The Two Greatest Prayers of the Apostle Paul

Ephesian 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him,

if we want to see and know the matter of the church, which is the mystery of God, we must be in our spirit. Only when we exercise our spirit and retreat to our spirit, we can see the things clearly, especially spiritual things. 

here in Ephesians 1:17 to 22, the apostle Paul prayed for three items:

1. to see the hope of God's calling. 

our hope is not to go to heaven after we die. in Revelation 21, we see that the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. then what is the hope of God's calling? 

Colossians 1:27 To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,
the hope of God's calling is "Christ in you, the hope of glory". Christ realized by us, experienced by us, and gained by us to the fullest extent is the hope of our calling. God called us, justified us, and He will glorify us, conforming us to the image of His Son. One day we will all be absolutely the sams as Christ. Our hope is not just Christ as our Redeemer or as our life, but Christ as our ultimate manifestation and consummation, as our glory. 

2. to see the glory of God's inheritance in the saints. 

what is God's inheritance? God's inheritance is Christ. we, in our natural being, have nothing which is woth to be God's inheritance. Only the very Christ who has been wrought into our being can be God's inheritance. We all need more of Christ to be wrought into us. the glory of God's inheritance in the saints is the Christ of glory within us.

3. to see the surpassing greatness of God's power.

this power is a fourfold power:

a. the power which raised Jesus from among the dead

b. the power which seated Christ at the right hand of God in the heavens

c. the power which subjected all things under Christ's feet

d. the power which made Christ Head over all things to the church

the phrase "to the church" indicates that there is a divine transmission going on between Christ, the Head and the church, His Body. we, as members of the Body, are always under this divine transmission, because Christ, as the Head, wants to manifest this fourfold power within all of us, the church. We need the resurrection power to overcome the death, and deadness within our being. we need the transcending power in the midst of all these troublesome situations. 

Ephesians 3:16 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man,

before we get saved, we only one man, the soul as our person. However, when we believe into the Lord, when we are regenerated, when we receive the divine life into us, our spirit becomes the inner man, the new man, where Christ, the living person dwells. but this inner man starts very weak, like a new born babe. this is why most of the time, we still live in the way not like a genuine proper Christian who has Christ living in us. therefore, in Ephesians 3, the second greatest prayer of the apostle Paul, he says that we need to be stregthened, with power, through His Spirit, into the inner man. the "power" here is the same word as in chapter 1, which is the fourfold power. When we are stregthened with this fourfold power, our inner man becomes stronger and stronger. the result is that, we will no longer live according to the old man, our soul, but according to the inner man, the new, according to our mingled spirit, indwelt by the Spirit. In this way, we are living in the reality of the Christian life and the church life, putting off the old man, putting on the new man. in such a living, we eat and drink of Christ, and live because of Christ. This is the worship the Father is seeking, in John chapter 4. Then, we are worshipping God in spirit and in truthfulness. 

The Two Greatest Prayers of the Apostle Paul (English Edition) Lee, Witness Living Stream Ministry

 

the Full Ministry of Christ

the full ministry of Christ is carried out in three stages: 

1. the stage of incarnation:

from the birth of the Lord Jesus to His death on the cross, and Christ accomplished the main things:

a. to bring the infinite God into the finite man

Micar 5:2 (But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, / So little to be among the thousands of Judah, / From you there will come forth to Me / He who is to be Ruler in Israel; / And His goings forth are from ancient times, / From the days of eternity.)

this verse shows us the eternal origin of Christ, and also shows that the Triune God was preparing to come forth out of eternity into time. the Lord Jesus was born in Bethelehem as a man, thus bringing divinity into humanity. 

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

the "beginning" in John 1:1 refers to the beginning in eternity past. As the eternal God, Christ has no beginning in time and no end. He is the ever existing One in His divinity.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

this verse tells us the incarnation of Christ. Christ became flesh, taking human form, putting on human nature. 

b. to unite, mingle and incorporate the Triune God with the tripartite man

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy thing which is born will be called the Son of God.

Luke 2:40 And the little child grew and became strong, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.

c. to express in His humanity the bountifuo God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues

Luke 7:47 For this reason I say to you, Her sins which are many are forgiven, because she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, he loves little.

Luke 7:48 And He said to her, Your sins are forgiven.

Luke 7:50 But He said to the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

from the records in the four gospels, we can see that the Lord's humanity is so aromatic and attracting, because He was living the divine life and expressing God's rich attributes. 

d. to accomplish His judicial redemption through His death on the cross

Romans 5:10 For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled,

2. the second stage of inclusion, from the resurrection of Christ to the degradation of the church, to accomplish:

a. to be begotten as God's Firstborn Son

Romans 1:3 Concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh,

Romans 1:4 Who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord;

b. to become the life-giving Spirit

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

c. to regenerate the believers for His Body

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Corinthians 12:13 For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

3. in the stage of intensification, from the degradation of the church to the consummation of the New Jerusalem, to accomplish:

a. to intensify His organic salvation

Christ, as the life-giving Spirit, has been sevenfold intensified to become the Seven Spirits, as the reaction to the degradation of the church. 

