A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Table of Contents

The Assurance of Salvation
Christ’s Death and Resurrection
Christ’s Ascension
Christ’s Second Coming
The Three Parts of Man
Christ as Man’s Life
The Overcoming Life of Christ
The Calling of the Overcomers
The Centrality and Universality of Christ
The Ground of the Local Church
The Practice of the Church Life
Seeing the Body
The Building Up of the Church
The Discipline of the Holy Spirit
The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit
The Vision of the Tree of Life
How to Enjoy God
The Vision of God’s Building
The All-inclusive Christ
Christ Becoming the Life-giving Spirit
Eating the Lord
Drinking the Lord
Exercising Our Spirit
Serving in the One Stream
The Great Mystery—Christ and the Church
Enjoying the Riches of Christ to Become the Fullness of Christ
Pray-reading the Word
Calling on the Name of the Lord
Breathing the Lord
The Sevenfold Intensified Spirit
Christ versus Religion
Christ Being the Person of the Church
Life and Building
The Processed and Consummated Triune God
The Organism of the Processed and Consummated Triune God
The Triune God Being Life to the Tripartite Man
The Dispensing of the Processed Triune God
The Revelation of the Triune God according to the Pure Word of the Bible
The Church as the New Man
God’s New Testament Economy
The Essential Trinity and the Economical Trinity
The Consummated Spirit
The Believers’ Organic Union with Christ
The New Jerusalem—the Ultimate Consummation
The Vision of the Age
The New Testament Ministry
The Intrinsic View of the Body of Christ
The Organic Building Up of the Body of Christ
The God-ordained Way—Begetting, Nourishing, Perfecting, and Building
Morning Revival
The New Testament Priesthood of the Gospel
Everyone Prophesying for the Building Up of the Church

Week One
The Assurance of Salvation

Hymns, #313

Scripture Reading:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

1 John 5:10-12 He who believes into the Son of God has the testimony in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony which God has testified concerning His Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

Knowing That You Are Saved

Every time I go to a place to preach God’s gospel of grace, I always ask the local Christians one question. I believe all those who can answer me with a clear “yes” are joyfully enjoying the grace of God. The question is, “Are you already saved?” In other words, do you really know that you are saved?…Many people would not respond clearly with words, but their answer always seems to be, “I do not know if I have been saved. How can I say that I am saved while I am still living on earth?”

I think many of the readers of this message would answer this way! This is exactly where our mistake lies. Our belief in the Lord Jesus is not like gambling, winning when we are lucky and losing when we are not lucky. The salvation that comes through believing in the cross of the Lord Jesus is fully guaranteed. We do not have to wait until we die before we can know if we are saved or not. We can know this now. This is the clear teaching of the Bible.

All You Have to Do Being to Believe Him

“Who Himself bore up our sins in His body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24), “ the Righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God” (3:18). He has accomplished the work of salvation. All you have to do is to believe and obey Him. “ Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). Do not try to be saved by your own work. No matter how good your works are, they cannot save you, for “you have been saved…not of works” (Eph. 2:8-9). If you trust in the accomplishment of the substitutional death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, you will be saved.

“Every One Who Believes into Him Would Not Perish,
but Would Have Eternal Life”

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life” (John 3:16). Is not this verse very clear? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” This is what God has done. He has loved and He has given. He has given the Lord Jesus to the world, to die for the world and accomplish salvation on the cross, so that everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus would have eternal life and not perish. If you have believed in the Lord Jesus, you have eternal life already and will no longer perish. John 3:16 is the most recited verse. But unfortunately, many people are not familiar with John 3:16 after all. John 3:16 clearly says that as soon as you believe in the Lord Jesus, you do not perish, but have eternal life. But many believers change John 3:16! If they have believed in the Lord as their Savior but consider that they are not yet saved, they change John 3:16! They change it without knowing about it! They change John 3:16 to something like this:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him will perhaps not perish, and perhaps have eternal life after a month, two months, a year, ten years, a few decades, or after they die.”

Thank God that the Bible is not written this way. The Bible has not put those words there. The Bible links “every one who believes into Him” with “would not perish, but would have eternal life.” Whenever we believe in the Lord Jesus and have our sins washed by the blood; at that moment, we do not perish, but have eternal life. “Every one who believes into Him…would have eternal life” (John 3:16), without waiting until they die to have it.

Accepting His Word without Doubt

For example, a poor man may be very poor and cannot make ends meet; he may be living in extreme sufferings. He decides to write a letter to one of his friends, who is quite well off, to ask for help. After a few days, he does not receive any reply. He may think that his friend despises him and is not willing to help him, and his heart is in distress. The more he thinks about it, the more it seems unlikely that his friend will help him. He decides then to tell this matter to his neighbors. Some say that a friend should always help one in financial difficulties and has no reason to refuse to help. Others say that this may not necessarily be true because it is a compassionless age. When the man hears the hopeful words, he rejoices, and when he hears the discouraging words, he is in distress. The next day his friend sends someone to give him a reply. When he opens the letter, his heart jumps within him; he does not know if a promise is within. After he opens the letter, he shouts to his family, “The matter is now settled. He has written a letter to me saying that, from now on, he will take up all my expenses. All right. The matter is decided. I do not care if others think that it is hopeful or hopeless any longer. He has said himself that he will bear all the responsibilities. I can live now in peace.”

Are not many believers like this poor man? What a pity that many children of God listen to others’ talk and to their own feeling; they are drifting back and forth. The poor man was assured once he had a word from his friend. The children of God are likewise assured when they have the Word of God. God says that if we believe in Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. He has said it Himself, and everything is settled. What more is there to worry about? What are our feelings worth? What are man’s ideas worth? If God says that we are saved, it is enough. His Word is the final verdict. Since God has graciously declared His faithfulness, we should accept His Word without doubt.

Setting Our Mind on the Things Above

Once I was preaching in a place. After a brother there understood this truth, he said to me, “I did not know before that I was saved. As a result, I lived carelessly in the world. I was afraid that if I gave up everything in this life for the Lord, and then the Lord apportioned me perdition at the time of the judgment, I would as the saying goes, `lose one’s case before both the magistrate and the mandarin.’ I was afraid that I would have neither the joy of this world, nor the blessing of heaven! But now that I know this truth, heaven is guaranteed. Since I am a citizen of heaven already, I do not want to live foolishly in this world anymore.” Indeed, if we know that our life is hid with Christ in God, we will surely set our mind on the things above. How wonderful this is! We have a wonderful Savior, and we have received a wonderful salvation. Is this not a cause for joy? Let us sing Hallelujah! (CWWN, vol. 6, “The Christian (4),” msg. 1)

Questions:

Are we saved because of our good works? If not, how can we be saved?
How can we know that we are saved?
What kind of living should we have after knowing that we are saved?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Two
Christ’s Death and Resurrection

Hymns, #631

Scripture Reading:

Heb. 9:22 And almost all things are purified by blood according to the law, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Rom. 4:25 Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification.

6:6-9 Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves; for he who has died is justified from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death lords it over Him no more.

God’s Work Being Altogether Centered
around Death and Resurrection

We have already seen the purpose of God’s work. God’s original goal is for man to have His life. However, man fell and complicated God’s work. Today God not only needs to give life to man, but He also must deal with the things that prevent Him from reaching His goal.

Therefore, God’s work in us has two aspects: The first aspect remedies man’s shortcomings, whereas the second aspect fulfills His goal. The remedial aspect deals with sins, which hinder man, whereas the fulfilling aspect dispenses God’s life into man. In reading through the Bible, we can see that God’s work has two aspects and that they are both accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ. The Lord Jesus said that no sign or miracle would be given except the sign of Jonah (Matt. 12:39; 16:4). The sign of Jonah points to death and resurrection. What is a miracle? A miracle is something that God alone can perform. Aside from death and resurrection, there is no other sign. God’s work is altogether centered around death and resurrection. The death and resurrection of Christ have four aspects—two are negative, and two are positive. The two negative aspects of death and resurrection are for dealing with sins; the two positive aspects of death and resurrection are for dispensing God’s life to man. These four aspects of death and resurrection enable us to reach God’s goal. In this conference, we hope to see the relationship between these four aspects of death and resurrection. Tonight, for the sake of clarity, we will only touch these four aspects in a brief way. This will give us a clear picture as we consider each one in detail later.

The Blood Being for the Removal
of Man’s Sin before God

Let us first consider the blood and resurrection, that is, the substituting death and resurrection. Before we study the substituting death and resurrection, let us first understand our relationship with sins. We already know that sins are before God. In the Chinese language, the word gu means “guilt.” If I sin, I am guilty before God. I have committed sins, and because I have sinned, I am a guilty man before God. How should God deal with this? In order for God to forgive sins, He must first judge them. When sins are judged, they can be removed. For example, if I commit a crime on the street and a policeman arrests me and brings me before a judge, the judge will not let me walk away. I must either pay the penalty or be imprisoned before he will let me go.

We have sinned, and God cannot let us go. He must judge the sins according to His righteousness. But if God judged us, we could not bear it because we could not satisfy God’s righteous requirements. Because God loves us, however, He paid the debt that we should have paid. Originally, man had to pay the debt, but God paid the debt instead. Therefore, redemption is God taking our place in suffering judgment and in the payment of debts. Redemption is the result of God’s love, and it is accomplished by the blood of Christ. What is the purpose of the blood of Christ? The blood has nothing to do with man; it accomplishes redemption before God and satisfies God’s righteous requirements.

The Lord’s Resurrection Being a Proof
That Our Sins Are Forgiven

God accepts the death of Christ, and we accept the resurrection of Christ. God does not ask man to believe in Christ’s death but in His resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is a proof that His death is sufficient. With His resurrection, we are justified. Romans 4:25 shows us that Jesus died because we have sinned and that He resurrected because we have been justified. In order to prove that we are justified, Jesus was resurrected. Jesus went as a man to God and paid the debts. He has already presented the blood to God.

Whether or not the blood of Jesus is able or sufficient to accomplish redemption is not our concern. It is God’s business, and God takes care of it Himself. The Lord’s blood has redeemed us before God and paid our sin-debts. Consequently, God has issued a receipt to man—the Lord’s resurrection. Acts 17:31 shows us that resurrection is God’s declaration that the Lord’s blood is sufficient to redeem us. This is why He gave us resurrection as a receipt. Resurrection is the proof that our sins have been forgiven.

Friends, what do we believe when we believe in the Lord? We believe that God has resurrected Him from the dead. If we have any doubt about our salvation, we should look at the proof of acceptance. Even if God tells us that we are not justified, we can show Him resurrection as the proof of our acceptance. We can boldly and confidently say to God, “If I have not been justified, why have You issued the proof?” We know that the Lord has resurrected, and if we believe in His resurrection, we are saved. These are the two substitutionary aspects of the Lord’s death and resurrection. These two aspects are objective because no changes are required on our part. They deal with the sins we have before God. Have we been forgiven? Are we justified? These matters are God’s business; they are the objective facts. May God bless us. (CWWN, vol. 43, “Conferences, Messages, and Fellowship (3),” msg. 71)

The Objective Blood Redeeming Us
from the Sins That Are before God;
The Subjective Cross Taking Away the Old Man

What is the meaning of the cross? When the Jews rejected the Lord, the crowd cried, “Crucify! Crucify!” (John 19:6). Then they said, “Take Him away!” (v. 15). The cross is a big taking away. The Jews took away the Lord by the cross. Today the Lord is taking away our old man by the cross. The blood is for redeeming us; the cross is for taking away the old man. After the old man is taken away, there is complete salvation. The blood is objective; it redeems us from the sins that are before God. The cross is subjective; it takes away the old man so that we can be released from sin.

Everything Hinging on Faith

Everything hinges on faith. Everything has been accomplished by God. We are already crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). Perhaps we do not have the faith; perhaps there is doubt in our heart that there is such a thing: “I am still I. I do not feel like I am crucified.” The sins of a sinner are washed away by the blood of the Lord as soon as he believes. Do you remember the story of how you were saved? If you believe now, you will praise God in a similar way, saying, “Thank the Lord! My old man is dead!” (CWWN, vol. 43, “Conferences, Messages, and Fellowship (3),” msg. 72)

Questions:

God’s work is altogether centered around death and resurrection. The death and resurrection of Christ have four aspects. What are these four aspects?
Do we believe in Christ’s death or in His resurrection? What is the significance of Christ’s resurrection to us?
How do we take away the old man subjectively so that we can be released from sin

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Three
Christ’s Ascension

Hymns, #132

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 2:6 And raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

1:20-23 Which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

The Meaning of Christ’s Resurrection Being the Victory
over Everything That Belongs to Satan’s Kingdom

The ascension of Christ concludes His work on earth. His ascension is based on His death and resurrection. The meaning of His resurrection is the victory over everything that belongs to Satan’s kingdom. Ephesians 1:20-21 says, “Which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named.” We know that these things refer to Satan and his subjects. The Lord Jesus’ ascension means that God has given Him a position that is higher than all the powers of Satan. His position in heaven is a Satan-overcoming position. Satan is under His feet; he has no chance to defeat Him because Jesus is now the Lord over all and has become the Head of all things. (CWWN, vol. 3, “The Christian (1),” ch. 6)

God Putting Us in the Position of Ascension
at the Moment We Believe in the Lord Jesus

After resurrection the next event in sequence is ascension. Ascension is the crucial truth after resurrection. Without ascension, our “new creation” is not a complete work. We receive ascension, like all the other truths such as crucifixion and resurrection, at the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus. At that very moment God puts us in the position of ascension even though we have not yet had the experience. The experience of ascension follows the experience of resurrection. If we are truly resurrected with the Lord and united with His resurrection life, we will spontaneously bear fruit on this earth, and our spiritual life will ascend to the heavenlies.

The Works That Christ Accomplished
Being Sustained and Perpetuated through the Church

We have seen the work of the Lord as well as the kingdom and the evil intention of Satan. Now we come to the position and responsibility of the church. In the eyes of God the church occupies a very important place. Its position is that of being joined to Christ, and its responsibility is to continue the warfare that Christ fought on earth. Christ the Head has ascended, but His Body is still on earth. The church, as the Body of Christ, is His propagation, continuing His stand and work to fight against God’s enemy.

Christ ascended and became “Head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:22). Verse 23 clearly shows that the church and Christ are inseparable. The church is filled with Christ; it is the fullness of Christ, the overflow of Christ. God’s desire is to gain a corporate man. The church, which is formed of individual saints who are put into Christ, is the corporate Christ; it is the combination of all the small portions of Christ in the saints. As the Body of Christ, the church is the continuation of Christ. Everything that belongs to Christ belongs to the church. The position that Christ attained is the position that the church has attained. The works that Christ accomplished are sustained and perpetuated through the church. (CWWN, vol. 44, “Conferences, Messages, and Fellowship (4),” ch. 95)

Having Victory as Long as We Stand in That Position

The meaning of the word amen is not “so be it” or “may it be so,” but “it will be so” and “it will surely come to pass.” When you pray and I say amen, I am saying that things will turn out according to the way you pray. Events must transpire this way, and your prayer will be answered. This is a commanding prayer, a prayer of command that issues from faith. We can say this because we have a heavenly standing. We were brought to our heavenly standing when Christ ascended to the heavenlies. As soon as Christ ascended to the heavenlies, we were there also. This is like saying that as soon as Christ died and resurrected, we died and resurrected. Brothers and sisters, we must see the heavenly position of the church. Satan begins his work by trying to take away our position in the heavenlies. The heavenly position is a position of victory. As long as we stand in that position, we have victory. If Satan succeeds in dragging us down from the heavenlies, we will be defeated. Victory is standing continuously in the heavenly position of victory. Satan will tell us that we are on earth. If we agree with him that we are on earth, we will be defeated. Satan will try to frustrate us by our defeat and make us think that we are indeed on earth. But if we stand up and declare, “Christ is in the heavenlies, and we are also in the heavenlies,” and hold onto our position in the heavenlies, we will overcome. Hence, it is a big thing to stand in the right position.

The Church Ruling over Hades When It Prays with Authority

The church can rule over Hades when it prays with authority.…Every spiritual man knows that he can deal with the evil spirits with his prayer. We can cast out demons in the name of the Lord, and we can restrain the secret activities of the evil spirits. Satan is very crafty. Not only will he possess man’s body with evil spirits, but he will engage in many secret activities. Sometimes he works in man’s mind and injects many undesirable thoughts, such as suspicion, fear, disbelief, discouragement, or unfounded and distorted ideas, into man’s mind. Through these he deceives and fools man. Sometimes he steals man’s word, turning it into a different kind of thought and injecting it into another person’s mind. In this way he achieves his goal of causing misunderstanding and stirring up storms. Hence, we have to subdue all the activities of the evil spirits by means of prayer. In our meeting, prayer, or conversation, we must first pray, “Lord, chase away all the evil spirits and do not allow them to do anything here.” It is a fact that all the evil spirits are under the feet of the church. If the church exercises authority to pray, it will indeed see the evil spirits being subjected under its feet. This kind of prayer with authority is unlike ordinary begging; it is a command that is based on authority. A prayer with authority is a commanding prayer. It proclaims, “Lord, I will,” “Lord, I will not,” “Lord, I want this,” “Lord, I do not want this,” “Lord, I am determined to have this, and I will not allow that to happen,” or “Lord, I only want Your will to be done. I do not want anything else.” When we exercise authority this way, we will feel that our prayer has hit our target. If more people rise up to pray this way, many problems in the church will easily be solved. We should exercise dominion through prayer and manage everything in the church through prayer. (CWWN, vol. 22, “The Assembly Life & The Prayer Ministry of the Church,” ch. 4)

Questions:

What’s the meaning of Christ’s resurrection? Which verse can explain this?
Christ ascended and became Head over all things to the church. The church and Christ are inseparable. Its position is that of being joined to Christ. What is the responsibility of the church today?
Because we have a heavenly standing, we can pray with authority. What kind of prayer is a prayer with authority?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Four
Christ’s Second Coming

Hymns, #960

Scripture Reading:

Acts 1:10-11 And while they were looking intently into heaven as He went, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you beheld Him going into heaven.

Heb. 9:28 So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time to those who eagerly await Him, apart from sin, unto salvation.

The Lord’s Return Being an Important Subject

The Bible contains a wonderful promise of the Lord’s return. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, every book touches on the subject of the Lord’s return. Bible students have counted the number of times that the New Testament speaks of this subject and have told us that one out of every twenty verses in the New Testament speaks of the Lord’s return. This is an important subject. Do not think that everything was finished when God’s Son came and accomplished the work of redemption. The Lord will come back to this earth. From Genesis to Malachi, the Old Testament repeatedly speaks of Christ’s second coming. The same is true in the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation. We can say that this subject is the greatest subject in the Bible. The biblical record of the Lord’s first coming is considerably smaller than that of His second coming. We should pay much attention to the subject of His second coming. We should memorize at least a few passages of the Scripture concerning this subject. Please carefully read these references: John 14:1-3, Acts 1:10-11, and Hebrews 9:28. A fourth reference appears in the last book, the book of Revelation. This book was written over sixty years after the Lord’s ascension. Jerusalem already had been destroyed, and the first generation of apostles was almost all gone. Even then, however, the Holy Spirit spoke in Revelation 22:20 of the coming again of the Lord Jesus. (CWWN, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” Appendix 2)

In His First Coming, the Lord Becoming Flesh
and Being Crucified on the Cross for Man’s Sin

In His first coming, the Lord became flesh and was crucified on the cross for man’s sin, giving man the power to overcome sin and to draw near to God. Man receives the power of life, but this power is only half of the story, because he is only delivered from sin. The life that he has received is a life that delivers, but it does not deal with sin itself; sin itself has not been annihilated. Hence, we can say that the first coming of the Lord liberates us, that is, we are liberated from sin. But sin still exists on this earth. In one sense the salvation of the Lord is not yet complete. Suppose a man falls into the hands of robbers. Christ’s first coming is likened to deliverance from the hands of such robbers; He delivered us from the power of sin. But the robbers are still there. In His second coming He will do away with the “robbers.” Sin will be removed. The cross is a deliverance in our inward being. His second coming is a deliverance in our outward environment.

In His Second Coming, the Lord Dealing with the Power of Satan

Today a Christian overcomes many things inwardly, but he is not yet delivered from many environments around him. The outward environment is like Sodom. Although Lot was a righteous man, it was a suffering for him to live in Sodom. Today sin is our neighbor. The more we are delivered from sin, the more we feel the evil of sin around us. When the Lord comes again, we will be saved even in our environment. Our body will be saved, and death will not have any power over our body. Then there will be no more weakness and no more thorns. We are looking for the Lord’s soon return. Those who are under some kind of oppression are even more eager for His return. The more we hate sin, the more we cry out for the Lord’s return. How terrible is the environment around us! Not only are sin and death unresolved, even Satan is unresolved. God’s word shows us that the whole world lies in the wicked one (1 John 5:19). His power is still operating in this world. In His first coming, the Lord gave us the power to overcome Satan. In His second coming, He will deal with the power of Satan Himself. He will even deal with the sin in our environment and the death in our body. We are full of joy and thanksgiving. Before that day comes, we have to wait for the Lord to finish that second half of His work. (CWWN, vol. 60, “Miscellaneous Records of the Kuling Training (2),” ch. 50)

The Christian Life on Earth Being a Life
of Waiting for the Lord’s Return

The Christian life on earth is a life of waiting for the Lord’s return. What does it mean to wait for His return? To wait for His return means that while we live as others do, we have an expectation of His return always within us. Miss M. E. Barber was a person in whom I found no trace of thought of remaining on earth for a long time. She was genuinely waiting for the Lord’s return. Once I was walking with her on a street, and she said, “Perhaps, I will meet the Lord when we turn this corner.” She asked me to walk at a distance from her on the other side of the sidewalk, and repeated, “I do not know whether this will be the corner for me.” Those who wait for the Lord’s return are like a man walking down a precipitous hill; he does not know for sure when he will turn a corner and meet someone walking up the same path. Our sister genuinely expected the Lord’s return daily and hourly. Notice that we are speaking of our expectation of His return, not our belief in His return. Many people can speak about the Lord’s return. They study the Lord’s return and believe in His return, but this does not mean that they are expecting His return. Many people pay much attention to such subjects as the rapture, the judgment seat of Christ, the millennium, the New Jerusalem, and the new heaven and new earth. Many people are very familiar with the prophecies concerning the Lord’s return, but they are not necessarily waiting for His return. We have to remember that we are heavenly citizens. We should be taught by grace to expect the Lord’s return. We put no hope in this earth. We know that this earth will never change for the better. While we serve, work, and labor with God here on earth, we are calling and gathering a group of people to come under the Lord’s name for His satisfaction. We serve and work for the sake of His second coming.

Christians Not Taking Root on Earth;
Our Eyes Being Set Solely upon His Return

What we have spoken of can be considered as the social philosophy of a Christian. In other chapters we have seen various aspects of the Christian faith and walk. While we remain on earth, we should do what we need to do, but our hearts should always be set on the Lord’s return. Our attention should be on the heavenly calling. We have no permanent plans for things of this world. Even the most spiritual things cannot bind us or imprison us in the earthly realm. Christians should not take root on this earth. The earth is not a place for Christians to plant their roots. God’s Word is being fulfilled bit by bit, and the Lord is at the door. Today our eyes are not set on the problems of the church; we are waiting instead for the Lord’s coming. This is our heavenly calling. May the Lord be gracious to us and may our eyes be set solely upon His return. (CWWN, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” Appendix 2)

Questions:

The Lord’s return is an important subject. Please find a few passages of the Scripture concerning the Lord’s return?
What’s the difference between the Lord’s first coming and second coming?
The Christian life on earth is a life of waiting for the Lord’s return. What does it mean to wait for His return?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Five
The Three Parts of Man

Hymns, #742

Scripture Reading:

1 Thes. 5:23 And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gen. 2:7 Jehovah God formed man with the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

The Word of God Dividing Man into Three Parts

Most men today consider man as being made up of two parts: the soul and the body. The soul is the invisible part, the psychological part within man, and the body is the visible part, the outward form of man. This is man’s fallen concept. Although there is some ground to it, it is not accurate. Outside of God’s revelation, no ideas in this world are reliable. It is, of course, true that the body is the outward shell of man. But the Bible never mixes the soul with the spirit or considers the two as the same thing. In addition to being different terms, the soul and the spirit are actually two different substances; they are not the same. The Word of God has not divided man into two parts, the soul and the body. Rather, it has divided man into three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body. First Thessalonians 5:23 says, “The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete.” This verse clearly divides a person into three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body. Here the apostle mentioned the believers’ being sanctified “wholly.” This means that the whole being of the believers is to be sanctified. What did he mean when he said that a person is to be sanctified wholly? He meant that a person’s spirit, soul, and body are to be preserved complete. This is very clear; a complete person has a spirit, a soul, and a body. This verse also tells us clearly that there is a distinction between the spirit and the soul. Otherwise, it would not have said “your spirit and soul.” Instead, it would have said “your spirit-soul.” Since God has spoken this, we can see that there is a distinction between man’s spirit and his soul, and from this we can conclude that man is composed of three parts: spirit, soul, and body.

The Functions of the Spirit, the Soul, and the Body

The body is the “world-consciousness,” the soul is the “self-consciousness,” and the spirit is the “God-consciousness.” There are five organs in the body which afford man the five senses. This physical body enables man to communicate with the physical world. This is why it is called the “world- consciousness.” The soul comprises that part in man known as the intellect, which makes man’s existence possible. The part of love generates affections toward other human beings or objects. Affections originate from the senses. All these are parts of man himself; they form the personality of man. Hence, they are called the “self-consciousness.” The spirit is the part with which man communicates with God. With this part man worships God, serves Him, and understands his relationship with God. Hence, it is called “God-consciousness.” Just as God dwells in the spirit, the self dwells in the soul, and the senses dwell in the body.

The soul is the meeting point; here the spirit and the body join. Man communicates with God’s Spirit and the spiritual realm through the spirit and receives and expresses power and life in the spiritual realm through this spirit. He communicates with the outside world of senses through the body; the world and the body interact with one another. The soul lies in between these two worlds and belongs to these two worlds. On the one hand, it communicates with the spiritual realm through the spirit, and on the other hand, it communicates with the physical world through the body. The soul has the power of self-determination; it can make decisions concerning the things related to it in the environment and can choose or reject them. It is impossible for the spirit to control the body directly; it requires a medium. This medium is the soul, which was produced when the spirit touched the body. The soul is in between the spirit and the body; it binds the spirit and the body together as one. The spirit can rule over the body through the soul and subject it under God’s power. The body can also induce the spirit through the soul to love the world. (CWWN, vol. 12, “The Spiritual Man (1),” ch. 1)

Man’s Spirit, Soul, and Body after the Fall

The spirit was once the highest part of man’s whole being; both the soul and the body were under it. Under normal circumstances, the spirit is like the matriarch, the soul is like the steward, and the body is like the servant. When the matriarch needs something done, she assigns the work to the steward. The steward in turn orders the servants severally to accomplish the task. Unfortunately, man fell, failed, and sinned! As a result, the original, proper order of spirit, soul, and body was upset.

From this point on, his spirit and the spirits of his descendants were suppressed by the soul. Soon, through the soul’s suppressing, the spirit was joined to the soul, and the two became closely interwoven. This is why Paul mentioned in Hebrews 4:12 that the word of God is sharp to the dividing of the spirit and the soul. It is because the spirit and the soul have been joined together that there needs to be the dividing. Since the soul and the spirit were so tightly interwoven together, man began to live in his speculative mind. In everything, he began to walk according to his intellect or his feeling. The spirit, having completely lost its power and senses, fell into a lifeless sleep. In Jude 19 it says, “Soulish, having no spirit.” The spirit here does not refer to the Holy Spirit, but to the human spirit.…To be soulish and to not have spirit really mean that the spirit is shut off by the soul and has lost its function. Although it is alive, it is as if it were dead. (CWWN, vol. 1, “The Christian Life and Warfare,” ch, 2)

God’s Order Being:
(1) the Spirit, (2) the Soul, and (3) the Body

The order that God gives to us can never be wrong. It is: “spirit and soul and body” (1 Thes. 5:23). It is not “soul and spirit and body,” nor is it “body and soul and spirit.” Rather, it is “spirit and soul and body.” The spirit is the noblest; hence, it is mentioned first. The body is the lowest; hence, it is mentioned last. The soul lies in between; hence, it is placed in between the soul and the body. After we have clearly seen God’s order, we will see the wisdom God has in comparing man to the temple. We see how the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place, and the outer court correspond with the order and the degree of importance of the spirit, the soul, and the body.

The work of the temple revolves around the revelation in the Holy of Holies. All the actions in the outer court and the Holy Place are determined by the presence of God in the Holy of Holies. The holiest place within the temple and the place which all other places are subject to and depend on is the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies there does not seem to be much work; it is very dark. All the activities are in the Holy Place. All the works in the outer court are controlled by the priests in the Holy Place. Indeed the Holy of Holies is a quiet and still place. Yet all the activities of the Holy Place are directed by the inspiration of the Holy of Holies.

The spiritual significance of this is not difficult to understand. The soul is the organ of our personality. It includes the mind, the will, the emotion, etc. The soul appears to be the master of the activities of the whole being. Even the body is under its direction. Yet before man fell, although there were many activities and works with the soul, they were all under the control of the spirit. God’s order is: (1) the spirit, (2) the soul, and (3) the body. (CWWN, vol. 12, “The Spiritual Man (1),” ch. 1)

Questions:

Which verse clearly divides a person into three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body?
What are the functions of the spirit, the soul, and the body?
The proper order of spirit, soul, and body was upset after the fall. How should we experience the proper order now?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Six
Christ as Man’s Life

Hymns, #1356

Scripture Reading:

John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

1 John 5:12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

The Peak of the Salvation of God—
Christ Being Our Life

Now we come to the critical point of the Christian faith; it is the peak of the salvation of God. We want to see how Christ can be our life in a subjective way.

Death Releasing Life

However, when Jesus was walking on the earth, the life that He possessed could not be imparted into us. His life was bound by time and space. It was confined to Himself. It could not enter into the believers to be their new source of existence. Therefore, Christ had to die in the flesh. When He died, the bondage of the flesh was shattered and His life was released.

In John 12:24 the Lord said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” The Lord compared Himself to a grain of wheat. There is life embodied in the seed. When the grain falls into the ground and dies, the life within is released, and much fruit is brought forth.

Death Also Solving the Problem of Sin

However, before we could receive this life, God also had to solve our problem of sin. Hence, the death of Christ had the aspect of redemption with it. Now God has a just ground upon which He can dispense life to us, and we also have a proper standing to receive boldly this new life from God.

“He Who Has the Son Has the Life”

First John 5:11-12 says, “And this is the testimony, that God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Here we are told that this life of eternity is in the Son. It is found in no other place. Whoever does not have this life in the Son is merely a human; he can only exist on earth, but not survive in eternity. He does not have that life which qualifies him for eternity. (CWWN, vol. 27, “The Normal Christian Faith,” ch. 12)

Receiving the Holy Spirit
Being the Same as Receiving Christ

One time I was talking to a friend of mine concerning Christ’s being in the Holy Spirit. A foreign lady happened to come by. She greeted me and was about to take off her gloves to shake my hand. I rushed up to her and said, “There is no need to take off your gloves.” I held up the hand with the glove and turned to my friend, asking, “Am I holding the glove or the hand? You may say that I am holding her glove, but I am actually holding her hand. The relationship between Christ and the Holy Spirit is exactly the same. When you outwardly take hold of the Spirit, you are actually possessing Christ inwardly. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the same as receiving Christ.” My friend nodded his head and said, “Now I see!”

This is similar to what we said earlier about the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth. You may say that He is God and also say that He is a man. When you touch His divinity, you cannot avoid touching His humanity also. When His humanity is manifested, His divinity simultaneously comes forth. In the same way, Christ and the Spirit are one inseparable entity. You may interchange the two terms as synonyms. The Spirit is in Him, and He is in the Spirit. (CWWN, vol. 27, “The Normal Christian Faith,” ch. 11)

Receiving the Son of God as Life
Being a Very Simple Matter

Another person greatly used by the Lord was Mr. F.B. Meyer. At one time he did not realize how Christ can be life to us in the Holy Spirit, nor did he see how to receive this life. One day he was praying on a mountain, hoping that he could obtain the Son of God as life. All of a sudden it occurred to him that all he needed to do was simply believe. He took a deep breath and prayed, “Lord, in the same way that I am breathing in this air, I am exercising my faith to take You in.” After he came down from the mountain, he testified to others, saying, “Since that day when I breathed in the Son of God, my life has been totally changed.” To receive the Son of God as life is a very simple matter. It is as simple as breathing the air into you.

By Faith, Not by Feeling

A friend of mine told me once, “Mr. Nee, I really want to receive the Son of God into my life. I have prayed to God and told Him that I desire to have Christ in me. I was told that when Christ comes into me, I will have a burning sensation within. But when I knelt down, my heart was cold as a rock. And after I prayed, nothing seemed to have changed. How do I know if I really have received the Son of God into me as life?”

I said, “The Bible does not say that a man will feel burning or will remain cold when he receives the Son of God. All that it says is to believe. It is by faith, not by feeling. If you depend on your feeling, you are not believing God’s words; you are making God a liar! When God said He has given, then it is given. It has nothing to do with your feeling.” (CWWN, vol. 27, “The Normal Christian Faith,” ch. 12)

Questions:

What is the critical point of the Christian faith?
What are the two reasons that Christ must pass the process of death to dispense His life to us?
Do we have to have a burning sensation within when Christ comes into us? Otherwise, how can we know that we have already received Christ as life?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Seven
The Overcoming Life of Christ

Hymns, #890

Scripture Reading:

Rom. 8:37 But in all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us.

Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

The Overcoming Life Being Just Christ Himself

The overcoming life is just Christ Himself. God has given us Christ so that we will not only live by Him but that He would also become our life and live within us on our behalf. God has given us Christ. His intention is not just for Him to live within us but for Him to live for us within. He has already died for us on the cross. Today He wants to live for us within us. This is not a matter of overcoming through trusting in Christ. Nor is it a matter of Christ empowering us to overcome. This is not even a matter of Him helping us to overcome. It is a matter of us stepping aside and Christ becoming our victory within us.

The Overcoming Life Being an Exchange, Not a Change

My friends, have you seen this? You cannot do anything about yourself. You can only fail. Victory is Christ. We cannot make it, but Christ can make it. The problem with us is that even though we cannot make it, we try to bear the burden ourselves and refuse to let Christ bear it for us. Many people are ignorant of the way of victory. They only know how to seek after power and holiness. Little do they realize that when they have Christ, they have everything. Victory is a matter of substitution by Christ. We do not overcome by ourselves.

No Victory if We Do Not See the Matter of Substitution

Today we are not asking the Lord to empower us to be patient. Rather, the Lord within us is becoming our patience. We may be stubborn, proud, critical of others, lacking in love, or filled with unclean thoughts. We should not ask the Lord to empower us to overcome these things. Rather, the Lord within us is becoming our purity, meekness, and humility for us. Everything is in the principle of substitution. If we do not see the matter of substitution, there will never be any victory. A man can be conscious of his mistakes before God, but this does not mean that he will overcome. We may ask God to help us overcome, but we will never overcome. God does not help men overcome. He knows that we will only fail. He crucified our old man on the cross and gave Christ to us to be our true bread so that He would live for us within. This is the gospel, this is God’s way of salvation, and this is victory.

The Secret to Victory Being in the Little Word “Exchange”

Please be very assured before the Lord of this fact: Victory is not a change in ourselves; it is Christ overcoming for us. The overcoming life is an exchange, not a change. It is not a change from our own failures to our own victories. We have failed, and God has terminated the defeated “I” through the cross. He has put the victorious Christ within us to live for us. Our life has been exchanged. We were defeated, but God has put Christ within us and has replaced our “I” with “Christ” so that now we can overcome. The secret to victory is in the little word exchange. Many people hope to change, but no matter how hard they try, they are still themselves! Only when Christ lives for us within will we experience victory.

Two years ago I spoke about the subject of victory in Chefoo. I said that victory is not a matter of changing our lives. It is not a changed life, but an exchanged life. Man only wants to change himself. But in God’s eyes, we are wicked beyond hope. We are thoroughly corrupted, and there is no way for us to be changed. Every kind of sin dwells within man. All the sins of the world dwell within us. We should not say that others can be robbers and prostitutes and that we cannot. We can commit any sin. We do not commit them because by God’s mercy we are not faced with that environment and temptation. God has crucified our old man through the cross of the Lord, and Christ is living within us to be our victory. Our life is totally exchanged; it is not changed.

Victory Being Ours Spontaneously
after Abandoning Ourselves
and Allowing Him to Live Out of Us

God does not dispense anything to us in a fragmentary way; whatever He gives to us is found in Christ. When we have Christ, we have everything. When we gain Christ, we gain all things. Christ is within us and living for us. No matter how hard and difficult a task may be, He is more than able to fulfill it. What is victory? Victory is simply Christ. We cannot overcome by ourselves. Victory is not a matter of us overcoming, but of Christ overcoming in our place. May the Lord be merciful to open our eyes so that we can see that we can never overcome in ourselves. We should not only be disappointed with ourselves but also lose all hope in ourselves. We should cherish no hope whatsoever in ourselves. Overcoming is not a matter of change, but a matter of exchange. If it is a matter of change, we will still be the same after three or five years. But since it is a matter of exchange, it happens instantly. We do not attain anything through a gradual process; everything comes from God. If we are clear about God’s salvation, we will overcome in an instant. But if it is up to us, we will be the same three, five, eight, or ten years from now; we will be the same thirty or fifty years from now. However, since it is an exchange, we overcome in an instant. Anything that issues from ourselves works slowly; it will not accomplish anything after even one hundred years. But anything that is from God happens quickly, even instantly.

May the Lord open our eyes to see that it is no longer us, and may we live a life that is full of miracles. When one sister died, the following words were inscribed on her tombstone: “She did what she otherwise could not have done.” This means that her living was not one that issued from herself. She could not do anything by herself, but through Christ she could do all things. As a consequence, she did what she otherwise could not have done, and she said what she otherwise could not have said. Everything is of Christ, and we have no part in it. Hallelujah! Christ is victory! He lives within us, and He is living for us. All we have to do is abandon ourselves and allow Him to live out of us. Then victory will be ours spontaneously. (CWWN, vol. 43, “Conferences, Messages, and Fellowship (3),” ch. 78)

Questions:

Why has God given us the overcoming life of Christ? Does He help us to overcome?
Can we overcome by changing ourselves? If not, what is the secret to victory?
How can we experience the fact that victory is ours spontaneously?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Eight
The Calling of the Overcomers

Hymns, #894

Scripture Reading:

2 Cor. 4:12 So then death operates in us, but life in you.

Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death.

The Overcomers of God Being a Group of People
Who Are One with God’s Original Purpose

After the failure of the church, God searched for a small number of people in the church to become His overcomers, those who would bear the responsibility which the church should have picked up but did not. God wanted a small number of faithful ones to represent the church and maintain the victory of Christ. In all of the seven ages of the church, there are God’s overcomers. This line of overcomers has never been broken. The overcomers are not special people. The overcomers of God are a group of people who are one with God’s original purpose.

The Overcomers Being the Ones Who Allow Their “Self”
to Remain in the Place of Death
in Order That Others Might Have the Life

Who are God’s overcomers? The overcomers are the ones who allow their “self” to remain in the place of death in order that others might have the life. These ones are like the priests who bore the ark through the Jordan, who themselves stood in the place of death in order that the people of God could pass through. What does death here signify? What does it mean to stand in the place of death? This is a very crucial point; it has to do with the going on of God’s people. This is the one thing that God is concerned with the most today. For this reason, it should also be the one thing that we are concerned with the most.

The Three Conditions by Which God Selects the Overcomers

The three conditions by which God selects the overcomers are: (1) being absolute for God’s glory, (2) being afraid of nothing, and (3) allowing the cross to deal with the self. One can judge for himself if he is an overcomer. God will test us, and we will be exposed as to whether or not we are overcomers. Only those who know the victory of the cross will be able to maintain the victory of the cross.

God gave Gideon three hundred men and made them one body. Individual victory is not proper. Gideon and those three hundred men moved together and acted in one accord. All of their flesh was cut off, so they could be one. This is the oneness in the Spirit and a living in the Body. The record in the New Testament is a record of meetings rather than a record of working.

The three hundred men fought the battle, yet the whole congregation chased the enemy. The three hundred labored, yet the whole congregation reaped the harvest. When we overcome, the whole body is revived. To stand at the bottom of the river is not for ourselves, but for the whole body. “I…fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body, which is the church” (Col. 1:24). To be an overcomer, we also have to suffer the murmurings of the people, in the same way that Gideon suffered the murmurings of the men from Ephraim. Gideon not only defeated the Midianites from without but also defeated the Midianites from within. Only this kind of person can continue to overcome. They were “faint, yet pursuing them” (Judg. 8:4b).

To Overcome Meaning to Recover the Lost Ground;
Satan Having to Withdraw Wherever the Overcomers Go

Revelation chapters two and three mention “overcoming” seven times, while chapter twelve says “they overcame him.” Chapters two and three mention God’s calling of the overcomers at the time when most of the church has failed, while chapter twelve tells what these overcomers are and what they do. Revelation 2:27 says that the overcomers will rule the nations with an iron rod, while 12:5 says that the man-child will rule over the nations with an iron rod. The overcomers in the church are the man-child. The man-child is corporate, composed of the “brothers” in verses 10 and 11.

The woman typifies the many sons whom God has saved. They will be very much persecuted by the enemy; the woman will suffer under the serpent. They should fight for themselves but because they cannot do this, God will raise up some overcomers from among them to fight for them. These overcomers will rule over the nations with an iron rod and will have a special place in the kingdom. When they are raptured to heaven, Satan will be cast down, and they will take back the serpent’s place in heaven. When they are on earth, Satan will withdraw. When they are in heaven, Satan will be cast down. To overcome means to recover the lost ground. The man-child overcomes on behalf of the mother. This means that the overcomers overcome on behalf of the church. At the end times, God is looking for the overcomers to end the battle in heaven. God’s “salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ” (Rev. 12:10) will be brought to heaven by them. As a result, the serpent will no longer have a place in heaven. Wherever the overcomers go, Satan will have to withdraw.

The Blood of the Lamb

First, the blood of Christ is poured out, signifying that the life of the flesh is poured out. Through this, Satan will not be able to do anything to us. The food of Satan is dust; he can only work within a life of the flesh. Second, the blood of Christ deals with the attack of Satan. We are protected under the blood of Christ from the attack of Satan, in the same way that the Israelites were protected under the blood of the Passover. The blood satisfies God’s righteousness; it signifies death. Therefore, Satan cannot attack us. Third, the blood of Christ answers Satan’s accusations.

The Word of Testimony

All the works of Satan in the church are to overthrow the testimony. The church is the lampstand, and the lampstand is a testimony. Satan wants to overthrow the church in order to overthrow the testimony. The testimony spoken of here refers especially to the testimony against Satan. When the Lord was tempted, He said three sentences which were testimonies directed at Satan. We also should declare a testimony against Satan. Satan may say to us, “You are weak.” But we should say to him that the power of the Lord is perfected in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). We should exercise the victory of Christ by applying God’s Word. The blood speaks of the victory of Christ. A testimony is an application of the victory of Christ with the Word of God.

Not Loving One’s Life

We should sacrifice our body and our life and have no pity on ourselves. We should “consider my life of no account as if precious to myself” (Acts 20:24). By the blood and the word of our testimony, we should not fear death but should fight until we overcome. Such men will fulfill the pronouncement of Genesis 3:15.

Whoever has a place for the dragon in his heart will be persecuted by the dragon; he will go through the tribulation. Whoever does not have a place for the dragon in his heart will step on the head of the dragon. The serpent corrupted the woman. This is why there is the need for the seed of the woman to bruise him. God will not defeat the serpent by Himself. God needs the overcomers to defeat him. May we be part of the overcomers. (CWWN, vol. 11, “The Present Testimony (4),” The Overcomer of God)

Questions:

After the failure of the church, God searched for a small number of people in the church to become His overcomers. What kind of people are the overcomers?
What are the three conditions by which God selects the overcomers?
The overcomers fight with God’s enemy. How can we overcome Satan in our experience?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Nine
The Centrality and Universality of Christ

Hymns, #495

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 1:10 Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.

Col. 1:18 And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is te beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things;

God’s Center Being Christ

The center of God’s truths is Christ. God’s center is Christ. “The mystery of God, Christ” (Col. 2:2). A mystery is something hidden in God’s heart. God never told anyone why He created all things and why He created man. Hence, it was a mystery. Later He revealed this mystery to Paul and charged him to speak it out. This mystery is Christ.

The Lord Jesus is the Son of God; He is also the Christ of God. When the Lord was born, an angel told Mary that He is the Son of God (Luke 1:35), but the angels told the shepherds that He is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11). Peter acknowledged Him both as the Christ and as the Son of God (Matt. 16:16). When the Lord resurrected, He was designated the Son of God (Rom. 1:4). Through His resurrection, God also made Him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). A man receives life by believing that He is the Christ and the Son of God (John 20:31). In Himself, as far as His person is concerned, the Lord is the Son of God. In God’s plan, according to His work, He was anointed by God and is, therefore, the Christ of God. He is the Son of God from eternity to eternity. He is the Christ since the beginning of God’s plan. God’s goal is for His Son to have “the first place in all things” (Col. 1:18). God’s plan is focused on Christ. “Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11).

God created all things, and He created man for the purpose of expressing Christ’s glory. Today believers express only a little of Christ. In the future all things will express Christ; the whole universe will be filled with Christ. God created all things so that all things will express Christ. God created man in order that man would be like His Son, having the life of His Son and the glory of His Son, so that the only begotten Son can become the firstborn Son among many sons. God created man and redeemed him for Christ. Redemption is for the purpose of reaching the goal of creation. Christ is the Bridegroom, and we are the friends of the Groom. He is the chief cornerstone, and each one of us is one of the millions of stones. God created us for the satisfaction of Christ’s heart. We are thankful that we have seen the relationship between Christ and us. We praise Him because we have seen the relationship between God and Christ. God’s center is Christ. God’s goal is centered upon Christ. God’s goal has two aspects: (1) that all things would express the glory of Christ and (2) that man would be like Christ, having the life of Christ and the glory of Christ.

What We Need Being Not Patience,
Meekness, or Love, but Christ

The life of a Christian is Christ (Col. 3:4). Christ being our life and Christ being our power are two different things. How can we be holy? How can we be victorious?

(1) Many think that holiness and victory mean being delivered from the little sins and dealing with the temper. (2) Some think that holiness and victory mean being patient, humble, and meek. (3) Some think that holiness and victory mean putting the self and the flesh to death. (4) Some think that holiness and victory mean studying the Bible more, praying more, being careful, and trusting in the Lord for one’s strength. (5) Some know that power is with the Lord, that our flesh has been crucified on the cross, and that by faith, we should claim the Lord’s power to overcome and be holy.

None of the above five cases is right. The fifth case may seem to be right, but actually it is not for the following reason:

Christ is our life. This is victory! This is holiness! The victorious life, the holy life, the perfect life, are all Christ. From beginning to end, everything is Christ. Outside of Christ, we have nothing. Christ must have the first place in all things. The victorious life God has given us is not a thing, such as patience or meekness, but the living Christ. Christ never mends our wrongs. What we lack is not patience but a living Christ. God will never tear a piece of cloth from Christ to mend our hole. To be short of patience is to be short of Christ, because God wants Christ to have the first place in all things. Therefore, to put the self to death is not holiness. Holiness is Christ. Christ must have the first place in all things.

If God were to cause us to have power, it would only make us powerful persons; Christ would not have the first place in us. Christ is my power; it is Christ who holds the first place in me. We do not have power because we are not weak enough. The power of Christ “is made perfect in weakness.” It is not that the Lord makes me powerful; but it is the Lord who is the power in my stead.

Victory is Christ! Patience is Christ! What we need is not patience, meekness, or love, but Christ. Christ must have the first place in all things. From within us, Christ lives out patience, meekness, and love. Man deserves only to die. There is nothing else that he deserves.…In the past He was our righteousness for our salvation. In the present He is our sanctification for us to live a holy life. In the future He will be our redemption that our body may be redeemed (1 Cor. 1:30). He holds the first place in all things!

Being the First to Be Broken by God and Allow Christ
to Have the First Place in Us

All the truths in the Bible are related like a wheel with spokes and a hub, having Christ as the center. We are not neglecting the truths outside the center; rather, we need to link these truths with the center. Concerning any truth we should know two things: (1) we should know about this truth, and (2) we should know how this truth relates to the center. We should pay attention to the center. Of course, this does not mean we do not speak of other truths. Paul said, “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Later he also said, “But we do speak wisdom among those who are full-grown” (2:6). It is only after a person has consecrated himself and received Christ as his Lord that we can speak to him the truths concerning his building up. In our work we should continually draw people back to the center and let them see that “Christ is Lord.” We cannot do this work in an objective way. We ourselves must be the first to be broken by God and allow Christ to have the first place in us, before we can lead others to receive Christ as Lord and allow Christ to have the first place in them. We must live out a life of giving Christ the first place before we can spread this message. Our message is just our person. We should allow Christ to have the first place in the small things in our daily life before we can preach the message of the centrality of Christ. I only wish that every one of us would give the Lord Jesus His place on the throne! If the will of God is to be accomplished, what does it matter if I am put in the dust? The Lord’s “well done” surpasses all the praises of the world. The smiling face of heaven surpasses all the angry faces of the earth. The comfort of heaven surpasses the tears of the earth. The hidden manna is enjoyed in eternity. May the Lord bless His word that He would gain us and others also. (CWWN, vol. 11, “The Present Testimony (4),” The Calling of the Overcomers)

Questions:

A mystery is something hidden in God’s heart. Later He revealed this mystery to Paul and charged him to speak it out. What is this mystery?
What are victory and holiness? Do holiness and victory mean being delivered from the little sins and dealing with the temper?
How should we lead others to receive Christ as Lord and allow Christ to have the first place in them?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Ten
The Ground of the Local Church

Hymns, #824

Scripture Reading:

Gal. 5:19 And the works of the flesh are manifest, which are such things as fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, sects, envyings, bouts of drunkenness, carousings, and things like these.

Rev. 1:11 Saying, What you see write in a scroll and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamos and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.

Locality Being the Only Scriptural Basis

The Church of God has been divided into the churches of God on the one ground of difference of locality. Locality is the only scriptural basis for the division of the Church into churches.

The seven churches in Asia, referred to in the book of Revelation, comprised the church in Ephesus, the church in Smyrna, the church in Pergamos, the church in Thyatira, the church in Sardis, the church in Philadelphia, and the church in Laodicea. They were seven churches, not one. Each was distinct from the others on the ground of the difference of locality. It was only because the believers did not reside in one place that they did not belong to one church. There were seven different churches simply because the believers lived in seven different places. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea are clearly all the names of places. Not only were the seven churches in Asia founded on the basis of locality, but all the churches mentioned in Scripture were founded on the same basis. Throughout the Word of God we can find no name attached to a church save the name of a place, for example, the church in Jerusalem, the church in Lystra, the church in Derbe, the church in Colosse, the church in Troas, the church in Thessalonica, the church in Antioch. This fact cannot be overemphasized, that in Scripture no other name but the name of a locality is ever connected with a church, and division of the church into churches is solely on the ground of difference of locality.

The Places Where People Live a Community Life
Being the Scriptural Unit of the Churches

In the Word of God we see no church that extends beyond the area of a city, nor do we find any church which does not cover the entire area. A city is the scriptural unit of locality. From Genesis and Joshua we learn that cities in olden days were the places where people grouped together to live; they were also the smallest unit of civil administration, and each possessed an independent name. Any place is qualified to be a unit for the founding of a church which is a place where people group together to live, a place with an independent name, and a place which is the smallest political unit. Such a place is a scriptural city and is the boundary of a local church. Large cities such as Rome and Jerusalem are only units, while small cities such as Iconium and Troas are likewise units. Apart from such places where people live a community life, there is no scriptural unit of the churches of God. (CWWN, vol. 30, “The Normal Christian Church Life,” ch. 4)

At Least Seven Definite Things
Being Referred to Which Are Forbidden by God
as Reasons for Dividing His Church

On the positive side we have just seen the ground on which God has ordained that His Church be divided. Now, on the negative side, we shall see on what ground the Church ought not to be divided: (1) spiritual leaders, (2) instruments of salvation, (3) non-sectarianism, (4) doctrinal differences, (5) racial differences, (6) national differences, (7) social distinctions.

In Scripture we have at least seven definite things referred to which are forbidden by God as reasons for dividing His Church. As a matter of fact these seven points are only typical of all other reasons the human mind may devise for dividing the Church of God. The two millenniums of Church history are a sad record of human inventions to destroy the Church’s oneness. (CWWN, vol. 30, “The Normal Christian Church Life,” ch. 5)

The Sphere of the Church Not Becoming Wider
than the Sphere of a Locality

Another thing is essential for the preservation of the local character of the church—its sphere must not become wider than the sphere of a locality. The current method of linking up companies of believers in different places who hold the same doctrinal views, and forming them into a church, has no scriptural foundation. The same applies to the custom of regarding any mission as a center, linking together all those saved or helped by them to constitute a “church” of that mission. Such so-called churches are really sects, because they are confined by the bounds of a particular creed, or a particular mission, not by and within the bounds of locality. (CWWN, vol. 30, “The Normal Christian Church Life,” ch. 4)

Remaining in That Church as Overcomers
and Seeking to Help Brothers and Sisters

In the second and third chapters of Revelation we see seven different churches in seven different localities. Only two were not rebuked but actually praised by the Lord. The other five were all definitely censured. Spiritually those five were in a sad state. They were weak, defeated churches; but they were churches for all that, not sects. Spiritually they were wrong, but positionally they were right; therefore, God only commanded those in them to be overcomers. The Lord said not a word about leaving the church. A local church is a church which you cannot leave; you must remain in it. If you are more spiritual than the other members, then you should use your spiritual influence and your authority in prayer to revive that church. If the church does not respond, you have only two alternatives; you must either remain there, keeping yourself undefiled, or else you must change your dwelling place. But this does not apply to a sect. It is futile to seek by a wrong application of these two chapters to keep Spirit-taught believers within a sect, for the seven churches referred to are local churches, not sectarian “churches.” However weak they may have been, they were still on the scriptural ground of the Body in the locality. The Word of God has never authorized anyone to leave a church. All groups of believers who base their fellowship on other ground than that of locality are sects, even though they may term themselves churches. It is all right to leave a sect, but it is never right to leave a local church. If you leave a local church, you do so without the authority of the Lord, and you become guilty of the sin of schism in the Body.

What a tragedy it is when a few spiritual members leave a local church, and form another assembly, simply because the other members are weak and immature. Those stronger members should remain in that church as overcomers, seeking to help their weaker brothers and sisters, and claiming the situation there for the Lord. (CWWN, vol. 30, “The Normal Christian Church Life,” ch. 5)

Questions:

What is the only scriptural basis for the division of the Church into churches?
In Scripture we have at least seven definite things referred to which are forbidden by God as reasons for dividing His Church. What are these seven things?
If one local church is weak and defeated, should we leave that church and form another assembly? If not, what should we do?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Eleven
The Practice of the Church Life

Hymns, #913

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 4:16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

Col. 2:19 And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

Taking the Way of the Recovery of the Church—
the Whole Body Serving

Since 1940, or perhaps 1939, the high point of God’s recovery work in the church has been the raising up of the whole Body in His service. Not only do we see this truth in the Bible, but we also have this sense in our spirit. The entire assembly hands itself over to be trained and then to be sent out group by group in migration. This will afford God the opportunity to take a quick way among us. For five or six years, I was under the trial of illness as well as under pressure in the environment and opposition from men. All of these taught me precious lessons in life. According to the sense I received in my spirit during my time of fellowshipping with the Lord, I was clear that I have to train the saints to know coordination outwardly and to be perfected in life inwardly. Locally we have to preach the gospel, and extra-locally we have to move through migration. These are very crucial principles. (CWWN, vol. 62, “Matured Leadings in the Lord’s Recovery (2),” ch. 22)

The Brothers and Sisters Handing Themselves over
and the Elders Making Proper Arrangements

Hong Kong is a big place; it needs a strong church to carry out the proper service. Recently I saw an Assembly of God Church preaching the gospel. There were not very many people in the meeting. Very close by there was a cinema packed with people. The Assembly of God Church had few people in comparison with the cinema. Hong Kong does not need a strong gospel giant, but it does need a strong church to rise up to preach the gospel. The whole Body has to rise up to serve. If the whole church rises up to preach the gospel, I believe the number in Hong Kong would increase to two thousand in half a year. In order for the whole church to rise up to serve, all the saints have to hand themselves over. After they have handed themselves over, they have to accept the arrangement of the leading elders. When all the building materials are ready, you can mobilize different departments to begin the building work.

The elders have to make a list of everything that has been handed over, including the people, things, and work. They have to make a list of personnel and match the work and personnel together. They have to find a practical way to carry out every matter. Once the work is clear, the personnel set, and the way finalized, they can proceed with the actual decisions. In carrying out the works, the elders have to exercise strict oversight. They have to set deadlines and standards. They have to decide how good a work needs to be and when it must be finished. If the elders can carry out these few things, mistakes and flaws will be minimized. If they do not know how to do something the first time, they should still try and look for a way. After they find the way, they will discover the law to doing that thing.

The way of the church is different from the way of the missionaries; it is the way of the whole Body serving. We all have a living physical body. This body works, lives, rests, and eats spontaneously. The service of the church is a Body service. It is natural and normal for it to save men and perfect them all the time. Perhaps one day you will see the church not only as a home to nurture people but as a school to train people, a factory to produce people, and a hospital to heal people. If the brothers will spend a little more time to fellowship and pray together, there will be good arrangements. Without proper arrangements, there will be setbacks, and it will be difficult to have a revival. (CWWN, vol. 62, “Matured Leadings in the Lord’s Recovery (2),” ch. 23)

The Execution Resting on the Shoulders of the Deacons

The responsibility of receiving leadings from God for the entire church rests on the elders. They have to lead the church to the knowledge of God’s will. The execution of this will, however, rests on the shoulders of the deacons. If a church only has strong elders but not strong deacons, its service will not be proper. Hence, the deacons occupy a very important place.

When the Lord comes back, a group of overcomers will take the lead to reign with Christ for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 6). Our exercise and training today is very much related to our reigning tomorrow. Today God is training a group of people so that they can rule in the kingdom in the future. Our exercise and training are not just for today but for the future. Today we are in school; the application will be our service in eternity future. In the coming kingdom the Lord will assign us greater works. The work in God’s house will continue. We will not be idle in the coming age (Matt. 25:21; Luke 19:17). Therefore, we cannot be satisfied merely with getting things done. We must take care of a few points.

Being Dealt with by God
and Building up a Proper Character

The first thing the deacons should pay attention to is to be dealt with by God in their very person; they have to build up a proper character. How much have you, the person, been dealt with in the hand of God? It is not a matter of finishing a job or of getting things done. You have to be dealt with and trained by God. It is more important to be properly trained by God than to get things done and finished. Deacons everywhere often fail to realize this point: The person is more important than the work. Often the work is completed but the person is damaged. It would be wonderful if both the work and the person were preserved, but if you cannot preserve both, it is better to sacrifice the work than the person. You must always remember that your service is for building up your character. God does not care as much for the success of the work as He does for the training and dealing we receive from Him in the process of doing the work. His ultimate goal is to succeed not only in the work but also in the perfecting of a group of people through doing this work. A young church often has deacons and elders who do not know what they should do. Sometimes things are done, but the character of the persons is not built up, and God is not fully satisfied. I hope that the church in Hong Kong will mature. I hope it will not only get some work done but also perfect a group of people with the proper character. In other words, you must be built up as a person.

A doctor may start in his profession as a junior physician but will later mature to become a renowned doctor. His very look will give people the impression of a mature professional. Even a stranger can tell that he is a medical doctor. While he is skillful in healing his patients, being successful in his work, more importantly, he has developed the character of a physician in his very being. (CWWN, vol. 62, “Matured Leadings in the Lord’s Recovery (2),” ch. 20)

Learning the Spiritual Principles
So That the Entire Body Will Learn to Serve in Coordination

I must speak in particular to the deacons. You should not try to assume leadership in the church. You should only work as you are told. Whether or not the church service is pleasing to God depends not so much on the performance of your work as on your obedience. In the church we must have love, and we must have authority. May the Lord bless the church in Hong Kong and grant all of us grace to learn submission. May we all learn the spiritual principles so that the entire Body will learn to serve in coordination. (CWWN, vol. 62, “Matured Leadings in the Lord’s Recovery (2),” ch. 40)

Questions:

What is the high point of God’s recovery work in the church?
What do all the saints need to do in order for the whole church to rise up to serve? What should the leading elders do?
The responsibility of receiving leadings from God for the entire church rests on the elders. The execution, however, rests on the shoulders of the deacons. What is the first thing the deacons should pay attention to? Is it a matter of finishing a job or of getting things done?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twelve
Seeing the Body

Hymns, #847

Scripture Reading:

Rom. 12:3-5 For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith. For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

The Body Being Not an Illustration but a Fact

Let me stress that this is not just a comfortable thought. It is a vital factor in the life of God’s people. We cannot get along without one another. That is why fellowship in prayer is so important. Prayer together brings in the help of the Body, as must be clear from Matthew 18:19, 20. Trusting the Lord by myself may not be enough. I must trust Him with others. I must learn to pray “Our Father…” on the basis of oneness with the Body, for without the help of the Body I cannot get through. In the sphere of service this is even more apparent. Alone I cannot serve the Lord effectively, and He will spare no pains to teach me this. He will bring things to an end, allowing doors to close and leaving me ineffectively knocking my head against a blank wall until I realize that I need the help of the Body as well as of the Lord. For the life of Christ is the life of the Body, and His gifts are given to us for work that builds up the Body.

The Body is not an illustration but a fact. The Bible does not just say that the Church is like a body, but that it is the Body of Christ. “We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another.” All the members together are one Body, for all share His life—as though He were Himself distributed among His members. I was once with a group of Chinese believers who found it very hard to understand how the Body could be one when they were all separate individual men and women who made it up. One Sunday I was about to break the bread at the Lord’s table and I asked them to look very carefully at the loaf before I broke it. Then, after it had been distributed and eaten, I pointed out that though it was inside all of them it was still one loaf—not many. The loaf was divided, but Christ is not divided even in the sense in which that loaf was. He is still one Spirit in us, and we are all one in Him.

The Body of Christ Being Another Great Divine Fact

I said: ‘When I see this…’ That is the great need: to see the Body of Christ as another great Divine fact; to have it break in upon our spirits by heavenly revelation that “we, who are many, are one body in Christ”. Only the Holy Spirit can bring this home to us in all its meaning, but when He does it will revolutionize our life and work.

Having Done with Independence and Seeking Fellowship

Yes, the Cross must do its work here, reminding me that in Christ I have died to that old life of independence which I inherited from Adam, and that in resurrection I have become not just an individual believer in Christ but a member of His Body. There is a vast difference between the two. When I see this, I shall at once have done with independence and shall seek fellowship. The life of Christ in me will gravitate to the life of Christ in others. I can no longer take an individual line. Jealousy will go. Competition will go. Private work will go. My interests, my ambitions, my preferences, all will go. It will no longer matter which of us does the work. All that will matter will be that the Body grows.

God Not Blaming Me for Being an Individual, but for My Individualism

This is the very opposite of man’s condition by nature. In Adam I have the life of Adam, but that is essentially individual. There is no union, no fellowship in sin, but only self-interest and distrust of others. As I go on with the Lord I soon discover, not only that the problem of sin and of my natural strength has to be dealt with, but that there is also a further problem created by my ‘individual’ life, the life that is sufficient in itself and does not recognize its need for and union in the Body. I may have got over the problems of sin and the flesh, and yet still be a confirmed individualist. I want holiness and victory and fruitfulness for myself personally and apart, albeit from the purest motives. but such an attitude ignores the Body, and so cannot provide God with satisfaction. he must deal with me therefore in this matter also, or I shall remain in conflict with His ends. God does not blame me for being an individual, but for my individualism. His greatest problem is not the outward divisions and denominations that divide His Church but our own individualistic hearts.

The Church Being Able to Do What We Alone Cannot Do

This is where we are now. The age is closing, and Satan’s power is greater than ever. Our warfare is with angels and principalities and powers (Rom. 8:38; Eph. 6:12) who are set to withstand and destroy the work of God in us by laying many things to the charge of God’s elect. Alone we could never be their match, but what we alone cannot do the Church can.

Presenting a Front

Sin, self-reliance and individualism were Satan’s master-strokes at the heart of God’s purpose in man, and in the Cross God has undone them. As we put our faith in what He has done—in “God that justifieth” and in “Christ Jesus that died” (Rom. 8:33, 34)—we present a front against which the very gates of Hades shall not prevail. We, His Church, are “more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom. 8:37). (CWWN, vol. 32, The Normal Christian Life, ch. 11)

Questions:

What is the Body of Christ? How to understand “we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another”?
When we see that we have become not just an individual believer in Christ but a member of His Body, what change will we have?
Today our warfare is with angels and principalities and powers. How can we overcome? Can we do it alone?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirteen
The Building Up of the Church

Hymns, #1248

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 4:11-13 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ, until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Handing Oneself over for the Building up of the Glorious Church
to Usher in the Lord’s Second Coming

All servants of God as well as all Bible students pay much attention to the state of glory which the church must reach before the second coming of the Lord. If the church does not reach this state of glory, the Lord’s coming will be delayed indefinitely. In Revelation 5 John saw a scroll in the hand of God; it was a sealed scroll. John knew that it was God’s plan. God’s plan could not be fulfilled unless the scroll was opened. At that juncture an angel proclaimed that no one was worthy to open the scroll or to break the seal, and John wept (vv. 1-4). We read the Bible often, and we know God’s plan, but do you weep? Are we anxious for the fulfillment of God’s plan?

The Church Being Built up and Growing into the Full Measure
of the Stature of the Fullness of Christ

Of all the prophecies in the Bible, only two raise apprehensions within me. I do not know if you have ever been apprehensive about them. They are Ephesians 4 and 5. It seems as if these two chapters will never be fulfilled. Ephesians 4 speaks of the church being built up and growing into the full measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (v. 13). It seems very hard for the church to reach this state. But there is more. There is Ephesians 5. It seems that this chapter is not as hard to attain to as the previous one, but the requirement is certainly more stringent. In this chapter we are told that when the Lord comes back, the church will be without spot as far as its very nature is concerned and that it will also be without blemish. This means it will not have any mark from previous wounds and sicknesses. The church will also be blameless. Even if it is presented before all men and is subject to open scrutiny and criticism, no one will be able to find any fault (v. 27). The church will be so prepared that it will become absolutely blameless. I must ask the Lord to forgive me for saying this word: Today we can only look at the church with our eyes closed. Once we open our eyes, we will see many areas in which the church is not blameless. We can only give it a score of fifty out of a hundred. Some people are not willing to give it even a score of five. Moreover, the church will be without wrinkle. A wrinkle is a mark of oldness. There was a time when there was no wrinkle on our face, but now wrinkles have appeared. This means that we have grown old. After two thousand years the church must still be young; it must still not have any wrinkle. This is truly the hardest thing to achieve in the whole Bible.

