THE FOURTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF LORD’S RECOVERY
The Course of the Church
Message One—The Divine History within the Human History
Scripture Reading: Joel 1:4; 2:28-29; 3:11-21; Eph. 3:16-21; 4:16, 24; Rev. 19:7
I. In the universe there are two histories—the history of man, the human history, and the history of God, the divine history—Joel 1:4; 2:28-29; 3:11-21; John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:45; Rom. 12:4-5; Rev. 19:7:
A. We need to have a clear view of the divine history within the human history—Joel 1:4; 2:28-29; 3:11-21:
1. The history of man, the history of the world, the physical, human history, is outward.
2. The divine history, the history of God with man and in man, is inward; it is a matter of the mystery of the Triune God in humanity—1 Tim. 3:15-16.
3. The divine history began with the eternal God and His economy and continued with the incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ—John 1:14; Heb. 2:14; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
4. As the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ, the church is part of the divine history within the outward, human history—1 Tim. 3:15-16.
5. At the time of the Lord’s coming back, there will be a meeting of two figures—Antichrist, a figure in the outward, human history, and Christ, the Figure in the intrinsic, divine history—2 Thes. 2:2-8:
a. Christ will come back, descending with His overcomers as His army (Joel 3:11), to defeat Antichrist and his army—Rev. 19:11-21.
b. After the Figure in the divine history defeats the figure in the human history, the thousand-year kingdom will come, and this kingdom will consummate in the New Jerusalem—the ultimate and consummate step of the divine history—20:4, 6; 21:10.
B. We need to consider whether we are living merely in the human history or living also in the divine history—1:11, 20; 12:11; 14:4b; 19:7:
1. If our living is in the world, we are living merely in the outward, human history—Rom. 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17.
2. If our living is in the church, we are living in the inward, divine history— 1 Cor. 1:2:
a. In the church life, God’s history is our history; God and we have one history, the divine history.
b. Our God has a marvelous history which includes us; God’s history has become our history because He is in union with us—1 Cor. 6:17.
c. Whatever God has done, whatever He is doing, and whatever He will do in His history are all for our Christian life.
C. “Our living, our daily walk, our schooling, our job, and our business must be a part of God’s history in His marvelous and excellent move on the earth today…We need to be one with God in His history, moving, and energizing in His loving overcomers; that is, we need to be one with God in life, in living, and in our entire doing today on this earth! We need to write God’s today’s history!” (Life-study of Joshua, p. 3).
II. The seven stages of mankind’s history:
A. The first is the primitive stage, from Adam to Abraham.
B. The second is the formation of the kingdom of Israel as God’s kingdom on earth; this stage lasted from Abraham to Solomon.
C. The third stage is the desolation of the kingdom of Israel; the kingdoms of Babylon, Media-Persia, and Greece under Alexander the Great desolated Israel; this was God’s judgment on His degraded people.
D. The fourth stage is the Roman Empire; it also desolated Israel to some extent, but not as much as the others; Josephus describes how terrible that destruction was; the Roman Empire was prepared and used by God for the accomplishment of redemption and for the spread of the good news around the Mediterranean Sea; in the centuries which followed, however, the Roman Empire brought in the Roman Church, which ruined the gospel and ushered in ten centuries of the Dark Ages.
E. The fifth stage is the Reformation; it extends from the time of Martin Luther down to the last century.; during this stage many new things came in that changed human history; there was the discovery and settlement of the new land; there was the reformation of the so-called Christian Church; Germany was the power used by God during this stage.
F. The sixth stage is the furtherance of the gospel preaching and the Word of God; this was accomplished by God under the power of Great Britain; Spain was defeated and Britain was used to maintain order on the earth so that the gospel could be preached worldwide and the truth brought to every corner of the globe.
G. The finality of the world situation, with the present stage being the last, that is, before the millennium.
III. We may regard the twelve tribes of Israel as a picture of the believers from the first century until today; Galatians 6:16 says that we are “the Israel of God;” this indicates that among God’s New Testament elect there should be twelve “tribes.”
Ministry Excerpts:
In Joel we see the history of God, of man, and of God’s economy. It was according to God’s economy that the four kinds of locusts were raised up to consume Israel for so many years in order that He could fulfill His economy by being incarnated into humanity through Israel. Then with the help of the Roman Empire, Christ lived on earth, was crucified, and was resurrected to be enlarged, to produce the church. All of this was through these two factors—the consuming locusts and the suffering Israel—that God could fulfill His economy to have an expression, the organic Body of Christ. We are this Body, this expression. This is the universal history according to God’s economy. In this message I would like to give a further word on this universal history.