Revelation 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,

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood

b. to produce the overcomers

overcomers are not something we make an effort to try to achieve, but the overcomers are produced by the sevenfold intensified Spirit. the overcomers are the prepared Bride, the bridal army of the Lamb. 

Revelation 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.

Revelation 19:7 Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.

c. to consummate the New Jerusalem

Revelation 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.

Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs

Life is not knowledge, not gifts, not power, but life is a Person. Life is Triune God Himself, and building is the expression of God as life in a corporative Body. Lief and building are the basic and central revelation of the bible. Gaining much knowledge of the bible is not life. Having power or gifts manifested in us is not life, either. We need to have a turn so that we may see that God Himself is life, and God desires to be life to us. if we want to have God as our life, we must first see that our natural life, whether good or bad, is not the real life. We need to have God, so that we have the zoe life, the real life, the divine and eternal life.

in the book Song of Songs, we can see 8 major figures:

1. a mare

2. dove's eyes

3. a lily

4. a dove

5. a pillar of smoke

6. Solomon's bed

7. Solomon's palanquin

8. Solomon's crown

from these 8 figures, we can see the seeker's progress in the stages of life. One of the most outstanding change in the seeker is her will. from figure 1 to 4, we can still see the characteristic of the seeker, but from the pillar of smoke, the seeker has lost her distinct characteristic. when the Lord first praised the seeker as a mare in Pharoah's chariot, her characteristic was still very strong. but as she loved and pursued the Lord, while the Spirit worked on her to transform her, then she lost her own charateristic and gradually became one with the Lord. this can be seen in the last figure, Solomon's crown, the seeker even lost herself and became one with Solomon as his crown, not just a vessel for Solomon to move, or a bed for Solomon to rest. This is as a result of the seeker's being subdued in her will, and the work of the cross on the seeker, while the seeker was hiding in the cleft of rocks. the book did not tell us how long the seeker was in that cleft before she became a pillar of smoke coming from the wilderness. during that time, the seeker was attracked and encouraged by the Lord as the young hard leaping on the mountains and hills, called by the Lord to rise up and come away. then the seeker was permeated with the myrrh and frankincense, and led by the Lord into His ascension, where the seeker was delivered from herself by the cross, and was one with the Lord in His ascension. after passing through the dealing of the cross to be conformed to the death of Christ, the seeker lost her personality and became identified with Christ. 

after these eight figures, there came the garden and the city. 

Song of Songs 4:12 A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, / A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

the Lord praised the seeker as an encloses garden, growing with all the spices and choice fruits. this is another great progress for the seeker. Before, the seeker was enjoying the Lord as a bunch of myrrh and a cluster of henna flowers, then the seeker went up to the mountai of myrrh, and then the seeker was permeated with the myrrh of the mechandise. but the seeker was never producing anything of the myrrh or other spices. here the seeker was mentioned by the Lord as a garden encloses, producing all the spices. and the Lord went into this garden to enjoy the produce of the garden. Before, only the seeker was enjoying and satisfied with the Lord, but now here the Lord was enjoying and satisfied with the seeker as the garden. the seeker has progressed from caring for her own enjoyment to caring for the enjoyment of the Lord and of others. 

but this is not the end. in chapter 6, we see that the seeker still progressed on to become a city. 

Song of Songs 6:4 You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem, / As terrible as an army with banners.

here the Lord praised the seeker as the city. the city, the building is the purpose of the Lord. though the garden with all choice fruits seem very good, but not enough, not adequate. the Lord's goal is to gain a building, the city New Jerusalem, which requires all the materials to be built up. therefore, our own individual spirituality is not the end, and should not be our mere goal. we need to see that the Lord is after the building, the built up Body of Christ, the consumatted city New Jerusalem as His Bride. so our growth, our progess in life, should be with the view of the building up. 

from this book, we can see the purpose, the goal, and the destiny of our being chosen to be the sons of God, is the corporate building, consummating the New Jerusalem. This is unique building work that God is doing right now, in His recovery work, which is practiced in the proper church life today. one of the pracitcal way for us to be brought in and established in this building is to eat the Lord in His word, so that we can have a metabolic change. we need to eat, digest and assimilate the Lord for Him to be constituted into our being to become our every fiber. then we can be transformed for God's building.

Life and Building As Portrayed in the Song of Songs.