Paying the Price to Gain God’s Riches
before Ephesians 4 and 5 Can Be Realized

During the past five hundred years, there have been gradual recoveries in the church. The church was once steeped in idol worship; even images of God Himself were made. There were images of Christ, images of Mary, and images of God. Worshipping images means that the church tolerates sin; this is degradation. I have spent four to five years studying Ephesians 4 and 5. Every time I came across these passages, I shook my head and prayed, “Lord, this is impossible.” I admitted that I could not climb that high; my heart could not believe what I read. The church was wonderful at the beginning; it was indeed powerful, but what about now? It seems as if it has become desolate. However, during the past two thousand years, the church has been advancing as well. From Catholicism to Protestantism, there was clearly a recovery in the revelation of God’s Word. Truths were recovered, such as justification by faith, sanctification by faith, Christ as our life, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and others. Even teachings on faith and prayer were recovered. There was also the recovery of gifts, not to mention the recovery of the power of the Holy Spirit to cast out demons. But before 1923 no one knew the church. Preachers did not pay attention to the church; they only paid attention to revival meetings. One revival meeting saw two thousand five hundred persons saved, but only sixty-six people were willing to be baptized. Many people thought that it was enough to be saved and to go to heaven; they did not think that it was necessary to be baptized. Everyone wanted to take the easy way. They did not pay attention to the matter of the kingdom. But thank the Lord that there were still some who were concerned about the matter of the church. This shows us that God has been taking the way of recovery. Why do we have to hand ourselves over? Why do we have to consecrate in an absolute way? It is because God’s children must stand on His side before the church can move on to perfection. The church must pay the price to gain God’s riches before Ephesians 4 and 5 can be realized and before the Lord can find a way to come back.

Having to Follow If God Says That We Should Forsake Everything

Among all the commandments of God, one commandment says that we should be delivered from mammon. We should not be bound by mammon. If God says that we should forsake everything, we have to follow. We are His slaves; we dare not change His will. We are not qualified to change His will. As slaves we have to carry out whatever God says. Where our treasure is, there our heart is also. We cannot serve Him and mammon at the same time. Therefore we have to send our money to heaven. It is impossible for our treasure to be in heaven and for our heart to remain on earth. God’s will is the most crucial thing to us who are His slaves. We have to try to understand His will fully, and we have to strive to meet His demand with no reservation.

Handing Ourselves over Resulting in
a Fundamental Change in Our Being

Handing ourselves over should result in a fundamental change in our being. We are no longer individual Christians. Instead, we serve the Lord in coordination with all the brothers and sisters. Not only has our past been consecrated and dealt with, even our future has been consecrated and dealt with. This is all for the sake of breaking open a way for the gospel to spread through us. In the past we preached the gospel when we felt like it, but we turned away from the brothers when we grew cold and disinterested. Whether we were working or not, we were doing everything as individuals. But now that we have handed ourselves over, we can no longer act individualistically; we must serve in coordination. (CWWN, vol. 61, “Matured Leadings in the Lord’s Recovery (1),” ch, 10)

Questions:

According to the prophecies in Ephesians 4 and 5, what degree is the church going to arrive at?
What do God’s children need to do before the church can move on to perfection, before Ephesians 4 and 5 can be realized, and before the Lord can find a way to come back?
What does it mean to hand ourselves over? If we hand ourselves over, what change we will have in our service?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Fourteen
The Discipline of the Holy Spirit

Hymns, #493

Scripture Reading:

Rom. 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Jer. 48:11 Moab has been at ease from his youth; And he is settled on his lees And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel; Nor has he gone into exile. Therefore his taste remains in him, And his scent is not changed.

The Discipline of the Holy Spirit

From the day we were saved, the Lord has been doing two things in us. On the one hand, He is tearing down our old habits, character, and disposition. This is the only way for Christ to express His life freely through us. If the Lord does not perform this work, His life will be frustrated by our natural life. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit is creating a new nature and a new character in us little by little, with its new living and new habits. The Lord is not only tearing down the old but also constituting us with the new. There is not only a negative tearing-down work, but also a positive constituting work in us. These are the two aspects of the Lord’s work in us after our we are saved.

In order to clarify the breaking and constituting work in us, we will use the phrase the discipline of the Holy Spirit for now. Although our whole environment is ordered by God, it is the Holy Spirit who applies this arrangement to us. God arranges the outward environment, but the Holy Spirit translates this arrangement into something inward and applies it to us. The dispensation between the Lord’s ascension and His coming again is the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. In this dispensation all of God’s work is carried out through the Holy Spirit. We call the environmental arrangements of the Holy Spirit and the inner prompting, stopping, and forbidding “the discipline of the Holy Spirit.” This means that the Holy Spirit is disciplining us through all these experiences.

Measuring Discipline to Each One of Us
according to Our Individual Needs

Everyone is different in nature, character, living, and habit. This is why we all need a different kind of breaking work. In operating through our environment, God measures discipline to each one of us according to our individual needs.

Every arrangement of God is with the view of training us. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” In Greek all things means “everything.” All does not mean a hundred thousand things or even a million things. We cannot tell how big the number is. Everything, all things, are arranged by God for our good.

In Hangchow there are many silk weavers. Weaving involves many threads and colors. If one looks at the fabric from the back, everything seems to be a mess. An outsider will be puzzled; he will not know what pattern is on the other side of the fabric. But if he turns the fabric right side up, he will find beautiful figures, flowers, mountains, or rivers on it. Nothing is clear while the fabric is being woven; one sees only red and green threads moving back and forth. Likewise, our experience seemingly moves back and forth like a puzzle. We do not know what design God has in mind. But every “thread” which God uses, every discipline from His hand, has its function. Every color is there for a purpose, and the design is prearranged. God arranges our environment for the purpose of creating holiness in our character. Every encounter is meaningful. We may not be clear today, but one day we will be clear. Some of the things may not look that nice at the moment. But when we look back after some time, we will surely know why the Lord has done what He has done and what His purpose was for doing it.

Loving God, Learning to Know His Hand,
and Humbling Ourselves under It

When God works, it is possible for us to receive the good, and it is also possible for us not to receive the good. This is quite related to our attitude. Our attitude even determines how soon we will receive the good. If our attitude is right, we will receive the good immediately. If we love God, everything that is of God will work for our good. If a man claims that he has no choice of his own, that he asks nothing for himself, and that he only wants everything that God gives to him, he should have only one desire in his heart—to love God. If he loves the Lord in his heart, all of the things around him will work together in love and for his good, no matter how confusing they may seem. If a man loves God, whatever he encounters will turn out to his good.

Our heart must love God, and we must learn to know His hand and humble ourselves under it. If we do not see His hand, our eyes will be distracted by men. We will feel that others are wrong or have betrayed us. We will feel that our brothers, sisters, siblings, parents, and friends are all wrong. As we condemn everyone, we fall into disappointment and disillusion ourselves, and nothing works to our good. When we say that the brothers and sisters in the church are all wrong and that nothing is right and everything is wrong, we are gaining nothing for ourselves except anger and criticism. If we remember the Lord Jesus’ word, that “not one of them will fall to the earth apart from your Father” (Matt. 10:29), and if we realize that everything is of God, we will humble ourselves under His hand and receive the good.

Everything That Comes upon Us
Being for Our Edification One Way or Another

The Lord causes many things to come our way, few of which are according to our preference. What is His purpose for doing these things? His goal is to break down our natural life. If we read Jeremiah 48:11, we will be clear.…Jeremiah 48:11 says, “Moab has been at ease from his youth;/And he is settled on his lees/And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel;/Nor has he gone into exile./Therefore his taste remains in him,/And his scent is not changed.” For wine to settle on its lees means that the liquid is a mixture. When wine ferments, the top part becomes clear liquid, while the lees sink to the bottom. As soon as the vessel is shaken, the lees and the liquid mix together again. In order to have a clear liquid, one has to pour the wine from one vessel to another.

Each time He arranges an environment around us and breaks us, we will shed some of our old taste and scent. Time after time we will be purified of our old taste. Every day we will be a little different than the day before, and the next day we will be different still further. This is the way the Lord works in us; He tears down a little today and a little tomorrow, until all our lees are gone, our taste is lost, and our scent is changed.

We must realize that everything that comes upon us is for our edification one way or another. God tears us down through all kinds of sufferings. The tearing down can be quite painful. But after we pass through these trials, something will be constituted into us. In other words, when trials arise, it may appear that we are failing, but His grace will always carry us through. In the process of overcoming our trials, something is wrought into us. As we overcome our trials again and again, the constitution within us grows day by day. On the one hand, God puts us through difficult circumstances and tears us down through our trials. On the other hand, something is added into us as we rise from our trials.

Reaching Maturity

Thank God that we have the discipline of the Holy Spirit. May God have mercy on us. May He break us and constitute us through the discipline of the Holy Spirit so that we may reach maturity. (CWWN, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” ch. 42)

Questions:

From the day we were saved, the Lord has been doing two things in us. What are these two things?
The Lord causes many things to come our way, few of which are according to our preference. What is His purpose for doing these things?
What should our attitude be when we are in an environment?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Fifteen
The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit

Hymns, #626

Scripture Reading:

2 Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

Heb. 11:21 By faith Jacob, while he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped God, while leaning on the top of his staff.

The Outer Man and the Inner Man

The Bible divides our being into the outer man and the inner man. God resides in the inner man, and the man outside this God-occupied inner man is the outer man. In other words, our spirit is the inner man, while the person that others contact is the outer man. Our inner man puts on our outer man like a garment. God has placed Himself, His Spirit, His life, and His power in us, that is, in our inner man. Outside of our inner man is our mind, emotion, and will. Outside of all these is our body, our flesh.

The Inner Man Being Released
through Our Broken, Outer Man

The Bible speaks of ointment of pure nard (John 12:3). God’s Word purposely uses the adjective pure. It is ointment of pure nard, something truly spiritual. Unless the alabaster flask is broken, however, the ointment of pure nard cannot be released. It is strange that many people appreciate the alabaster flask. They think that the flask is more precious than the ointment. Many people think that their outer man is more precious than their inner man. This is the problem facing the church today. But we are not antique collectors; we are not admirers of alabaster flasks. We are those who are after the aroma of the ointment. If the outer part is not broken, the inner part will not be released. We will have no way to go on, and the church will have no way to go on. We no longer should be so protective of ourselves.

The treasure is in the earthen vessel. Who needs to see your earthen vessel? The church lacks the treasure, not the earthen vessels. The world lacks the treasure, not the earthen vessels. If the earthen vessel is not broken, who will find the treasure within? The Lord works in us in so many different ways for the purpose of breaking the earthen vessel, the alabaster flask, the outer shell. The Lord wants to prepare a way to bring His blessing to the world through those who belong to Him. This is a way of blessing, but it is also a way stained with blood. Blood must be shed, and wounds are unavoidable. How crucial the breaking of this outer man is! Unless the outer man is broken, there cannot be any spiritual work. If we are consecrated to the Lord for His service, we have to be prepared to be broken by Him. We cannot excuse ourselves or preserve ourselves. We have to allow the Lord to break our outer man completely so that He can have a free way through us.

The Lord Breaking Our Outer Man in Two Ways

The Lord breaks our outer man in two ways. First, He breaks it in a cumulative way, and second, He breaks it in a sudden way. The Lord gives some people a sudden breaking first, followed by more gradual breakings; the sudden work comes first and the cumulative work follows. Other people face situations and problems every day. Then one day, they suddenly receive one great blow from the Lord; the cumulative work comes first and the sudden work follows. These are different patterns of breaking that we ordinarily experience. Either the sudden breaking comes, followed by the cumulative breaking, or it is the other way around. Generally speaking, even with those who have not deviated and detoured, the Lord has to spend a few years before He can complete this breaking work.

Two Reasons for Not Being Broken

First, these ones are living in darkness. They do not see God’s hand. God is working and breaking, yet they do not know that God is doing the work. They are short of light, and they are not living in the light. They only see men, thinking that men are opposing them. Or they only see the environment, complaining that it is too harsh. They put all the blame on the environment. May the Lord grant us the revelation to see God’s hand. May we kneel down and say, “This is You. This is You. I accept it.” At a minimum we have to know whose hand is dealing with us.

Second, a person is not broken because he loves himself too much. Self-love is a great obstacle to breaking. We have to ask God to remove all self-love from us. When God plucks this self-love from us, we have to worship Him, saying, “Lord! If this is Your hand, I accept it from my heart.” We have to remember that all misunderstandings, complaints, and dissatisfactions arise from only one thing—secret self-love. Because we love ourselves secretly, we try to save ourselves. This is a big problem. Many times problems arise because we try to save ourselves.

The Only Thing That Is Useful Being for God to Come Out of Us

No person expresses more charm than one who has passed through such a breaking process. A stubborn and self-loving person becomes charming after he is broken by God. Consider Jacob in the Old Testament. He wrestled with his brother from the time they were in their mother’s womb. He was a naughty, cunning, and conniving person. Yet he went through many sufferings throughout his lifetime. In his youth he ran away from home and was cheated by Laban for twenty years. His beloved wife Rachel died on the way home, and his cherished son Joseph was sold. Many years later Benjamin was detained in Egypt. Jacob was dealt with by God again and again, and he met with numerous misfortunes. After repeated dealings by God, he changed. During his final years, he became a truly transparent person. In reading the last part of his history, we cannot help but bow down and worship God. Here was a matured person, one who knew God. After being dealt with for decades, Jacob’s outward man was broken. In his old age we see a beautiful picture. All of us have something of Jacob in us. Perhaps more than a little! Hopefully the Lord will find a way through us. May our outer man be broken to such an extent that the inner man can be released and expressed. This is precious, and this is the way of the servants of the Lord. Mere Bible knowledge will not profit us. The only thing that is useful is for God to come out of us. (CWWN, vol. 54, “The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit,” ch. 1)

Questions:

The Bible divides our being into the outer man and the inner man. What is the outer man? What is the inner man?
Why do we need the breaking of the outer man? How does the Lord break our outer man?
We see a beautiful picture on Jacob as one who has passed through such a breaking process. What revelation do we have according to his experience?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Sixteen
The Vision of the Tree of Life

Hymns, #198

Scripture Reading:

Gen. 2:9 And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

John 6:57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

God’s Intention Being to Be Man’s Food in Order to Enter into Man

The first two chapters of Genesis are a picture that portrays God’s intention. If we would receive light and look at this picture with a sober mind, we will understand that God’s intention is to be man’s food in order to enter into man and be man’s life. This is indicated by God’s putting Adam in front of the tree of life (2:8-9). Man will experience three issues when he is mingled with God. Man will have God’s image to be God’s expression. Man will be the means by which God has dominion on the earth; he will be subject to God’s dominion and will be able to represent God’s dominion. Man will also become God’s bride in order to be out of God, unto God, and joined to God. This is the revelation presented in the first two chapters of Genesis.

The Bible Being Governed by the Vision of the Tree of Life

If we see the vision of the tree of life and are governed by this vision when we read the Bible, the Bible will become a new book to us. We will see the central line of the Bible and will discover that the Bible is concerning God being life. Even in the Old Testament there are many portions concerning God being life. For example, Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that Jehovah is good,” and Psalm 36:8 says, “They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, / And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures.”

Psalm 23 is a description of God being man’s life. Many people have expounded on this psalm, but few have pointed out that there is a blessing in this psalm and that this blessing is God Himself. How ever, we know that the green pastures and the waters are God Himself (v. 2) and that both righteousness and the paths are God (v. 3). We also know that we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but God Himself is with us (v. 4). The table that we enjoy is God, the oil is God, and God is the blessing in the overflowing cup (v. 5). He is our goodness and lovingkindness, and He is also the house in which we dwell (v. 6). All the items in this psalm are God.

The New Testament also speaks concerning God becoming man’s enjoyment. In 1 Peter 2:2-3 Peter charges the believers, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is good.” In 1 Corinthians 1:9 Paul says that the saints are called through God “into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” In verse 2 Paul says that Christ “is theirs and ours,” indicating that Christ is for us to enjoy.

Coming to the Tree of Life to Enjoy God

If we truly see this vision, our understanding of the Bible will change, and our condition before the Lord will also change. We will set aside many items associated with the detour, which we have paid attention to in the past, and we will come to the tree of life to enjoy God. However, some may say that we need to deal with Satan, sin, the flesh, and the world because they entered into man and have become problems in man. It is true that man fell and has many problems, but God has already dealt with these problems. God entered into man through incarnation, and He dealt with Satan, sin, the flesh, and the world through crucifixion. The Lord then rose from the dead and was transfigured to become the life-giving Spirit. As a result, when a person obtains the Spirit, he immediately obtains everything that the Lord has passed through; such a person does not need to deal with Satan, sin, the flesh, or the world. As long as we enjoy the Lord and absorb Him, we will be in an organic union with Him. In this union the flesh is crucified, and sin and the world are dealt with. In this union we experience the glorious facts of death, resurrection, man entering into God, and man being joined to God. We do not need to deal with anything, because God has passed through the detour for us. Thus, we do not need to pass through the detour for ourselves; we simply accept everything that God has accomplished.

The Shortcut Being to Enjoy God

We need to see this revelation so that we no longer deal with sin and the flesh in ourselves. Such dealings are a part of the detour from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20. There is a shortcut in front of us, and this shortcut is the Lord Jesus. In John 14:6 the Lord said, “I am the way.” Through incarnation the Lord entered into man and was joined to man, and through death the Lord dealt with everything that opposes Him. Then He resurrected from the dead, became the life-giving Spirit, and entered into glory in order to enter into man. Hence, we need only to absorb Him and enjoy Him in order to expe rience our co-crucifixion with the Lord and our living together with the Lord. This is a shortcut.

The Churches Having a Solid and Full Expression
if We Will Enjoy the Lord in Such a Way

The tree of life is sufficient for all our needs. It is the unique base. When this base gains ground in us, we will be God’s expression with His image, we will be the means for God to exercise dominion, and we will be joined to God as His counterpart. These are spontaneous issues. The brothers who minister the word in the different localities must avoid the atmosphere of merely teaching and expounding doc trine and of interpreting the Scriptures. Instead, we must learn to bring people to enjoy God, who was incarnated, died, resurrected, became the life-giving Spirit, and entered into us to be our life. If we will enjoy the Lord in such a way, the churches will have a solid and full expression. (CWWL, 1958, vol. 1, “The Vision of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” msg. 1)

Questions:

The first two chapters of Genesis are a picture that portrays God’s intention. What’s God’s intention?
If we see the vision of the tree of life and are governed by this vision when we read the Bible, we will discover that the Bible is concerning God being life. Please share with one another some related verses.
What should we do to see clearly the vision of the tree of life?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Seventeen
How to Enjoy God

Hymns, #811

Scripture Reading:

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Eph. 6:17 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.

God Entering into Man to Become
Man’s Satisfaction, Life, and Everything

God does not want man to do anything for Him. This is revealed with the tree of life in Genesis 2. The first mention of a matter in the Bible establishes the principle of that matter. The first time God presented Himself to man, He presented Himself as the tree of life for man to eat, that is, in the form of food. The tree of life unveils that God’s relationship with created man did not depend on man doing something for God or on God doing something for man. On the contrary, God desired to be food to man so that man might have life. God wanted man to eat Him and receive Him. God cared for only one thing: to enter into man and be mingled with man to become man’s content. This is the vision revealed in the first two chapters of Genesis.

If we touch God’s intention, we will realize that He does not desire to do anything for man. Rather, He desires to enter into man and be mingled with man to become man’s satisfaction, life, and everything. Many experiences will come out of our being mingled with God. On God’s side it is not a matter of doing things for man. Rather, it is a matter of His becoming man’s food and man’s life.

God comes to man as food in order to be man’s life and life supply. God wants to be man’s food so that He may be man’s life. God’s purpose is for man to receive Him and to enjoy Him so that He may be mingled with man and become man’s content. Thus God becomes man’s content, and man becomes God’s expression.

Man’s living, move, and work should be the issue of the mingling of God and man. Everything related to man should be a matter of two natures. Even prayer and worship should be the issue of man being mingled with God.

Man can neither find nor enjoy God apart from Christ, because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ, the Son of God, bodily (Col. 2:9). (CWWL, 1958, vol. 1, “The Vision of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” msg. 6)

God becomes our enjoyment in His Son, Christ. God is in Christ so that He can be enjoyed by us. In other words, Christ is God com ing to be enjoyed by us. Since the Bible is the means for God to be enjoyed by man and God is enjoyed by man in Christ, this glorious and rich Christ must be the center and content of the Bible. If we want to enjoy God, we must enjoy Christ, and if we want to gain God, we must gain Christ. Apart from Christ, we cannot find, meet, con tact, or gain God. Apart from Christ, we cannot enjoy God. We must be in Christ in order to have a subjective relationship with God. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 3, “The Exercise of the Spirit and the Building of God,” msg. 13)

God Coming as Food in Order to Be Man’s Life

The Bible is the expression of God. God came as food in order to be man’s life; hence, the Bible is a record of God being food to man so that He can be man’s life. Therefore, we should not read the Bible in order to receive teachings or merely to understand the truth. We should read the Bible to obtain food and thereby obtain the supply of life.

The Spirit Being Life in the Bible

Even though the Bible consists of words, the Spirit is life in the Bible. If we do not read the Bible in the Spirit, the Bible will be dead letters to us. Therefore, we must read the Bible with our spirit and receive the Bible into our spirit.

Musing upon and Praying over What We Read in the Bible
in Order to Receive It into Our Spirit

We should muse upon and pray over what we read in the Bible in order to receive it into our spirit. This is the way to combine reading the Bible and prayer. Eventually, it will be difficult to discern whether we are reading the Bible or praying. We will read the Bible when we pray, and we will pray when we read the Bible. Thus, the words in the Bible will be spirit and life to us (John 6:63).

The Practical Way to Enjoy God

Reading the Bible with prayer is the practical way to eat, drink, and enjoy God. If we want to enjoy God, we must read the Bible and pray. Both are indispensable. God has ordained that everything in the universe has two sides. For example, there are heaven and earth, yin and yang, male and female, inside and outside, and left and right. Likewise, in order to enjoy God, we cannot neglect reading the Bible or prayer. Both reading the Bible and prayer must be done simultaneously.

God is Spirit, and God is the Word (John 4:24; 1:1); furthermore, His words are spirit (6:63). Prayer is to breathe the Spirit, and read ing the Bible is to read the word of God. When we mingle our prayer with reading the Bible, we mingle the word of God with the Spirit and thus receive them into us for our enjoyment.

It does not matter whether we practice enjoying God individually or corporately. An individual can enjoy God, several people can come together to enjoy God, and we can enjoy God even in a big meeting.

Second Timothy 2:22 says that we need to pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Ephesians 3:18 says that we need to apprehend with all the saints the breadth and length and height and depth. Hence, we should reject the individualistic and closed attitude of the mystics. If possible, we should meet with all the saints regularly in order to enjoy God. Such a practice is sweet. The more we practice, the more we will be able to enjoy God in a meeting with many people. (CWWL, 1958, vol. 1, “The Vision of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” msg. 6)

Questions:

What is God’s intention from the vision of the tree of life in Genesis 2?
The Bible is a record of God being food to man so that He can be man’s life. What attitude should we have when we read the Bible? Do we do it in order to receive teachings or merely to understand the truth?
What is the practical way to enjoy God when we practice enjoying God today?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Eighteen
The Vision of God’s Building

Hymns, #839

Scripture Reading:

Hag. 1:8 Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it and will be glorified, says Jehovah.

Matt. 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The Purpose of God Being Accomplished
through the Building of God

People can easily see God’s creation in their reading of the Holy However, the Scriptures not only reveal God’s creation but also God’s building. In the entire Bible only the first one and a half chapters of Genesis speak about God’s creation. From the second half of chapter 2 to the end of the book of Revelation, the Bible speaks about the other aspect of God’s work, God’s building.

In creation something was produced without using any materials. Building, however, is different. To build is to produce a structure by using materials that are already in existence.

God’s creation did not accomplish His purpose; rather, the creation of God is altogether for the next step of God’s work, which is building. God’s creation is for the preparation of material for God’s building. It is only when God has done a further work of building on created man that He will be able to accomplish His purpose. Therefore, God’s creation did not directly accomplish God’s purpose; the accomplishment of God’s purpose depends on God’s building.

The House Built up by God
Being the Mingling of God and Man as a Mutual Abode

The whole universe needs a building for God to dwell in man as His abode, and man to dwell in God as his abode. God and man are a mutual abode to each other. Without man, God is a wandering God, a homeless God. In the same way, without God, man is a wandering man, a homeless man.

Therefore, God intends to have a building in this universe in which God is built into man and man is built into God so that God and man, man and God, can be a mutual abode to each other. First John 4:13 says, “In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.” Today God is building us into a spiritual house, the temple of God, a universal building, and a uni versal house so that God may have a home and man also may have a dwelling place. In this way both God and man may have rest. (CWWL, 1958, vol. 2, “The Building Work of God,” msg. 1)

God’s Building in the Old Testament—
The Tabernacle and the Temple
Having the Mingling of God and Man as Its Center

We must ask the Lord to give us light to see that the building, the house, God wants to obtain in the universe is altogether not a physi cal house but a spiritual building of the mingling of God and man. It is true that the Old Testament says that God dwelt in the tabernacle and then the temple, but that was only a symbol of God’s union with the children of Israel. In Isaiah, God said clearly that heaven is His throne, and the earth is His footstool and that the house that the children of Israel built for Him was not the place of His rest (66:1). His desire was to be with His people and dwell among them, taking them as His dwelling place. Therefore, strictly speaking, God dwelt neither in the material tabernacle nor in the material temple but among the children of Israel as His dwelling place. God was united with the children of Israel and became one entity with them, and this one entity was a spiritual house in which both God and the godly people in Israel dwelt.

God’s Building in the New Testament the Church—
Also Having the Mingling of God and Man as Its Center

Now let us look at the New Testament. The first matter in the beginning of the New Testament is the incarnation, which is God’s coming into man. This is a marvelous matter!

The Word becoming flesh and tabernacling among men is related to building. When the Word became flesh, a substantial building, a practical building, began. God began to build Himself into man. Now there was a man who could say, “God is in Me. Outside of Me you cannot find God, and you do not have God. I am a man born of Mary, and I am a Nazarene whose name is Jesus, yet there is God in Me. Within Me is the very God. I am the tabernacle; I am the temple; I am the building of God. Have you ever seen the tabernacle? I am the tabernacle. Have you ever seen the temple? I am the temple.”

Originally, the Lord was one grain of wheat, but now through death and resurrection He produced many grains. Formerly, the Lord alone was the temple, but after He resurrected from the dead and imparted His life into His people, they also became the temple of God. Before the Lord’s resurrection, only Jesus the Nazarene was the temple. However, after the Lord’s resurrection the Galileans who belonged to the Lord and all those who had received the Lord’s life all became a part of this temple. This is what the Lord meant when He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Therefore, after His resurrection the Lord’s physical body became His mystical Body, which includes Peter, James, and John, as well as all of us, the saved ones. After His resurrection the Lord’s Body is an immense Body, an immeasurable temple. This Body, which He raised up in His resurrection, is His church. The church is His Body, His temple.

The church is a very particular item. The church is neither solely human nor solely divine; rather, the church is the crystallization of the mingling of God and man. If there is only humanity, of course there cannot be the church. If there is only divinity, there still cannot be the church. Only when God is mingled with man and becomes one with man can there be the church.

The New Jerusalem Being the Ultimate Issue
of the Mingling of God and Man

At the very end of the New Testament all the building work of God is accomplished, and a city appears, which is the holy city, New Jerusalem.

Therefore, the holy city, New Jerusalem, is a spiritual building as the issue of God being completely mingled with His redeemed people. Here God has an eternal dwelling place, and man also has an eternal habitation.

Thus, in this age, before that day arrives, God is building His house in every locality. This means that God intends to build His church in every locality. This is God’s building today, and this is God’s building in this age. God wants to build Himself into all the saints and to build all the saints into Himself. In the building the saints are not joined to Him individually; rather, all the saints are united with Him corporately. This is God’s building. This is God’s house. This is the dwelling place of God, and this is the habitation of all the saved ones. May we all have a share in this building. (CWWL, 1958, vol. 2, “The Building Work of God,” msg. 2)

Questions:

God’s creation did not accomplish His purpose; rather, the creation of God is altogether for the next step of God’s work. What is the next step of God’s work?
Without man, God is a wandering God; without God, man is a wandering man. What is the building that God intends to have in this universe?
Since we have known what God’s building is, how can we participate God’s building?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Nineteen
The All-inclusive Christ

Hymns, #189

Scripture Reading:

Deut. 8:7 For Jehovah your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs and of fountains, flowing forth in valleys and in mountains.

Col. 3:11 Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.

The Land Being the All-Inclusive Type of Christ

We have already seen that this land is the full type, the all-inclusive type of Christ. We know that there are many types in the Old Testament. We know that the passover lamb is a type of Christ, and we know that the manna is a type of Christ. The tabernacle with all its furniture, utensils, and various offerings is also a type of Christ. But I wish to point out to you that without this piece of land, there is no all-inclusive type of Christ. Only the land of Canaan is the full type, the all-inclusive type of Christ.

We are told in the Scriptures that Christ is all and in all, that Christ is the all-inclusive One. Everything is in Him and He is in everything. There is no other type in the Old Testament but the land of Canaan which shows Him as such.

Spaciousness of the Land

Many times in the Old Testament this piece of land is called a good land. It is really remarkable. “I will bring you into a good land.” If you do not pay special attention to this, you will feel that it is just an ordinary statement. We are always saying that something is good; it becomes just an ordinary mode of description to us with no special significance attached to it. But when the Lord says that something is good, we must pay attention. This is not commonplace. And He says it over and over: a good land…a good land…a good land! It must really be good!

What is the goodness of this land? Since the Lord said that it is a good land, what then is its goodness? In the past most of us have not paid much attention to this matter. We have just taken it as the good land and let it go at that, not inquiring into the reason for its goodness.

It is rather difficult to fully define the goodness of this land. First of all, I will point out to you a rather peculiar definition. You have read it already. Exodus 3:8 says, “I am come…to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large” (ASV)—a large land. Mr. J. N. Darby informs us that it is better to translate the word large as “spacious.” It is a good and spacious land. It is good first of all in spaciousness.

The Breadth of Christ Being the Breadth of the Universe

You understand what spaciousness is. But can you describe the spaciousness of this land? Can you tell us the extent, the expanse, of Christ? In other words, do you know how big Christ is? Every one of us has a certain measurement, but what is the measurement of Christ? The apostle Paul gives it to us in Ephesians 3. The measurements of Christ are the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth. Can you tell how broad is the breadth, how long is the length, how high is the height, and how deep is the depth? If you asked me, I would have to say, “I don’t know. It is unlimited.” The breadth of Christ is the breadth of the universe. Christ is the breadth, Christ is the length, Christ is the height, and Christ is the depth of the whole universe. If the universe has a limit, that limit must be Christ. You can never measure the dimensions of Christ. This is the first item of the goodness of the land. The land is good in the unlimited measurement of Christ.

Christ Being Everything to Us

What do we mean by the word all-inclusive? We are told that Christ is the light, but this is not all-inclusive. We are told that Christ is our life, but this also is not all-inclusive. We are told that Christ is the food and the living water, but even these do not make Him the all-inclusive One. Christ is all and in all. Christ is not only the light, the life, the food, and the living water, but Christ is everything to us. Whatever you need, whatever you contact, whatever you obtain, whatever you enjoy, whatever you experience—all these things must be Christ. Christ is the all-inclusive One to us. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-Inclusive Christ,” msg. 2)

The land is good; it is exceedingly good. It is good firstly in its spaciousness, secondly in its transcendency, and thirdly in its riches—three items. We have seen the details of its riches: it is rich in waters, in all kinds of food, both vegetable and animal, and in minerals.

Laboring on Christ

What then is the life we need to enjoy the good land? It is a life first of all of laboring upon Christ. It is a life of making Christ our industry.

We have seen briefly our need to work upon Christ and make Christ our industry. I believe we are clear regarding this matter, but I am afraid it may be merely a doctrine to many. How can we apply it in a practical way? What must we do to work on Christ daily?

Let me illustrate. Every morning you need to pray: “Lord, I consecrate myself once more to You, not to work for You but to enjoy You.” You must consecrate yourself sincerely to the Lord for the simple purpose of enjoying and experiencing Him—nothing more. From the moment you awake in the morning you need to say, “Lord, here I am. I give myself to enjoy You. Grant me through the entire day, from this moment on, to experience and apply You in every situation. I am not asking for anything tomorrow. I am asking for grace to enjoy You today. Show me how to till the ground, sow the seed, and water the plants of the Lord.” Moment by moment through the whole day you will maintain your communion with the Lord. You will live practically in the Lord, laboring upon Him, applying Him, and enjoying Him. If you do this, consider how fruitful and how beautiful your “farm” will be. The farm of Christ in your daily life will be full of produce.

