THE FOURTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
The Course of the Church
Message Twelve—The Truths Recovered by the Ministry of Brother Witness Lee (1)
Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 13:14; Matt. 28:19; 9:12; 15; Eph. 2:15; John. 7:39; Phil. 1:19; Rev. 1:4
I. Concerning God:
A. The pure revelation concerning the Triune God:
1. God is uniquely one; that God is one is a clear and definite revelation of the Scriptures; it is also a fundamental and consummate principle─Psa. 86:10; Isa. 45:5; 1 Cor. 8:4.
2. He is one, yet three—the Father, Son, and Spirit─Isa. 6:8; Gen. 1:26; Matt. 28:19.
3. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist simultaneously from eternity to eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all are God; the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all are eternal; the Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist simultaneously─1 Pet. 1:2; Heb. 1:8; Acts. 5:3-4; Isa. 9:6; Heb. 1:12; 9:14; John 14:16-17.
4. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coinhering and being inseparable; Coinherence, as applied to the Trinity, means that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are in one another and thus exist together─John. 5:43; 8:29; 14:26; Luke. 4:1.
5. The Three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are one; the Son is the Father; the Son (the last Adam) became the life-giving Spirit; the Lord (the Son) is the Spirit; our Lord is the Son, and He is also the Father; He is also the Spirit─Isa 9:6; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17.
6. The essential Trinity refers to the essence of the Triune God for His existence, whereas the economical Trinity refers to the plan of the Triune God for His move—Matt. 28:19; Rev. 1:4-5.
7. The Father is the source, the Son is the manifestation, and the Spirit is God reaching and entering into them; thus, the Triune God is dispensed into their being to be their life, enjoyment, and complete suppl¬y—2 Cor. 13:14.
B. The processed and consummated Triune God:
1. The New Testament reveals that our Triune God has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the Spirit dwelling in our regenerated spirit—John 1:14; Matt. 27:26; Mark 16:9; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Tim. 4:22.
2. Processed refers to the steps through which the Triune God has passed in the divine economy; consummated indicates that the process has been completed; and the consummated Spirit implies that the Spirit of God has been processed and has become the consummated Spirit—John 7:39.
3. Before the Lord Jesus was crucified and resurrected, the consummated Spirit was “not yet”; the Lord Jesus was glorified when He was resurrected, and through this glorification the Spirit of God became the Spirit of the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus Christ—John 7:39; Luke 24:26; Phil. 1:19.
C. The dispensing of the processed Triune God:
1. The Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—has been processed to become the life-giving Spirit so that we can drink of Him and that He can become our enjoyment; this is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity— John 1:14; 4:14; 7:37-39; 1 Cor. 12:13; 15:45b.
2. The accomplishment of the divine economy is by the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity; dispensation denotes God’s administrative arrangement and dispensing, His act of dispensing Himself into us—Eph. 1:10, 3:9.
3. Everything that is mentioned in the New Testament concerning God is related to the divine dispensing for the divine economy—2 Cor. 13:14; Rom. 8:3, 11; Eph. 1:3-23.
D. God’s New Testament economy:
1. God’s New Testament economy is God’s household management, God’s household administrative arrangement, the divine dispensation (plan); by dispensation we mean here an arrangement, that is, a plan—Eph. 1:10; 3:9.
2. God’s New Testament economy is His plan to dispense Himself into His chosen people in His trinity; this dispensing has three steps; first, the Father is the source; second, this dispensing is through God the Son, who is the course; third, God’s dispensing is in God the Spirit, who is the instrument and sphere; through these steps of God the Father, through God the Son, and in God the Spirit God dispenses Himself into His chosen people.
3. 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─Eph. 3:10; Rev. 21:10-11.
II. Concerning the Christ：
A. Christ versus Religion:
1. To have a religion is to worship God, to serve God, and to do certain things to please God, yet without Christ and without the Spirit—Matt. 9:14-17.