 

A Young Man in God's Plan

the Bible surely is a book of Christ, but the Bible is also a book full of man. this Bible reveals to us that man is the center of God's plan. without man, God's pan will collapse. if we read both the Old Testament and the New Testament, we can see in the history of God's move in man, whenever God planned to make a turn in His move, He always called out and used young man to turn the age. for example, there was Noah, who made the ark and turned the age. there was Samuel, who ended the age of the judges and brought in the age the kings. there was also Daniel, who turned the age of captivity. They were all young men called and used by God. Why did God need to turn the age??? Man failed God again and again. when God made a turn and started the new age, everything was fine at the very beginning. But later on, man fell and failed God, which caused God to have no way to go on in that age. Therefore, God had to turn the age to have another fresh start. if we desire to be such young men like Samuel and Daniel for God to be able to use us, we need to keep ourselves empty, not occupied, fresh, open and new with the Lord. 

Saul of Tarsus, who later became Paul the apostle, was a young man, greatly used by the Lord. when he was still Saul, he was breathing murder to the disciples of the Lord. then on his way to Damascus, he got knocked down by the great light, and received the revelation of the Lord Jesus, which converted him into Paul. Because of the Son of God who was revealed within him, Paul left everything behind, his good education, his achievenment in the religion, etc. He counted all these things to be loss, so that he might gain Christ. we need to follow Paul's pattern, always pursuing to know Christ more and more. Never think that we had enough. No! Christ is so vast, so rich, so full, and so inexhaustible. we can never fully explore the vast dimensions of Christ. therefore, we should never be content, but always want more and more!!! in order to know and gain Christ, we must also forsake everything else other than Christ. anything, even the spiritual things can become the hindrance for us to gain more Christ, or they may become something taking the place of Christ within us. we need count all these things as refuse, so that we can only focus on Christ, on gaining more Christ. this is God's desire and intention. God wants to reveal His Son within us, and God wants His Son to become everything to us, so that we will be fully saturated, possessed and filled with Christ. 

Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

from Paul's testimony, we can see, when he saw the vision, he also received the divine commission from the Lord. the commission comes from the vision, and the commission is according to the vision. this commission, according to the verse, has five items:

1. open their eyes: this opening of others' eyes is not up to how eloquent we are, but depending on whether we really have seen the vision. if we have seen the vision and are being governed by the vision, even we cannot speak well, whenever we speak according to the vision, we will be able to open others'e eyes.

2. turn them from darkenss to light: darkness is the sign of sin and death, but light is the sign of righteousness and life. 

3. turn them from the authority of Satan to God

4. to receive the forgiveness of sins

5. to receive the inheritance: God has given His Son, the all-inclusive Christ as our eternal portion, as our inheritance. whenever we preach the gospel to others, they are receiving Christ, the Son of God as their inheritance. 

all these five items should be the content of the commission we have received today. 

the Satanic Chaos In the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation

in this universe, God has an ecnomoy, which is God's plan, God's arrangement. as God's enemy and adversary, Satan also has his satanic chaos to frustrate and hinder God's economy. therefore, as the believers today, it is crucial for us to realise that the Christian life is a mixed life, a life of the divine ecnomy mixed with satanic chaos. 

from both the Old Testament and the New Testamen, we can see these two lines going along with each other. God created Adam for His purpose, but Satan entered into Adam to cause man to fall. God brought His people Israel out of Egypt into the good land, very soon, Satan came in to confuse and divide the nation of Israel with his chaos. even in the New Testament, the religious and political gourp has always followed the Lord Jesus to cause trouble to His earthly ministry. then after the world crucified the Lord Jesus, the satanic chaos continued to oppose and persecute the disciples. 

the review of the book of Revelation

in the eyes of God, there are four races of the mankind: the Adamic race, the created but fallen man; the Abrahamic race according to the flesh, the Jewish race; the Abrahamic race according to the Spirit, the believers; the overcoming race, the overcomers the Lord was calling in the book of Revelation. it is not enough for us just to be in the group of the believers, because now the Lord needs the overcoming group, to end this age, to bring in His kingdom, to becoming the overcoming Bride, ready for the Lord's return. 

the overcomers, who will compose the Bride, is mainly composed of five groups:

1. the martys who were crying from underneath the altar at the fifth seal, mentioned in Revelation 6:9-11

2. the man-child in Revelation 12:5

3. the 144,000 living overcomers, the firstfruits

4. those who stand on the glassy sea in Revelation 15:2-4

5. the prepared bride in Revelation 19:7-9, including all the above groups.

the overcomers are the way for the Lord to come back. they will enter into the marriage feast of the Lamb, and coming with the Lord as His bridal army to defeat the enemy. 