The life in the land is a life full of the enjoyment of Christ, both personally and collectively with the Lord’s people. May we be diligent to labor upon Him, to have our hands filled with Him, and then come to the place which He has appointed, to the very ground of unity, to enjoy this rich and glorious Christ with God’s children and with God Himself. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-Inclusive Christ,” msg. 15)

Questions:

Christ is the all-inclusive One. Everything is in Him and He is in everything. What is the type of this all-inclusive One in the Old Testament?
God says, “I will bring you into a good land.” What is the goodness of this land?
What is the life we need to enjoy the good land?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty
Christ Becoming the Life-giving Spirit

Hymns, #203

Scripture Reading:

1 Cor. 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul’’; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

Christ Being a Life-giving Spirit

First Corinthians 15:45 says, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” The last Adam undoubtedly is Christ. According to this verse Christ today, that is, Christ in resurrection, is a life-giving Spirit. The Christ who has entered into our spirit is the life-giving Spirit. He is a Spirit, and He enters into us to give life to our spirit. At the time that He enters into us, He joins Himself with our spirit and makes our spirit and Himself as the Spirit one spirit. The two spirits are mingled together as one. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 2, “The Living that Fulfills God’s Eternal Purpose,” ch. 7)

Christ Being Transfigured from the Body
into the Spirit by Death and Resurrection

Before His death the Lord was in a physical body; He could only be among His disciples, never in them. But after the resurrection when the Lord came back to His disciples, He could enter into them. How could that be? While He was in the body, He could not be in them; He would have to be transfigured. Therefore, by death and resurrection He was transfigured from the body into the Spirit. That night when the disciples were gathered together, the doors were closed; yet the Lord came in! And He breathed on them, saying, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). Thenceforth, the Lord never left them, for He was in them. First, the Lord was incarnated to be a man, limited by a human body. Then, by His death and resurrection, He was transfigured from the body into the Spirit. First, He was with us, but now He is in us! Now the Lord in the Spirit is always with us, living in us (John 14:16-17; Rom. 8:9-10). He is our resurrection life. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 2, “The Four Major Steps of Christ,” ch. 3)

Christ Giving Us Life When He Comes into Us

Whereas Adam was a living soul, Christ is a life-giving Spirit. A living soul cannot give life to others. Christ is a Spirit who not only is living but also can give life to others. Hence, He is a life-giving Spirit, and when He comes into us, He gives us life. He enlivens our spirit, and He causes our spirit to be mingled with Himself as the Spirit. Our spirit and the Lord Spirit mingle together as one spirit, with the result that we become one spirit with the Lord.

Through regeneration our spirit has been not only enlivened but also born. In our spirit there is now another person. Before we were regenerated, our spirit was merely an organ, not a person, but now that we are regenerated, our spirit is both an organ and a person. Another life, a second life, has come into our spirit, and this life is the life of God, which is Christ Himself. Christ as a person is now in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22).

One Spirit with the Lord

In 1 Corinthians 6:17 we see that the two spirits, the divine Spirit and the human spirit, become one spirit. This verse says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” We must realize that today we are one spirit with the Lord. The Lord is Spirit, and we have a spirit. When the Lord Spirit came into our spirit to enliven our spirit and to regenerate our spirit with Christ as life, the two spirits, the Lord Spirit and our spirit, were mingled as one and were joined as one spirit. Since we are joined to the Lord, we are one spirit with Him. This is a wonderful, accomplished fact. On the day we were regenerated, we became one spirit with the Lord.

Contacting God in and with Our Spirit

We must realize that the God whom we serve, the God in whom we believe and whom we worship, is a Spirit. When-ever we intend to contact something, we must know its nature in order to know the right way to contact it. We may worship and serve God, but many of us simply do not realize that the God whom we worship and serve is a Spirit. We must realize that the nature, sub-stance, and character of God is Spirit. If we realize that God is Spirit, we will know the right way to contact and worship God. John 4:24 also speaks of the human spirit. A spirit can be contacted only by a spirit. Since God is Spirit, if we desire to contact God, the divine Spirit, we must contact Him in and with our spirit. It is certainly not possible to contact God by means of our mind or our body. God is Spirit, and therefore we need to worship God by means of our spirit.

The matter of worship includes all the kinds of contact we can have with God. To worship God does not mean simply to bow down to Him. Rather, it means to contact God in different ways, including to pray to God, to praise God, to trust in God, to have fellowship with God, and to speak for God. Worship is an all-inclusive matter that covers every phase of our contact with God.

Whatever we do to contact God must be in our spirit and with our spirit, because God is Spirit. We cannot contact God by any other means. This is a fixed principle, something spoken by the Lord. The Lord clearly tells us in John 4:24 that God is Spirit and that to worship God, to contact God, we must be in spirit. This principle can never be broken; there are no exceptions. In the matter of worshipping God there are two spirits: the divine Spirit and the human spirit.

Being Transformed into the Image of the Lord
Only by the Lord Himself, Who Is the Spirit

The second part of 2 Corinthians 3:17, and verse 18, continue, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” On the one hand, the second part of verse 1 7 refers to the Spirit as “the Spirit of the Lord,” and on the other hand, verse 18 refers to the Spirit as “the Lord Spirit.” These two titles both confirm that the Lord Himself is the Spirit. According to verse 18, we can be transformed into the image of the Lord by the Lord Spirit, and this Spirit is the Lord Himself. This indicates that we can be transformed into the image of the Lord only by the Lord Himself, who is the Spirit. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 2, “The Living that Fulfills God’s Eternal Purpose,” ch. 7)

Questions:

Before His death the Lord was in a physical body; He could never be in His disciples. But after the resurrection when the Lord came back to His disciples, He could enter into them. How could that be?
Now Christ is the life-giving Spirit, and when He comes into us, He gives us life.
We must realize that the nature, sub-stance, and character of God is Spirit. So how should we contact and worship God?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty-One
Eating the Lord

Hymns, #233

Scripture Reading:

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst.

56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him.

God’s Intention Being for Man to Eat and Drink Him

The Bible reveals a tree and a river as the means for man to enjoy God. We cannot partake of the tree or the river apart from eating and drinking. The fruit on the tree is food for us to eat, and the water of the river is a beverage for us to drink. According to the human concept, God is dignified and great; hence, we need to worship and fear Him. However, in Genesis God presented Himself to man, not as a dignified or great person but as a tree and a river. God’s intention is to enter into man to be man’s life supply; therefore, man must eat and drink Him.

Believing in the Lord Being to Eat the Lord

To believe in the Lord and to love and worship Him are to eat and drink Him, that is, to take the Lord in as our supply. Those who believe in Him, love Him, and worship Him by eating and drinking Him are those who contact the Lord. Those who do not eat and drink the Lord have little to no contact with Him. We must be deeply impressed that God is a tree and a river and that we must eat and drink Him. He is the bread of life and the water of life for us to eat Him and drink Him. This is the way to gain Him.

Eating and Drinking the Lord Continually

Believing in the Lord for our salvation is a once-for-all matter, but eating and drinking the Lord is a daily matter. We need to eat and drink every day. It is possible that a brother who believed in the Lord ten years ago has not eaten the Lord since the day of his salvation. This is the experience of many saints. Some have not eaten the Lord for three days, a year, or even longer. I marvel that a believer can go without eating the Lord for so long and still be spiritually alive. Many believers are not living because their sins have not been confessed, but many more are dying of starvation and thirst. Any believer who has not eaten the Lord for two years is probably “dead” from starvation.

Eating and drinking the Lord are a daily matter that must not be interrupted or stopped. It is possible to quit a job or miss a class, but we cannot do without food and water. Similarly, a believer cannot say that he has believed in the Lord and that he understands everything about the Lord. It is not a matter of understanding or comprehending but a matter of eating and drinking. Our need is to eat the Lord, drink the Lord, and enjoy the Lord. Eating and drinking are continual and must not be interrupted.

The Lord Being Satisfied Only by Our Eating and Drinking of Him

Remember that the Lord is a tree and a river. He is the bread of life and the water of life. The Lord said that those who come to Him shall by no means hunger and that those who believe into Him shall by no means ever thirst (John 6:35; 4:14). The purpose of our com- ing to the meetings should not be merely to meet but to eat and drink the Lord. “Come, for all things are now ready” (Luke 14:17). The fattened cattle have been slain, and the wine has been pressed. Our only need is to come, eat, and drink. God does not want us to do anything. Nothing that we do can touch His heart. Only eating and drinking Him please and satisfy Him. He longs for us to eat and drink Him in every meeting. He longs for our prayers to be our eating and drinking of Him, for our reading the Bible to be our eating and drinking of Him, and for our fellowshipping with other saints to be our eating and drinking of Him. He wants every saint to eat Him, drink Him, and enjoy Him. Then we will be satisfied, and He will be satisfied. May the Lord be gracious to us. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 3, “How God Becomes Man’s Enjoyment,” msg. 2)

The Result of Eating and Drinking the Lord

In John 6 the Lord also spoke of the result of eating His flesh and drinking His blood.

Having Eternal Life

A person who eats the Lord’s flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life; that is, he has the Lord’s life (v. 54). When a person eats lamb, the element of the lamb enters into him. Likewise, when we eat the Lord, His element enters into us to be our eternal life.

Having an Abiding Union with the Lord

A person who eats the Lord’s flesh and drinks His blood abides in the Lord, and the Lord abides in him (v. 56). This indicates a union. Those who eat the Lord’s flesh and drink His blood enter into a union with Him. They abide in the Lord, and He, in them. There is a union between a person and what he eats. A person who eats fish is joined to the fish, a person who eats chicken is joined to the chicken, and a person who eats beef is joined to the cow. Al- though these illustrations do not sound pleasant, the principle is correct. We are joined to the Lord by eating and drinking Him. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him” (v. 56). We abide in the Lord, and He abides in us.

Living Because of the Lord

A person who eats the Lord’s flesh and drinks His blood lives because of the Lord. “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57). A brother has the energy to give a message because he eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He lives because of the food he eats. If he did not eat for three days, he would not have the strength to give a message. Similarly, when we eat the Lord, we have His life, we are joined to Him, He abides in us as our supply, and we live because of Him. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 3, “How God Becomes Man’s Enjoyment,” msg. 3)

Questions:

God’s intention is to be man’s life supply. How does He enter into man?
God does not want us to do anything; He only wants us to eat and drink Him. How can we eat and drink Him?
What is the result of eating the Lord’s flesh and drinking His blood according to John 6?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty-Two
Drinking the Lord

Hymns, #323

Scripture Reading:

John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water gushing up into eternal life.

7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

God Wanting to Be Our Living Water

When we come before the Lord, we must see that He wants us to eat, drink, and enjoy Him; therefore, He is a tree and a river. We should not think that God wants us to be good, to do good, or to please Him. We must drop such concepts because they are from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and not from the tree of life. God does not want man to pay attention to good and evil. He wants us to focus on how He can be our life. He wants to feed us. He wants to be our food and our living water so that we may eat and drink Him in order to be satisfied. Then we will not only do good, but we will have a holy living. Holiness surpasses good, because holiness is God. God wants to feed us, fill us, satisfy us, and overflow from within us. This divine thought far surpasses the good that man focuses on.

We all believe that Christians should zealously preach the gospel. and we are often exhorted to be zealous for the gospel. I do not like to exhort others in this way, because zealous gospel preaching can often be merely behavior, which is of little value before God. More- over, such behavior will not last, for the Christian walk is not mere behavior. The Christian walk is the expression of life. It is the expression of eating and drinking the Lord to our satisfaction.

A brother who does not eat or drink God does not have any spiritual fertilizer or spiritual water. Exhorting him to preach the gospel zealously can be compared to exhorting a dead person to stand up. However, a brother who fellowships with the Lord daily, enjoys Him as his daily satisfaction, and lives because of Him is one who is filled with the Lord; hence, he does not need to be exhorted in order to preach the gospel. A brother who is filled with the Lord will have a fire burning within and will not be able to stop preaching the gospel. He will not be able to stop himself from overflowing with the Lord and expressing the Lord. This is the living of a person who is full of the divine life.

The Proper Christian Faith Involving
Eating, Drinking, and Enjoying Christ

The proper Chris tian faith teaches people that Jesus Christ is their life, their food, and their living water. Hence, they need to receive Him by eating, drinking, and enjoying Him so that He will fill them, and they will live out His divine life. The chorus of Hymns, #509 says, “God is in Christ to be my supply, / God as the Spirit nourisheth me; / If upon Christ in spirit I feed, / Filled with His life I’ll be.” When God lives in us, fills us, and occupies us, He will be expressed through us. This is glorious. The proper Christian faith involves eating and drinking Christ. This is the Christian life. It is a life of enjoying Christ. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 3, “How God Becomes Man’s Enjoyment,” msg. 3)

Our Relationship with God
Depending on Our Eating and Drinking Him

I hope that we will grasp the concept that God is a tree and a river and that we need to eat and drink Him. We have given many messages on eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord, but I am afraid that we still have not clearly seen that God is a tree and a river and that our relationship with God depends on our eating and drinking Him. We must be impressed with this point.

Eating and Drinking the Lord Continually

God and We Being Satisfied

Remember that the Lord is a tree and a river. He is the bread of life and the water of life. The Lord said that those who come to Him shall by no means hunger and that those who believe into Him shall by no means ever thirst (John 6:35; 4:14). The purpose of our coming to the meetings should not be merely to meet but to eat and drink the Lord. “Come, for all things are now ready” (Luke 14:17). The fattened cattle have been slain, and the wine has been pressed. Our only need is to come, eat, and drink. God does not want us to do anything. Nothing that we do can touch His heart. Only eating and drinking Him please and satisfy Him. He longs for us to eat and drink Him in every meeting. He longs for our prayers to be our eating and drinking of Him, for our reading the Bible to be our eating and drinking of Him, and for our fellowshipping with other saints to be our eating and drinking of Him. He wants every saint to eat Him, drink Him, and enjoy Him. Then we will be satisfied, and He will be satisfied. May the Lord be gracious to us. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 3, “How God Becomes Man’s Enjoyment,” msg. 2)

Questions:

The Christian walk is not mere behavior but the expression of life. So what is the primary thing in our Christian life?
Eating and drinking are continual and must not be interrupted. How can we eat and drink the lord continually?
When we are satisfied by eating and drinking Him in order to be, what kind of life will we live? What expression will we have?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty-Three
Exercising Our Spirit

Hymns, #781

Scripture Reading:

2 Tim. 1:6 For which cause I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

1 Tim. 4:7 But the profane and old-womanish myths refuse, and exercise yourself unto godliness.

Exercising Our Spirit in the Church Meetings

When we come to the meetings, we should put aside everything but Christ and exercise our spirit to contact Christ. When we contact Christ in our spirit, we will have a sense in our spirit. We need to take care of this sense and express what is in our spirit. When we release what is in our spirit, we ourselves will be released.

The illustration of a basketball team may help us to understand what it means to exercise our spirit in the meetings of the church. The members of a basketball team do not stand idle, waiting for the ball to come to them. On the contrary, they are always moving to position themselves, and they are alert and ready to receive and pass the ball. When we meet together, we are like a basketball team. Once we come together, we need to participate by “passing the ball” to one another. We should not wait, nor should we merely watch; rather, we should exercise our spirit to participate in the meeting.

Just as participating in a game of basketball requires the exercise of our body, our participation in a meeting requires the exercise of our spirit. As soon as we come to the meeting, we should exercise our spirit. In fact, we should exercise our spirit even before coming to the meeting. If I come with a living and exercised spirit, immediately upon arriving at the meeting, I may have a sense to utter something. If you come with your spirit exercised, you may have something to release by following my speaking. Just like a basketball team, we should watch one another and follow each other in our functioning. First, I may function by offering a short prayer. Next, you may function by continuing my prayer. Then a brother may share a brief testimony, and a sister may call a hymn. If we all function in this way, we will have a living meeting.

When we are on the way to the meeting and as we come into the meeting, we should not be passive but active. We should not wait for the Holy Spirit to inspire us, nor should we think that there is no need for us to do anything. This kind of thinking is wrong. We must exercise our spirit. If we exercise our spirit, the Spirit will move.

Exercising Our Spirit in Our Daily Walk

Whether or not we are able to exercise our spirit properly depends on our daily walk. We need to learn to exercise our spirit in our daily walk. If we do not exercise our spirit in our daily life, we will not be able to exercise our spirit when we come to the meetings. This is because a Christian’s meeting life depends on his daily life. In our daily life we need to learn how to exercise our spirit to contact the Lord in everything. Whatever we do, wherever we go, and whomever we speak to, we must exercise our spirit to contact the Lord.

I am burdened to speak a frank word to the Lord’s children. Today’s Christians have largely neglected the daily exercise of their spirit. We need to exercise our spirit every day in all the details of our daily living. Even when the sisters go to the supermarket to buy something, they should buy it in fellowship with the Lord. It is not enough for them to be in their spirit only when they pray; they must even do their shopping in their spirit and in fellowship with the Lord. Those who live in this way are persons who are in the spirit.

Becoming Strong in Our Spirit
if the Exercise of the Spirit Becomes Our Habit

Each of the three parts of our being-spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23)-needs exercise in order to be strong. Medical doctors tell us that if we do not use our hands for several years, our hands will cease to function properly. Similarly, those whose eyes are kept from seeing for an extended period of time will lose their sight. This loss of sight is due to the eyes being hindered from performing their proper function. The only way we can maintain the functions of the various parts of our body is to exercise them by using them.

All believers possess a regenerated spirit; however, many of them have not exercised their spirit for a number of years. As a result, it may seem that they do not have a spirit at all. Of course, the problem is not that they do not have a spirit; rather, it is that their spirit is dormant and its function has been lost. Before we were saved, our spirit was dead and out of function (Eph. 2:1, S; Col. 2:13). When we were regenerated, our spirit was enlivened and renewed (Rom. 8:10). However, following our regeneration we, like many Christians, did not know how to exercise our spirit. Because of our lack of exercise, the function of our spirit was greatly diminished, and our spirit became weak and numb.

Many genuinely regenerated Christians who deeply love the Lord find themselves in a weak and pitiful condition. This is because they do not exercise their spirit. What our weak spirit needs is exercise. Most successful athletes exercise every day. Because of their regular exercise, their bodies are well conditioned and able to perform extraordinary feats of agility and strength. In the same way, if we desire to develop a strong and active spirit, we must exercise our spirit in a constant and concentrated way. Only by exercising our spirit will we eventually reach the point where our spirit is strong and functions properly.

Even though we have been regenerated, many of us neglect our spirit and exercise our mind instead. Although the Lord has enlivened our spirit, we may speak, live, and react in our mind as a matter of habit. Simply by exercising our mind and not exercising our spirit, we have allowed our mind to become strong and dominating. Hence, when something happens to us or we hear a certain kind of news, we usually consider the situation in our mind rather than exercise our spirit to contact the Lord. Instead of exercising our mind first, we must exercise our spirit first. If the exercise of the spirit becomes our habit, we will become strong in our spirit.

Exercising Our Spirit to Function in the Meetings

As children of God who are regenerated in our spirit, we must exercise our spirit to walk in the Lord’s presence and to live in the Holy Spirit. If we do this, our spirit will be the strongest, keenest, and most alert part of our being. Then when we come to a meeting, we will be able to exercise our strong spirit and allow the Holy Spirit, who is one with our spirit, to move (1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22). The result of the Spirit’s moving within our spirit will be our functioning and our active participation in the meeting. May our eyes be opened to see God’s intention in these days and to exercise our spirit to enjoy Christ and live the church life. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “Exercising Our Spirit to Practice the Body Life,” ch. 3)

Questions:

All believers possess a regenerated spirit. What is the only way that we can reach the point where our spirit is strong and functions properly?
Whether or not we are able to exercise our spirit properly depends on our daily walk. How can we exercise our spirit in our daily walk?
Please share some of your personal experiences or the testimonies of your companions concerning exercising the spirit.

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty-Four
Serving in the One Stream

Hymns, #909

Scripture Reading:

Rev. 22:1 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.

Psa. 46:4 There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

The Stream of Life

By the side of the tree of life there was a river. Within this stream is the life of God. We read that in the river of living water is growing the tree of life, yielding its fruit every month (Rev. 22:2). This shows that the life which supplies all our need is something growing in the river of living water. Thus it proves to us that the river of living water is the supply of the divine life. Here is a stream which flows out of God Himself to bring life to supply all our need. This is a stream which will both heal and produce, both swallow up death and supply us with life. This is the stream of life.

The Stream of Fellowship

From this picture of the stream in the Scriptures, we may realize that it is also a stream of fellowship. Consider the situation of the New Jerusalem. In the whole city there is only one street, and in the midst of that street is the stream of living water. It flows throughout the entire city, and the whole city can only have fellowship through or by this stream of living water. This reveals that the fellowship of the Body of Christ is the stream of divine life. Wherever the stream of the divine life flows, there is the fellowship of the Body of Christ. What is the fellowship of the Church? It is the flowing of the divine life. As the stream of the divine life flows within us, there is the fellowship of the Body among us. The fellowship of the Body which we are enjoying is such a tremendous thing. We are in this stream of the fellowship of the Body, and this flowing is ever increasing and being enriched. The more it flows, the greater and the richer it becomes.

The Stream of Testimony

Where this stream flows, there is also the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know that this is so? Consider again the situation of the New Jerusalem and suppose that you are one who is coming into the city from the outside. When you enter the gate, you immediately come upon the one street of the city in which is flowing the stream of living water. If you follow the stream, it will bring you to the place where the Lord Jesus is. This means that the stream will bring you into contact with the Lord. In other words, this stream of living water will cause you to know something of Christ; it will testify to you something of Christ. Where could you find Christ? Where could you meet Christ? Here is the channel; here is the way; here is the means by which you can touch Christ, by which you can experience Christ. The testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, is with the very stream of divine life. Where the stream of the divine life flows, there is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Stream of the Work of God

This stream is also the stream of God’s work. Where the stream flows, there is the work of God. This is clear in the book of Acts, a book which speaks to us of the work of God. What is that kind of work which is the work of God? It is a work in the stream of living water. Where the stream of living water flows, there is the work of God. God works along the flowing of the stream of the divine life. If you consider the whole record of the book of Acts, you will see the picture quite clearly. On the day of Pentecost this stream of divine life flowed out of God Himself in Christ with ruling power from the throne. It began to flow from Jerusalem. From there it flowed to Antioch, and then from Antioch it turned to the West; it flowed to Asia, and through Asia it flowed to Macedonia, to Europe. Here is a picture of the flowing of the stream of divine life, and with the flowing of this stream is the work of God. By flowing God works; by flowing God preaches His Gospel; by flowing God brings people to be saved. There is a stream which we could call the stream or the current of the work. Where it flows, there is the work of God.

Brothers and sisters, we must be in this stream. If we are not in this stream, we are out of life, we are out of the fellowship of the Body, we are out of the testimony of the Lord Jesus, and we are out of the work of God. Oh, if we are simply in this stream, we will have everything.

Only One Stream

The flowing of the divine life, which started on the day of Pentecost and has been flowing throughout all generations to this very day, is just one stream. Wherever it goes, wherever it flows, it is not many streams, it is only one. Read the book of Acts and there you will see that there is one stream, one current. It was one in Jerusalem, one to Antioch, one to Asia, one to Europe, and one everywhere it has flowed. Please be clear that there have never been two streams. There is only one stream, and you have to keep yourself in this one stream.

If you read the Acts and the Epistles written by the Apostle Paul, you will see that quite a number of people at that time who were preaching the Gospel and working for the Lord were not in the stream. According to the record of the Scripture, they were not in the stream. For instance, in the first chapter of Philippians the Apostle tells us that there were some who preached the Gospel because of envy. They were preaching the Gospel, but they were not working together with the Apostle. Although they preached the Gospel, they were not in the one stream of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts you can find another example. Consider Barnabas. At the beginning Barnabas was working with the Apostle Paul. Both were in the one stream. But after a certain time, Barnabas for some reason would not agree to go along with the Apostle Paul. The two were divided. Do you find any record in the Acts of Barnabas after that division? No! He was out of the stream. He was still working for the Lord, but he was out of the stream. Are you clear about this matter? If you study carefully the history of the church, you will find that throughout the generations there has been one stream of the Holy Spirit flowing all the time. Many have been working for the Lord, but not all have been in the flowing of that one stream. If you will accept the mercy and the grace of the Lord, you will be brought into that very stream that is flowing today.

Subjecting Ourselves to the Current of the Work of the Holy Spirit

Let me give you a further personal word. I had no intention of coming to the United States, but the flowing of the Holy Spirit carried me here. I could not help it. Furthermore, my intention was that I would soon return to the Far East. But the flowing is still Westward, and I could not return. My direction was Eastward, but the flowing of the Spirit was Westward. All I can do is simply be carried along by this flow. How wonderful to be in this stream! Oh, here is the life, here is the fellowship, here is the testimony, and here is the work of God!

What we must do today is just go along with the stream, just subject ourselves to the current of the work of the Holy Spirit. In this matter I have no personal liberty. It is not according to my thoughts, but according to His flowing. The words of a hymn say: “Not where we elect to go, / But where Jesus leads the way, / There the living waters flow, / There our darkness turns to day” (Hymns, #907). (CWWL, 1963, vol. 1, “The Divine Stream”)

Questions:

We read that in the river of living water is growing the tree of life, yielding its fruit every month. What does this show?
In Acts we can see a picture of the flowing of the stream of divine life. What revelation do we have through this?
We have seen how wonderful to be in this stream! Here is the life, here is the fellowship, here is the testimony, and here is the work of God! So what should we do?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty-Five
The Great Mystery—Christ and the Church

Hymns, #824

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 3:4 By which, in reading it, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ.

5:32 This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.

The Great Mystery Being Christ and the Church

The Bible unveils a number of mysteries. However, there is a particular mystery that is described by Paul as great. In Ephesians 5: 32 Paul says, “This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.” According to this verse, the great mystery is Christ and the church. If we wish to know God, God’s way, and God’s purpose, all of which are mysteries, we must know Christ and the church, for Christ and the church are the great mystery.

God is a mystery. We believe that God exists, but we do not know where He is. We may say that He is in us, but God’s being in us is itself a mystery. Christ also is a mystery. We can never exhaust speaking about Christ. Throughout the world people speak day and night concerning Christ. But where is Christ? He is real, yet He is hidden. Like God, Christ is a mystery. Besides these two mysteries, there is another mystery—the great mystery. This great mystery is composed of the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ.

Christ is the mystery of God because in Christ we have the definition, explanation, manifestation, expression, and embodiment of the mysterious God. Christ is God defined, God explained, God manifested, God expressed, and God embodied. Hence, Christ is the mystery of God. If we know Christ, we can be assured that we know God, for Christ is the mystery of God.

Having a Living and Direct Contact with Christ
when We Gather Together

Christ and the church have been attacked by Satan, the subtle enemy of God. Both throughout the course of church history and in today’s Christianity, Satan has utilized many things to divert the believers’ attention from Christ and the church and even to blind them from seeing Christ and the church. The main things that the enemy has used to distract the believers are religious forms, teachings, and spiritual gifts.

The subtle enemy has utilized religious forms to replace Christ in the lives of many believers. Because these forms replace Christ, they are a great offense to the Lord. When we meet together, we should not come to a “service” and focus on forms, rituals, and the so-called clergy. Rather, we should focus on Christ, the Head of the church, directly and in a living way. When we gather together, we must have a living and direct contact with Christ. Only this kind of contact is true worship to Christ (John 4:23-24).

The enemy has used many good teachings, such as the teaching concerning absolute grace, eternal security, and predestination, as substitutes for Christ. It is entirely possible to hear many sermons and receive much teaching and biblical knowledge yet not be brought into a living contact with Christ. Our primary need is not teachings but the living Christ. Whenever we meet together, we need to touch and be touched by the living Christ.

Dropping the Forms and
Exercising Our Spirit to Contact Christ

Besides forms and teachings, the enemy of God uses a third item-spiritual gifts-to distract people from Christ. Many believers are preoccupied with the gifts of speaking in tongues and divine healing. They are “experts” in these things but have little genuine knowledge and experience of Christ. Many in Pentecostalism have been blinded by the gifts, and as a result, they have little room in their being for Christ Himself.

Forms have frustrated us from experiencing Christ. It is wrong for us to remain under the bondage of forms. If we drop the forms, whether we come to a meeting early or on time, we will exercise our spirit to contact Christ. We will call a hymn according to the inner anointing. After singing the hymn, other saints may follow us to exercise their spirit to pray or testify. To meet in this way is to have a living meeting in which we are released from the bondage of forms.

Needing to Have the Lord’s Anointing
to Speak in the Meetings

To speak in the meetings, we need to have the Lord’s anointing. Then when we speak, whatever we say should be a living word full of Christ, not merely a word full of objective teaching. When we speak under the Lord’s anointing, even if we speak concerning a certain biblical truth, we will water those who hear. As a result of our speaking under the anointing, the saints will be refreshed and anointed. Like fresh oil or the dew of the morning, our speaking will refresh and strengthen them. What refreshes is not the teaching itself but the living word with the living Christ. Our need today is to release the word and to be under such speaking.

Some believers gather together simply to speak in tongues or exercise divine healing. We should never come together in order to demonstrate or exercise our gifts for the sake of the gifts themselves. Rather, we should come together to exercise our spirit to contact the Lord. I am not against the spiritual gifts, just as I am not against teachings, but if we practice the gifts, we must be under the anointing, in the spirit, and in living contact with the Lord. Only in such a condition will we be able to genuinely minister Christ to the saints.

The Building Up of God’s Dwelling Place Being Possible
Only if We Learn to Live by Christ and Take Him
as Our Life and Our Everything

The building up of God’s house, God’s dwelling place, is possible only if we drop the forms, the teachings, and the spiritual gifts and learn to live by Christ and take Him as our life and our everything. When we learn to experience Christ in such a way and minister to one another the Christ whom we have experienced, we will be built together in Christ. As a result, we will be the house of God. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “Exercising Our Spirit to Practice the Body Life,” ch. 2)

Questions:

The Bible unveils a number of mysteries. However, there is a particular mystery that is described by Paul as great. What is this great mystery composed of?
The subtle enemy has utilized religious forms to replace Christ in the lives of many believers. How should we overcome the enemy’s distraction?
What should we do in order to be built together in Christ to be the house of God?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty-Six
Enjoying the Riches of Christ to Become the Fullness of Christ

Hymns, #542

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 3:8 To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel

1:23 Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

Christ Having the Unsearchable Riches

The fullness of Christ is produced out of the riches of Christ. When we all enjoy the riches of Christ, His riches enter into our spirit, and from our spirit they provide the supply to every part of our being, saturating and transforming every part of us. In this way our entire being becomes the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 3:8 says, “To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.” This testifies that the riches of Christ are unsearchable, immeasurable, and unlimited. They are all that Christ is, such as love, grace, light, life, power, holiness, victory, the way, the truth, righteousness, wisdom, patience, humility, meekness, joy, peace, and comfort. All that He is, is truly abundant. The riches of Christ are unsearchable.

The Church Being the Fullness of Christ

Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The One who fills all in all is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. To put it simply, the church is Christ’s Body, and this Body is Christ’s fullness. We may illustrate this with our own body. If as I stand here, you see only my head and not my body, you do not see my fullness. However, if you see my head together with my body, my fullness is manifested. A person’s body is the fullness of his head and whole person. If my head is healthy but my body is thin and weak, you still cannot see any fullness. If a person’s body matches his head, his fullness is expressed. Likewise, the church is the fullness of Christ. Christ is the Head, and the church is His Body, which is His fullness, the fullness of the Head, who fills all in all. Christ needs a universal Body as His fullness to express Him. This Body is the church.

Allowing the Lord to Gain the Ground within Us
and Fill Our Whole Being
So That We May Become the Fullness of Christ

When we gradually allow the Lord to gain more ground in us, letting Him transform our soul by overflowing from our spirit to saturate our mind, emotion, and will, we no longer live according to our natural thought, feeling, and judgment but according to our spiritual thought, feeling, and judgment. In this spiritual thought, feeling, and judgment there is the element of Christ, because Christ has mingled Himself with and saturated the inner parts of our soul. When we live according to the spiritual mind, emotion, and will, our living is not merely good but Christly, and it becomes the reality of the church. The reality of the church, the real church life, is the overflow of Christ. It is the transformed part of our being that is the fullness of Christ.

The Way to Enjoy the Riches of Christ;
Christ Making His Home in Our Hearts

Since the fullness of Christ is produced through our enjoyment of the riches of Christ, we must know the way to enjoy His riches. Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” This does not say in a general way that Christ makes His home “in you,” Instead, it definitely says that Christ makes His home “in your hearts,” This means that even though Christ has already entered into our spirit, it is still possible that He has not made His home in our heart. Our spirit is the center of our being, and our heart is like a large circle surrounding our spirit. Christ has already entered into the center, but He has not made His home in the large circle. Although Christ is in our spirit, He still needs to occupy our entire heart, our entire being. Therefore, we need to let Christ spread from within our spirit to occupy our heart and our entire being. In this way Christ will be able to make His home in our entire being.

Praying over the Lord’s Word
until It Is Absorbed into Our Spirit

If we desire to be filled in our spirit with the Lord, we must let His word dwell in us. For this reason we must pray the Lord’s word into our spirit. When our spirit is filled with the Lord’s word, we overflow with praises to Him; this is the overflow of our spirit. If we desire to be filled in our spirit with the Lord, to be full of Him in our spirit, we must pray over the Lord’s word until it is absorbed into our spirit.

Another way to read the Bible is to receive the Lord’s word into our spirit. When the word is absorbed into our spirit through prayer, our spirit overflows with praises. We need to see that there are two ways, or methods, to receive the word. One way is to under-stand and receive it with the mind. This way does not cause you to overflow with praises. It only causes you to acquire knowledge and become dry. The other way is to receive the word with your spirit. When you pray-read the word, you use your spirit to take the word into you. Then when the word enters into your spirit, it becomes Spirit.

Not Using Our Mind to Consider the Word
but Using Our Spirit to Read and Pray over It Directly

The way to turn the word into prayer is to read and pray over it directly. Once we read something, we should pray over it. After reading a sentence or a verse, we should pray over it without considering it or trying to understand it with our mind. We simply need to pray with our spirit and receive the word into our spirit. Then we will spontaneously understand what we read. This kind of pray-reading enables us not only to understand but also to enjoy. By turning the word into prayer, we receive it into our spirit, which is to receive the Lord into us. Therefore, I hope that we all will change our way of reading the Bible and stop reading it only with our mind. We are not reading the word merely for our learning and under-standing. Instead, we are reading it by praying over it. Whenever we read, we should pray, not using our own words but praying with whatever we read. This is to turn the word into prayer.