2. The Gospel of Matthew reveals that Christ is versus religion and that the things concerning Christ are outside of religion:
a. The birth of Christ, the finding of Christ, the recommending of Christ, and the following of Christ were all outside of religion—1:18-23; 2:1-12; 3:1-12; 4:12-22.
b. As the Physician and the Bridegroom, Christ is versus religion—9:12, 15.
c. On the Sabbath the Lord Jesus restored a man’s withered hand, likening this man to a sheep; the Lord cares not for religious regulations but for the healing of His members and for the rescue of His fallen sheep—vv. 9-14.
d. The Lord Jesus does not care for religious tradition; He cares for inward reality; it deals with the condition of the heart—15:1-20.
e. In 16:6-12 the Lord Jesus warned His disciples concerning religious leaven.
f. The revelation concerning Christ with His church was given outside of religion, in a place with a clear atmosphere—Matt. 16:13-19.
g. The Lord Jesus stayed away from Jerusalem to lodge in Bethany; in Jerusalem He was rejected by the religious leaders, but in Bethany He was welcomed by His lovers—21:12-17:
h. The religionists hated the Lord Jesus and wanted to kill Him, but His lovers took the opportunity to express their love for Him—26:1-13.
B. Christ as the person of the Church:
1. For the church as the one new man, we all need to take Christ as our person; in the one new man there is only one person—Christ—Eph. 2:15; 3:17a.
2. Christ is in all of us as one person; therefore, we all have only one person— Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:17a.
3. The new man is not about members (Rom. 12:4-5) but about the person; therefore, we all need to ask, “Who is my person—I or the Lord Jesus?”
4. What God cares for is whether we take Christ as our person and our life and live Him—1 John 5:11-12; Col. 3:4; Phil. 1:21a.
5. We should not only eat Christ’s riches in order to take them in and assimilate them into our being; we should also allow Christ to be our person—John 6:57; Eph. 3:8, 17a.
C. Three stages of Christ’s full ministry:
1. The first stage of Christ’s full ministry, is the stage of His incarnation, the stage of Christ in His flesh, from His human birth through His Human living to His death:
a. In His incarnation, Christ brought the infinite God into the finite man, united and mingled the Triune God with the tripartite man.
b. In His Human living, Christ expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues.
c. In His death, Christ accomplished His all-inclusive judicial redemption.
2. The second stage of Christ’s full ministry, is the stage of His inclusion, the stage of Christ becoming the life-giving spirit, from His resurrection to the degradation of the church:
a. In His resurrection, Christ was begotten as God’s firstborn Son─Acts 13:33.
b. In His resurrection, the last Adam Christ became the life-giving Spirit─1 Cor. 15:45b.
c. In His resurrection, Christ regenerated the believers for His Body—1 Pet. 1:3.
3. The third stage of Christ’s full ministry, is the stage of His intensification, the stage of Christ being the sevenfold intensified Spirit, from the degradation of the church to the consummation of the New Jerusalem:
a. The first thing what Christ do in the third stage of His ministry is to intensify His organic salvation.
b. The second thing what Christ do in the third stage of His ministry is to produce the overcomers.
c. The third thing what Christ do in the third stage of His ministry is to consummate the New Jerusalem.
III. Concerning the Spirit:
A. Christ became the life-giving spirit:
1. In incarnation Christ became flesh for redemption (John 1:14, 29); then in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit for the impartation of life to make us men of life (10:10b; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:10, 6, 11).
2. Through and in His resurrection, Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit to enter into His believers to flow out as rivers of living water—John 7:37-39; Rev. 21:6; 22:17.
3. The life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, comprising all the elements of Jesus’ humanity with His death and Christ’s divinity with His resurrection, which become the bountiful supply of the unsearchable Christ for the support of His believers—Phil. 1:19b.
4. The life-giving Spirit is a compound Spirit, typified by the compound anointing ointment with its ingredients—Exo. 30:23-25; 1 John 2:20, 27.
5. The life-giving Spirit is the Lord Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, for the metabolic transformation of the believers and for the growth and building up of the Body of Christ—2 Cor. 3:17-18; 1 Cor. 3:6, 9b, 12a; Eph. 4:16b.
B. The sevenfold intensified Spirit:
1. The all-inclusive Spirit is the seven Spirits with the sevenfold intensification—Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6.
2. The seven Spirits actually are the one Spirit of God who is sevenfold for God’s move to carry out God’s administration, to execute God’s economy in the universe.
3. Such an intensified Spirit is for us to be vitalized, to be overcomers in the degradation of the church.
4. The seven Spirits as the eyes of Christ are observing us and transfusing us with all His riches.
C. The all-inclusive, compound, life-giving, indwelling, sevenfold intensified, consummated Spirit, being the consummation of the Triune God:
1. The consummated Spirit is the Triune God after He has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection—John 7:39:
2. The consummated Spirit is the compound of the Triune God, the man Jesus, His human living, His death, and His resurrection—v. 39; Acts 16:7; Rom. 8:10-11; Phil. 1:19.