TWO HISTORIES—THE HISTORY OF MAN
AND THE HISTORY OF GOD
We should not think that man has a history but that God does not have a history. In this universe there are two histories: the history of man, the human history, and the history of God, the divine history. We may liken the history of man to the shell of a walnut and the history of God to the kernel within the shell. In the Minor Prophets the “shell” is clearly defined, and the “kernel” is revealed in some detail. Unfortunately, however, most readers of the Bible pay attention only to the shell and not to the kernel.
The shell, the history of man, is easily seen. In Daniel 2 this history is signified by a great human image, with the four sections of this image corresponding respectively to the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Grecian Empire, and the Roman Empire. Although it is easy for us to see the shell, which is something outward and physical, we must have a kind of intrinsic insight in order to see the kernel within the shell, to know the divine history within the human history.
THE DIVINE HISTORY
WITHIN THE HUMAN HISTORY
God’s Intention in His Economy
If we would know the divine history that takes place within the human history, we first need to realize that the Triune God is eternal. For God to be eternal means that with Him there is no beginning. Within Himself, this eternal One made an economy. According to His economy, God wants to work Himself into man to be one with man, to be man’s life, life supply, and everything, and to have man as His expression. God’s intention in His economy is thus to have a corporate entity, composed of God and man, to be His expression for eternity. This divine history began with the eternal God and His economy.
The Continuation of the Divine History
Christ’s Incarnation and Human Living
The divine history continued with the incarnation and human living of Christ. One day the very God who created the universe became incarnated, being conceived of the Holy Spirit within the womb of a human virgin and then born of this virgin to be the God-man, the One who is the complete God and a perfect man. It is marvelous that God became a man named Jesus and that this man lived in Nazareth, working as a carpenter, until the age of thirty. Christ’s incarnation and His human living both are parts of the divine history, the history of God within the history of man.
Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection
At the end of His life and ministry on earth, the Lord Jesus went willingly to the cross. His crucifixion was a vicarious death, an all-inclusive death which terminated the old creation and solved all problems. His death ushered Him into resurrection. On the one hand, in His resurrection He was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:4; 8:29). On the other hand, in and through His resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).
Furthermore, through Christ’s resurrection millions were begotten, regenerated, by God (1 Pet. 1:3) to be sons of God and to be members of the Body of Christ, the church. The Christ who was incarnated, crucified, and resurrected, the Christ who ascended to the heavens and then descended as the Spirit, has produced the church as the corporate expression of the Triune God. The church today is the enlargement of the manifestation of Christ. Thus, the church also is part of the divine history, the intrinsic history of the divine mystery within the outward, human history. This part of God’s history has lasted for more than nineteen hundred years, and it is still going on.
Christ’s Coming Back, the Kingdom,
and the New Jerusalem
At the end of this part of the divine history, Christ will come back, descending with His overcomers as His army (Joel 3:11) to defeat Antichrist and his army. There will be the meeting of two figures—Antichrist, a figure in the outward, human history, and Christ with His overcomers, the Figure in the intrinsic, divine history. The Figure in the divine history will defeat the figure in the human history and then cast him into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20). Following this, the thousand-year kingdom will come. Eventually, this kingdom will consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate, the consummate, step of God’s history.
THE NEED FOR A CLEAR VIEW OF THE TWO HISTORIES
We need to have a clear view of these two histories—the physical human history and the mysterious divine history—and I hope that we all will have such a view. The history of man, the history of the world, is outward. The divine history, the history of God in and with humanity, is inward. This history is a matter of the divine mystery of the Triune God in humanity.
BORN IN THE HUMAN HISTORY
AND REBORN IN THE DIVINE HISTORY
TO LIVE IN THE DIVINE HISTORY IN THE CHURCH LIFE
We all were born in the human history, but we have been reborn, regenerated, in the divine history. Now we need to ask ourselves this question: Are we living in the divine history, or are we living merely in the human history? If our living is in the world, we are living in the human history. But if we are living in the church, we are living in the divine history. In the church life God’s history is our history. Now two parties—God and we—have one history, the divine history. This is the church life.
With the divine history there is the new creation—the new man with a new heart, a new spirit, a new life, a new nature, a new history, and a new consummation. We praise the Lord that we are in the divine history, experiencing and enjoying the mysterious, divine things. (Life-study of the Minor Prophets, ch. 15)
THE SEVEN STAGES OF MANKIND’S HISTORY
From Adam to Abraham
From the spiritual heavenly point of view, human history has seven stages, with the present stage being the last, that is, before the millennium. The first is the primitive stage, from Adam to Abraham.
Lasting from Abraham to Solomon
The second is the formation of the kingdom of Israel as God’s kingdom on earth. This stage lasted from Abraham to Solomon.
The Desolation of the Kingdom of Israel
The third stage is the desolation of the kingdom of Israel. The kingdoms of Babylon, Media-Persia, and Greece under Alexander the Great desolated Israel. This was God’s judgment on His degraded people.