When we practice pray-reading either by ourselves or with other brothers and sisters, we should simply open the Bible and take a few verses. It does not matter if we cannot memorize them. We should simply look at what we read and pray accordingly. Our prayer should not be long or dragging but real and living. We should not try to compose an essay or form proper sentences. Instead, we should be short, quick, living, strong, and real. It does not matter if our sentences are incomplete. This kind of praying and reading of the Bible can be accomplished with even half a sentence. If we pray-read back and forth and mutually, each one pray-reading freely in the spirit and being short, quick, and real, we will truly enjoy the Lord in our spirit. (CWWL, 1966, vol. 3, “The Transformation of Life and the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 6)

Questions:

The riches of Christ are unsearchable, immeasurable, and unlimited. What are the riches of Christ?
What kind of life is the real church life, the overflow of Christ?
The fullness of Christ is produced through our enjoyment of the riches of Christ. How can we enjoy His riches?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty-Seven
Pray-reading the Word

Hymns, #811

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 6:17 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.

Jer. 15:16 Your words were found and I ate them, And Your word became to me The gladness and joy of my heart, For I am called by Your name, O Jehovah, God of hosts.

The Word of God Being Taken by Means of All Prayer

Having seen that the Word of God is the very essence of God Himself and that it is for our spiritual enjoyment and nourishment, we must now see the proper way to come to the Word. What is it? We must look at the Word of God as recorded in Ephesians 6:17-18: “Receive … the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the Word of God.” It is the Spirit that is the Word of God. Then verse 18 continues: “By means of all prayer and petition.” The verses then together are: “Receive … the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition.” In what way are we to take the Word of God according to this passage? By means of all prayer and petition. This is what we call pray-reading! Again, we must repeat—the Word of God must be taken by means of all prayer.

How to Pray-Read

Pray-Reading Privately

Simply pick up the Word and pray-read a few verses in the morning and in the evening. There is no need for you to exercise your mind in order to squeeze out some utterance, and it is unnecessary to think over what you read. Just pray with the same words you read. On every page and in every verse there is a living prayer.

There is no need to close your eyes when you are pray-reading. Keep your eyes on the Word as you pray. In all sixty-six books of the Bible, we cannot find one verse which says that we must close our eyes to pray, but there is a verse telling us that Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven, saying, “Father…” (John 17:1). He was looking toward heaven while He was praying. We would not argue in a doctrinal way, but we must realize that there is no need for us to close our eyes when we pray. It is better for us to close our mind! For example, in pray-reading Galatians 2:20 simply look at the printed page, which says, “I am crucified with Christ.” Then with your eyes upon the Word and praying from deep within, say:

“Praise the Lord, ‘I am crucified with Christ.’ Hallelujah! ‘Crucified with Christ.’ Amen! ‘I am.’ 0 Lord, ‘I am crucified.’ Praise the Lord! ‘Crucified with Christ.’ Amen! ‘I am crucified with Christ.’ Hallelujah! Amen! ‘And it is no longer.’ Amen. ‘No longer.’ Amen. ‘I who live.’ 0 Lord. ‘I who live.’ Hallelujah! Amen! ‘But it is Christ who lives in me,’ etc.” Then perhaps you will turn to John 10:10 and read, “I have come that they may have life.’’ Then with your eyes still on the Bible you can pray: “‘I have come.’ Amen! ‘I have come.’ Hallelujah! ‘I have come that they may have life.’ Praise the Lord! ‘May have life.’ Hallelujah! ‘Life.’ Amen! ‘Life.’ 0 Lord, ‘Life.’”

There is no need for you to compose any sentences or create a prayer. Just pray-read the Word. Pray the words of the Bible exactly as they read. Eventually, you will see that the whole Bible is a prayer book! You can open to any page of the Bible and start to pray with any portion of the Word.

Perhaps you are quite familiar with the entire book of Romans. But even today, you still need to pray-read one or two verses of it. Though we may know all about food, yet we still must partake of some food daily. Regardless of how much we know about it, we still must eat it! To know is one thing, but to eat is another. We must not only know food, we must eat it. How many times have you read the Gospel of John? Perhaps you have read it more than fifty times. But how much of that book has been taken into you as your nourishment and enjoyment? To know, to understand, and even to recite the Gospel of John is one thing. But to take it in, to eat it or to enjoy it bit by bit, is another thing. You may have been a Christian for many years, but regardless of how long you have been a Christian and regardless of how many times you have read this book, you must not only read it, but pray-read it! You must eat it, partake of it, and enjoy it day by day.

Pray-Read with Others

For more enjoyment and nourishment and to pray-read the Word properly and adequately, we need the Body, the church. We may enjoy pray-reading the Word privately, but if we try it with a group of other Christians, we will be in the third heavens! The explanation of this is that food is for the whole Body, not merely for one member alone. We do not eat food simply for the sake of our arm; neither should we think that the hand can eat food by itself. No, the food is to be eaten by the Body, and the food is for the Body. The principle is that eating is for the Body, not just for the members. Therefore, the best way to pray-read is with other members of the Body. You will profit by pray-reading alone, but you will see the difference when you come together with other brothers and sisters.

Four Words in Pray-Reading

When we come together to pray-read with other brothers and sisters, there are four words we must remember: quick, short, real, and fresh. First we need to pray quickly, without hesitating. When we are quick to pray, we have no time to use our mind and to consider. Then our prayers must be short, because long prayers need some composition. We must forget about composing a long prayer and just utter a phrase or a sentence. Do it in a quick and short way.

And we also need to be real, not pretending. Say something in a real way. Finally, our prayers must be fresh, not old. The best way to be fresh is not to pray with our own words, but with the words of the Bible. Every part and every line of this book can be used as a prayer, and it will be the freshest prayer!

Thousands have proven that this is the right way to come to the Word of God. It has revolutionized their lives. It may seem awkward at first, but with practice and a sincere heart, you will touch the living Spirit. If you will try this both privately and corporately, you will be able to testify of the riches of Christ that have been imparted to you by pray-reading the Word of God. You will see blessing and growth in your spiritual life. There will be a great change. By contacting the Word in this way to enjoy Christ and be nourished by Him, you will be a person growing to maturity, full of life and saturated with this living One. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 1, “Pray-Reading the Word”)

Questions:

According to the Word of God as recorded in Ephesians 6:17-18, how can we take the Word of God?
How can we take the Bible into us as our nourishment and enjoyment?
When we come together to pray-read with other brothers and sisters, what are the four words that we need to remember?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty-Eight
Calling on the Name of the Lord

Hymns, #255

Scripture Reading:

2 Cor. 4:16 There.

Lam. 3:55-56 I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, From the lowest pit. You have heard my voice; do not hide Your ear at my breathing, at my cry.

Rom. 10:10 For with the heart there is believing unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is confession unto salvation.

2 Tim. 2:22 But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

To Call on the Name of the Lord Being to Breathe and to Cry

Lamentations 3:55-56 says, “I called upon Your name, O Jehovah,/ From the lowest pit. / You have heard my voice; do not hide / Your ear at my breathing, at my cry” These two verses give a clear and full definition of calling on the name of the Lord. To call on the name of the Lord is to breathe and to cry. That is, our calling on the name of the Lord is our breathing and our crying. To cry is not to pray or to utter something in a quiet voice. To cry is to cry out audibly, even to shout. Thus, to call on the name of the Lord is to cry out, “O Lord Jesus!” We all, especially those who have a quiet disposition, need to practice calling on the name of the Lord by crying out, “Lord Jesus!” (CWWL, 1971, vol. 3, “Gaining People and Building Them Up for the Body of Christ,” ch. 3)

Not Just Praying to the Lord Jesus,
but Confessing the Lord Jesus, Calling upon His Name

In Romans 10 Paul said, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ that is, to bring Christ down; or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ that is, to bring Christ up from the dead” (vv. 6-7). You do not need someone to bring Christ down from the heavens for you or to bring Christ up from the abyss for you. As the last Adam, He has come down from the heavens and has risen up from the abyss. He was incarnated, coming down from the heavens. He was resurrected, rising up from the abyss. He has completed all of His traffic. Now where is He? Christ, who is the end of the law, is not far from you. Paul said that He is in your mouth (v. 8). Many say that we have to believe in the Lord Jesus in our heart. This is true but we also need to exercise our mouth. Romans 10 says you have to confess, “Lord Jesus,” with your mouth (v. 9). You should not merely exercise your heart; you also have to use your mouth.

Many of you have not used your mouth. You may say that you have prayed much, but have you ever shouted, calling on Jesus with your mouth? Use your mouth, not just to pray to the Lord Jesus, but to confess the Lord Jesus, to call upon His name. I hope that you all would underline the word mouth in Romans 10. You have to use your mouth to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. Romans 10 does not say that the Lord is rich unto all that believe in Him, worship Him, meditate on Him, or pray to Him. It says that the Lord is rich to all who call upon Him (v. 12). Have you ever called upon the Lord? I am sharing something with you that is missed by Christianity. Many will tell you that you have to believe in the Lord Jesus. Then you have to confess your failures and sins to the Lord and pray much. But in today’s Christianity, the matter of calling on the name of the Lord has been and still is missed. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “The Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ,” ch. 4)

Pursuing with Those Who Call on the Lord

In 2 Timothy 2 Paul charged Timothy, his spiritual son, to “pursue righteousness, faith, Jove, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (v. 22). To pursue “with those” indicates that Timothy was to pursue not individually, by himself, but corporately. Furthermore, Paul did not ask Timothy to pursue with those who study the Word, seek holiness, pray daily, or fast. Paul charged Timothy to pursue with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. This shows the importance of calling on the name of the Lord. Although calling on the name of the Lord is vital, very few Christians practice it. The strategy of the subtle enemy is to keep whatever is vital away from God’s people. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 3, “Gaining People and Building Them Up for the Body of Christ,” ch. 3)

All the Proper Christians
Living a Life of Calling on the Lord’s Name

Brothers and sisters, this shows us that in the first century all the proper Christians lived a life of calling on the Lord’s name. I do not doubt at all that they called on the Lord every day. They called on the Lord at home, and they called on the Lord while walking on the street. I hope that all of you also will build up such a practice.

In Los Angeles we more or less have a taste of this. At least three hundred of us live in the neighborhood surrounding meeting hall number one, so when we go out, we frequently run into some saints, especially when we go to the supermarkets. When we see one another, we call, “O Lord Jesus!” This one will call, “O Lord!” and the other will answer, “Amen!” Many are always calling, “O Lord Jesus!”, and they truly have the enjoyment of calling on the name of the Lord.

Needing to Practice Calling on the Lord

In Deuteronomy Moses told the people of God that our God Jehovah is near all those who call on Him (4:7). Do you want God to be near to you? Do you want to have the presence of God? Then you must call on Him. Try it. Whether you are sitting at home, walking on the way, riding in a car, eating a meal, or even talking with people, when you call, “O Lord!” the Lord is right in front of you. This is neither superstition nor imagination. You must practice calling on the Lord! (CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “The Lord’s Recovery of Eating,” msg. 4)

Christ is the Spirit; when we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into the Spirit. After we were baptized into the Spirit, we obtained the position to drink this Spirit. This verse in the original language means that we were put in the position for us to drink this Spirit. How do we drink this Spirit? Verse 3 of the same chapter says, “No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” In other words, once you say, “Lord Jesus!”, immediately you are in the Holy Spirit, and you are drinking the Spirit.

Our calling on the Lord is our breathing the Lord. However, our breathing includes drinking, and our drinking includes eating. When you call upon the Lord, at first it is like breathing. Then after you breathe for a while, you feel that there is living water in you springing up; thus, you drink the living water. As you continue to call, you also eat and are satisfied.

Hallelujah! The Lord has given us such a simple and direct way, that is, to call upon the Lord’s name and to pray-read the Lord’s word. In this way we enjoy all that the is. I hope that all of us will really practice this. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “The Lord’s Recovery of Eating,” msg. 3)

Questions:

Please read Lamentations 3:55-56 again. What is the clear and full definition of calling on the name of the Lord according to two verses?
Christ was incarnated, coming down from the heavens. He was resurrected, rising up from the abyss. He has completed all of His traffic. Now where is He?
Do you want God to be near to you? Do you want to have the presence of God? Then what must we do?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Twenty-Nine
Breathing the Lord

Hymns, #255

Scripture Reading:

1 Cor. 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul’’; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

The Lord Jesus Being Our Breath of Life

We all know that food is very important to mankind, but water is more important than food, and air is even more important than water. We may stop eating, but we cannot stop breathing. Once we stop breathing, our life is over. We may eat less and drink less, but we cannot breathe less. We cannot stop breathing in the morning and wait until noon to breathe again; this is impossible. We live and move in the air, and we subsist by means of the air. The Bible says that the Lord Jesus is not only our food (6: 35) and our living water (7:37-38) but also our breath of life.

This is my genuine testimony. Whenever I breathe in the Lord as the breath of life, not only am I refreshed in my spirit and clear in my mind, but my body also feels rested. Hence, the secret to health is not only to deeply breathe the fresh outdoor air but also to take deep “spiritual breaths,” taking in the Lord Jesus as the breath of life. If you rise up every day and deeply breathe in the Lord Jesus for a while, your entire person will be refreshed and healthy. I am not speaking something in a superstitious way. 1f someone tries to breathe deeply in front of a statue of Buddha where incense and papers are burning, he will not feel relaxed and refreshed. When I lived in Shanghai and Hongchow, I observed that many people, particularly elderly women, worshipped Buddha to the point of obsession. However, the more they did this, the more sorrowful their countenance became. However, if we, the believers in the Lord, come forward to Him and spend time with Him, we will forget our troubles, our circumstances, and our sorrows. When we come forward to the Lord and call on Him, our knit brows are gradually smoothed out, and our countenance is filled with joy. This is not a mere psychological effect but an issue of the Lord as the breath of life, the Spirit of life, coming into us as fresh air. (CWWL, 1966, vol. 3, “The Transformation of Life and the Building Up of the Church,” msg. 1)

Breathing by Praying

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul charges us to pray without ceasing. What does it mean to pray unceasingly? Although we may eat several meals a day and although we may drink many times during the day, no one can eat and drink without ceasing. But we certainly breathe unceasingly. Paul’s command to pray without ceasing implies that unceasing prayer is like breathing. But how can our prayer become our spiritual breathing? How can we turn prayer into breathing? The way to do this is to call on the name of the Lord. We need to call on the Lord Jesus continually. This is the way to breathe, to pray without ceasing. Because we are not accustomed to this, we need to practice calling on the Lord’s name all the time. To live is to breathe. Spiritually speaking, to breathe is to call on the Lord’s name and to pray. By calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, we breathe the Spirit. (Life-study of Philippians, msg. 34)

Breathing Christ by Pray-reading the Word

Whenever we open the holy Word, no matter what chapter or verse we turn to, we should receive the word by breathing. Suppose we open to Romans 8. While we are reading, we need to practice spiritual breathing. We may read verse 4: “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit,” Normally, when we read such a verse, we try to understand it. We may go to a concordance or a Bible dictionary to find out what the righteous requirement of the law is. However, my advice to you is not to focus on understanding what you read. Simply pray-read this verse in this way: “The righteous requirement of the law; Amen, Lord,” While you are reading, you can say Amen to what you read. Satan may come in to distract you by asking you, “Do you know what the meaning of the righteous requirement of the law is?” You should tell him, “Satan, get away from me. I am not trying to understand. I only want to say Amen to God’s word,” When we pray-read by saying Amen to the word, we spontaneously exercise our spirit as our spiritual breathing organ. As a result, Christ as the life-giving Spirit, the divine air, enters into us. This is the way for us to breathe Christ. We can breathe Christ both by groaning from deep within—“O Lord, O Lord”—and by pray-reading the word.

Experiencing the Body Life by Breathing the Lord

In recent years many seeking Christians have spoken much about the life and expression of the Body of Christ through the function of the members. They mean that when Christians meet together, they should all function. Although a number of believers have aspired to this, it has proven to be difficult for them. However, I assure you that if you spend some time every day to breathe the Lord by calling on Him and by pray-reading His word, your spirit will be exercised and will spontaneously be strong. You will become accustomed to exercising your spirit. Then whenever you come to a meeting, it will be easy for you to speak something. You can select a line or a phrase in a hymn to utter a prayer or a praise to the Lord. You can also choose a verse, a sentence, or a word in the Bible as the basis for you to speak something. This depends on your daily practice.

The more we practice these two ways to breathe the Lord Jesus, the more we will become accustomed to them. When we come to the church meetings, our spirit will be very active, strong, and living. While we are singing hymns and pray-reading the Scriptures, we will not be able to keep our mouth shut, because we will be full of Christ. It will be easy for us to utter something in the meetings. We will all function together in a pleasant order.

It is not a matter of reading the Bible and pray-reading in a mechanical way. It is a matter of enjoying the Lord. When we say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah,” and say Amen to every word of the Bible, we enjoy the Lord. As a result of this enjoyment, we grow, we have a strong spirit, and we are living. When we come to the church meetings, we come with a living, strong, and active spirit to exhibit Christ, to share Christ with others, and to take Christ in more and more. If all the saints are like this, the meetings will be living, uplifted, enriched, and edifying, and the church will be built up. Furthermore, we will spontaneously have the Body life with all the members functioning. There will be no need for us to observe certain religious forms and rituals. There will be no need for us to invite a speaker to give us a sermon, and there will be no need for us to merely sit and listen to his speaking. Because we have all become accustomed to uttering something from our spirit, we will be able to function in a good coordination. Spontaneously, we will minister Christ to one another. This will exalt Christ, glorify the Father, edify the saints, and build up the church. After every meeting the spirits of the saints will be nourished, and everyone will be satisfied and strengthened. This is the right way for us to serve the Lord. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “Enjoying the Riches of Christ to Become the Body as His Fullness,” ch. 5)

Questions:

What is the secret to health of Christians? Is it only to deeply breathe the fresh outdoor air?
Paul’s command to pray without ceasing implies that unceasing prayer is like breathing. But how can our prayer become our spiritual breathing?
Although we have aspired to function in church meetings, it has proven to be difficult for us. What should we do?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty
The Sevenfold Intensified Spirit

Hymns, #1122

Scripture Reading:

Rev. 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.

3:1 And to the messenger of the church in Sardis write: These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you are living, and yet you are dead.

The Sevenfold Spirit

Furthermore, the Spirit in Revelation is the sevenfold Spirit. The one Spirit becomes seven because it is now the age of the intensified Spirit. We need the sevenfold Spirit. This is not seven Spirits but the sevenfold Spirit, the intensified Spirit.

Peter, John, and Matthew only needed the one-fold Spirit, but today we need the sevenfold Spirit because we are so dead. Peter was not as dead as we are, so Peter only needed the one-fold Spirit. But we are too dead. We need the Spirit to be intensified. We have dead teachings, we have dead doctrines, and we even make the Bible dead. We have so many dead churches, dead Christians, and dead books. Therefore, today we need the sevenfold Spirit. Are we in a living situation or a dead one? I believe we all would agree that we are in a dead situation.

Today Being the Age of the Sevenfold Intensified Spirit

O brothers and sisters, the age has been changed! The age has been changed! Today is not the age of Matthew but the age of Revelation, and we must realize that now we are not at the beginning of the age of Revelation but at the end. The age has been changed to the Spirit.

Do you think that this is only my opinion? Read your Bible again. Matthew tells us that God was incarnated so that we might be baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. But in Revelation something has been changed. The Spirit becomes the second person of the Godhead.

Read Revelation again. The age has been changed. Even the order of the Godhead has been changed, because of the deadness. Christianity today is dead. It is a dead religion. We need the book of Revelation. We need a change and a turn. Even in this book John the apostle was turned: ‘‘I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands” (1:12).

We all need a turn, and we all need to be turned. We need to be isolated from today’s Christianity. At that time John was isolated on an island. Then he heard a voice, and when he turned, he saw seven golden lampstands. Let me ask you, “Have you seen?” I do not ask, “Do you know?” I ask, “Have you seen?”

We all need a turn from the dead doctrines to the sevenfold Spirit. We need a turn from the dead teachings to the sevenfold Spirit. We need a turn from the dead knowledge to the sevenfold Spirit. We even need a turn from our Bible of dead letters to the sevenfold Spirit.

It is not just my opinion that the age has been changed. From now on, the Lord will never honor the dead teachings. The dead teaching ministry is over. Today is the age of the sevenfold intensified Spirit.

Today the Spirit of God is the sevenfold Spirit, and this title of the Spirit is used four times in the book of Revelation (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). The Lord Jesus is the Holder of this intensified Spirit. “These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars” (3:1). The Lord is the Holder of the sevenfold Spirit, and He is also the Holder of the seven stars. He holds the sevenfold Spirit, and He holds us. So the sevenfold Spirit is just for us.

The Intensified Spirit for the Local Churches

The age has truly been changed. It is not just a matter of the word spoken by the Lord or the word written in the Bible, but the speaking of the sevenfold Spirit. The intensified Spirit speaks to the local churches. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” This word has been repeated seven times by the Lord (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).

Today people speak so much about the universal church, but they look down upon the local churches. However, the Lord Jesus in Revelation speaks to the local churches. If He is speaking to the local churches, yet you are outside the local churches, you will completely miss this book. I do believe this is why this book is closed to so many. They only know the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. They have never seen the sevenfold Spirit for the local churches, because they are not in the local churches. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to whom? Is it to the saints, the universal church, the church in the heavens, or the New Jerusalem? No, it is to the churches, to the local churches.

So we see that the sevenfold Spirit is for the local churches. So many Christians have not seen the sevenfold Spirit. But this is in the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. The Spirit’s position has been changed from the third place to the second place, and He has been intensified. One Spirit has become the sevenfold Spirit, and this is for the purpose of the local churches. It is not for you or me individually or for the church in the heavens. It is for the local churches on earth. “To the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace… from the seven Spirits” (1:4). The sevenfold Spirit is not for any individual or for the so-called universal church but for the local churches on this earth.

Today we need the intensified Spirit because of the degradation of the church. When the book of Revelation was written, the church had become degraded. The Lord became the intensified Spirit because of the degradation of the church. The history of the church tells us that even in the last part of the first century while the apostle John was still alive, the church had degraded from the Spirit to religion. The church had fallen from the living Spirit to dead religion. It was in such a situation that the Lord wrote this book to the seven local churches, using the title of the sevenfold Spirit. Under the degradation of the church, what we need is not religion or doctrines but the intensified Spirit. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 2, “The Seven Spirits for the Local Churches,” ch. 1)

Questions:

Peter, John, and Matthew only needed the one-fold Spirit, but why do we need the sevenfold Spirit today?
The age has been changed. Today is the age of the sevenfold intensified Spirit. What should we do?
Now the sevenfold Spirit is speaking and the intensified Spirit speaks to the local churches. How can we hear what the Spirit says?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty-One
Christ versus Religion

Hymns, #541

Scripture Reading:

Rom. 2:29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, in spirit, not in letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God.

Matt. 2:9 And after they heard the king, they went their way, and behold, the star which they saw at its rising led them until it came and stood over the place where the child was.

Mark 2:19 And Jesus said to them, The sons of the bridechamber cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? For as long a time as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.

Christ versus Religion

What is it to be religious? To be religious is simply to be sound, scriptural, and fundamental, yet without the presence of Christ. If we lack His presence, regardless of how scriptural we are, we are simply religious. Paul in these two verses of Romans laid a solid foundation for Christ versus religion. Today our service, our work, and even our life must be altogether in the spirit, not merely according to the letters of the written Bible. I know that when I say this I run a risk. I will be charged with the heresy of turning people away from the Bible. But I simply refer you to these two passages of Scripture, Romans 2:29 and Romans 7:6. Everyone must admit that the word “letter” in these passages refers to the written Scriptures. There can be no argument. Christ is versus religion; Christ is versus the written code. We may have the right quotation from the written code, yet miss Christ, just as the Pharisees and scribes in ancient times. We must be alert not to pay that much attention to the written code. If we do, it is altogether possible and extremely probable that we will miss Christ. The only way of safety is to behold “with unveiled face the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” ch. 11)

The Finding of Jesus Being Absolutely Outside of Religion

From the record of Matthew we see that all things related to Christ took place outside of religion. In that day, Judaism was the genuine religion, the religion founded according to God’s Holy Word. But everything concerning Christ took place outside of that. In other words, Christ had nothing to do with religion.

Matthew chapter 2 then proceeds to tell us how people found this Christ. He was not found in religion, neither was He found by any religious people. He was not found in Jerusalem, He was not found in the temple, neither was He found by any priest or any holy people. We are all familiar with the account of the heavenly star appearing in a pagan country to people with no Bible and no genuine religion. We know also how those heathen wise men exercised their natural mind, concluding that the King of the Jews should be born in Jerusalem. In so doing, they caused many young lives to be taken. But eventually they found Jesus. They found Him mainly not according to Biblical knowledge. You remember that when they came to Jerusalem, King Herod called the scribes and the Pharisees, those who had the knowledge of the Bible. They all gave Herod the proper and exact quotation, Micah chapter 5, verse 2, telling that Christ would be born in Bethlehem. They had the knowledge, they had the exact scriptural references, but none of them went to see Christ. They were for the Scriptures, they were for the Bible, but they were not for Christ. They paid attention to Micah 5:2, foretelling the coming of Christ and even the birthplace of Christ; yet, when the news came of Christ’s birth, none of them went to behold it. The Christian religion today is exactly the same in principle. People talk about the Bible and have the knowledge concerning Christ, but rarely do you find one who really cares for Christ. They care for the Bible, they care for the prophecies, but they do not care for Christ.

Praise the Lord, there were some pagans from a pagan land who did care for Christ. The record of Matthew tells us that after they departed from Jerusalem, the star appeared to them again. I tell you, when you leave the denominations, when you leave the Christian religion, the star is there. Hallelujah, the star is there! When you get into religion, you miss the star, you miss the mark. When you go to the religious people, when you attempt to follow the dead letter of the Scripture, you miss the heavenly star and can never find Christ. When the wise men departed from Jerusalem, lo, the star appeared. Hallelujah! How good it is to have a heavenly star! Then they found Jesus. The finding of Jesus is absolutely outside of religion.

The Lord Today Being a Bridegroom to Us

The Lord Jesus is not speaking in doctrines or religious rituals, but pointing to Himself as the Bridegroom. Our God, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Lord and Master today is a Bride groom to us. We must all drop the religious concept and take up something new. I cannot force you, but I would ask you from this day to contact the Lord again and again with the sense that He is your Bridegroom. Would you? There is not much need to pray in the old religious way. I am afraid that when you forget God, you just forget Him; then, whenever you turn back to Him, you immediately pray in that old way. It is so easy to pray like that. But when you pray in the way of appreciating the Lord, it is entirely different. Do not think this is my teaching; it is the Lord’s revelation. The Lord is going to recover it, and He is doing it now. We must have a change. Repent! Change your concept! Be buried! Enjoy Jesus as the Bridegroom!

We need our concept radically changed. When we come to our meetings, the church meetings, we are coming to meet the Bridegroom. Whenever we come together, we are coming to be with our Bridegroom. His presence means everything to us. As long as He is with us, we need no regulations, no rituals, no doctrines or forms. Why does Christianity today need so many doctrines, forms, rituals, and regulations? Because they have lost the presence of the Lord. In a wedding we have the presence of the bridegroom, but in a funeral we have lost the presence of a dear one. In Christianity people have lost the presence of the dear One, so there is no excitement. But we have the presence of our Bridegroom, and His presence is everything to us. How could we help but be excited? We have to shout, we have to be exceedingly joyful. The Bridegroom is with us—Hallelujah! (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” ch. 1)

Questions:

We know that Christ is versus religion. What is religion?
How can we find Christ according to the record of Matthew?
When we come to our meetings, we need no regulations, no rituals, no doctrines or forms. So what do we need?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty-Two
Christ Being the Person of the Church

Hymns, #1180

Scripture Reading:

Phil. 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Rom. 15:6 That with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Church Being the New Man with Christ
Not Only as Its Life but Also as Its Person

The church is not only the Body of Christ but also a new person, the new man. As the Body, the church needs life. If there is no life in your body, it becomes a carcass, a corpse. The church as the Body is living because the church has life. As the new man the church needs not only the life but also a person. A man needs a person. The plants are living, but they need only life. They do not need a person, because they are not human beings. But the church is a great living being as the new man, so the church needs a person. The church as the Body of Christ has Christ as its life, and the church as the new man has Christ as its person. We all have to take Christ as our life and as our person. The church is not an organization but the living Body of Christ, having Christ as its life, and the new man, having Christ as its person.

A tree has life, but that life does not have any preferences, thoughts, and desires. The tree would never say, “Be merciful to me. Today’s weather is too cold. I need more clothing.” A real, living person, on the other hand, has a very sensitive personality. We have our preferences, thoughts, and desires. When someone is unhappy with us, we know it because we are living persons. The church as the new man has Christ as the most wonderful person. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 3, “The Greatest Prophecy in the Bible and Its Fulfillment,” ch. 3)

A Sweet Experience of Taking the Lord as Our Person

A sweet experience of taking the Lord as our person involves experiencing Him as the One living in us. When a sister has to discipline a disobedient child, she should open to the Lord and learn to take the Lord as her person. When she opens to the Lord, she will not only have a deep sense of the Lord’s way, but she will also be able to follow this sense, even if it is not according to her concept. Following the Lord in this way has a very different taste.

Paul is one who took the Lord as his person. He says, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). He does not simply say, “I live by Christ.” It is one thing to live by Christ, and it is quite another to live Christ. Can the sisters say, “To me, to live is my husband”? I believe many sisters can say that they live by their husband and listen to their husband because their husband is their head. However, accepting a husband’s headship in this way often results in bitterness. This can be seen in the fact that few wives pass up an opportunity to complain about their husband to others. If a sister truly took her husband as her person, there would be no bitterness and complaining, and everything would be sweet. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 3, “Taking Christ as Our Person for the Church Life,” msg. 7)

Taking Christ as Our Person in Speaking

The Body is a matter of being members one of another, but for the new man the requirements are even more than what the Body requires. For many years I read Romans 15:6, which says, “That with one accord you may with one mouth glorify God.” I felt that I did not understand this word. How could so many Christians come together and have only one mouth? I did not understand it at that time. One day, however, I saw that the church is one new man. How many mouths does a man have? It has one. Not only are we all members one of another, but we also all speak with one mouth. Do you see how much is required of us? It is already restricting enough to be members one of another, and now even when we speak, we all have to have one mouth. This is not my word; it is Paul’s word. How many mouths does the one new man have? One. Then who is the mouth? If you say that Christ is the mouth, you are too transcendent. In order to resolve this matter you must see that there is only one new man with only one person. In the whole body there is only one mouth, but who controls this mouth? It is the person who controls the mouth.

Only One Mouth

If you are the person, you have your own mouth. If I am the person, I have my own mouth. Thus, you have your mouth, and I have my mouth; therefore, there are two mouths. When each one is a person individually and each one speaks his own matters, we have many mouths. This is a society or a denomination, and this is the condition of today’s degraded Christianity. In the Lord’s recovery, however, the church is the Body, and the church is the one new man. The Body has Christ as life, and the new man has Christ as a person. When you speak, it is not you who are the person; when I speak, neither is it I. When anyone speaks, it is Christ who is the person. What is the result? The result is that there is only one mouth.

Speaking the Same Thing

This is why in 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul says that all “speak the same thing.” This verse greatly bothered me many years ago. I thought, “How could all Christians speak the same thing?” It seemed to me that this was impossible, but one day I understood. The church is the one new man with only one person, and this person controls our speaking, so whatever He speaks is surely “the same thing” that we all speak as the new man. Many preachers and pastors in today’s Christianity are all their own persons, all have their own mouths, and all speak their own things. Therefore, they have many mouths, each speaking a different thing. However, the church is not like this. The church is the one new man with Christ as her person. Whenever the brothers and sisters are about to speak something, they do not take themselves as the person; instead, they allow Christ to be the person. You let Christ be your person when you speak, and I let Christ be my person when I speak. Eventually, everyone speaks the same thing.

Consider the Bible. The Old and New Testaments contain sixty-six books written by more than forty different authors in many different places over a period of fifteen or sixteen hundred years. The first book, Genesis, was written about 1500 B.C., while the last book, Revelation, was written after A.D. 90. Do they all have one mouth? Do they all speak the same thing? The entire Bible has one mouth and speaks the same thing, even though it was written over a long period of time by many different people in many different places. Now you can understand what it means to have one mouth speaking the same thing. In the East, in the West, in the United States, in Germany, in Great Britain, in Japan, and in Korea, we can have many people speaking, but all have one mouth and say one thing. Although we are many and we come from many places, all of us have one mouth, and we all speak the same thing. This is because we all are the one new man having only one person. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” msg. 5)

Questions:

The church as the Body needs life. What does the church as the new man need?
What is a sweet experience of taking the Lord as our person? Please share your sweet experience of taking the Lord as your person.
If everyone who speaks in the church takes Christ as the person, what is the result?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty-Three
Life and Building

Hymns, #837

Scripture Reading:

Gen. 2:16 And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely.

22 And Jehovah God built the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman and brought her to the man.

The Bible Beginning and Ending with Life and Building

The Bible is very consistent. If you read it with insight and with the heavenly vision, you will discover that it begins with life and building. We see life and building in Genesis 2. Immediately after the creation of man, life was introduced. After the Lord God created man, He placed him in a garden in front of the tree of life (Gen.2:7-9). Following this mention of the tree of life, we see the flowing river and three precious materials: gold, bdellium, which is pearl, and onyx, a precious stone. According to the further revelation of the Scriptures, especially Revelation 21, these precious materials are for God’s building. In Genesis 2:22 we find specific mention of the building. “And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, builded he a woman, and brought her unto the man” (Heb.). God took a rib out of Adam’s side and used it to build him a wife. Thus, the man was created, but the woman was builded. In Genesis 2 we see life, the materials that proceed out of the flow of life, and the building of a wife. Therefore, in Genesis 2 we have life and building.