we may have the question why the Lord does not get rid of the satanic chaos. the divine concept is different and beyond our human understanding. the Lord's desire is not to deal away with the satanic chaos, but to give Himself to us as the all-sufficient grace, so that we will conquer all the satanic chaos and triumph in the divine ecnomy. according to Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we can see there are certain conditions for the overcomers to conquer the satanic chaos and carry out the divine economy:

1. love the Lord with the first love

2. eat Christ as the tree of life

3. faithful unto death

4. enjoy Christ as the hidden manna

5. be transformed into a "white stone"

6. not defiled by spiritual death walk in "white garments"

7. keep the word of the Lord's endurance, not denying His name

8. being hot instead of lukewarm

in order for us to conquer the satanic chaos and to carry out God's economy, we have to first see cleary what is God's economy. Christ is everything, the centrality and the universality of God's economy. therefore, Christ must have the preeminence and the first place in all things. how much God is pleased with us depends on how much Christ we have. Everything we do must be in Christ, with Christ, by Christ, through Christ, and to Christ. God's economy is also to produce the church as the Body of Christ. God is doing one work, to build up the church as the Body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 14 tells us "he who prophesies builds up the church". So, we must be speaking people, speaking for and forth Christ, for the building up of the Body. every meeting when we come together should be filled with the speaking to exhibt Christ. for us to have something to speak for the building, we must be first filled with the riches of Christ. our speaking from our self cannot build up the Body. only the speaking filled with the riches of Christ can be for the building up. 

The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation Lee, Witness Living Stream Ministry

 

Christ is All Spiritual Matters and Things

1. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

Christ is the way, the method for us to go to the Father. if we do not have Christ, we do not have the way. Many are seeking some method or some means for spirituality, but we have to realise, there is no methody, or means. in the spiritual realm, there is only Christ. Christ is all and in all. Christ is everything in the spiritual realm. 

Christ is also the truth. if we do not have the Lord living in us, and if it is not the Lord who is the truth, what we have as doctrine or teaching is nothing but dead works. 

Christ is the life. Anything apart from Christ is death, only Christ Himself is life. Life is not some excitement, some movement, but life is a living person, Christ. 

2. Christ is the resurrection and the life. 

many times, we are seeking for the Lord to do something for us, or we are seeking some gifts from God. but we do not realise that the Lord does not want to shows us what He will do; He wants to show us what He is. God has not given us many individual things, but God only gives us His Christ, and everything is just in Christ. 

what is resurrection? whatever encounters death and still exists is resurrection. Resurrection is that which withstands death and endures death. the Lord died on the cross, and went to death and Hades. but death cannot hurt Him. death cannot retain or hold Him, becasue the Lord Himself is resurrection. He came out of Hades, even with the key of Hades. the Lord is ressurection and the life. He passed through death and cannot be imprisoned by death. we, as the Body of Christ, is none other than the place where His resurrection is testified. this means that anything that is not in resurrection will not have a place in the Body of Christ. we cannot bring in anything natural into the church. the church shuts out all natural things and accept only the things that belong to resurrection. for us, this means that we need to allow the cross to work on us, to terminate everything that is natural. then the only thing remains after the work of the cross is resurrction, and only this can be brought into the church. 

3. Christ is the bread of life and the light of life

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.

the bible uses hunger to express man's dissatifaction, and bread to express satisfaction. the Lord gives Himself as the bread of life to His people so that we can be satisfied by the Lord as our food. all satisfaction is related to Christ and all satisfaction is in life. Christ is the bread of life. whenever we touch life in a real way, we are immediately satisfied. 

John 8:12 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

the light of life is not the knowledge of the bible. we may read the bible everyday, but it is very likely that we only gain knowledge, dead letter, without knowing Christ. if we truly see the light, we will be knocked to the ground, like Saul of Tarsus. no one can withstand the great light of the Lord. once the light of the Lord shines on us, we fall immediately. 

4. Christ is God's matters and things

Ephesians 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;

Colossians 3:11b but Christ is all and in all.

God not only wants to make Christ the Head over all things, but He also have made Christ all and in all. God's goal is Christ, and God's means is also Christ. God only have Christ and God only gives us Christ, because God has no other things, and God does not anythings. God wants Christ to be all and in all. therefore, within each of us, God is doing a tearing down work, and a building up work. God need to take aways the things within us, so that He can put Christ into us. God tears down all the things, and builds us up with Christ.

5. Christ only - no matters or things

if we see what God is doing, we will let go all the things, so that we can lay hold of and gain Christ. we need to align our desire with God's desire. we may want individual things, e.g. healing, patience, or holiness. but actually, we do not need things; we need Christ, and we need Christ, the living person, to be everything to us. we may want healing, but Christ wants Himself to be healing to us, and He wants to give Himself to us, including the item of healing. 