3. Concerning the consummated Spirit, there are three major and crucial points:
a. The Spirit of God has been compounded to become the compound ointment, as revealed in Exodus 30:23-25.
b. The Spirit was “not yet” before Jesus’ glorification in resurrection, as revealed in John 7:39.
c. 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 revealed in Revelation 1:4; 4:5; and 5:6.
D. The divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit and the pneumatic Christ:
1. The three of the Divine Trinity are self-existing, ever-existing, coexisting, and coinhering, and as such, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are a divine and mystical realm—Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14.
2. The divine and mystical realm into which we may enter is not simply the divine and mystical realm of the Triune God but the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit—Phil. 1:19.
3. In the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit, we have not only divinity but also the humanity of Christ, the death of Christ with its effectiveness, and the resurrection of Christ with its power—Phil. 3:10.
4. In the wonderful realm of the consummated Spirit, the compound Spirit, we have whatever we need—Exo. 30:23-25.
5. In the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit, we receive the Spirit as the unique, all-inclusive blessing—Gal. 3:14.
6. In the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit, we receive the transmission of the ascended Christ and the supply of His heavenly ministry—Eph. 1:22; Heb. 8:1-2.
7. In the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit, we experience God’s organic salvation and reign in life—Rom. 5:10, 17, 21.
8. In the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit, we live in the kingdom of God as the realm of the divine species—John 3:3, 5.
9. In the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit, we live in the fellowship of the divine life, which is the reality of living in the Body of Christ—1 John 1:3, 7; Acts 2:42; Rom. 12:5.
10. In the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit, we are mingled with the Triune God for the keeping of the oneness—John 17:21, 23; Eph. 4:3.
Ministry Excerpts:
GOD BEING ONLY ONE
The Scriptures in many instances and in many ways tell us that God is uniquely one. Both in the Old Testament and in the New, there are many passages which clearly and definitely tell us that God is only one. First Corinthians 8:4 says, “There is no God but one,” and Isaiah 45:5 says, “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me.” Similar words also can be found in Isaiah 45:6, 21, 22; and 44:6, 9.
GOD HAVING THE ASPECT OF THREE—
THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE SPIRIT
God Speaking as I and Also as Us
In Isaiah 6:8 God says, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” God speaks of Himself on one hand as I and on the other hand as Us. This proves that I is Us and Us is I; I and Us are identical. Then, is God singular or plural? If you say He is plural, He says I. If you say He is singular, He says Us. This is rather mysterious and difficult to understand; so we simply take the scriptural revelation as it is.
The Matter of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
The Lord says in Matthew 28:19, “Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The Lord here clearly speaks of Three—the Father, Son, and Spirit. But when He speaks here of the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, the name which is used is in the singular number in the original text. This means that though the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three, yet the name is one. It is really mysterious—one name for Three. This, of course, is what is meant by the expression three-one, or triune.
THE REASON FOR GOD BEING TRIUNE
Second 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.” Here three things are mentioned: grace, love, and fellowship. This sets forth the reason why God is triune: it is thus that He can dispense Himself into us, work Himself into us for us to enjoy, and be our all. The love of God, that is, the love of the Father, is the source. The grace of Christ, that is, the grace of the Son, is the flowing out of the love of the Father. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the flowing into us of the grace of the Son, together with the love of the Father, for us to enjoy. This can be confirmed by our experience. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit within us is the transmitting of the grace of the Son into us. And the grace of the Son within us is simply the practical tasting and enjoying of the love of the Father. The love of the Father is the source, the grace of the Son is the expression, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the transmission, transmitting the grace of the Son, with the love of the Father, into us. The result is that everything that is of the Three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—becomes the enjoyment within us. You have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit within you, and the more you live in this fellowship, the more you will have of the grace of Christ; then, the more you have of the grace of Christ, the more you will enjoy the love of God. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit brings the grace of Christ, and in the grace of Christ there is the love of God. Therefore, the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are not three different things, but three aspects of one thing for us to possess and enjoy. Likewise, the Father, Son, and Spirit are not three Gods but one God with the aspect of three for us to possess and enjoy. (Truth Lessons, Level one, vol. 1, lsn. 2)
FASTING WITHOUT THE BRIDEGROOM
The Disciples of John and the Pharisees
As a book of doctrine, Matthew presents us another case in 9:14-17: the case of fasting without the Bridegroom. Verse 14 says, “Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast?” Verses 10 through 13 record the Lord’s dealing with the question of the Pharisees, who were in the old religion. Now in verses 14 through 17 the Lord deals with the problem of John’s disciples who were in the new religion. John the Baptist dropped the old religion and began his ministry in the wilderness outside of religion. However, after a short time, his disciples formed a new religion to frustrate men from enjoying Christ, just as the Pharisees in the old religion did. John the Baptist’s ministry was to introduce men to Christ that Christ might become their Redeemer, their life, and their all. However, some of his disciples drifted away from his goal, Christ, to some of John’s practices and turned those practices into a religion. To be religious means to do something for God without Christ. To do anything without the presence of Christ, even though it is scriptural and fundamental, is religious. Both the disciples of John, the new-timers of religion, and the Pharisees, the old-timers of religion, fasted much, yet without Christ. They did not own Christ as the Bridegroom, but made fasting a matter of religion. Meanwhile, they condemned the disciples of Christ who did not fast, but had Christ with them and lived in His presence.