The book of Revelation also speaks of life. Revelation 2:7 says, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” This certainly is a reference to the tree of life in Genesis 2. Revelation 2:17 says, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone.” This verse speaks of a stone which, according to the Bible, has no purpose other than that of building. In the last two chapters of Revelation, which are the last two chapters of the Bible, we see the building of the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem the river of life flows and the tree of life grows in the waters of the river (Rev.22:1-2). Thus, it is clear that the Bible ends as it begins, with life and building.

Christ Being Life, and the Church Being a Building

We need to have an overview of the Bible as a whole. Many times in the past we have stressed that the Bible covers two main matters—Christ and the church. However, considered from another angle, the Bible is a book of life and building. Christ is life, and the church is a building. When we speak of Christ and the church, we must realize that Christ is life and that the church is a building. If you fail to realize that Christ is life and that the church is a building, then when you say these words they will simply be doctrinal terms. What is Christ? Christ is our life (Col.3:4). What is the church? The church is God’s building.

Life Being the Triune God Dispensed
and Wrought into Our Being

Christ is life and that the church is a building. But what is life? It is correct to say that life is Christ and that Christ is life. However, we must realize that life is Christ as God dispensed into our being. Although many Christians talk about Christ being life, not all have the experience of Christ as life. The genuine experience of Christ as life is in the realization that Christ is God Himself dispensed into our being. This is life. If you lack this realization, the word life may remain a mere term as far as you are concerned. Life is the Triune God dispensed and wrought into our being.

Although I do not drink alcoholic beverages, we may use the illustration of drinking a glass of wine. If I were to drink a tall glass of wine, after a short period of time my complexion would become colorful because of the effect of the wine upon my system. I would be bold, happy, and blissful. That would be the result of wine becoming life to me. However, if I only learn the meaning of the word wine, discussing it night and day and acquiring a great deal of knowledge about it, I would experience nothing. The wine would be unrelated to me. On the contrary, if you forget about discussing the wine and drink a large glass of it each day, you will know what wine is, for it will be dispensed into you, making you happy and ecstatic. Although this example may be poor, it is nevertheless very illustrative.

Do not talk about life without the realization of life. What is the realization of life? It is the living Triune God being wrought into us. The Lord Jesus never told us to talk about life. He said that He is the bread of life and that we have to eat Him (John6:57). He also told us that He gives the living water and that we must drink it (John4:10, 14). When you eat the bread, it will be wrought into you, and when you drink the water, it will be dispensed into you. No longer will you only have bread and water; you will have life. You will have Christ as the Triune God dispensed and wrought into your being. Do not put some artificial coloring on your face, but simply drink the heavenly wine and you will have a colorful complexion. Do not pretend to be joyful when inwardly you are filled with sorrow. If you realize that the Triune God has been dispensed into you, you will be happy and your joy will be full. This is life.

Building Being the Enlargement of God
to Express God in a Corporate Way

Building is actually the enlargement of God. Building is the enlargement of God to express God in a corporate way. We have seen that life is God Himself wrought into our being. If the Triune God has truly been wrought into us, the issue will be an enlargement and an expansion of God. As I have mentioned earlier in this message, God did not create a couple; He only created a man. The wife came out of the husband, becoming the enlargement of her husband. That was building. Eve, as the wife of Adam, was God’s building, and that building was the enlargement of Adam. Adam was a figure and type of God becoming a man, and Eve was a figure and type of God’s building. Since this building was a part of Adam, it was undoubtedly his enlargement and expansion.

We need to read the Bible carefully. In Genesis 1 God was alone. At the end of the book of Revelation, God is in the center of the holy city, New Jerusalem, which is His enlargement. In the beginning we find God Himself without any expansion or enlargement. However, throughout the ages and generations God has been working Himself into His chosen people. Eventually we all shall become His building, a building which is the enlargement of God Himself. Hence, this building will become God’s expansion, and this expansion will express God in a corporate way. This is God’s building. Building is not simply that I depend upon you, that you depend upon me, and that the brothers and sisters depend upon one another. That is not an adequate understanding of building. The proper building is the enlargement of God, the expansion of the Triune God, enabling God to express Himself in a corporate way. This is exactly the revelation of the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John reveals that the Triune God is dispensing Himself into His believers and that all His believers, as a result of the transfusion and infusion of the Triune God into them, become His enlargement. This enlargement of the Triune God is the expansion, the building, and the expression of God. This is the revelation of the Gospel of John. Thus, when we speak of the building of God, we mean that the Triune God as life is being wrought into us continually and that under His transfusion and infusion we are becoming His one expression. This expression is His enlargement and expansion. May this thought be written on our heart. (Life-study of John, msg. 1)

Questions:

From the record of Genesis and Revelation, what does the Bible begin with and end with?
We may talk about Christ being life, but how can we have the genuine experience of Christ as life?
Building is not simply that I depend upon you, that you depend upon me, and that the brothers and sisters depend upon one another. What is the propre building?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty-Four
The Processed and Consummated Triune God

Hymns, #501

Scripture Reading:

Matt. 1:23a “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel’’…

Col. 1:18 And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things;

The Processed and Consummated Triune God

The Triune God passed through incarnation, human living, and an all-inclusive and all-problems-solving death. Then He entered into an all-surpassing resurrection for the dispensing of life and an all-transcending ascension to execute through His heavenly ministry what He accomplished in His earthly ministry. Even God the Father has been processed. In whatever the Son passed through, the Father was with Him. The Son told us He was never alone but that the Father who sent Him was always with Him (John 8:29; 16:32). This is the revelation concerning the Triune God given by the Lord to the recovery. No other Christians teach and preach the processed and consummated Triune God. It was only within the last forty years that we began to use the terms processed and consummated to describe the Triune God.

If Christ had not been processed, how could He have become a man to die on the cross to take away all our sins? If Christ had not been processed through resurrection, how could He have become the life-giving Spirit? Through the process of incarnation God became a man, Jesus. Jesus was a genuine man, but through His death and in His resurrection, another two steps of His process, He became the life-giving Spirit. If God had not become a man to take away sin, how could He be our Redeemer? If He had not become the life-giving Spirit, how could He have entered into us to be our life and our life supply? The supply of the city is the processed and consummated Triune God. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Application of the Interpretation of the New Jerusalem to the Seeking Believers,” msg. 5)

Incarnation

God’s incarnation (John 1:14) was clearly promised and prophesied in the Old Testament, but regretfully, most of the Jews never saw it. In Genesis 3:15 God promised the fallen Adam that a seed of the woman would come to bruise the head of the evil serpent, who seduced Adam to fall. No doubt, Adam by that time hated that serpent. So God told him that one day a seed of the woman would come to bruise that serpent’s head. We know this seed of the woman is Christ. One day He was born of a virgin. He destroyed Satan. He bruised the head of Satan.

In Genesis 22:18 God promised Abraham that his seed would be the blessing to all the nations on earth. Abraham’s seed is Christ (Gal. 3:16). In 2 Samuel 7:12-14 God promised David that his seed, a human being, would be the Son of God to build God’s temple and to sit on the throne in God’s kingdom. This seed is also Christ.

These are the prophecies concerning Christ. In total, all these promises and prophecies indicated that one day God would come to be a man, to bring Himself into man.

Passing through Human Living for Thirty-Three and a Half Years

The second great accomplishment of the processed and consummated Triune God was His passing through human living for thirty-three and a half years. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures,” msg. 1)

His All-inclusive Death

The next step of the process of the Triune God was the all-inclusive death of Christ. Through His death Christ redeemed God’s chosen people, terminated the old creation, and released the divine life from within the “shell” of His humanity.

His Resurrection

After dying an all-inclusive death, Christ entered into resurrection. Once again I would emphasize the fact that in resurrection Christ was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:3-4; 8:29) and became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) to regenerate God’s chosen people (1 Pet. 1:3). Early in the morning on the day of His resurrection, He went to heaven to the Father secretly (John 20:17). On the evening of the same day, He came to the disciples and breathed Himself into them as breath, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). This is the essential Spirit.

His Ascension and Descension

After forty days Christ ascended openly and officially. In His ascension He was made the Lord of all and the Christ of God (Acts 2:36). Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, He descended to pour out Himself as the economical Spirit on the disciples (vv. 1-4, 17, 33). In His descension three thousand were regenerated, issuing in the church. Today He is the One who is ascending and descending continually (John 3:13). He is in the heavens, and He is also on earth. As a result of all the steps of this process, God is no longer the “raw God,” God before His process, but the “cooked God,” God after His process.

The Consummation of the Processed
and Consummated Triune God Being the Spirit

Our God has been processed and consummated. The consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God is the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving, and indwelling Spirit. As such a One, He is everything to us. Today He is the reality of the Father, He is the reality of the Son, and He is the Spirit, not before the incarnation but after the descension.

Because Job did not have this Spirit, he was overly sensitive toward God and toward his friends. He had no joy, and he never rejoiced. But Paul, having this Spirit, rejoiced even in prison (Acts 16:25). Instead of being sensitive, he exulted.

Job 42:5 tells us that eventually Job saw God. However, the God whom Job saw was not the processed God but the “raw God,” the God who had not yet passed through the steps of His process — incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and descension. In contrast to Job, we have the “cooked God,” the God who has been processed so that we may eat Him, drink Him, and breathe Him. Today our God is the all-inclusive Spirit as the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God. (Life-study of Job, msg. 17)

Questions:

The Triune God has been processed and consummated. What processes has He passed?
What are clear promises and prophecies concerning God’s incarnation in the Old Testament?
The God whom Job saw was not the processed God, but we have the processed and consummated God. What is the difference in experience?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty-Five
The Organism of the Processed and Consummated Triune God

Hymns, #819

Scripture Reading:

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.

The Organism of the Triune God in the Divine Dispensation

The vine with the branches is the organism of the Triune God in the divine dispensation. One day the Lord showed me clearly that this vine is the unique organism in the universe. The vine in chapter fifteen is not a small, local, individual organism; it is a great, corporate, universal organism, the organism of the Triune God. (Life-study of John, msg. 51)

Some readers of this message might be bothered by the word organism; it may sound quite strange to their understanding to hear of the organism of the Triune God in the divine dispensation. But we are used to saying that the church, the Body of Christ, is not an organization but an organism. What is the difference between an organization and an organism? A table, for example, is an organization, for many pieces of wood are assembled to form one entity. Why is a table an organization and not an organism? Because in the table as a unit there is not one organ. There are no organs in a table because there is no life in a table. Apparently, our body is also an organization. However, it is much more than an organization because we have both organs and life. Since our body has both organs and life, it is an organism, not merely an organization. In like manner, the church, the Body of Christ, is an organism.

As the Vine, the Son Being the Center of God’s Economy

As the vine, the Son is the center of God’s economy. God the Son is the center of God’s business, of God’s operation, of God’s enterprise. God has an operation in the universe. This operation is His divine business. The Son as the vine is the very center of this enterprise.

The vine is very good for propagating life and for multiplying life. To propagate life means to spread life widely, and to multiply life means to reproduce life. With every kind of vegetable life we see the matters of propagation and multiplication. One grain of wheat is sown into the earth and grows into thirty, sixty, or a hundred other grains. This is both the propagation and the multiplication of life. If we consider deeply the matter of the Lord’s likening Himself to a vine, we shall realize that of all the plants, flowers, grasses, and trees, the vine is the best plant to show the propagation and multiplication of life. A vine is not noted for its blossoms or its materials; it is noted for its manifestation of the riches of life. Once a vine is full of ripened fruit, you can easily discern the riches of life. So the vine produces life. The Lord is not life for people to appreciate as blossoms; neither is He life to be used as some kind of material. Rather, the Lord is life to bring forth life and to produce life.

The propagation and multiplication of life are to express life for the glorification of the Father. When the life of the vine is expressed through the branches in its propagation and multiplication, the Father is glorified, because what the Father is in the riches of His life is expressed in the propagation and multiplication of the vine.

The Husbandman, God the Father

The husbandman is God the Father. The Father as the husbandman is the source, the author, the planner, the planter, the life, the substance, the soil, the water, the air, the sunshine, and everything to the vine. As we have already pointed out, whatever God the Father is, has, and can do has all been embodied in the vine tree. The Son as the vine is the center of God’s economy and the embodiment of all the riches of the Father. The Father, by cultivating the Son, works Himself with all of His riches into this vine, and eventually the vine expresses the Father through its branches in a corporate way. This is the Father’s economy in the universe.

The Branches, the Believers in the Son

No plant other than the vine tree can illustrate adequately the living relationship between us and the Lord. We are the branches of the vine. What kind of relationship does this suggest to you? The branches are good for nothing except to express the vine. All that the vine is and has is expressed through the branches. Individually, the branches are the regenerated ones. Corporately, they are the church, the Body of Christ (Eph.1:22-23). The branches, the believers in the Son, are for the expression of the Son with the Father through the fruit-bearing.

The Fruit-bearing

The Overflow of the Riches of the Inner Life

What is fruit-bearing? It is the overflow of the riches of the inner life. Do not try to bring people to Christ by your own effort. Do not use schemes to win souls. Bearing fruit is a matter of the overflow of your inner life. We need continuously to enjoy Christ as everything to us. Then we shall have an abundance of inner life. Out of this abundance of inner life there will be a flow that will reach others, penetrating into their lives. This flow will bear much fruit. It is not just preaching or soul-winning; it must be fruit-bearing by the overflow of the riches of the inner life.

By Abiding in the Vine
and Letting the Vine Abide in the Branches

The fruit-bearing comes about as the branches abide in the vine and let the vine abide in the branches. In John15 abiding is a crucial matter. Everything in this chapter depends upon the abiding. The real abiding depends upon a clear vision, a clear seeing, that you are a branch. Once you see that you are a branch, it will be difficult for you to stay away from the vine. You will want to remain in the vine. This remaining is the abiding. Do not try to abide, for the more you try, the more you will fall away. We need to pray, “Lord, show me clearly that I am one of the branches.” I believe that one day the Lord will show you. You will see that you are one of the branches and you will say, “Praise the Lord, I am one of the branches.” Then you will abide in Him.

If we do not abide in Him, there is no way for Him to abide in us. Although He does not change, we have many changes. We may abide in Him today and run away from Him tomorrow. Therefore, His abiding in us depends upon our abiding in Him. Our abiding in Him is the condition of His abiding in us. So the Lord says, “Abide in Me and I in you.” If we abide in Him, He will certainly abide in us. If we do not abide in Him, we fail to meet the condition of His abiding in us. His abiding depends upon our abiding. This mutual abiding will bring forth fruit. (Life-study of John, msg. 33)

Questions:

We are used to saying that the Body of Christ is not an organization but an organism. What is the difference between an organization and an organism?
No plant other than the vine tree can illustrate adequately the living relationship between us and the Lord. If we see that we are the branches of the vine, what change will we have?
What is fruit-bearing? How can we bear fruits?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty-Six
The Triune God Being Life to the Tripartite Man

Hymns, #742

Scripture Reading:

Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.

6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
10-11 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

The Life of the Triune God Being Dispensed
into Our Entire Being from the Center
through the Middle to the Circumference

Romans 8:2 speaks of the life of the Triune God. Verse 10 reveals that this life has been dispensed into our spirit and has caused our spirit to become life. Furthermore, according to verse 6, this life can be dispensed into our mind and can cause our mind to be life also. Ultimately, as verse 11 discloses, the divine life can even be imparted into our mortal bodies. In these verses we see the three parts of man: the spirit, the soul (represented by the mind), and the body. The spirit is the center, the body is the circumference, and the mind is in between. From the center through the middle to the circumference, the life of the Triune God is being dispensed into our entire being.

Our Spirit Being Life

Romans 8:10 says, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness.” That the spirit in this verse is not the Holy Spirit is proved by the fact that here Paul contrasts the body with the spirit. Paul says that the body is dead but that the spirit is life. We would expect him to say that the spirit is living. Instead, he says that the spirit is life, or zoe. When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, this zoe gets into our spirit and causes our spirit to become zoe. Now not only the Triune God is life, but our spirit is also life.

If we see this, we shall have the boldness to declare to the whole universe and especially to Satan that our spirit is life. We shall proclaim that at least one part of our being, our spirit, is zoe. Oh, how we all need this revelation! May we see not only that we are saved and regenerated, but also that the innermost part of our being has become life.

Knowing that our spirit is zoe will be a great help to us in our daily living. When you are tempted to lose your temper, do not suppress your anger. Instead, simply declare, “My spirit is zoe!” Likewise, if your wife or husband gives you a difficult time, do not argue, but tell the one troubling you that your spirit is zoe. Saying this enables us to resist Satan’s temptations. Praise the Lord, our spirit is zoe!

The reason that I am so lively and energetic is that my spirit is zoe. However, I spent years in organized Christianity and no one told me that my spirit is zoe. I was instructed in various religious practices, but I was not told that my spirit is life. But now I know that the divine zoe has been dispensed into my spirit, into the center of my being. Now I know that my spirit has become zoe!

Our Mind Becoming Life

We have emphasized the fact that our spirit has become life because Christ dwells within us. But what about our soul and body? Consider verse 6: “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” Here we see that our mind can also be zoe. When we set our mind on the spirit, our mind, which represents our soul, becomes zoe. We do not need to follow the way of Confucius to cultivate the bright virtue. Instead, we simply set our mind on the spirit and our mind becomes zoe. This is the dispensation of the divine life into our soul.

In our daily living, we need to practice turning our mind to the spirit. Are you about to gossip? Turn your mind to the spirit. Are you tempted to lose your temper? Turn your mind to the spirit. Drop the ethical and religious teachings and come back to God’s living Word, which reveals that the life of the Triune God is dispensed into our spirit to make our spirit life and also reveals that the mind set on the spirit is life. We have something higher than bright virtue, ethics, and morality—we have the Triune God dispensed into us. What can compare with this? This is not philosophy or religious teaching. It is the zoe life dispensed into our spirit and into our mind.

Life Being Imparted into Our Mortal Bodies

Verse 11 reveals even more of God’s dispensation. Here Paul says, “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who indwells you.” I marvel at the indirectness of this verse. This verse reveals that zoe can be imparted through the Spirit into our mortal bodies. Therefore, not only are both our spirit and our mind zoe, but even our body can be full of zoe.

Seeing the Vision

We all need to see the vision of the dispensing of the life of the Triune God into the three parts of our being. If we see this divine vision, our natural concept of ethics and morality will be shattered. We need to say to the Lord, “Lord, I thank You. Since You came into me, my spirit has become life. Now if I set my mind on my spirit, my mind also will be life. O Lord, how I praise You! Through Your indwelling Spirit, Your zoe life can be dispensed even into my mortal body. Lord, I worship You for this, I enjoy this, and I am one with You in this dispensation.” This is the dispensation of the life of the Triune God into the tripartite man. Through such a dispensing the Triune God becomes one with the tripartite man, and the tripartite man becomes one with the Triune God. It is through this dispensation of the divine life that we become sons of God. Furthermore, it is by this dispensation that we are transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. This is the Christian life and the church life. (Life-study of Romans, msg. 62)

Questions:

How is the life of the Triune God being dispensed into our entire being according to Romans 8?
What is the result of the dispensation of the life of the Triune God into the tripartite man?
What should we do when we are about to gossip or we are tempted to lose our temper in our daily living?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty-Seven
The Dispensing of the Processed Triune God

Hymns, #501

Scripture Reading:

John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

1 Cor. 15:45b …the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

The Ministry of Christ Being the Main Ministry
in the New Testament to Dispense God into Us

The ministry of Christ is the main ministry in the New Testament to dispense God into us. It is clearly of two parts: the first part is for Him to come to us, and the second part is for Him to go back to God. This is a two-way traffic, a traffic both coming and going. He came to bring God to us, and He went back to God to bring us into God. By this coming and going God has dispensed Himself into our being. The Lord Jesus’ coming began from His incarnation and ended with His crucifixion. From His incarnation to His death was the first part of the Lord’s ministry. The second part of His ministry began from His resurrection and has no ending, so it will last for eternity.

The Lord Bringing God into Humanity
in the First Part of His Ministry

In the first part of the Lord’s ministry He brought God into humanity, He was the tabernacle of God among men, He brought the divine grace and reality to us, and He expressed God in full. These items were the work of the Lord Jesus while He was on this earth. After accomplishing this work He went to the cross and was crucified. His death on the cross did much to enable God to dispense Himself into us.

On the positive side the Lord’s death on the cross released the very divine life concealed within Him. Incarnation brought Him into confinement. His humanity was like a shell that confined His divine life within it. He likened Himself to a grain of wheat (John 12:24). A grain of wheat has a shell which confines the wheat life within it. The only way this confined life can be released is by death. When a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, the life within the shell is released. So on the negative side the Lord’s death dealt with all the negative things, but on the positive side His death released His divine life. Crucifixion released Him as the divine life from His human shell. Both of these aspects of His death are so that God can dispense Himself into you and me.

God’s dispensing reaches us through Christ’s incarnation and death. All the negative things have been put away, and life has been released. Not only has life been released, but it has also been presented to us so that we may receive it by calling upon His name. This divine life is just the life-giving Spirit (Rom. 8:2), and the life-giving Spirit is just the Lord Jesus Himself (2 Cor. 3:17). So when we say, “O Lord Jesus,” He as the air gets into us. When He gets into us, that is God dispensing Himself into us. This is wonderful!

The Second Way Being Christ Going from Us
Back to God to Bring Us into God

This is the way of Christ coming from God to us. The second way is Christ going from us back to God to bring us into God. This began from His resurrection and goes on in resurrection, not only for this age, but for eternity. We have to realize that since the Lord Jesus has gone through incarnation and death, He is now in resurrection.

Entering into the Believers as the Spirit

Christ brought us into God, and at the same time He entered into us as the Spirit (John 14:16-17; 20:22). Let us read John 14:20: “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” In this verse it is hard to say who is in whom. We all are in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, so we also are in the Father. This means that we are in the Son and in the Father. And the Son is in us. This is God’s dispensing. The dispensing of God has been neglected and missed among today’s Christians. Today’s Christians mostly stress the ethical teachings such as husbands love your wives, and wives submit yourselves to your husbands. But eventually no wife can give the proper submission, and no husband can give the proper love apart from God’s dispensing.

The Lord’s recovery is not a matter of human love or submission. It is a matter of the living God dispensing Himself into us. When, as a husband, you have the living God dispensed into you, surely you will love your wife. When, as a wife, you have the living God dispensed into you, surely you will submit to your husband. This will not be simply your loving or your submitting; this will be Christ living in you. This will not be a matter of ethics or religion, but of the living God entering into you as the Spirit. This is to be merged in God and to have God merged in you. This is to be blended with God. This is God’s dispensing. This is the Lord Jesus’ ministry, the real salvation.

Today among most Christians what is taught is mostly ethical teachings. People are mainly taught to improve their character and behavior. This is just ethics; this is not the living Christ in resurrection. In the Lord’s recovery we are not teaching people mere ethics. We are ministering Christ in resurrection who is the very God being dispensed into all of us. We are not living merely an ethical life; we are living a life that is God Himself. Christianity has become mostly an ethical religion, but the Lord’s recovery is the living God dispensing Himself into all His chosen people. Our ethics and our morality by the living God are on a much higher level because they are just God Himself living in us and through us and from within us.

Being the Overflow of the Triune God
from within the Believers as the Rivers of Living Water

This is wonderful, but this is not all. Eventually this dispensing Christ who has mingled Himself with us will overflow from within us like rivers of living water for all eternity (John 7:38-39; Rev. 22:1-2). I am so happy because whenever I speak I have the deep sensation that something is overflowing endlessly. At the end of the Bible you can see a city with a river flowing all the time. There the river of life is flowing and even overflowing with the water of life. In this flowing water grows the tree of life, full of life supply. That will be our eternal living. That is our eternal destiny. Today we could have a foretaste. The very dispensing God eventually overflows from within us to water others and to quench others’ thirst and to supply others with the tree of life. This becomes their very life supply. This is God’s dispensing in Christ’s ministry. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity,” ch. 6)

Questions:

The ministry of Christ is the main ministry in the New Testament to dispense God into us. What are two parts of this ministry?
The Lord’s recovery is not a matter of human love or submission. What is the Lord’s recovery?
What is our eternal living, our eternal destiny at the end of the Bible?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty-Eight
The Revelation of the Triune God
according to the Pure Word of the Bible

Hymns, #608

Scripture Reading:

Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

1 Cor. 8:4b …we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one.

God Being Uniquely One

We must be governed by the revelation that God is uniquely one. The Bible tells us that God is one. However, because the first occurrence of the word God (Elohim) in the Bible (Gen. 1:1) is in the plural number, some people translate it as “Gods.” This is preposterous. It is appalling to speak of “Gods.” Psalm 86:10 says, “Thou art God alone” (KJV). It does not say, “Ye are God alone.” The pronoun is the second person singular, not the second person plural.

Therefore, in Ephesians 4:6 and 1 Timothy 2:5 we find clearly stated the conclusion that there is one God. Do not get into the snare of thinking that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three Gods. First Corinthians 8:4 says, “There is no God but one.” Hallelujah for one God! This is a basic and conclusive principle. (CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 2, “The Revelation of the Triune God according to the Pure Word of the Bible”)

The Three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—Being One;
This One God Being Also Three

In brief, we can say that the Father and the Son are one because the Lord Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). However, although the Father and the Son are one, between Them there is still a distinction of I and the Father. We must not disregard this point, because if we do, we would become modalists. Modalism advocates that God, who is one, has three manifestations in three different periods and that the three manifestations do not exist within each other at the same time. The Scriptures show us, however, that the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—not only exist at the same time but also exist in one another. Therefore, the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are one; They are one God. However, this one God is also three; He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

The Three of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
—Being Coexistent

Concerning the Divine Trinity, first of all, we must pay attention to the fact that the three of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are coexistent.

Although the Gospels are concerned mainly with the Lord Jesus and take Him as the center and the subject, in these books the Father, the Son, and the Spirit still coexisted. The clearest picture is seen in the baptism of the Lord Jesus. When He came out of the water, the Father spoke to Him from the heavens while the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove (Matt. 3:16-17). In this situation, the One who spoke from the heavens was the Father; the One who descended like a dove was the Spirit; and the Lord Jesus, who stood in the water, was the Son. This picture clearly shows us that in the incarnation, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit existed at the same time. This also proves that the teaching which says that when the Son came, the Father was over, when the Son was there, the Spirit was not there, and when the Spirit came, the Son was over, is altogether without any basis and is therefore a great heresy.

Then in the Epistles, from Acts to Revelation, many times the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are mentioned at the same time. For example, 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” All three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are here.… Then in the last book, Revelation, the opening word in the first chapter says, “Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth” (vv. 4-5). The One who was, who is, and who is coming is the Father; the seven Spirits before the throne of the Father are the Spirit; and Jesus Christ is the Son. Therefore, the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are mentioned at the same time; this proves that They are coexistent.

The Coinherence of the Three

The three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—not only coexist but also coinhere. The term coinhere applied to the Triune God means that the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—exist within one another.

First of all, this is based upon the word spoken by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels. In John 14:7-10 the Lord said to the disciples, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.” Then Philip requested, saying, “Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.” The Lord answered him, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?” We simply cannot understand the Lord’s answer. How can one person be in another person and the other person also be in the one person? Let me illustrate. We often say that the husband and wife are one; this is correct. However, we cannot say that the husband is in the wife and that the wife is in the husband. Yet the oneness of the Son and the Father (10:30) is that the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son. This is truly beyond the comprehension of our human mind.

Besides John 14:10, the same utterance can be found in 14:20; 10:38; and 17:21, 23. These five verses all refer to the fact that the Son and the Father exist within one another at the same time. These verses are crucial to our understanding of the mystery of the Divine Trinity’s being three and also one.

The Divine Trinity Being a Mystery in the Universe
for Us to Enjoy in Our Practical Experience

Since this is the case, when are the Father, the Son, and the Spirit one, and when are They three? Bible students throughout the centuries have done a great deal of research on this point; we also have expended much effort in studying this matter. Nevertheless, no one has been able to determine when the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three, when They are one, and when They are both three and one. According to what the Bible tells us, we can say only that God is one, yet He has the aspect of being three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. These three are distinct but inseparable. Furthermore, these three exist within one another: the first is in the second and the second is in the first, and the second, the Son, and the third, the Spirit, are one and the same (2 Cor. 3:17). Hence, if the Father, the Son, and the Spirit only exist at the same time, They may still be separated; however, because They also exist within one another, They are inseparable. This is why God is triune; He is the Triune God.

Brothers and sisters, by presenting these matters before you, I hope that you will be able to understand the intricacies of the Trinity. You must know and be clear about these main points. Continuing what the saints saw in the previous centuries, we have seen this much so far. The Divine Trinity is a mystery in the universe; this mystery is not for us to engage in theological debates but for us to enjoy in our practical experience. (CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “The Revelation and Vision of God,” msg. 2)

Questions:

The translation of “Gods” is preposterous. What is the conclusion concerning God according to the revelation of the Bible?
Which verses reveal strongly that the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—exist at the same time from the Old Testament to the Gospels, the Epistles, and Revelation?
What is the mystery in the universe? Is this mystery for us to engage in theological debates?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Thirty-Nine
The Church as the New Man

Hymns, #1230

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 2:15b …that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace.

Col. 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his practices and have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

The Church Being the New Man

Ephesians 2:15 says that Christ abolished “in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace.” Paul says that the Lord created the two—the Jewish and the Gentile believers—into one new man. Therefore, the new man is not an individual. The new man is corporate. Verse 16 continues, “And might reconcile both in one Body to God.” Verse 15 says that the Lord created the two into one new man, not an individual man but a corporate man, and verse 16 says that He reconciled both in one Body. This indicates that the Body is the new man. Moreover, in chapter 1 the Body is the church. Hence, the church is not only the Body but also the new man. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 1, “The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration,” msg. 9)

To Put off the Old Man Being to Put off the Former Manner of Life,
the Old Social Life

Verse 22 says, “Put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man.” Our former manner of life includes everything related to us: what we are, what we have, our family life, and our social life. Our living and walk are related to our parents and children and to our siblings, classmates, colleagues, neighbors, and relatives. Every point and aspect of our living and walk are involved with human communities. Our living is a corporate living. The Bible says that we need to put off the old man, the former manner of life, that is, the old social life, and that we need to put on the new man, the church life.

Before we were saved, we lived a life of taking ourselves as the person. For example, a young boy in junior high school might enjoy going out with his classmates and friends and doing things with them. After he is saved, however, he should take Christ as his person and live the church life. To live the church life does not mean that he should go to the meeting on Lord’s Day morning and listen to a pastor’s sermon. Our church life should be full of Christ every day, whether in the morning or in the evening. Whenever there is the time or opportunity, the saints should come together to praise the Lord. We can pray-read together and be built up, or we can go out to preach the gospel and spread the Lord’s kingdom by saving souls. We do not rely on hired pastors or preachers. We are living members of Christ’s Body, we take Christ as our person, and we are being filled with Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and being occupied by God. When we let the Lord strengthen us into the inner man, He makes His home in our hearts, and we are filled unto all the fullness of God. God “is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever” (3:20-21). This is the practical living of the church; this is also the church in reality. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 1, “The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration,” msg. 8)

To Put on the New Man Being to Turn to Our Spirit

To put on the new man is to turn to our spirit. It does not matter how the brothers and sisters treat us. We simply need to turn to our spirit. Then we will not need the help from the outward circumstances because we will be constantly turning to our spirit. The church is the new man, and this new man is in our spirit.

Because we have not clearly seen this positive vision nor sufficiently received this positive light, there have been many teachings, even among us, that lean toward the natural concept. It is easy for people to agree with teachings that lean toward the natural concept, but it is not so easy for them to accept a teaching that has been purely released from the heavens as light or a vision. Today we must realize that we do not necessarily need the outward circumstances. All that matters is that we put off the old man, put on the new, and live in our spirit.

On the day of Pentecost when Peter stood up to give a message, he was completely beside himself. Later, after healing the lame man, he spoke to the people at the portico called Solomon’s, saying, “Men of Israel, you denied the holy and righteous One; and the Author of life you killed” (Acts 3:11-15). If I had been there on that day, I would not have let Peter go. I would have interrupted him right on the spot, saying, “Peter, do you remember what you did a few weeks ago? You denied the Lord three times in one night, and now you still have the audacity to speak?” Peter stood there that day to speak as if nothing had happened, as if he had not failed before. How could he do that? He could do that because he had put on the new man. He had put off the Peter who had rejected the Lord and had put on the new man. Everything is all right when we turn to our spirit. We are not a civic organization discussing character cultivation and behavior improvement. We need to turn to our spirit and live in our spirit. We must look to the Lord that the churches would not remain old but would remove all the oldness and become altogether new. (CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 2, “The Revelation of the Mystery,” ch. 3)

Living in the Spirit
and Allowing the Lord to Be Our Person

The Lord does not want merely a group of people who are saved and who pursue Him by reading the Bible, praying, and attending meetings. This will not satisfy His heart. We must be filled in our spirit with the Spirit and allow Him to occupy our whole being. This is the way that we are renewed in the spirit of our mind, and we put off our old manner of living, old society, and old relationships. This is also the way that we put on the new man, which is the church. The new man is a matter of our living. Hence, when we put on the new man, we are in the church life.

