full sons of God. Today our law is the law of life and our prophet is the anointing. As we have seen, this law is according to Christ’s nature and this prophet is according to His Person. We live according to His nature and move according to His Person. This is our standing. I look to the Lord that we all might see this. This must be ministered to all the saints in the church life. We do not care for the teachings in letters; neither do we care for the outward miracles. We only care for the inward law of life and the inward anointing.
Our God is real and living. He is real and living within us, not according to religion, nor according to our human thought. Having passed in the Son through incarnation and resurrection and having both divinity and humanity, He has come into us as a living Person with a wonderful nature. His nature is now functioning within us. We have seen that the function of His nature is the working of the law of life and that the moving of His Person is the anointing. In the church life we are not concerned with doctrine, teaching, miracles, and “gifts.” We are daily dealing with a living Person and His wonderful nature. His nature constantly remains the same, working within us to spread His element into our being. And His anointing continually guides us in our actions, movements, and behavior. It is by His nature and His Person that we live and move. In this way. He gradually works Himself into our being. The more He is wrought into us, the more we become the sons of God in perfection and glorification. If we see this, we shall not be distracted by other things. Christianity is a religion, but the church is a matter of life. This life is simply the wonderful One, the One who has passed through incarnation and resurrection and who is now the life-giving Spirit consisting of divinity and humanity. As we live according to His nature and move according to His anointing, we shall grow and be saturated, transformed, and conformed to His image until we are ripened in the sonship and prepared for the rapture. Then we shall be ready to meet Him.
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