Christ Is All Spiritual Matters and Things Nee, Watchman Living Stream Ministry

 

Men Who Turn the Age

God's original intention and desire is that man would express God's image and exercise God's authority on the earth, which is shown in Genesis 1:26 when God created man. but when the ages went on, man failed in this matter, overthrowing God's authority and forgot about God. this caused God to raise up someone in that corrupted age to turn the age and bring in a new age, to recover God's expression and authority. Whenever there was such a need, God purposely used young people. All those young people God used were voluntarily consecrated ones, who came down under God's authority, and submitted themselves to God's authorities, becoming an anti-testimony to the evil age. 

the characteristics of those who turn the age:

by reading the book of Daniel, looking at the records of Daniel and his three companions, we can find out the characteristics:

1. separation from an age that follows Satan

when the nation of Israel was captured under captivity, the king chose many young people, including Daniel and his companions, to give them food and wine of the idol sacrifices. at that time, it was king's choice food and wine. everyone else would be happy to take. but Danie, knowing that food is related to idol sacrifice, purposed in his heart not to be defiled by king's food. in making such a choice, Daniel separated himself from the world current, in following Satan, in being involved with Satan. it is pretty a hard thing to do, while everyone else is heading toward certain direction, only Daniel and his three companions, deciding to go against the entire tide. But, because they had such a great resolution in their heart to be separated from all others, they could be used by God to turn the age. 

2. joined to God's desire through His word

why did Daniel refused the king's choice food and wine? it must be that Daniel read the bible, the five books of Moses a lot, that he knew he could not take in unclean food, knowing God's desire is that God's people should keeo them clean and undefiled. therefore, when tials came, Daniel chose to obey God's word, to follow God's desire, by rejecting any defiled food. the word of God had such an effect on Daniel in his behavior, because Daniel joined himself to God's desire, making God's desire his own desire. we all read the Bible, but do we join ourselves to the word of God like Daniel?? many times, the word we read does not have any impact on us, because we are not willing to obey and follow the word, though we are very clear how the word shows us God's desire, what pleases or displeases God. 

3. cooperation with God through prayers

when Daniel read in the book of Jeremiah that the capitiviy would only be seventy years, Daniel immediately prayed about this. sometimes, we have this concept that, if the word says so, then it will automatically be fulfilled because the word says so, then why do we still need to pray? of course, the Lord will fufifll His own word, but it does not mean that we do not need to pray. today, God is working in the principle of incarnation. God does not like do everything by Himself. rather, He would like to have man to cooperate with Him in what He wants to do in the way of prayer. by offering such cooeprating prayer, we pave the way, and even move God's hands for Him to do whatever He wants to do. Daniel was not just a man of prayer. Daniel was a man persistengly praying, praying steadfastly. from the story of Daniel, we can see that, when Daniel prayed to understand the things of God, the very first he started to pray, God sent the angel to answer his prayer. but there was the evil prince of Satan resisted the angel in the air, so it took 21 days for the angel to reach Daniel with the answer of his prayer. but Daniel was persistent in these 21 days, keeping praying steadfastly. in my personal experience, when I start to pray for certain matter, my patience will probably only run for one week. after praying everyday for a while, seemingly there is nothing happening at all. then I will lose my heart and faith, just forgetting about this thing. Daniel was not giving up; instead he was praying, praying, and praying. 

4. not caring for one's life

when the decree of not petitioning to any God except for the king was given, Daniel still went to his room, praying on his knees, with his window toward Jerusalem. Daniel was not scared of losing his life as the consequence of praying to God. it was the same with Daniel's three companions. they would not bow down to the golden image of the king, even though they were thrown into the furnace. God cannnot use cowards. All those whom God used to turn the age are bold ones, not bold in a wild or natural way, but bold because of their fear of God and their courage to confront difficulties. 

Men Who Turn the Age (English Edition) Lee, Witness Living Stream Ministry

 

The Vision of the Universal Woman and the Man-child

Revelation 12:1 And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon underneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;

Revelation 12:2 And she was with child, and she cried out, travailing in birth and being in pain to bring forth.

Revelation 12:5 And she brought forth a son, a man-child, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

in Revelation chapter 12, we have a great sign, in which, there are three main characters: the bright woman, the great red dragon, and the man-child brought forth by the woman. we have to see the significance of these three characters in this sign.

1. the universal bright woman

this woman is the totality of all God's people both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. first, the crown of twelve stars on her head signifies the patriarchs, like Able, Noah, Abraham, etc. second, the moon underneath her feet signifies the Israel people under the law. third, the sun with which the woman was clothed signifies the church composed of all the believers. this women is composed of all God's people, which shows that all the believers, no matter female or male, have the position of woman before God, because God is the unique Man in the universe, the Husband of His corporate wife. in the Bible, woman signifies the weaker vessel, and a life trusting and depending on God. we, as God's people, need to always trust God, depend on God, and rely on God. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. He is our life, our person, and our everything. 