The Roman Empire
The fourth stage is the Roman Empire. It also desolated Israel to some extent, but not as much as the others, at least, not until A.D. 70, when Titus destroyed Jerusalem. Josephus describes how terrible that destruction was. The Roman Empire was prepared and used by God for the accomplishment of redemption and for the spread of the good news around the Mediterranean Sea. In the centuries which followed, however, the Roman Empire brought in the Roman Church, which ruined the gospel and ushered in ten centuries of the Dark Ages.
Reformation
The fifth stage is the Reformation. It extends from the time of Martin Luther down to the last century. During this stage many new things came in that changed human history. There was the discovery and settlement of the new land. There was the reformation of the so-called Christian Church. Germany was the power used by God during this stage.
The Furtherance of the Gospel Preaching and the Word of God
The sixth stage is the furtherance of the gospel preaching and the Word of God. This was accomplished by God under the power of Great Britain. Spain was defeated and Britain was used to maintain order on the earth so that the gospel could be preached worldwide and the truth brought to every corner of the globe. Now the Bible has been translated at least in part into most languages. So the Word of God has been spreading to every part of the earth, like the gospel. This is the Lord’s doing.
Is this all? Is this sixth stage the final one? If so, what does the Lord gain? The central vision of the Apostle Paul’s completing ministry has not been adequately touched, nor has the mending ministry of John. Few Christian teachers even know the term, the mending ministry. The inner-life people know a little of Paul’s completing ministry, but what they have touched mainly concerns Christ, His death, and the resurrection. They have not seen much concerning the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ in Philippians and Colossians. They have little to say of the Body of Christ. As for John’s mending ministry, what is ministered is mostly in a superficial way. Many do not know in a clear way what regeneration is.
THE FINALITY OF THE WORLD SITUATION
If the Bible has been nearly fully recovered, what about the present world situation? Do you believe that God will raise up yet another power after the United States?
At the war of Armageddon there will be three military powers gathered. One will be from the west, Europe, under Antichrist. One will be from the north, Russia. The third will be from the sunrise. There is no hint of what the position of the United States will be. Do not think that Antichrist with his restored Roman Empire will replace the United States.
This country, symbolized by an eagle, is bordered by two oceans which separate it from other lands. In Daniel a ram symbolizes Media-Persia (Dan. 8:20), and a goat represents Greece (v. 21). As G. H. Pember relates, these are the ancient symbols of those countries. The ram has been found engraved on ancient Persian coins and sculptures. The goat is depicted on old coins from Macedonia.
Today there are a number of small countries around the Mediterranean Sea, besides the other countries in Europe. It may be that the peoples in these small, independent nations would like to have a strong leader unite them and thus rescue them from their weak position. Antichrist may take the chance to rise up and unite these countries, thus restoring the old Roman Empire. But this new empire will not replace the United States nor will it defeat Russia. It will also not defeat the two hundred million horsemen from the sunrise (Rev. 9:16). Since Antichrist with his restored Roman Empire will not defeat Russia, nor the east, neither will he be able to replace the United States. Thus there will be four sources of power. Three will go to Armageddon in order to get the wealth there. Probably the wealth will come from the oil. (The World Situation and God’s Move, ch. 7)
We may regard the twelve tribes of Israel as a picture of the believers from the first century until today. Galatians 6:16 says that we are “the Israel of God.” This indicates that among God’s New Testament elect there should be twelve “tribes.” The first tribe was the early apostles, who brought in the New Testament revelation. The second tribe was the church fathers. The third tribe was the martyrs in the Roman Empire. The fourth tribe was the reformers in the Roman Church, before the papal system was established. The fifth tribe was the Protestants, and the sixth was the mystics. The Protestants became shallow and dead, so there was a reaction from the mystics, including Madame Guyon, Father Fenelon, and Brother Lawrence. The seventh tribe was the Moravian brothers under Count Zinzendorf. The eighth tribe was the British Brethren under John Nelson Darby. When the Brethren became full of dead knowledge, there was a three-way reaction. First, there was a reaction from the inner life Christians, including Andrew Murray, Jessie Penn-Lewis, and T. Austin-Sparks. This was the ninth tribe. Second, there was a reaction from evangelical Christians, including C. H. Spurgeon, D. L. Moody, Charles Finney, Hudson Taylor, William Carey, and David Livingstone. This was the tenth tribe. Third, there was a reaction from Pentecostal Christians. This was the eleventh tribe. The twelfth tribe is the recovery, which has recovered the New Testament revelation back to the early apostles.
In the recovery the truths from Matthew to Revelation have been recovered by the Lord. In particular, the Lord has recovered the truths concerning the all-inclusive Christ and the New Jerusalem. The truth in the recovery is the consummate truth of the past nineteen centuries. We are standing on the shoulders of all the tribes that have gone before us. Thus, the truth has been extracted, condensed, and crystallized for us. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 12)