John the Baptist was born a priest, but later he fully abandoned everything religious. Nevertheless, less than three years after he had been put into prison, his disciples formed a new religion. To have a religion is to worship God, to serve God, and to do certain things to please God, yet without Christ. A religion is anything you do for God without the Spirit, without Christ. The Pharisees did a great many things for God, but Christ was not in them. They did many things to serve God, but they did them without the Spirit. Now the disciples of John the Baptist were fasting without Christ, without the Spirit. Nevertheless, this fasting was for God. Hence, they formed another religion. Therefore, in verse 14 we have the old religion, the religion of the Pharisees, and the new religion, the religion of the disciples of John.
How easy it is to have a religion! Do not think that you can be free from religion by simply dropping an old way and picking up another way. No matter whether the way is old or new, it is a religion as long as it does not have Christ and the Spirit in it. Your new way may simply be your new religion. Remember what religion is: it is doing things to please God apart from Christ and the Spirit.
Not Fasting with the Bridegroom
In dealing with the self-righteous and dissenting Pharisees of the old religion, the kingly Savior indicated that He was a Physician to heal the sick (v. 12). In dealing with the fasting and dissenting disciples of John who had formed the new religion, He revealed Himself as a Bridegroom to take the Bride. John the Baptist told his disciples that Christ was the Bridegroom to take the Bride (John 3:25-29). Now Christ, the kingly Savior, reminded some of them of this. The kingly Savior firstly healed His followers, then made them the sons of the bridechamber. Eventually He will make them His Bride. They should appropriate Him not only as their Physician for the recovery of their life, but also as their Bridegroom for a living of enjoyment in His presence. They were at a joyful wedding with Him, not at a sorrowful funeral without Him. How then could they fast and not feast before Him? This dissenting question indicates that some of John’s disciples had fallen into a new religion and also had rejected the kingly Savior.
The question of John’s disciples seemed to be one of doctrine. But the Lord did not answer with a doctrine, but with a Person, the most pleasant Person, the Bridegroom. The religious people always care for their doctrine with their doctrinal reasonings. But Christ cares only for Himself. The living and walk of His followers should be regulated and directed only by His Person and His presence, not by any doctrine.
It would be ridiculous for someone to fast at a wedding. Moreover, to fast while others are enjoying the wedding feast would be an insult to the bridegroom. Here we see the Lord’s wisdom. He did not argue with them, but He certainly condemned the religious ones. The Lord seemed to be saying, “You religious people have missed the mark. Don’t you realize that I am the Bridegroom and that all My disciples around Me are the sons of the bridechamber? They shouldn’t be fasting. They must feast with Me.” Without these two cases, the Lord Jesus could never have been revealed as the Physician and as the Bridegroom. We should thank the Lord for the Pharisees and for the disciples of John. We should even thank the Lord for all the religions, for without the occasions afforded by religion the Lord could not be revealed in so many different aspects. It is the same today. (Life-study of Matthew, msg. 27)
GOD’S SALVATION MAKING US
MEMBERS OF THE BODY OF CHRIST
God has no intention for us to express or represent Christ individually. The desire in God’s heart is to gain an entity that would express and represent Him in the universe. This expression and representation is corporate; it is the Body. This Body, this corporate entity, is the church. The more we take Christ as our person, the less we are individualistic. Our former person, though created by God, became fallen. As the old man, our person was individualistic, secluded, and odd. We are all peculiar, but the Lord has saved us. He does not want us to live an individualistic life. He wants us to live the Body life. Hence, after saving us, He put us in the church.
