The Heavenly Vision

1. the vision of Christ

if we look at the apostle Paul in the New Testament, he both served God before and after he was saved. but the two kinds of service Paul did were so different. before he was knocked down by the great light on the way to Damascus, he was serving God in his own way, and he was super zealous for his religion. then he was knocked down and could not see for three days. after his salvation, he was still serving God but in a spiritual way and according to revelation. Paul's example showed us the importance of seeing the vision. the vision is something that, once we see, we will never be able to forget about. and this vision will govern and control our living. 

we need to see that:

a. Christ is the center of God's eternal plan

b. Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God.

Colossians  2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,

c. Christ must have the first place in everything

Colossians  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;

d. Christ must be the essence of our daily walk

e. Christ is the reality of our service 

f. Christ is the expression of the church life

2. the vision of the church

we need to have a clear vision of the church with its proper ground for the believers to have the practice and practicality of the church life. 

in the Old Testament time, God chose Jerusame as the unique place of worship, and charged all the males to come to Jerusalem three times a year for worshipping God. now, in the New Testament time, in this age of the church, we the believers need to meet on the proper ground of the church to worship God. Looking at the early church life in the book of Acts, there was the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch, etc. this gives us the pattern that the church should have the city as its limit and boundary. the church takes the city where the believers are as its ground, no smaller than a city, e.g. a street; no larger than a city, e.g. a nation or a country. 

3. the vision of the Body

the difference between the vision of the church and the vision of the Body is that, the vision of the church is mainly related to the proper ground, while the vision of the Body requires us to realise that we are members of the Body and we need to be built up with one another. we not only need to practice the church life on the proper ground, but also we need to be built into the building up of the Body. if we are not built into the building, we may be a very nice and good material. once we get built up, we need to be cut in order to be fit in. after we are cut to be fit for the building, we are no longer good for anything else, which means that we have been "wrecked" for the building. this requires us to pay the price, and we need the vision of the Body to sustain us to make us willing to pay the price. 

the greatest hindrance for us to see the vision of the Body is the self. the self opposes the Body and is not allowed in the Body. 

4. the vision of the self

where does the self come from? when God created man, the soul was an organ to submit to and carry out the order of the spirit. but in the garden of Eden, when the serpent was talking with Eve, he injected his thoughts into the mind of Eve. when Satan injected his thoughts and ideas into our mind, the soul gets contanminared and becomes the self. the self is the embodiment of Satan, and the self is independent of God. we are created to rely and depend on God for everything. but the self declares indepedence of God. therefore, the self is the greatest problem in the building up of the Body of Christ, because the self wants to be independent of God and of the Body. we need to be aware of this. 

5. the vision of the world

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him;

what is the world? after man was created by God, man needed certain things to maintain his existence, such as food, drink, clothing, housing, etc. these things are necessary for man's existence, though they are earthly things, yet not worldly things. however, becasue of what Satan has been doing through out the ages, these necessary earthly things have been used by Satan to develop into a whole system to occupy and even to bring people into slavery, which the Bible calls "the world". Satan has been using the necessities to fully occupy man, so that man will have no time, no energy, no capacity for the things of God. 

through the influecen of education, culture, or tradition, we have become so complicated, and we put our enitre being on these things. if we see what the world is, and if we see that the world is enmity against God, we can have a way to be delivered from this whole system, to become simplefor the maintenance of our existence. then we will be living not for the world, but for God

6. the vision of consecration

in Acts 1, there were about 120 in the upper room, praying for 10 days, and then there was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. this gives us the picture of a special consecration, a specific consecration, which offered the way for the Lord to move, to turn the dispensation. these 120 left all other things in order to be the burnt offering to God. today there is also such a need. the Lord needs such a group of people who are willing to pay the price, to have a definite and specific consecration, to come into the upper room, so that the Lord will have the way to accomplish His will. this is not an easy matter. this is not a small price to pay. you may need to leave your relatives, your families, your friends, everything you have on this earth. but the reward is great. you will be counted in the upper room, be counted in the army of God.

The Heavenly Vision (English Edition) Lee, Witness Living Stream Ministry