2. the man-child

this women was with child, and she brought forth a man-child, who was caught up to the throne of God. the man-child is the stronger part of the woman, part of the woman, and was brought forth by the woman. how can the man-child be the stronger part of the woman? because he was saturated and permeated with the elements, the essence of God. the man-child is very crucial, because he is the turning point, the starting point of the war in the heaven. after the man-child was caught up to the thron of God, Michael with the other angels went to war with the dragon, and then the dragon was cast down from the heaven to the earth. God needs the man-child, and is waiting for the bringing forth of this man-child, so the war could start, the dragon could be cast down, and this age could be ended to usher in the age of the kingdom. 

how can the woman bring forth this man-child, or how can we be part of this man-child? 

of courrse, first, we have to be part of the universal woman to be part of the man-child. and as the stronger part of the woman, the man-child is not strong in himself, but strong in God. 

here i would like to bring out one of my favourite hymns, hymn 881, which says

"We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender;
We go not forth alone against the foe;
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender.
 We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go." 

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/881

Revelation 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.

this verse tells us the way to become the man-child. 

first, it is because of the blood of the Lamb. the blood is our weapon, our covering, and our way to overcome. 

second, because of the word of their testimony, which is thei word testifying that the devil has been judged by the Lord. like how the Lord went to proclaim to the bound angels after His death, we also need to preach, to proclaim the Lord's victory to the devil, to the eival angels, to all the evil forces in the universe. 

third, by not loving their soul-life even unto death. if we love the Lord to the uttermost, then we will not love our soul-life. if there is any love for our soul-life within us, we are defeated. the key point is not trying hard to "not love" our soul-life, but just to love the Lord with our first, best love, which will enable us to be willing to lose our soul-life for the One we love most. 

3. the great red dragon

this is the evil one, God's enemy, Satan. he has always been persecuting the woman, God's people throughout the ages. 

also in Revelation 12, we see the picture of war in the heaven. Michael and other angels went to fight with the dragon and his evil angels. we need to be aware that we are always in the unseen spiritual warfare. Satan and the evil forces haven always been working, attacking God's people so that they can frustrate the fulfillment of God's purpose. we can see this picture in the Old Testament, when Israel people entered into the good land, even before their entering, they had been fighting to take the land. throughout the history, we can see that God has been moving by fighting, fighting in and through His faithful people. Today, the warfare is till here and even become more intense. if we desire to become the man-child, the overcomers, we must be prepared, equiped and engaged in the warfare. the overcomers are those who have been fightging the good fight all the time. moment by moment, we are involved in the fight, fighting for ourselves, fighting for our fellow believers, fighting for the Body and in the Body, for God's interest here on earth. we are not fighing against blood and flesh, but our wrestling is against the evil spiritual forces. therefore, the way to fight is mainly by our prayer, not just praying common or usual prayer, but by fighting prayer. 

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity / Between you and the woman / And between your seed and her seed; / He will bruise you on the head, / But you will bruise him on the heel.

this picture of the bright woman, the man-child and the dragon, is also the consummation from the seed which is seen in Genesis 3, where we also see three characters: Eve, the seed of the woman, and the see of of serpent. here, Eve is also a type of God's people, a women depending on God. the seed of woman, firstly is Christ. then Christ, through death and resurrection, sowed Himself into us as the seed, and made us one with Him to be the corporate seed of woman. the seed of serpent includes all those who are not the seed of woman. there is no neutral ground. if we are not one with Christ, we are one with the devil, and we are the seed of serpant. 

宇宙的な女と男の子のビジョン THE VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL WOMAN AND THE MAN-CHILD ウィットネス・リー　WITNESS LEE 日本福音書房

 

the Precious Blood of Christ

in order to maintain our physical existence, we need some basic elements, like air, water, etc. this is also true for our spiritual life. one of the basic elements we need for our spiritual life is the blood of Christ.

John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

when John the Baptist saw the Lord Jesus, he introduced Him as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. talking about the lamb, we have the picture of the Passover lamb in Exodus. on the night when Israel people left Egypt, they killed the passover lamb and put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and lintels. when the angel of death went out to kill the firstborn in every family, they passed over the houses with the blood on.  the apostle Paul told us that Christ, our Passover has been sacrificed. 

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.

when the Lord died on the cross, in the gospel of John, it tells us that from His side, blood and water came out. the blood is for our redemption, and the water is for us to receive the eternal life. 

why do we need the blood of Christ? as fallen human being, we have three problems. with God, sin separates us from God. with ourselves, the stain of sin in our conscience condemns us. with Satan, he is accusing us before God day and night. therefore, we need the blood of Christ to overcome these three big problems in our Christian life. 