May the Lord open our eyes to see that the reality of the church is in our spirit. We need to drop our procedures, methods, rituals, regulations, and practices. In our daily life we must live in the spirit and allow the Lord to be our person. Instead of following methods or ordinances in the meetings, every saint should function according to the Spirit. We do not need to sing first or to pray first or even to read the Bible first. When we read the Bible, we do not need to follow a particular method. All our activities should be in our mingled spirit. Then the Lord will be expressed, and He will gain a dwelling place and an army. This is what the Lord desires to gain today. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 3, “Being Delivered from Religious Rituals and Walking according to the Spirit,” msg. 9)

Questions:

Ephesians chapter 1 indicates that the Body is the church. What is the church besides the Body according to Ephesians 2?
How do we put off the old man, the former manner of life? How to put on the new man?
Does it satisfy the Lord’s heart that we just pursue Him by reading the Bible, praying, and attending meetings? If not, what should we do?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty
God’s New Testament Economy

Hymns: God’s Eternal Economy

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 3:9-11 And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, in order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church, according to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s Economy

God’s economy is God’s plan, and this plan is a kind of arrangement. This arrangement is His administrative dispensation. God has a plan, a divine arrangement, an administration, to distribute Himself into His chosen people. Ephesians 1:9-10 and 3:9-11 fully reveal this matter. The word dispensation in these verses refers to God’s economy, God’s plan, God’s arrangement, God’s administrative dispensation. This arrangement, this plan, this dispensation, is for God to dispense Himself as the processed Triune God into His chosen people. The divine Trinity is for the divine dispensing. The matter of dispensing is revealed in Ephesians 3:2 and Colossians 1:25-27. In these verses the word stewardship means dispensing. A stewardship is a dispensing. A waiter in a restaurant has a stewardship to serve food to others. To serve food, to dispense food to people, is the stewardship of the waiter. Paul told us that God had given him a stewardship. His stewardship was his dispensing duty to dispense Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God into God’s chosen people. Today our preaching the gospel and ministering the Word must be a dispensing of the Triune God into people.

God’s intention is shown in the Old Testament, but it was not fully revealed. The full development of the revelation concerning God’s intention to dispense Himself into us is in the New Testament. In the New Testament this matter is the main subject and the focus of God’s economy. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “God’s New Testament Economy,” ch. 1)

Producing the Church as the Kingdom of God
Consummating in the New Jerusalem

God’s New Testament economy to dispense Himself into His chosen people is for the producing of the church (Eph. 3:10). This dispensing brings forth the church for the manifestation of the multifarious wisdom of God according to His eternal purpose made in Christ (Eph. 3:9-11). This means that through the dispensing of God in His trinity the church is produced to exhibit God’s manifold wisdom.

We have pointed out that the church today is the kingdom of God. Therefore, the dispensing of God into us produces the church as the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 4:17 and 20 show that the kingdom is the church life today. In verse 17 Paul refers to his ways “which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.” Then in verse 20 he says, “The kingdom of God is not in speech, but in power.” These verses show that the kingdom of God is the church everywhere, and the church everywhere is the kingdom. The kingdom is here because the church is here.

The church as the kingdom of God will have a consummation, and this consummation will be the New Jerusalem for the eternal expression of the Triune God. Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saints redeemed by God throughout all generations. It is the bride of Christ as His counterpart (John 3:29) and the holy city of God as His habitation. As the bride of Christ, New Jerusalem comes out of Christ, “her husband,” and becomes His counterpart, just as Eve came out of Adam, her husband, and became his counterpart (Gen. 2:21-24). The New Jerusalem is prepared as a bride for her husband by participating in the riches of the life and nature of Christ. As the holy city of God, she is wholly sanctified unto God and fully saturated with God’s holy nature to be His habitation.

In both the Old and New Testaments, God likens His chosen people to a spouse (Isa. 54:6; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:8; Hosea 2:19; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32) and a dwelling place for Himself (Exo. 29:45-46; Num. 5:3; Ezek. 43:7, 9; Psa. 68:18; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Tim. 3:15). The spouse is for His satisfaction in love, and the dwelling place is for His rest in expression. Both of these aspects will be ultimately consummated in the New Jerusalem. In her God will have the fullest satisfaction in love and the utmost rest in expression for eternity.

Revelation 21:10 and 11 say, “He carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” The glory of God is the expression of God, God expressed. We have been ordained for this glory and called to it (1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12). We are being transformed into this glory (2 Cor. 3:18) and shall be brought into it (Heb. 2:10). Eventually we shall be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17, 30) to bear the glory of God for God’s expression in the New Jerusalem. Therefore, God’s dispensing of Himself into His chosen people for the producing of the church as the kingdom of God will consummate in the New Jerusalem as His eternal expression.

The Need for a Vision of God’s Economy

Throughout the years we have given many messages on God’s New Testament economy. However, according to my observation, most of the saints who have received these messages still need a clear vision of God’s economy. We need a vision of the central matter in the Bible-the desire of God’s heart to dispense Himself into His chosen people in His trinity for the producing of the church, which is the kingdom of God that will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal expression of the Triune God.

We need a vision of God’s New Testament economy. It is not adequate merely to know about it. You may know about a certain person without ever having seen him. To see a person is very different from merely knowing about him. Likewise, seeing the vision of God’s New Testament economy is different from simply hearing about it. I hope that all the saints will spend much time to pray, both individually and corporately, regarding this. We need to say, “Lord, I cry out to You concerning God’s economy. I need a vision of the New Testament economy. Lord, I have been saved for a long time, but I have not yet seen the vision that the New Testament reveals God’s New Testament economy. Lord, cause me to see that the Triune God wants to dispense Himself into our being so that the church may be produced as the kingdom of God in order that God may have an eternal consummation to express Himself in a corporate way eternally.” (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 2)

Questions:

God has a plan, a divine arrangement, an administration. What is it?
God’s New Testament economy is for the producing of the church. The church as the kingdom of God will have a consummation. What is this consummation?
We have received many messages on God’s New Testament economy. What do we still need?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty-One
The Essential Trinity and the Economical Trinity

Hymns, #608

Scripture Reading:

2 Cor. 3:17 And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Isa. 9:6 For a child is born to us, A son is given to us; And the government Is upon His shoulder; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Matt. 3:16-17 And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him. And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.

The Essential Trinity and the Economical Trinity

Thus far, the two main aspects we have seen concerning the divine Trinity are the essential Trinity and the economical Trinity. In the essential Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist and coinhere at the same time and in the same way with no succession. There is no first, second, or third. However, in God’s plan, in God’s administrative arrangement, in God’s economy, the Father takes the first step, the Son takes the second step, and the Spirit takes the third step. The Father planned, the Son accomplished, and the Spirit applies what the Son accomplished according to the Father’s plan. This is a successive procedure or a succession in God’s economy to carry out His eternal purpose. The essential Trinity refers to the essence of the Triune God for His existence; the economical Trinity refers to His plan for His move. There is the need of the existence of the divine Trinity, and there is also the need of the plan of the divine Trinity.

The Three Being One according to Their Essence

In essence, the three of the Godhead exist equally at the same time and coinhere equally at the same time from eternity to eternity. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” ch. 7)

According to Their essence, the three are one; thus, there is the aspect of the essential Trinity. The Son is the embodiment of the Father (Col. 2:9), and the Spirit is the reality of the Son (John 14:16-18).

A Son is given to us, yet His name is called the eternal Father (Isa. 9:6).

The Son as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). He was incarnated to be the flesh. He was the last Adam. That means that after Him, there would be no flesh. He was the ending, the closing, the concluding, of the flesh. This One in resurrection became the life-giving Spirit. Thus, this One, the Son, is the Father and eventually He is the Spirit. In 1934 Brother Nee gave a conference on the all-inclusive Christ. He said that Christ, the all-inclusive One, is the centrality and universality of God. He is the Son, yet He is the Father. He is the Son, yet He is the life-giving Spirit. Thus, He is the centrality and universality of the Triune God.

The Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) and the Lord Spirit (v. 18). The Lord Spirit is a compound divine title like the Father God. He is both the Lord and the Spirit. They two are one in Him.

Such words in the Scripture are strong evidence that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are essentially one.

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit
Being Economically Three

When we speak of the Triune God according to His economy, we are speaking of Him according to His moving and acting, not His essence. According to the economy, the three are three; thus, there is the aspect of the economical Trinity. The Father is the Originator, making the divine economy (Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4b); then the Son accomplishes the divine economy made by the Father (John 5:19; 8:28); and the Spirit applies to God’s elect what the Son has accomplished (16:13). These are steps of one complete move. God the Father planned to do something; the Son accomplished the plan; and the Spirit applies to us what the Son has accomplished. They are still one in harmony in the economical Trinity (10:30; 17:21, 23).

The Father in Heaven, the Son on the Earth,
and the Spirit in the Air

The Father spoke in heaven concerning the Son, the Son stood in the water on the earth, and the Spirit soared as the dove in the air (Matt. 3:16-17). The three of the Trinity here are in three locations. Christ the Son, after His baptism, was standing in the water, and the Father said, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.” Then the Spirit as a dove soaring in the air descended upon Him. The Father as the source must be in heaven, the Son in His incarnation as the course must be on the earth, and the Spirit as the flow must be soaring in the air.

The Father Choosing, the Son Redeeming,
and the Spirit Sealing

The Father chose the believers before the foundation of the world in eternity past, the Son redeemed them in time, and the Spirit seals them after they believe in the Son (Eph. 1:4, 6-7, 13).

Participating in What He Is and What He Has Worked Out
by God Acting Economically

Words like these in the Scripture are strong evidence that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are economically three. Thus, God’s elect participate in what the Triune God has done and enjoy Their work with Themselves for their satisfaction. By God acting economically, we can participate in what He is and what He has worked out for our pleasure and satisfaction. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” msg. 3)

Needing to See the Complete Revelation
concerning the Divine Trinity

There are two aspects concerning the Divine Trinity. The Son is in the Father, and the Father is in the Son; this is the essential aspect. The Son, who was on the earth, lifted up His eyes to heaven and prayed to the Father; this is the economical aspect. If you do not see these two aspects but instead hold on stubbornly to one aspect only, then you do not have a complete knowledge of the truth concerning the Divine Trinity.

Brothers and sisters, concerning the Divine Trinity, we should not debate blindly like the blind men feeling the elephant. Rather, we should have the knowledge of these two aspects, the essential aspect and the economical aspect. Thus, when we read the Bible, we will be able to see the complete revelation concerning the Divine Trinity, and we will also be able to see that the Bible is consistent, without any contradiction, in its revelation concerning the Divine Trinity. (CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “The Revelation and Vision of God,” msg. 2)

Questions:

What are the two main aspects we have seen concerning the divine Trinity?
From which verses can we see that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are essentially one? From which verses can we see that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are economically three?
If we have the knowledge of these two aspects, the essential aspect and the economical aspect, concerning the Divine Trinity, what benefit will we have in reading the Bible?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty-Two
The Consummated Spirit

Hymns, #1113

Scripture Reading:

John 7:39 But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Rev. 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,

The Spirit of God Eventually Becoming
the Consummated, All-Inclusive, and Compound Spirit

The term the consummated Spirit implies that the Spirit has been processed and thus has become the consummated Spirit. According to the revelation in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the Spirit of God eventually became the consummated, all-inclusive, and compound Spirit. In this matter the negligence, ignorance, deficiency, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation on the part of Christian teachers has reached the climax.

Three Major and Crucial Points
concerning the Consummated Spirit

Concerning the consummated Spirit, there are three major and crucial points. First, the Spirit of God has been compounded to become the compound ointment, as revealed in Exodus 30:23-25. Second, the Spirit was not yet before Jesus’ glorification in resurrection, as strongly referred to in John 7:39. Third, the Spirit is considered to be the seven Spirits of God to function as the seven lamps before the throne of God and the seven eyes of the Lamb, as particularly revealed in Revelation 1:4; 4:5; and 5:6. These three crucial points have been neglected by nearly all the students and teachers of the Bible.

The Spirit of God Having Become the Compound Spirit

Exodus 30:23-25 reveals that the Spirit of God has been compounded with Christ’s divinity (signified by the hin of oil), Christ’s humanity (signified by the four kinds of spices), Christ’s death with its effectiveness (signified by myrrh and cinnamon), Christ’s resurrection with its power (signified by calamus and cassia), and the Divine Trinity (signified by the three units of five hundred shekels, with the middle unit being split into two halves of two hundred fifty shekels, specifying the quantities of the four kinds of spices). Thus, the Spirit of God has become the compound Spirit as an ointment of several elements, not only of oil. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery Today”)

The Spirit Being Not Yet before Christ’s Resurrection

John 7:39 indicates clearly that before Christ’s resurrection the Spirit was not yet. The Spirit of God was there, the Spirit of Jehovah was there, and even the Holy Spirit was there. From the conceptions of John the Baptist and Christ, the term the Holy Spirit began to be used. But when Christ came out to minister, the Bible tells us that before His resurrection, His glorification, “the Spirit was not yet.”

The Spirit is the main subject in John 14-16. The Lord said that He would ask the Father to send the disciples another Comforter, who is the Spirit of reality (John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13). The Lord’s speaking in John 14-16 was in the evening He was arrested. The next day He was crucified, and after three days He was resurrected. In resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). In the evening of the day of His resurrection, He came back to the disciples, breathed into them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). At that time “the Spirit” as the Spirit of reality began to exist. This is clearly recorded in the New Testament, but in Christianity no one has paid attention to this except Andrew Murray.

The Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7b), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19b), the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:17b), and the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18b) are new terms for the Spirit in the New Testament. The Lord Spirit is a compound title like the Father God and the Lord Christ. The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. He is the consummated Triune God.

The Triune God was processed to become the all-inclusive Spirit. The first step of the Triune God’s process was incarnation. The second step was human living, and the third step was His death. The fourth step was His resurrection. After going through such a “tunnel” of His process, He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The life-giving Spirit is the processed and consummated Triune God. This Spirit, the processed and consummated Spirit, is the consummation of the Triune God, who is both God and man, having both the divine nature and the human nature. Within Him there is the element of divinity. Within Him there is also the element of the sanctified and uplifted humanity. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Christian Life,” msg. 8)

The Spirit of God Being Now the Seven Spirits

In Revelation we see that the Spirit of God is now the seven Spirits. The term the seven Spirits is found four times in Revelation. Revelation 1:4 speaks of the seven Spirits who are before God’s throne; 3:1, of the seven Spirits of God; 4:5, of seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and 5:6, of the seven eyes of the Lamb, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. The seven Spirits of God are called the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne and also the seven eyes of the Lamb. They are the seven Spirits of God; yet these seven Spirits are the seven lamps of fire burning before God’s administrative throne and also the seven eyes of the redeeming Lamb. Before you came into the church life, you probably never heard a word about the seven Spirits of God being the seven lamps and the seven eyes. Nevertheless, this is found in the book of Revelation. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, “The Spirit and the Body,” ch. 8)

The Consummated, All-inclusive Spirit
Being Everything for Our Christian Life

To be a Christian is not merely difficult — it is impossible. Only the processed and consummated Triune God living in us as the all-inclusive Spirit can be a Christian. What the New Testament requires of us is too high. The kind of holiness required, for example, is something that we cannot produce. We praise the Lord that it is not we who need to fulfill the New Testament requirements but the Spirit in us who fulfills them.

The Spirit is everything to us to live the Christian life. The Christian life is altogether the processed and consummated Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit. In this Spirit we have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In this Spirit we are in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). What kind of God do we have today? Our God is the processed and consummated Triune God, who is the consummated, all-inclusive Spirit as everything for our Christian life. (Life-study of Job, msg. 19)

Questions:

What does the term the consummated Spirit imply?
What are three major and crucial points concerning the consummated Spirit?
Can we fulfill the New Testament requirements? If not, how can we fulfill these requirements?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty-Three
The Believers’ Organic Union with Christ

Hymns, #1162

Scripture Reading:

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Rom. 11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a fellow partaker of the root of fatness of the olive tree.

1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

The Believers’ Union with Christ Being an Organic Union

The most wonderful reality in the Christian experience is that all the believers in Christ are united with Him in the way of life. The union of the believers with Christ is not by organization but by life; hence, this union is organic. The word organic denotes that this union is absolutely a matter of life.

A good illustration of this organic union is our physical body. Our body has many members, but all the members are organically united into one body. The uniting factor is life. When the body dies, after a certain number of days all the members will be separated and scattered. When life is in the body, all the members are organically united together, but when life is gone, all the members eventually become disunited, detached. The members of the body are united together not by organization but by a living, crucial, and vital factor—life. We the believers in Christ are one with Him because of such a living, uniting factor. For this reason we refer to our union with Christ as an organic union. In this chapter I would like to impress you with the fact that we have such an organic union with Christ.

This wonderful organic union is very much neglected by most Christians today. Today’s Christianity has become a religion, a religious organization, full of teachings, doctrines, ordinances, and practices, a religion which neglects the matter of life. Many Christians preach Christ and teach Christ in an objective way, making Him an objective Redeemer and an objective Savior. In their concept and realization Christ is in the third heaven, not within them. They may be right to a certain extent in an objective way, but surely they are wrong in relation to the subjective reality. Today in the Lord’s recovery the Lord is recovering this neglected matter of the believers’ organic union with Christ.

This Grafted Life between the Grafted Branches
and the Cultivated Tree Being the Best Illustration
of Our Organic Union with Christ

The organic union is strongly stressed in John 14 through 17. The central thought and focus of John 14 through 17 is this organic union. In chapter 15 the Lord Jesus illustrated this organic union by saying that He is the vine and we, the believers in Him, are all the branches of this vine. Between the vine and the branches there is an organic union.

In John 15 we see the vine with all the branches, but we do not see that all the branches have been grafted into the vine. Originally, we, the believers in Christ, were not united to Christ. According to the picture in Romans 11:17 and 24, we were branches of a wild olive tree. But when we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were saved and we were regenerated. In regeneration we received a new life, and this new life made us alive. This new life also grafted us into Christ. We who formerly were branches of a wild olive tree have all been regenerated and made alive, and we all have been grafted into the cultivated olive tree, which is Christ with God’s chosen people given to Him as His members. Originally, we were not branches in Christ, but we have been grafted into Christ. By our natural birth we were not branches of Christ, but through regeneration we were cut off from the wild olive tree and were grafted into the cultivated tree, which is Christ with His members as the divine organism to express the Triune God. Now between Christ, the cultivated tree, and us, the grafted branches, there is an organic union. This grafted life between the grafted branches and the cultivated tree is the best illustration of our organic union with Christ.

Our Spirit Being Joined to Christ,
the Life-Giving Spirit, as One Spirit

We, the believers in Christ, all have a regenerated spirit. Our spirit was dead, but through believing in Christ it has been made alive (Eph. 2:1, 5). Now we all have within us our own spirit, which has been regenerated and made alive. At the same time Christ as the life-giving Spirit is within our spirit. These two spirits are joined to be one spirit. This is a most mysterious and wonderful thing. Most Christians today have no concept of this mysterious and wonderful reality. But in the Lord’s recovery this is stressed day after day. That our spirit is joined to Christ, the life-giving Spirit, as one spirit is a most crucial and vital matter. This is the ultimate consummation of the organic union that we have with Christ. No union could be more intimate than this union.

Needing to Realize Our Organic Union with Christ
and Live in This Reality

The realization that we are one spirit with Christ will cause us to be beside ourselves with joy. Such a realization may cause us to shout, “Hallelujah, we are one spirit with the Lord!” Many times I have been asked how I, as an elderly man, could be so active and so energetic. My secret is that I am one spirit with the Lord. Today many toys are made to operate by electricity. It is electricity that makes them so active. Because we are one spirit with Christ, we have the heavenly, divine electricity energizing us continually. How we need to realize our organic union with Christ and live in this reality!

Eventually, Christ as the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18a) and the believers as the members of the Body (Eph. 5:30) are joined together to be the great, universal new man (2:15; Col. 3:10-11). In the organic union Christ becomes the Head of the universal new man, and we the believers all are the members of this great, universal new man. He is the Head, and we all are the members. He and we, we and He, are organically united together to be one complete and perfect universal new man. In such an organic union we live together with Him, move together with Him, and work together with Him. Christ and we have only one purpose, one goal, and one aim. This is the ultimate consummation in full of our organic union with Him. (CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Secret of Experiencing Christ,” ch. 5)

Questions:

We the believers in Christ are one with Him because of such a living, uniting factor. As what do we refer to our union with Christ?
As branches of a wild olive tree before, how have we been grafted into Christ?
Many times, others see that we Christians can be so active and so energetic. What is our secret?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty-Four
The New Jerusalem—the Ultimate Consummation

Hymns, #956

Scripture Reading:

Rev. 21:2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

11 Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.

22:1 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.

The New Jerusalem Being
the Consummation of Every Positive Thing

The New Jerusalem is the consummation of every positive thing. It has nothing to do with the negative things such as Satan, the fallen angels, the demons, death, sin, darkness, the grave, Hades, or the lake of fire. It has nothing to do with all these negative things. On the positive side, however, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of God, of God’s salvation, of Christ’s redemption, of the Spirit’s transformation, and of every positive thing in the Bible. All the positive things in the Bible consummate in the New Jerusalem, which is covered in the last two chapters of the entire Bible. God, the Trinity, the Lamb, the lamp, the tree of life, the living water, the throne, and the Spirit are among the many positive items composed together to make one universal, eternal, divine, spiritual, and heavenly unit. The New Jerusalem is surely not a physical city. The New Jerusalem is something divine, spiritual, and heavenly.

The Ultimate Consummation
of the Entire Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures

The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the entire divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures. The conclusion of the sixty-six books of the Bible is contained in its last two chapters which are on the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate “coming out” of the sixty-six books. The sixty-six books of the Bible cover many, many things which will consummate in one item—the New Jerusalem. Every positive thing in the Bible will have one outcome—the New Jerusalem. Some of us need to study the New Jerusalem to find out all the items of the divine revelation that can be seen there.

The Ultimate Consummation
of the Eternal Purpose of God

The New Jerusalem is also the ultimate consummation of the eternal purpose of God. The Bible reveals God to us, and this God whom we possess is a God of purpose. He is not meaningless but purposeful, and the consummation of His eternal purpose is in the New Jerusalem. You could only see the result, the coming out, of God’s eternal purpose in the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem we see that the very God who sits on the throne is our redeeming God, from whose throne proceeds the river of water of life for our supply and satisfaction. This depicts how the Triune God—God, the Lamb, and the Spirit symbolized by the water of life—dispenses Himself to His redeemed under His headship (implied in the authority of the throne) for eternity.

The Ultimate Consummation
of God’s Purpose in Man

The New Jerusalem is also the ultimate consummation of God’s purpose in man. Without the New Jerusalem there is no answer to any question in this universe. Once you see the New Jerusalem, you have the answer to every question. Why did God create man, redeem man, transform man, perfect man, and glorify man? For the New Jerusalem. God wants Himself to consummate in the New Jerusalem and He wants you to be with Him in this consummation. This is the answer. The New Jerusalem is the answer. It is the ultimate consummation of God’s purpose in man.

The Ultimate Consummation
of the Mingling of the Triune God with Man

Furthermore, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the mingling of the Triune God with man. If God did not have a purpose, He would be foolish to mingle with us. We think that God bothers us frequently, but consider how much bothering we give Him. For example, certain parents may have three children, and there is no way for them to handle one of them. This one is the naughty one. As our Father, God has billions of children. Among these billions of children many of them are naughty. Is it easy for God to handle you as His child? I must testify that it is not so easy for my God to handle me. We may think that a certain Christian is a very good child of God. Actually, however, we do not know the real situation. There is a proverb which says, “Only the fathers know the children.” Only our God, the Father, knows us. If God did not have a purpose to accomplish, it would be foolish for Him to suffer so much. He went to so much trouble not only to save us, but also to join Himself to us and to mingle with us.

When we all get there in the new heaven and the new earth as the New Jerusalem, we will be in ecstasy. We will be crazy to the uttermost! The New Jerusalem is much better than a physical, heavenly mansion. It is the full mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people. The mingling of God with man can be seen in typology in Leviticus 2:4 with the meal offering, composed of fine flour mingled with oil. The entire New Jerusalem will be the fine flour mingled with the oil. The chorus of Hymns, #976 says that the holy city is God’s complete expression in humanity. Humanity is the fine flour and God is the oil. The coming New Jerusalem will be a great meal offering, a big cake, made of fine flour mingled with oil. The Triune God is being mingled with us today and this mingling will consummate in the New Jerusalem.

The Ultimate Consummation
of All the Buildings in the Scriptures

Finally, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of all the buildings of the Scriptures. In the Bible are the building of the tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9), the building of the temple (1 Kings 6:1-2), the building of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:3), the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 3:8-9), the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Neh. 2:17), and in the New Testament the building of the church. The Lord Jesus told us in Matthew 16:18 that He would build His church upon this rock and Peter indicated to us in his Epistle that we are all living stones for God’s building (1 Pet. 2:5). Paul, furthermore, told us that he was a wise master builder who had laid the foundation of Christ, and all of us need to build on this foundation with gold, silver, and precious stone (1 Cor. 3:9-12). The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of building work throughout the ages.

Hoping All of Us Will Consummate in the New Jerusalem

You must also realize that even you need a consummation. Many sisters who are mothers have the desire to consummate in good children. Most mothers are always thinking about having good children, better children, or the best children. According to their thought, their future, their joy, their fortune, and their fate will be their children. All the mothers, however, need a change of mind in this matter. All of us need to consider the real consummation—the New Jerusalem. We all need to testify that the New Jerusalem is our consummation. I surely will consummate there, and I hope all of my children and grandchildren will consummate in the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “God’s New Testament Economy,” ch. 26)

Questions:

The sixty-six books of the Bible cover many, many things which will consummate in one item. What is this item?
We think that God bothers us frequently. For what did He go to so much trouble?
What is our real consummation? Will our thought, our future, our joy, our fortune, and our fate be our children?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty-Five
The Vision of the Age

Hymns: What miracle! What mystery!

Scripture Reading:

Acts 26:19 Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

2 Cor. 12:1b …yet I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

God Giving Only One Vision to Man in Every Age

We have to see that in every age, God gives only one vision to man. In Adam is seen God’s redemption. In Abel is seen God’s way of redemption. In Enosh is seen man’s need for God and man’s calling upon Him to enjoy His riches. In Enoch is seen a redeemed one walking with God on the pathway of redemption. In Noah is seen one who walked with God and worked with God to build the ark to meet the need of that generation.

Then in Abraham is seen God’s calling, God’s promise, justification by faith, the living by faith, and the living in fellowship with God. In Isaac is seen the inheriting of grace and the rest and enjoyment. In Jacob is seen God’s selection, the transformation in life, and the maturity in life. In Joseph is seen the reigning aspect of the maturity in life. Following this, we see different things in Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and the judges. In Samuel we see the voluntarily consecrated Nazarite replacing the ordained priests, ending the age of the judges, and bringing in the kingdom age.

When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was acting under the vision. Outside His leading there was no vision. Others might have been in tradition or knowledge. Gamaliel was very knowledgeable; he was very familiar with God’s principles, but he was not under the vision. His speaking was not under the vision; it was a speaking that was merely words of knowledge. After the Lord’s ascension, it was Peter and his co-workers who were under the vision. We are not saying that Peter had one vision and John, James, and the other apostles had another vision. There was only one vision, which was the vision of Peter. This vision became the vision of his followers. When Paul was raised up in his ministry, he received a vision that touched the heavens, the earth, and Paradise (2 Cor. 12:2-4). Although Paul had many co-workers, no one except him saw any other vision. They all had one vision, which was the vision that Paul saw.

All the Servants of the Lord
Who Serve according to the Revelation of the Bible
Serving According to the Vision

From the time of the apostles until today, for two thousand years, all the servants of the Lord who serve according to the revelation of the Bible serve according to the vision. This is the standard and the basis of our service. After the apostles passed away, servants of the Lord were raised up in every age. They argued, fought, and debated over whose service should be considered the genuine and right service. The verdict on such considerations should be based on the standard of the revelation as revealed in the Bible.

The Example of the Lord Jesus

Today God’s revelation is already put into writing. It is recorded in the Bible and is no longer something abstract. This is a very important matter. When the Lord Jesus spoke on the earth, He would say, “As the Scripture said” (John 7:38). Even while He was being tempted and was arguing with the devil, He said, “It is written” (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). He did not speak according to any personal feeling within Him. This means that the divine revelation upon which He based His speaking is veritable; it is written in black and white and is not abstract at all.… This shows clearly that the Lord argued and justified Himself according to the revelation that was written down at the time.

The Example of the Apostles

In the book of Acts, both the apostles Peter and Paul spoke in the way of a defense. The first message that Peter delivered on the day of Pentecost was a defense based extensively on the Scriptures. He quoted the prophet Joel and proclaimed that Jesus of Nazareth, whom the people had crucified on the cross, had been raised up by God. This was what David referred to in Psalm 16. Moreover, as David prophesied in Psalm 110, God had exalted this Jesus to His right hand. Paul also wrote his Epistle to the Romans in the way of an argument based on the Old Testament. Someone said once that in order to be a good lawyer, one has to study the book of Romans thoroughly because this book contains the most perfect reasonings and the highest arguments. (CWWL, 1986, vol. 2, “The Vision of the Age,” msg. 1)

Our Vision Extending All the Way from the First Vision
of Adam in Genesis to the Ultimate Vision of the Manifestation
of the Church, the New Jerusalem

From the time the apostle John completed the book of Revelation until today, nineteen centuries have passed. During the past nineteen hundred years, countless numbers of Christians have been serving God. Added to this great number of Christians serving God are the Jews, who also are serving God. Of course, the Jews serve only according to the vision of the Old Testament. Some Christians are serving according to the vision revealed in the New Testament Gospels, which has to do only with the earthly ministry of Jesus. Some serve without any vision at all. In order to serve God according to the up-to-date vision, we need to come up to the level of Paul’s very last Epistles. In fact, we need to come up to the level of the epistles to the seven churches in Revelation as well as the revelation which covers all the ages, including the kingdom, the new heaven and new earth, and the ultimate consummation of the church—the New Jerusalem. Simply put, in order for us to serve God today, our vision must extend all the way from the first vision of Adam in Genesis to the ultimate vision of the manifestation of the church, the New Jerusalem. This and this alone is the complete vision.

Closely Following the Completed Vision of This Age

Since we have the up-to-date and ultimate vision, we should closely follow after it. We are absolutely not following a man; rather, we are following a vision.

You are not following a man; rather, you are standing with the Lord’s ministry. You are following a vision, a vision that matches the age, a vision that inherits all that was in the past and a vision that is all-inclusive. It is up to date, and yet it builds on the past. If you remain in the book of Acts, you may have inherited everything prior to that time, but you are not up to date. Today as we stand here and ponder the revelations unveiled in the Lord’s recovery, as we read the publications that are released among us, we can see that they cover everything from the church to God’s economy to the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. This is a bountiful and all-sufficient vision. If you remain in this vision, you are serving according to the vision. If you are not in this vision, you could still be an Apollos, expounding the Scriptures in a powerful way; you could still be a Barnabas, visiting the churches; you could still be a James, serving piously; and you could even be a Peter, who served as the leading apostle. However, you would not be in the vision.

I believe this light is very clear among us. No one can argue with this. I hope that the young brothers and sisters will all be clear about this. From your youth, while you are serving the Lord, you should understand what we are doing here. This is not a personal thing. It is absolutely the Lord’s ministry. He has unveiled the visions generation after generation to His children. All those who are in this vision now are serving according to God’s vision. (CWWL, 1986, vol. 2, “The Vision of the Age,” msg. 2)

Questions:

Where do we find in the Bible that God gives only one vision to man in every age?
Servants of the Lord were raised up in every age. They argued, fought, and debated over whose service should be considered the genuine and right service. What standard should the verdict on such considerations be based on?
Since we have the up-to-date and ultimate vision, what should we do?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty-Six
The New Testament Ministry

Hymns, #495

Scripture Reading:

2 Cor. 4:1 Therefore having this ministry as we have been shown mercy, we do not lose heart.

Eph. 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

2 Cor. 3:8-9 How shall the ministry of the Spirit not be more in glory? For if there is glory with the ministry of condemnation, much more the ministry of righteousness abounds with glory.

The Ministry of the New Testament
Being Uniquely One Universally

Second Corinthians 4:1 indicates that the ministry of the New Testament is uniquely one. This ministry began with the preaching of repentance by John the Baptist, was continued by the work of the Lord Jesus on earth, and was brought on further by the works of the twelve apostles, who were chosen directly by Him, as well as of those who were with them. All these works are included in this ministry. We, the apostle Paul, his fellow apostles, and all those under their leading are included in this ministry. Do not think that we are being led by a particular brother; this is altogether wrong. We are being led by the apostle Paul. In other words, until the full manifestation of the new heaven and new earth, the works of all those who belong to God should be part of “this ministry” (Acts 1:17, 25; 2 Cor. 4:1).

In Ephesians 4:12 Paul does not use the word this; instead, he says, “Unto the work of the ministry.” Here the sense conveyed by the ministry is stronger than that conveyed by this ministry. The work of the ministry implies that the work of the ministry is unique. Because the sun and the moon are unique, we speak of them as “the sun” and “the moon,” not as “this sun” or “this moon.” Likewise, the work of the ministry is simply the work of the ministry, which is uniquely one. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 1, “The Ministry of the New Testament and the Teaching and Fellowship of the Apostles,” ch. 1)

The Ministry of the New Covenant
Being a Ministry of Life and Justification

In the entire universe there have been only two ministries. In 2 Corinthians 3 the ministry of the old covenant is referred to as “the ministry of death” and “the ministry of condemnation” (vv. 7, 9). The ministry of the old covenant did only two things: it condemned people and put people to death. But the new covenant and the new ministry based on the new covenant is a ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness, that is, of justification (vv. 8, 9). The old covenant ministry of Moses was a ministry of death and condemnation, but the new covenant ministry is the exact opposite: it is a ministry not of death but of the Spirit, that is, of life, and not of condemnation but of righteousness for God’s justification. Thus, we may say that the ministry of the old covenant was a ministry of death and condemnation, and the ministry of the new covenant is a ministry of life and justification. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 1, “The Ministry of the New Testament and the Teaching and Fellowship of the Apostles,” ch. 1)

The New Covenant Ministry Having an Essence
in Two Aspects: the Spirit and Righteousness

We may have expected Paul to use the word justification instead of righteousness. But here Paul speaks of righteousness, not of justification. Based upon the principle that the Spirit in this chapter is an essence, righteousness here should also be regarded as an essence. Hence, the new covenant ministry has an essence in two aspects: the first aspect is of the Spirit, and the second aspect is of righteousness.

