Chapter 33 - Redemption

Paul, with regard to his body, spoke of its majesty as a “temple of God”, a sacred, wonderful thing. Paul gave it the elevation it needed. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” He will dwell in it, and there will be temple worship. He will dwell in us; He will sing in us; He will have real temple worship, because we are a temple of the Holy Ghost. God let me see that picture to show me the dignity of the body as a temple.

Now look at another picture. Peter talked about the body as “a little collapsible tent” in which we live. Note the contrast between the two: the majesty in one; the frailty in the other. In Scripture our bodies are called “tabernacles,” but in Greek the word means “a little collapsible tent”. It is a limited thing. But, if this little collapsible tent falls down and perishes, that is not the end! We have a dwelling place with God in the heavenlies, for we shall always have a habitat.

Now remember, in the scheme of redemption, redemption will cover all these features: spirit, soul, body. How do we know the body is included? In the redemptive scheme of God, even our bodies which are laid to rest upon Old Mother Earth are included, and she opens her arms and puts us to sleep in them. I am never afraid of the grave—never think of it. I shall be happy to go back to my Old Mother Earth. I like my Mother Earth. She has given me what I have. Everything I have of this physical has come out of the earth. So I wrote a little poem about it and I call it:

“Recompense”

I offer back to Mother Earth this instrument that she has built for me, and I say, “I am all through with it, Mother Earth, I give it back to thee,”—recompense. I always feel as if Mother Earth opens her arms and puts me to sleep against her breast. Grave? Oh, no, don’t say that! Will redemption come? Yes, He will even bring bodies that have been laid away under the redemptive work of Christ, and we will have a resurrection. So you see the redemption of Christ comes even after the body is disposed of. The body too shall have the power of redemption, and it shall be changed and glorified. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

God slew an animal. In Genesis 3:21 we read: “. . . the Lord God made coats of skins, and clothed them.” The skin is inclusive; everything in us is inside the skin. Biologically, skin holds all that there is of us. He showed me that it was an inclusive redemption. The skin includes the whole redemption process. All that there was of the animal was hidden away in the skin. He says, “I’ll give the skin, the all-over, the whole inclusive covering of the redemption of Christ”, and He covers them.

You can’t exhaust the triumph and the victory of the Calvary experience; the redemption of His universe and the putting it back in order. You can push out the redemption as far as you want to; it covers.

Redemption brings us into great privileges. It brings us into the intercessions of Christ, and into the image of Christ, which is His supreme objective.

To me redemption is for Him to revolutionize us; overhaul us; revive and possess us, so that in every field He will have the dominion, and the right, and the way.