THE FOURTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
God-ordained Way
Message Five—Being Burned by the Fire of the Lord’s life
to Be a Passionate Lover of Jesus
Scripture Reading: Luke 12:49-50; Rev. 4:5; 5:6; 2 Cor. 5:14; S. S. 8:6-7; 2 Tim. 1:7
I. “I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am pressed until it is accomplished”—Luke 12:49-50: (Holy Bible Recovery Version)
A. Through His death the Lord released Himself into man as the fire of life to burn on the earth—12:49: (2000 TGC, msg. 2)
1. This fire is the impulse of the spiritual life, an impulse that comes from the Lord’s released divine life; the Lord wanted to see all men filled with His fire, that is, His life—12:49. (The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, msg. 1; Conferences, Messages, and Fellowship (2), ch. 54)
2. To cast fire on the earth is the release of the glory of his divinity to burn the people of the earth—12:49. (The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, msg. 1)
3. the Lord Jesus was pressed and constrained, longing to be baptized with the baptism of His death; because there was a powerful, unlimited, and eternal life concealed in Him; the Lord wanted it to be released; He wanted the fire to burst into flame—John 19:34. (The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, msg. 1; The Crucified Christ, msg. 3; Life-Study of Luke, msg. 30)
4. He needed to undergo physical death, to be baptized, that His unlimited and infinite divine being with His divine life might be released from His flesh; His divine life, after being released through His physical death, became the impulse of His believers’ spiritual life in resurrection—1 Cor. 15:45b. (Life-Study of Luke, msg. 30)
B. The death of Christ also judges the satanic system of the world, casts out the ruler of this world; the world and its ruler, Satan, are powerless to hold us—John 12:31. (The Experience of Christ, ch. 18; The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, msg. 55)
C. Through the death of Christ people are drawn to Christ; the death of Christ on the cross has a lovable attraction; such an attracting, the proper attraction, is not a matter of stirring up people emotionally; it is an attraction that comes through the release of life—John 12:32. (The Experience of Christ, ch. 18)
D. His physical death released the fire of His divine life to become the impulse of His believers’ spiritual life in resurrection; the resurrecting Triune God as the sevenfold intensified Spirit indwells the believers as their divine and mystical fire to purify them, supply them, and be their indwelling fuel for the carrying out of God’s economy to propagate Christ as the seed of life—Luke 12:49-50; Rev. 4:5; 5:6; Exo. 3:2, 14-15; Zech. 3:9; 4:10; 2 Chron. 16:9a; cf. Gen. 17:1. (2006 FTTA-Spring, msg. 3)
II. Christ as the sevenfold intensified, life-giving Spirit today is a burning fire within us; we must enjoy God as the fire of love to love Him and others with His love, to be the crazy lovers of Jesus—Rev. 4:5; 5:6; 2 Cor. 5:14; S. S. 8:6-7; 2 Tim. 1:7: (2014 ICSC, msg. 4; 2000 TGC, msg. 2)
A. On the seashore of Tiberias, the Lord Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” Today in this generation the Lord Jesus does not need a lot of young people to work for Him; He needs many young ones to love Him desperately; today the Lord Jesus needs many crazy lovers—John 21:15-16. (The Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ, ch. 3)
B. We must allow the Lord to burn us and to keep us burning continually by fanning our God-given spirit into flame—2 Tim. 1:6-7. (2000 TGC, msg. 2)
C. To love the Lord is to appreciate Him, to direct our being toward Him, to open to Him, to enjoy Him, to give Him the first place, to be one with Him, to live Him, and to become Him—Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 12:30. (2016 ST, msg. 11)
D. Throughout the past twenty centuries thousands of precious lives, heart treasures, high positions, and golden futures have been “wasted” upon the Lord Jesus; to those who love Him in such a way He is altogether lovely and worthy of their offering; what they have poured upon Him is not a waste but a fragrant testimony of His sweetness—Matt. 26:8, footnote 1. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Matt. 26:8, footnote 1)
E. Today’s generation is a generation of pleasure lovers; people today love all kinds of entertainment, amusement, and worldly enjoyment; we are not like this; we are the crazy lovers of Jesus; we need to be crazy with Jesus for the whole earth; our destiny is to love Jesus, to be crazy for Jesus—2 Tim. 3:1-5. (The Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ, ch. 3)
III. “We all have been burned by this fire; we have been brought together by this fire; and now we are burdened that this fire would burn many others. When the concealed glory of Christ’s divinity was released, a divine fire was cast on earth to burn the whole earth. Let the fire burn on; no one can stop it”—The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, pp. 11-12. (2000 TGC, msg. 2)