Redeemed and Perfected to Serve God
In the new heaven and new earth for eternity, all the redeemed and perfected saints will participate in the service of God. Concerning this, the last part of [Revelation] 22:3 says, “His slaves shall serve Him.” The pronoun Him here refers to God and the Lamb, that is, to the redeeming God, the One whom we will serve for eternity in the New Jerusalem. To serve God and the Lamb will be a blessing to God’s redeemed in eternity.*
All God’s people have been redeemed by the death of Christ. In Him “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses” (Eph. 1:7).
We all are of three parts—spirit, soul, and body, as presented in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Those who thought spirit and soul are the same need to ponder on Hebrews 4:12 which says that the living and operative word of God works for “the dividing of soul and spirit.”
The perfecting of our being begins with regeneration, the enlivening of our formerly dead spirit. It continues throughout our Christian life with the transformation of our soul, especially the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2) from the old creation to the new. The perfecting concludes with the transfiguration of our body (Phil. 3:21).
These three steps of perfecting get us ready for New Jerusalem in the new creation.
* Life-Study of the New Testament, Conclusion Messages: The Church, the Kingdom, and the New Jerusalem, message 263, p. 2742, by Witness Lee. Published 1998 and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, California.
Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The text of this Bible is at text.recoveryversion.bible; this too is © by LSM. A New Testament of this Bible, with outlines for each book, 9000 footnotes, and 13,000 cross references, is available in multiple languages for free from Bibles for America, Bibles for Canada, Bibles for Europe.