1. separation from God

God is a holy and righteous God, and the foundation of His throne is righteousness. God hates and cannot tolerate sin. but we are sinners born in sin, and we committ sins all the time in our life. this problem of sin separates us from God. God cannot be where sin is. then how can we come to God and fellowship with God? remember, Christ, our Passover has been sacrificed. Christ, the Lamb of God has taken away our sin, and solved the problem of sin on the cross. therefore, when we have sinned and felt that we are far away from God, we simply need to confess our sin to God and believe that the blood of Christ has taken our sin away. we confess our sin and apply the blood of Christ, and immediately we can be drawn close to God again. 

2. guilt in our conscience

when we sin, we offend God, we need to bear the consequence of sin, and also this sin leaves a stain, a mark on our conscience. 

Hebrews 9:14 How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

but the blood of Christ is powerful enough to purge, to cleanse our conscience from every guilt stain. 

3. accusation from Satan

Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our brothers has been cast down, who accuses them before our God day and night.

Revelation 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 book of Revelation tells us that Satan, the accuser, accuses us day and night, nonstop. also, Revelation tells us how we can overcome his accusation, by the blood of the Lamb. sometimes, we feel condemned, so we confess to the Lord. but after confessing, we still feel the condemnation within. then we need to be careful that this may be the accusation from Satan. this is the time to stop confessing, but to use the weapon of the blood, to declare the word of our testimony. we do not accept anything from the enemy, trying to cause our faith to leak. 

how can we know whether it is God's exposing and enlightening, or it is the accusation from the enemy?

a. God's light supplies us while Satan's accusation drains us. when God's light shines on us, on one hand we feel condemned and exposed; on the other hand, we feel supplied and strengthened.

b. God's speaking is always specific and positive, while Satan's accusation is often general and negative.

c. if the uneasy feeling still remains after we confess and claim the blood, then it must be from Satan. according to 1 John 1:9, if we confess, God is righteous and faithful to forgive us and cleanse us. therefore, as soon as we confess and apply the blood, God is satisfied and must forgive us. we do not need to confess again and agains. 

this is the precious and powerful blood of Christ, enabling us to live in God's presence and remain in the fellowship with God, able to cleanse and remove the stains of sin on us, and also powerful to overcome every accusation from the enemy. may we treasure and appreciate the precious blood of Christ, and learn to apply the blood for us to keep going on steadfast in our Christian life. 

you can order free copies of "Basic Elements of the Christian Life" online here

https://www.biblesfornewzealand.org.nz/orders/new

The Genuine Ground of Oneness

through the word of God, we can see the church as the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ. as we can see in our physical body, though many different parts, like hands, fingers, still one body. so also is the church, the Body of Christ, though many members, still one Body. Ephesians 5:25 says that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. the Lord died on the cross to redeem us, with the view of making us part of the church. He loved us and died for us so that we may be members of His Body. 

oneness is the essence of the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. so oneness is manifested in the four great acts of God:

1. creation: God did not creat many men. rather, God created one corporate man, Adam.

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

we read this verse, we can see first God said "let US make man". here "man" is singular. but later in the same verse, it says, "and let them have dominion". here the word becomes plural, "them". so did God create one man? or did God creat many many men? God's intention is not to have many men; it is to have a corporate man. This is for the keeping of the oneness.

2. selection: God did not call many men out of the fallen mankind, but God called one man Abraham to start the called race. 

from the book of Genesis, we can see, at the time when men became fallen to such an extent, God had no way to go on with the created race, the race of Adam. so God called one man Abraham to leave the land of idolatry, to leave his relatives, even his father's household. here the same principle is applied as the time of creation. 

3. new creation: the church as the corporate man, is the one new man. 

4. the new city, the New Jerusalem: one street, one tree of life, one river of life. everything is manifesting the oneness .

what is the essence of this oneness? it is life and light.

after God created Adam, God put him in front of the tree of life. why? God was presenting to Adam Himself as the source of life and also the supply of life. the oneness is preserved in this life. If Adam had taken in the fruit of the tree of life, he, as the created corporate man, would have kept the oneness. 