The Substance of the New Covenant Ministry Being the Spirit,
and the Expression, the Appearance, Being Righteousness

We have pointed out that the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3 is related to life. The Spirit in this chapter refers to life. But to what does righteousness refer? If we would answer this question, we need to realize that Paul places righteousness in the same category as the Spirit. Both righteousness and the Spirit are on the same level. The new covenant ministry is a ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness, both of which are aspects of the essence of this ministry. Just as a table may be constituted of wood and of paint, so the new covenant ministry is constituted of the Spirit and of righteousness. Suppose a certain table made of wood is painted. Wood is the substance of the table, and the paint gives the table a particular appearance. Therefore, with the table there are both substance and appearance. The principle is the same with the new covenant ministry. This ministry has a substance, and it also has an appearance, an expression. The substance of the new covenant ministry is the Spirit, and the expression, the appearance, is righteousness.

The Spirit and Righteousness in Our Daily Living

Let us consider the matters of the Spirit and righteousness in the light of our experience with the Lord. When, as one who loves the Lord and seeks Him, you live Christ, do you not have the sense that within you there is something substantial, living, and active? This living substance is not any kind of doctrine, teaching, or theology. On the contrary, this living, active substance is the Spirit.

Through the ministry today, we all have had the Spirit inscribed into our being. Many times after a meeting we realize that inside we have something living, substantial, and active. This living substance is the Spirit in us, the Spirit who has been inscribed into us. In other words, the divine essence has been added into our being. If a certain person has never experienced this, I would doubt that he has truly been saved and regenerated. I believe all of us in the church life can testify that we have experienced the Spirit inwardly in a way that is living, active, and substantial. Along with this inward substance, we also have an outward expression. This expression is righteousness.

Anyone who has been inscribed with the Spirit of the living God will have an expression of righteousness in his daily living. For example, a married brother may experience the Spirit as the living substance within him through the inscribing that comes from the new covenant ministry. Spontaneously his wife will realize that something has happened to her husband. She may say to herself, “Something has happened to him, but I don’t understand what it is. He seems to be right in every way and right with everything. Formerly, he was wrong in the way he did many things. He was wrong even in the way he put things away, for he never put them back in the proper place. But now he takes care of everything in the right way. I also see a difference in the way he speaks to me. When it is time for him to go to work, he tells me in such a nice way that he is leaving. He says, ¡®Dear, I’m going to work now.’ My husband is even right in the way he takes care of the dog. I don’t know what is going on with him.” Because the brother is experiencing the Spirit inwardly as the substance, he expresses righteousness in his life at home. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 25)

Questions:

In the entire universe there have been only two ministries: the Old Testament ministry and the New Testament ministry. Please use two words to illustrate these two ministries.
The New Testament ministry has a substance, and it also has an appearance, an expression. What is its substance? What is its appearance?
When we live Christ, we have the sense that within you there is something substantial, living, and active. What is this living, active substance?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty-Seven
The Intrinsic View of the Body of Christ

Hymns, #538

Scripture Reading:

1 John 1:2 And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.

Col. 2:19 And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

Four Intrinsic Matters of the Church

There are four intrinsic matters of the church. The first of these is the essence of the church. Then the growth of the church is also intrinsic. If a tree grows, it grows in its intrinsic part. Following the growth is the building up of the church. The fourth intrinsic element of the church is its fellowship.

The Essence of the Church Being the Divine Life

The essence of the church is the divine life, and the divine life is Christ as the very embodiment of the processed Triune God (John 14:6; Col. 2:9).

It is by this intrinsic essence that the church can be held together as one. Our oneness is not in agreeing with one another’s doctrines. Our oneness is the processed and dispensing Triune God. Hallelujah for this oneness! If we have any problems with one another, it is because we have departed from the intrinsic essence, the processed and dispensing Triune God. If we stay with Him, forgetting all the different doctrines, there will be no problems. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” ch. 1)

The Intrinsic Growth of the Church

The growth of the church is its intrinsic growth, its organic growth. This organic growth has nothing to do with organization.

The intrinsic growth of the church is through the feeding on the guileless milk and the solid food of the word by the members of Christ (1 Pet. 2:2; Heb. 5:12-14). An infant does not grow by self-effort. He does not grow by stretching out his feet and crying, “Let me grow!” He grows by eating. The more he eats, the more he grows.

The intrinsic growth of the church is by God’s growing in the believers (Col. 2:19).…God in Himself is not growing because He is complete and perfect. His growing is within us, and how much He grows within us depends upon how much room we will give to Him to grow. We may be full of the world, of ourselves, of our own interests, but by reading the Bible, little by little the word of the Bible takes away some part of our worldliness, some part of our self-interest, and some part of our love for things other than God Himself. Then within us more room is given to God. Then He takes this room and expands and increases within us. This increase is His growth in us. His growth becomes our growth because we and He are one. The growth of the church is God’s growth in the church. By our feeding on the Word and being watered by the gifted members, the negative things within us are taken away and there is more room for the very God who dwells in us. When He gets more room, He grows within us. This issues in the church’s organic growth. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” ch. 2)

The Intrinsic Building Up of the Church

The intrinsic building up of the church is by the ascended Head giving the gifts (Eph. 4:8-11).

Every saint, great and small, is a gift to the church. Every member of the Body is a gift to the Body. We may be only a small member, like the little finger, but still we are very necessary. My little finger works so well to comfort my ear when I have an itch inside of it. We should never consider ourselves as too small to be a profitable gift to the Body.

In the organic Body of Christ, there are organic functions (Rom. 12:4-8). Because we are in this organic Body, we should be organic. Do all of us function organically in the church life? Instead of functioning organically in the church life, we may do things mechanically. We must function either as joints of supply or as parts operating. We must have something with which to supply others, or we should operate in our measure. We must function organically for the building up of the organic Body. When the entire Body is operating, the Body causes the growth of itself, resulting in it being built up in love. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” ch. 3)

The Intrinsic Fellowship of the Churches

The fourth intrinsic matter is the intrinsic fellowship of the churches for their organic relationship.

The intrinsic fellowship of the churches is the fellowship of the Spirit in the regenerated spirit of all the members of the organic Body of Christ (2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1). Second Corinthians 13:14 refers to the “fellowship of the Holy Spirit,” and Philippians 2:1 mentions “fellowship of spirit,” indicating the human spirit. Therefore, the intrinsic fellowship is of the divine Spirit residing in our human spirit.

We believers come from many different backgrounds and cultures. Regardless of our differences outwardly, however, we all have the same intrinsic fellowship. Japanese, Korean, black, and white all become one in this fellowship. If we do not follow the outward things, but follow only our spirit with the Spirit, we are in the flow. In the Lord’s recovery, we practice this universal oneness in the flow of the divine life. Many have testified that our meetings are a wonder because all the races are meeting together as one. We can meet as one because we care only for the intrinsic fellowship. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” ch. 4)

Turning Me from the Outward to the Intrinsic

The essence, the growth, the building up, and the fellowship are all very intrinsic. If every Christian remained in these four intrinsic matters, we would have no problems. Whenever we turn from the intrinsic matters to something that we can touch outwardly and that we can see outwardly, we are on the way to “divorce.” This is because all the outward, physical things are dividing factors.

If we learn this lesson and receive the grace of the Lord, we will say, “Lord, save me! Rescue me and turn me from the outward to the intrinsic.” Then immediately we will be one. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 4, “The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ to be the Organism of the Processed and Dispensing Triune God,” ch. 1)

Questions:

There are four intrinsic matters of the church. What are these four intrinsic matters?
What does it mean that the intrinsic growth of the church is by God’s growing in the believers? Does God in Himself need to grow?
All the outward, physical things are dividing factors. What should we do to be one?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty-Eight
The Organic Building Up of the Body of Christ

Hymns, #867

Scripture Reading:

11-12 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:16 Talking about the Organic Building Up of the Body

Ephesians 4:16 talks about the organic building up of the Body. The building up of the Body takes place by the Body causing itself to grow. Through the supply of the joints and the operation of each one part in its measure, the entire Body is joined together and knit together. Then the Body works by causing itself to grow for the purpose of the building up of itself in love as an organism.

The Body Being Built Directly by All the Members

In Ephesians 2, Christ is not the foundation but the cornerstone that joins together the two walls, one of the Jewish believers and the other of the Gentile believers. The foundation is the revelation concerning Christ received by the apostles and prophets. This implies that the Lord Jesus would not build up His church directly. He builds up His church through the apostles and through the prophets.

The very Christ who is building up His church gave many gifts. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers for the purpose of perfecting the saints. The Head does not build the church directly. He only gives the gifted persons for the building up of the church. Even the gifted persons, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers, do not build the church directly. They perfect all the members and the members do the building work directly to build up the Body of Christ. This is clearly revealed in Ephesians 4:16.

Needing the Perfecting

The Body of Christ is built up organically by each member directly, but these members can do very little without being perfected. The perfecting is needed.…Paul did a marvelous job of perfecting the saints, and he provided a pattern for us of the way a gifted member should live and work.

. The gifted ones need to go to the homes of the saints to sit down with them and teach them mouth to mouth. We saw from Acts 20 that Paul stayed in Ephesus for three years. He perfected the saints by teaching everything concerning God and His economy publicly and from house to house with tears.

Instead of being pastors in the traditional way, we have to be little perfecters, laboring like the Apostle Paul did. The gifted persons should not speak to build up a congregation as a facade in order to make a name for themselves. The gifted ones need to go to the homes of the saints to perfect them. If a person labors by visiting the homes of the saints, in a sense he will be unknown because he does not display himself. There will not be a facade of a large congregation because the church will be scattered in all the small homes of the saints. Because the church life is basically in the homes, there will not be a display of a big congregation, but the One on the throne will see His Body under the proper, direct, organic building up. This kind of building up makes Him happy.

Growing in Christ in Order to Be Perfected

If we are going to perfect others, we must help them to grow in life. In order to be perfected, we must grow not in our natural life but in the divine life, in the life of God which is Christ.

We grow in Christ by holding to truth—things that are true and real (Eph. 4:15a). The true things in this universe are the processed Triune God and His New Testament economy, the all-inclusive Christ, and the organic church, the organic Body of Christ. By holding to these true things in love, we grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things, both small and great things (4:15b). To grow up into the Head, Christ, is to allow Christ to grow and increase in our inward parts. For us to grow up into Christ means that Christ grows in us. Christ should increase, and we should decrease. When we grow in life, this means that we decrease and allow Him to increase. When He increases in us, that is our growth in life. When we have more of Christ wrought into us and interwoven into our being, we are growing in Christ and with Christ.

The Body Being Built Directly
by All the Members of Christ Functioning,
Each in His Own Measure

The direct building of the organic Body of Christ is by the Body itself. The Body is built directly by all the members of Christ functioning, each in his own measure, mainly in prophesying—speaking for the Lord. All of us have a measure, and we can function in our measure. My little finger functions, and I am so happy with its function. Without my little finger, it would be hard for me to take care of the itching within my ear. My little finger really functions in its measure to comfort me. In like manner, all the members of the Body of Christ can function in their own measure. We all function mainly in prophesying, in speaking for the Lord.

I am expecting to see meetings all over the earth in which everyone is speaking Christ, speaking forth Christ, speaking Christ into others in the way of dispensing Christ into others. Then an organism will come into existence which can be seen not only by God but also by all His lovers.

Having to Give Ourselves up for It once We See This Vision

I hope that we can be impressed with the vision of the organic building up of the Body of Christ. The Lord will change us and altogether revolutionize us if we see this vision. Once we see this vision, we will have to give ourselves up for it. My desire is to both live and die to the Lord to see this vision, His heart’s desire, carried out. On this earth there is the need of many young ones to be the perfecters. First, we have to be perfected by someone and by the Spirit through the Word. Then we need to learn how to perfect others to do the work of the ministry to build up the Body of Christ. Those of us who have seen the vision will be burdened to sacrifice ourselves as martyrs so that the Lord will have a way to fulfill Ephesians 4 for the purpose of having the building up of His organic Body through each saint speaking Him. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 4, “Further Light Concerning the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 4)

Questions:

The Head does not build the church directly. He gave many gifts. What are these gifts? Do these gifts build the church directly?
In order to be perfected, we must grow in Christ. How can we grow in Christ?
The Body is built directly by all the members of Christ functioning, each in his own measure. What is this function?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Forty-Nine
The God-ordained Way—
Begetting, Nourishing, Perfecting, and Building

Hymns, #

Scripture Reading:

Eph. 4:11 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers.

1 Thes. 2:7 But we were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children.

1 Cor. 14:3 But he who prophesies speaks building up and encouragement and consolation to men. He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but he who prophesies builds up the church.

The Proper Way God Has Ordained in His Holy Word

For the believers to preach the gospel, to serve and worship God, to meet, and to build up the church, God has ordained in His holy word the following items as the proper way:

Practicing the New Testament Priesthood
for the Saving of Sinners
That They May Become the Members of the Body of Christ

To preach the gospel is to practice the New Testament priesthood for the saving of sinners that they may become the members of the Body of Christ (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9). We need to preach the gospel in an organic way as the priests of the gospel.

Today we must have a turn from our skill, our art, to life. The way to turn is to pray, call on the Lord’s name, and confess our sins, our defects, and even all the mistakes we have made toward our relatives, neighbors, and all the ones whom we know and may have offended. We need to make a thorough restitution that we may enjoy the Lord as the life-giving Spirit. Then we can practice the New Testament priesthood by going to people to minister Christ.

We need to sow Christ into people, not just occasionally, but regularly according to a schedule. We need to make a schedule, giving the Lord at least three hours once a week for contacting sinners. We do not necessarily need to knock on “cold” doors, on the doors of people whom we do not know. We have relatives, neighbors, colleagues, classmates, and friends. We can even ask the brothers to recommend their acquaintances and make arrangements to meet them two weeks in advance. During those two weeks we need to pray every day. This is organic, not something religious.

Feeding the Young Believers as a Nursing Mother
That They May Grow in the Spiritual Life

After someone gets saved through us, we should consider that he is our spiritual child. After a child is born, he needs to be fed in a regular way. We need to feed the young believers as a nursing mother that they may grow in the spiritual life (John 21:15; 1 Thes. 2:7; 1 Pet. 2:2). We can shepherd the new ones by calling them on the phone. A new one needs a lot of help. At the beginning, we should go to be with him at least three times a week to keep him, to retain him, to sustain him, to feed him, to strengthen him, and to comfort him. Then we can protect him, preserve him, and rescue him from many distractions. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “Five Emphases in the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 5)

You all have to learn the secret to be the proper feeders. When you go out to hold home meetings, you must treat the new ones as babes. Then you have to learn how to talk to these babes. If a new one asks a question concerning science, you must talk to him as you would talk to a babe. If you talk in a natural way, saying, “Sir, I am sorry. I do not know anything about science,” you are talking as to a man and not as to a babe. You have to realize that even if he is a professor, spiritually speaking, he is a babe. Therefore, you should not treat him as a professor, but as a babe in Christ. This is not easy to learn. In your attitude, in your tone, and in every way, you must be as one who is talking to a babe. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Exercise and Practice of the God-Ordained Way,” msg. 19)

Carrying Out the Mutual Teaching
for the Perfecting of One Another in the Group Meetings

After feeding and nourishing the new believers, we should bring them to the group meetings. We perfect the saints in the group meetings not according to the old way with regulation or formality, but according to the new way which is full of the Spirit, life, singing, and praising. In the group meetings, we should open up to one another. When someone opens up his situation, the others in the meeting can pray for him. In this way, everyone’s situation is known to the others. The mutual fellowship issues in the need to mutually intercede for one another. Out of this mutual intercession comes mutual care and mutual shepherding.

The group meetings should also have mutual questions and mutual answers to carry out the mutual teaching for the perfecting of one another (Eph. 4:12). The group meetings should have no assigned teacher. Everyone is a teacher, and everyone is a learner. Everyone can ask, and everyone can answer.

The new ones may not know how to ask the proper questions, but we should not teach them. Rather, we should simply take the lead to ask something for their sake. Then the others will answer, and everyone will learn. After twenty minutes of answers from everyone, the question will have been adequately covered. Spontaneously, there will be the perfecting. This is the proper teaching. In this way, everyone in the meeting will become interested in asking and in answering questions. After meeting in this way for two years, the new ones will surely know how to speak for the Lord, and everyone in the group meeting will be perfected. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 3, “The Basic Principles for the Practice of the God-Ordained Way”)

Teaching the Saints to Prophesy in the Church Meetings
for the Building Up of the Church

When we lead the new ones into the organic group meetings, they will spontaneously be educated and will be initiated into prophesying. We need to teach the saints to prophesy, that is, to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord, in the church meetings for the building up of the church (1 Cor. 14:1, 3-5, 12, 23-26, 31, 39a). Then the new ones will be living and functioning members in the Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “Five Emphases in the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 5)

Practicing the Lord’s Way Honestly and Faithfully

The Lord has shown us His way, but the practice is lacking. To enter into the practice, we must have the willingness and the paying of the price. I do not expect that all of the saints will practice the God-ordained way, but I do expect that at least one-third of the saints will practice the Lord’s way. If just one-third of the saints practice the Lord’s way honestly and faithfully with a pure motive and heart, the Lord will see the success. In order to fully enter into the God-ordained way, we must learn a lot. We must learn to get out of our natural habit and learn to be living and open. We have to learn the Word and experience the truth, accumulating a good deposit within us. We must also learn how to take the opportunity to practice what we have learned. Then we will receive the benefit, and the church will be built up. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990,” msg. 16)

Questions:

For the believers to preach the gospel, to serve and worship God, to meet, and to build up the church, God has ordained the proper way in His holy word. What does this proper way include?
Should the group meetings have teachers? How can we perfect the saints without teachers?
Since the Lord has shown us His way, we need to enter into the practice. What should we do in order to fully enter into the God-ordained way?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Fifty
Morning Revival

Hymns, #1159

Scripture Reading:

Lam. 3:23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Prov. 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, Which shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

2 Cor. 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

Morning Revival

A vital matter that is crucial to the practice of the church life in the new way is our living a life of morning revival and daily victory. We should not consider that to have a personal morning revival is difficult. To be revived is simply to be touched by the Lord anew. Whenever the Lord touches us, we are revived. In only two minutes the Lord can touch us and revive us. You may not have been revived for a long time, and you may feel that you are very far from the Lord. However, the Lord promises that, regardless of what we are, where we are, or how we are, He is always near to us. We may not have a pure conscience, but the Lord’s blood is ready to cleanse us. If we simply confess our failures, defects, wrongdoings, and shortcomings, the Lord will forgive us and cleanse us. Then immediately we touch Him, and He touches us. This is to be revived, and this kind of revival must be fresh every day.

We stress that this should be a morning revival based upon God’s natural law. Every twenty-four hours there is a morning to begin the new day. The sun rises anew every morning, and we also must rise up every morning. Therefore, it is good for us to go to bed earlier at night so that we can rise up earlier in the morning. Every morning we should get up, make our bed, and then spend some time with the Lord. If we can give the Lord ten minutes in the morning before doing anything else, surely we will be revived. If we normally get up at six o’clock, we should get up at five fifty. Then we could have ten minutes to contact the Lord and be revived.

In our time with the Lord, the main thing is to clear up our conscience, to get rid of our inner condemnation. This is done by making a thorough confession of all of our failures, defects, defeats, wrongdoings, mistakes, even sinfulness to the Lord. Then we can take one or two verses from the Holy Word to use in our prayer. This is pray-reading. Do not be concerned about too many things, and do not care that much for your understanding. Take care of calling on the Lord, contacting the Lord, and touching the Lord with a proper inner sense. This keeps you in a direct, fresh, intimate, loving contact with the Lord. Sometimes as you are enjoying the Lord in this way, you may have the sensation that the Lord is speaking to you. Then you can be silent, listening to His speaking. This is to fellowship with Him. In ten minutes you can do a number of things, yet you should not try to do too much. Use this ten minutes mainly to contact the Lord directly; then you will be revived. Because you have been revived, when you go to work, you will go with the Lord. In this way you will be victorious the whole day. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Exercise and Practice of the God-Ordained Way,” ch. 28)

This Daily Revival Bringing Transformation with It

This daily revival brings transformation with it. Romans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” This shows us that transformation comes from beholding the Lord. We are like mirrors beholding the Lord with an unveiled face. The more we behold Him, the more we reflect the glory of the Lord and the more we are transformed into the image of the Lord from one stage of glory to another. This transformation is from the Lord Spirit. There is not just a revival, but a transformation as well. Hence, to have a revival that is renewed daily is to have a transformation that is fresh daily. If we remain in this transformation our whole life, we will grow in the life of the Lord until we are matured. This kind of revival, renewal, and transformation is what we all need today.

Living a Life of Consecration Daily after Such a Revival

After such a revival, we should live a life of consecration daily. In such a living, we fellowship with the Lord, walk with Him, and abide in Him, and thus become one spirit with Him and live Him out. This is an overcoming living. By this, we will be able to consecrate everything for the Lord. Our whole being will be for the Lord. Our time, energy, family, and business will all be for the Lord. We all have to consecrate ourselves in such a reckless way, not giving up until we reach our goal. We must be like a mother nursing her baby. Whether she is healthy or not does not matter. Whether she has problems or not, she has to consecrate everything for the care of her child. The same is true for athletes in the field; they forget everything and are desperate for the goal. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 4, “A Timely Trumpeting and the Present Need,” msg. 4)

Calling on the Lord and Pray-reading His Word Every Morning

I have said all this to show you that we Christians are different from the people in the world. The worldly people at most meditate or contemplate in the morning. But what we are doing is not meditation. We are calling on the Lord and pray-reading His word. This fills us up with the Lord and refreshes us from within. At the same time, when we call on the Lord, the Holy Spirit comes, because today the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit. When we call on the Lord every morning, there is a deep realization within that the Lord Jesus has come. We have really found Him! In the end, our whole person will be changed. This is what is meant by a revival.

This revival is like our daily wash-ups; one does not do it once for all. There must be a daily washing. According to the law of nature, the sun rises once every twenty-four hours. When we move with the sun, we should also have a rising up once every twenty-four hours. Moreover, we have to be as bright as the sun shining in its might. If we are like this spiritually, every day we will surely live a renewed life. In the words of Paul, our inner man will be renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). The inner man signifies our regenerated spirit within. This spirit, together with all the inward parts, is being renewed by the daily metabolism that comes about through the supply of the resurrection life.

The new way is actually a way of life. Today, all of us have to live a life of touching the Lord every morning to be revived every day. Every morning we need a new beginning. To us every day should be new. In this revived and renewed living, we will spontaneously care for others, and we will spontaneously share with others the Christ whom we enjoy and the Savior whom we have received. In this way, others will be able to enjoy with us the portion that God has given to us. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 1, “The Organic Practice of the New Way,” ch. 4)

Questions:

A vital matter that is crucial to the practice of the church life in the new way is our living a life of morning revival and daily victory. How can we get revival?
If we live a life of morning revival, what transformation will it bring to us?
The worldly people at most meditate or contemplate in the morning. What do we Christians do?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Fifty-One
The New Testament Priesthood of the Gospel

Hymns, #925

Scripture Reading:

Rom. 15:16 That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.

1 Pet. 2:5 You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The New Testament Priests of the Gospel of God

We will particularly cover a unique matter in the New Testament, that is, the New Testament priests of the gospel of God. Many people know what the term priest means. In brief, a priest is one who devotes himself to the service of God.

In the Old Testament the priests offered mainly cattle, such as bulls and goats, as sacrifices, but what John the Baptist offered were repentant sinners. He turned to become the first God-ordained priest of the gospel of the New Testament, offering not sacrifices, such as bulls and goats, but sinners gained through his preaching of the baptism of repentance (Matt. 3:5-6). Hence, beginning with John the Baptist, the work of the New Testament priests of the gospel is primarily to offer saved sinners as sacrifices to God. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “The Ministry of the New Testament Priests of the Gospel,” msg. 1)

The New Testament Priests of the Gospel of God
Doing Four Main Things

The New Testament priests of the gospel of God should do the following four main things: first, go out to preach the gospel to save sinners; second, nourish and care for the new believers; third, teach and perfect the saints; and fourth, prophesy for the building up of the church. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “The Ministry of the New Testament Priests of the Gospel,” msg. 4)

Going Forth to Bear Fruit

As saved believers, we are all priests of the gospel. Paul was a priest of the gospel, and we all also are priests of the gospel. No one can be a priest for anyone else. As Paul preached the gospel and bore fruit, so should we preach the gospel and bear fruit. Since we are priests of the gospel, we should work on sinners. Perhaps someone may say, “I cannot do this; at least, I do it poorly.” He cannot do it or does it poorly because he will not do it or will not do it frequently and regularly. If we do the work of a priest frequently and regularly, we will surely be able to do it and will improve in the way we do it.

Nourishing the Newly Saved Ones

We need to preach the gospel to help people be saved that they may be regenerated, but much more, we need to nourish the newly saved ones. In John 21, after His resurrection, the Lord appeared to Peter and said, “Do you love Me more than these?” Peter said, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” The Lord said to him, “Feed My lambs” (v. 15). To feed the lambs is to nourish the young or weak believers with the riches of the inner life. This requires that we love the Lord and enjoy the riches of His divine life. When we enjoy the Lord as our rich supply of life, we should and we can feed His lambs. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “The Ministry of the New Testament Priests of the Gospel,” msg. 2)

Teaching and Perfecting the Saints

We need not only to nourish and take care of the new believers but also to teach and perfect them. As far as our physical, human life is concerned, we need begetting, nourishing, and teaching; as to our spiritual life, it is the same. As the New Testament priests of the gospel, we need to work on sinners that we may help them to be saved and bring them back to God through the gospel. We also need to go to meet in their homes that we may nourish and take care of them. Then we need to bring them to meet in small group meetings that are full of mutuality. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “The Ministry of the New Testament Priests of the Gospel,” msg. 3)

Prophesying for the Building up of the Church

Now we come to the highest point of the work of the New Testament priests of the gospel—prophesying for the building up of the church. I also encourage us all to earnestly desire prophesying and even that we all can prophesy. In this way the function of every member can be manifested, and the riches of the Body of Christ can be released from every member. Eventually, the Body of Christ will be built up for the accomplishment of God’s New Testament economy. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “The Ministry of the New Testament Priests of the Gospel,” msg. 4)

The Universal Priesthood

According to the revelation of the Bible, this should be the ministry of the universal priesthood, not the priestly ministry of a few people (1 Pet. 2:5). All the believers constitute a kingdom of priests; they are a priesthood. It is not that only a few saved ones with special gifts are priests and that the others, the majority who are without gifts, cannot be priests. This is not scriptural. The Bible says that every believer is a priest of the gospel of God.

Following Paul’s Example

As such, Paul was a pattern of the priesthood of the gospel. He took care of the new believers in Christ that they might grow by the word of God and that thereby the fruits of the gospel would remain. Furthermore, he carried out the work of teaching and perfecting in the saints, working individually and directly on them daily, that they might be perfected in their gifts. Thus, like him, they could do the work of the building of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12), and they could all become the New Testament priests of the gospel.

Today we should teach and perfect the brothers and sisters by following Paul’s example. Whatever he did, we also can do. Moreover, after we have learned, we should also teach and perfect others that they also may be able to do as we do. Thus, every saint can become a ministering priest of the gospel, and everyone can do the work of God’s complete salvation on sinners: preaching the gospel that people may be regenerated, nourishing the new believers that they may grow, teaching the saints that they may be perfected, and cultivating them to prophesy, to speak for the Lord, that they may arrive at the building up of the Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “The Ministry of the New Testament Priests of the Gospel,” msg. 1)

Questions:

In the Old Testament the priests offered mainly cattle, such as bulls and goats, as sacrifices. What do the New Testament priests of the gospel offer as sacrifices to God?
What are the four main things that the New Testament priests of the gospel of God should do ?
God’s intention is for everyone to be the New Testament priests of the gospel and to serve as a priesthood. What can we learn from the example of Paul?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

Week Fifty-Two
Everyone Prophesying for the Building Up of the Church

Hymns, #864

Scripture Reading:

1 Cor. 14:31 For you can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

4 He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but he who prophesies builds up the church.
12 So also you, since you are zealous of spirits, seek that you may excel for the building up of the church.

Prophesying Being to Speak for the Lord
and to Speak Forth the Lord

First Corinthians 14 begins by saying, “Pursue love, and desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy…. he who prophesies speaks to men for building up and encouragement and consolation…. he who prophesies builds up the church” (vv. 1, 3-4). To pursue love is to pursue the growth of life in order to develop the gifts in life. Therefore, the pursuing of love must be matched with the pursuing of the most profitable gift, that is, the gift of prophesying. In the church life, we should not only love one another, but also pursue gifts for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Among all the gifts, there is one gift which is the most important, prophesying. The meaning of prophesying is to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord.

Since prophesying is to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord, it implies supplying Christ to others. This is the most important matter in the church meetings and also the matter we pay the most attention to today. In changing the system through taking the new way, the Lord has fully opened to us the ordained way in the New Testament for believers to meet and to serve. We are now endeavoring very much to advance forward on this way. The most important item in this way is our prophesying in the meetings. Our experience tells us that the success of the practice of the new way from now on will depend entirely on this matter of prophesying in the meetings. If there are prophesyings in the meetings, and they are good and successful, then the new way will have a breakthrough. If the prophesyings in the meetings are lacking, or short, or failing, then the new way will not get through. Therefore, we must exercise ourselves in this most crucial matter.

The Building Up of the Church Receiving Great Benefit
If We Do Prophesy

Verse 5 says, “Now I desire that you all speak in tongues, but rather that you may prophesy; now greater is he who prophesies than he who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, that the church may receive building up.” This shows us that in the building up of the church, prophesying is greater than other gifts. If we do not prophesy in the church meetings, the building up of the church will suffer a great loss. But if we do prophesy, the building up of the church will receive great benefit.

Convicting People and Judging People

Verses 23 through 25 say, “If therefore the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak in tongues, and the unlearned or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are insane? But if all prophesy and some unbeliever or unlearned person enters, he is convicted by all, he is judged by all; the secrets of his heart become manifest; and so falling on his face, he will worship God, reporting that God is really among you.” In the church meetings, if we all would prophesy, speak for the Lord and speak forth the Lord, that would convict people and judge people, because this way of speaking has God as the content. It supplies the hearers with God and also leads them to turn to God. In other words, the church meetings should be filled with God, and all the activities in the meetings should transfuse and infuse people with God so that they may be saturated with God. In order to have this, all must prophesy in the meetings.

Needing to Have Much Practice and Learning

Verse 26 says that whenever the whole church comes together, “each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” This implies that when we come to the church meetings, we should have something of the Lord to share with others. We may have a hymn for praising the Lord. We may have a teaching of the teacher to supply people with the riches of Christ for edification and nourishment. We may have a revelation of a prophet to show people the vision of God’s eternal purpose concerning Christ being the mystery of God and the church being the mystery of Christ. We may have a tongue for the unbelievers as a sign that they may know and receive Christ, or we may have an interpretation to make the tongue concerning Christ and His Body understandable. All these are things we receive from the Lord, things out of the Lord, which we possess before we come to the meetings through our experience of the Lord, our enjoyment of His word, and our fellowship with Him in prayer. These are not instant inspirations, but a regular accumulation; these are not accidental activities, but are acquisitions that come through much learning.

The five items listed in this verse, whether it is a psalm, teaching, revelation, tongue, or interpretation, are related to our speaking. For this, we need to learn the Lord’s word and have much practice in prophesying. Verse 31 tells us that we “can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all be encouraged.” This implies that the speaking of the prophets can cause people to learn and to be encouraged. Of course, the prophet himself has to learn and experience first. He has to learn the Lord’s word first; then he can cause others to learn through his speaking for God.

Finally, the only way for us to be one who speaks for the Lord is to practice. We all know that knowledge is one thing and speaking is another. Moreover, if you want to speak well, to speak with revelation and with supply, you need to have much practice and learning. Therefore, from now on not only do you need to learn the Lord’s word, know the truths of the Bible, and experience the Lord, you also need to practice speaking the Lord’s word in all kinds of meetings and environments. The more you speak, the more you will know how to speak. The more you speak, the more you will be good at speaking. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 2, “Words of Life from the 1988 Full-Time Training,” msg. 7)

Earnestly Desiring Prophesying

The word is rich among us and even in each of us, but it has been buried in the past. By this word I am digging it out again. I wish that we would earnestly pursue toward this goal. I truly regard this matter highly, just as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 14. Therefore, I also encourage us all to earnestly desire prophesying and even that we all can prophesy. In this way the function of every member can be manifested, and the riches of the Body of Christ can be released from every member. Eventually, the Body of Christ will be built up for the accomplishment of God’s New Testament economy. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, “The Ministry of the New Testament Priests of the Gospel,” msg. 4)

Questions:

the Lord has fully opened to us the ordained way in the New Testament for believers to meet and to serve. What is the most important item in this way?
In the church meetings, if we all would prophesy, speak for the Lord and speak forth the Lord, that would convict people and judge people. Why?
What should we do in order to be one who speaks for the Lord?

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY (PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)

A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE MESSAGES OF THE MINISTRY
(PART ONE: FIFTY-TWO WEEKS)