Before we were saved, we were a complete unit unto ourselves. However, after we are saved, we are no longer complete unto ourselves. After we are saved, we become a member of the Body; as such, we cannot be individualistic. As a person with a physical body, it is possible to be individualistic. If I do not get along with someone, I can go to the north and he can go south. However, as a member, I cannot be individualistic. A hand cannot say to the body, “I do not like you; therefore, I am leaving. I will not serve you anymore.” A hand cannot exist apart from the body. Similarly, the eyes cannot say that they dislike the body and will therefore leave the body and exist by themselves. After a person is saved, he becomes a member of the Body. As a member of the Body, he has to stay in the Body. If we are members of the Body but are not in the Body, we are cut off. Once a member is cut off, he is finished, and he loses his life and function and, at the same time, becomes quite uncomely (1 Cor. 12:23).
TAKING CHRIST AS OUR PERSON AND
STANDING ON THE GROUND OF THE CHURCH
As soon as we are saved, we become members of the Body of Christ. In this Body we have life and we function; hence, we become lovely. Whenever we are not in the Body, however, our life is over, our function vanishes, and we are no longer lovely. This shows that we need to be in the Body. Our old person is individualistic and therefore is a problem. If we would let God fulfill His eternal heart’s desire to gain us as His expression, we need a change of person; that is, we must take Christ as our person. Otherwise, there is no way for the reality of the church to be manifested among us. (The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration, msg. 7)
KNOWING THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is the One who brings in the Triune God for our experience and enjoyment. Therefore, we should also know Him that we may richly experience Him.
The Ultimate Expression of the Triune God
1) “Baptizing them into…the Father and…the Son and…the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).
In the divine Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, is listed last, showing that He is the ultimate expression of the Triune God.
The Triune God Reaching and Entering into the Believers
1) “The Father…will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; even the Spirit of reality” (John 14:16-17).
It says here that the Holy Spirit is the Triune God reaching man, that is, the Triune God becoming the Spirit to reach man and be with him forever.
2) “The Spirit of reality…shall be in you…and I [the Son] in you” (John 14:17, 20).
This word further shows us that the Holy Spirit, who reaches us with the Father and the Son, will also enter into us. This indicates that He is the Triune God entering into the believers. When He enters into us, the Father and the Son enter into us (John 14:23).
What the Holy Spirit Is
1) The “Spirit of God” (Gen. 1:2), participating in God’s work of creation.
2) The “Spirit of Jehovah” (2 Chron. 20:14), participating in God’s relationship with man (Gen. 2:7).
3) The “Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:35), participating in Christ’s incarnation to sanctify man unto God.
4) The “Spirit of Jesus” (Acts 16:7), participating in the birth, the living, and the sufferings of Jesus.
5) The “Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9), participating in the resurrection of Christ and the impartation of life.
6) The “Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:19), participating in the birth, living, and death of Jesus, as well as in the resurrection of Christ and the impartation of life, with a bountiful supply that the believers may be saved in all things.
7) The “Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2), “the life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45), participating in Christ being man’s life and giving man life.
8) “The Spirit…for the Spirit was not yet [before the resurrection of Christ], because Jesus was not yet glorified [through resurrection]” (John 7:39).
The Spirit here is the issue of the Holy Spirit having passed through all the items of what He is, mentioned above. Thus, He is the all-inclusive and consummated Spirit as the ultimate expression of the Triune God to reach and enter into those who believe into Christ.
9) The “seven Spirits” (Rev. 1:4), referring to the sevenfold intensified Spirit, that the church in desolation may receive the sevenfold riches of grace and power.
The Two Aspects of the Holy Spirit
In the New Testament, there are two aspects of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of God, related to the believers. On the one hand, He is the Spirit of life in us to be the essential Spirit of God that we may have the divine life to live and to exist. On the other hand, He is the Spirit of power upon us to be the economical Spirit of God that we may have the divine power and gift to work for God. (Life Lessons, vol. 1, msg. 10)