later on, when Israel became a big nation, coming out of Egpyt, travelling in the wilderness, and eventually entering to the good land, we can see that the tabernacle, later one the temple, was where the people would have God's speaking, God' oracle. three times every year, all the male Israelities all went up to Jerusalem to keep the feasts. this is also for the keeping of the oneness on the proper ground. when Jeroboam set up another worshipping center in Dan, causing division, the history of Israel fell into darkness and confusion. during the time of the old priest Eli, the Bible said, the word of Jehovah was rare. God's speaking brings in lifht, and light issues in life. When we do not hae God's speaking, we have death and darkness. Death and darkness damage the Body and cause the members to become detached. in John chapter 17, the Lord was praying for this oneness. and in His prayer, we can see the crucial elements for the keeping of the oneness. the Lord prayed for the Father to keep the believers in His holy name, sanctify them in the truth. the Father's name is a matter of life, and the Father's truth is a matter of light. life and light, therefore, a re the very essence of oneness. 

in Deutoranoy we can see that God commanded the people of Israel that when they entered into the good land, they must destroy all the places of worship set up by the heathern people, on the mountins, on the hills, or under every flourishing tree. they were not supposed to follow the way of the nations, but they needed to worship God according to God's way and go to the place where God has chosen. so here we can see two matters God commanded His people. First, they must destroy all other worshipping places, to destroy idolatry. Second, they must go to the place of God's choice to worship God, which is for the keeping of oneness. Today, for usl New Testament believers, we also must keep God's commandment. we cannot participate in idolartry, and we must worship God on the proper ground of oneness. we cannot have our own choice or preference. if we choose whatever or wherever we like, we are not fearing God. 

John 17:23 I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.

from the Lord's prayer in John 17 for the oneness of the believers, we can see that the genuine oneness is not to add all the believers together and cause everyone to be in mutual agreement or harmony. the oneness is the mingling of the Triune God with the believers. the Triune God is one, with the Father, the Son and the Spirit all being one. while this Triune God who is one, is being mingled with the believers, that is the application of the oneness of the Triune God to the believers, making all the believers one, even as the Triune God is one. the more we receive the divine anointing of the Triune God, the more we are being built into the oneness of the Triune God, which is also the oneness of the church, the believers. 

Psalm 133:2 It is like the fine oil upon the head / That ran down upon the beard, / Upon Aaron’s beard, / That ran down upon the hem of his garments;

Psalm 133:3 Like the dew of Hermon / That came down upon the mountains of Zion. / For there Jehovah commanded the blessing: / Life forever

Psalm 133 is a psalm describing the oneness of the church. on one aspect, it mentions the fine oil coming down from the beard to the garment of Aaron. here Aaron, as a figure of Christ as our heavenly High Priest, He is the One upon whom God has anointed. but here the oil comes from the head to the body, which means that here the Christ is not the individual Christ, but the corporate Christ, including Christ Himself as the Head, and also His corporate Body, the church. only when there is oneness, there is the fine oil flowing from the Head to the Body. on the other aspect, we can also see the dew of the Hermon, coming down upon the mountains of Zion. here we can see "the mountains of Zion", which shows the two aspects of the church, Zion, typifying the uninversal church, and the mountains, typifying the local churches. only when there is the genuine oneness in the church, there can be the dew coming upon the mountains of Zion, as the grace of God. 

but then in the history, this oneness was damaged and then lost. there were two crucial person which can be considered to contribute to the damage and loss of the oneness. 

1. king Solomon: he was such a great king in the history of Israel. he built the temple, and he had such a wonderful prayer at the finishing of the building of the temple. but then he indulged himself in lust, by having so many wives and comcubines, who turned his heart away to follow pagan idols. he took the lead to build the high places for the idol sacrifices. God appeared to him twice at least, but this could not help him to return to God. then because of his failure, the kingdom split into two. 

2. Jeroboam: cannot count how many times in 1&2 Kings, and 1&2 Chronicles, it repeated "in the sin of Jeroboam". Jeroboam got the ten tribes of the kingdom. but, because he was afraid that people would return to the house of David if they went to Jerusalem for the feasts, he made two golden calves, putting one in Bethel and one in Dan, in order to prevent Israel pepole from going back to Jerusalem, the place God had chosen to keep feasts. Jerobaom did this all because of his ambition. He wanted to keep the ten tribes for his own kingdom, not at all caring for God's interest, and the oneness of the people. 

for us today, the "high places" could be a certain doctrine, a certain practice, or even some scriptrual thing, a bible study meeting, anything that is elevated and uplifted in place of Christ. we should exalt Christ and Christ alone.

the unveiling of the divine revelation in the word of God is progressive and consummated in the last book, the book of Revelation. in Revelation 22, the last chapter, we see the Spirit and the bride, the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit mingled with all His redeemed and transformed believers. this is the ultimate and consummate revelation. therefore, we cannot stay in the beginning of the word, but we need to follow the Lord all the way to the very last revelation in His holy word. we must be Christians who enjoy the processed, all-inclusive, life-giving Triune God mingled with the churches. 

The Genuine Ground of Oneness (English Edition) Lee, Witness Living Stream Ministry