To participate in the coming kingdom is also to gain our soul, to save our soul, and to enjoy the salvation of our soul. If today we love only the Lord and not our soul, that is, our self, and if we live by Him and according to His standard, then when He comes back He will reward us with the kingdom. In the kingdom we shall have no problems, sorrows, or sufferings in our soul, for at that time we shall gain our soul, we shall save our soul, and we shall enjoy the salvation of our soul. However, if we are defeated believers, we shall be punished during the kingdom age, and that punishment will involve our soul, with the gnashing of teeth as a sign of suffering in our soul.
Today many believers are loose or indifferent in following the Lord mainly because they love their soul. They want such things as greatness and prosperity for the enjoyment of the soul. To allow the soul to have its enjoyment in this age is to save the soul. But to suffer in our soul because of following the Lord is to lose our soul. If we lose our soul today, willing to suffer and be dishonored for the Lord’s name, we shall gain our soul and save our soul when the Lord comes back. When we are rewarded by Him, our soul will be saved and gained, and we shall enjoy the salvation of the soul.
In Matthew 10:39 the Lord Jesus says, “He who finds his soul life shall lose it, and he who loses his soul life for My sake shall find it.” To find the soul life is to allow the soul to have its enjoyment and not to suffer. To lose the soul life is to cause the soul to suffer the loss of its enjoyment. If the believers in Christ allow their soul to have its enjoyment in this age, they will cause their soul to suffer the loss of its enjoyment in the coming kingdom age. But if they allow their soul to suffer the loss of its enjoyment in this age for the Lord’s sake, they will cause their soul to have its enjoyment in the coming kingdom age, that is, to share the Lord’s joy in ruling over the earth (Matt. 25:21, 23).
Luke 9:24b says, “Whoever loses his soul life for My sake, this one shall save it.” To save the soul in this verse is the same as finding the soul in Matthew 10:39. It is to allow the soul to suffer the loss of its enjoyment in this age for the Lord’s sake and to be rewarded with the enjoyment of the soul in the coming manifestation of the kingdom.
First Peter 1:5 speaks of a “salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time.” This is not salvation from eternal perdition but salvation of our souls from the dispensational punishment of the Lord’s governmental dealing. Therefore, in verse 9 Peter goes on to say, “Obtaining the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Our spirit has been saved through regeneration (John 3:5-6). Our body will be saved, redeemed, through the coming transfiguration (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21). Our soul will be saved from suffering into the full enjoyment of the Lord at His unveiling, His coming back. For this we have to deny our soul, our soulish life, with all its pleasures in this age, that we may gain it in the enjoyment of the Lord in the coming age (Matt. 10:37-39; 16:24-27; Luke 17:30-33; John 12:25). At the Lord’s unveiling, some believers through His judgment seat will enter into the joy of the Lord (Matt. 25:21, 23; 24:45-46), and some will suffer in weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 25:30; 24:51). To enter into the Lord’s joy is the salvation of our souls (Heb. 10:39).
We must wait for the Lord’s coming to be saved from the realm of suffering into a realm of comfort. That will be the full salvation of our soul, which is ready to be revealed to us at the last time.
In Matthew 25 the Lord Jesus twice said, “Enter into the joy of your lord” (vv. 21b, 23b). “The joy of your lord” signifies the enjoyment of the Lord in the coming kingdom. When the Lord Jesus comes back, that will be the time for Him to enjoy the earth. Satan will be bound, Christ will recover the earth, and the entire earth will be under His reign. By repossessing the earth, the Lord will have His enjoyment. Then He will invite His followers, His partners, to participate in this enjoyment, to enter into His joy.
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