Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:8, 11-12; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4; Gen. 2:10-14; Rev. 22:1; Acts 15:37-39
I. We need to know the seer of the divine revelation and the herald of the divine revelation—Eph. 4:8, 11; 1 Pet. 4:10:
A. Brother Nee, as a unique gift of the age given by the Lord to His Body for His move of the recovery on the earth, should be considered as a seer of the divine visions in the present age according to what he had seen of the divine revelation—Eph. 4:8, 11-12.
B. Brother Lee, as such a minister of God; he is the servant of Jesus Christ, the minister of God’s word, the herald of the divine revelation, the propagator of God’s economy, and also the faithful steward in the recovered church in this age—3:2, 8-9; Col. 1:25-26; 1 Cor. 4:
II. “Since I have been under Brother Nee’s teaching, edifying, and perfecting, and since he was a brother I respected, observed, and weighed…the revelations concerning Christ, the church, the spirit, and life which I saw through Watchman Nee, the infusions of life which I received from him, and the things concerning the work and the church which I learned from him will require eternity to evaluate their true worth”: (Watchman Nee—A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age, A Short Introduction; ch. 33)
A. Brother Nee’s ministry, therefore, was focused on Christ’s death and resurrection for the producing of the church in life to experience the victory of Christ that His kingdom might be ushered in; beginning with Brother Nee to this day, we have thoroughly covered the economy of God in its entirety and in completeness; at that time he used the term planinstead of economy; he clearly pointed out to me the eternal plan, the eternal economy, of God in the Bible—Eph. 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4:
1. Concerning the eternal plan (economy) of God, brother Nee pointed out that has a good pleasure according to His heart’s desire, which is to gain a group of men who would become one with Him, sharing the same life, the same living, the same move, and the same work as His, that He may express Himself in glory through them—John 1:14; Gal. 2:20.
2. After nearly twenty years the Lord began to lead me into seeing the dispensing of the Triune God and the eternal economy of God; God’s economy began with God becoming flesh to be a man and continued with His passing through human living, death, resurrection, and ascension to produce the church, the Body of Christ, which is the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the counterpart of Christ. The totality of the church, the Body, the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the counterpart consummates in the New Jerusalem—Eph. 3:2, 8-9; 1 Cor. 15:45; Rev. 21:2.
B. We need to see that the ministry which Brother Nee brought to us is the real ministry; his ministry is not merely Christ; his ministry is Christ for the church; Christ and the church—this is our vision—Eph. 5:32, 25-27:
1. Brother Nee’s ministry was clearly of two aspects: first, of Christ and, second, of the church; He published many books concerning Christ as life and everything to us; the reality, or the content, of the church is Christ Himself —Rom. 6:6, Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:11.
2. “I wanted to say that there is only one ministry in the Bible, which is related to Christ and the church. Christ is the embodiment of God, He became the Spirit, so that all that received Him may have His life, to become His member, to constitute His Body; this Body expressed in each locality as the local church, and only one church in one city.” (歷史與啟示, 14)
C. The consummated Spirit is one of the crucial points of the major items in the Lord’s recovery; it was in His resurrection that Christ as the last Adam in the flesh became the life-giving Spirit through the process of His crucifixion and resurrection—John 7:39; 1 Cor. 15:45:
1. Brother Nee said in stanza 5 of Hymn #490, “Thou, Lord, the Father once wast called, / But now the Holy Spirit art; / The Spirit is Thine other form.” In Hymn #492, he mentioned that Christ became the Spirit.
2. Brother Lee said that in America, we have fought for “Christ became the Spirit” for almost twenty years; concerning the consummated Spirit, the Lord showed us three crucial points—1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17:
a. First, the Spirit of God passed through processes to become the life-giving Spirit—John 7:39; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
b. Second, this consummated Spirit is the compound Spirit, which is typified by the holy ointment in the Old Testament— 30:23-25.
c. Third, this Spirit became the seven Spirit, which is the sevenfold intensified Spirit; these three points were not mentioned in the Nicene Creed—Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:
D. The goal of Brother Nee’s ministry was to establish local churches; God establishes a local church in every city—1:4, 11, 20; 1 Cor. 1:1-2; 1 Thes. 1:1:
1. By reading Brother Nee’s writings we can realize that he received a clear vision and a definite commission from the Lord concerning this goal; in the years 1933 and 1934, Watchman Nee saw that the boundary of the local church is the boundary of the city where the church is; he pointed out that within the boundary of a city there should not be more than one church; in 1937 Watchman Nee began to see the ground of the local church; the local church is a church in the city —Rev. 1:4.
2. Today I follow him, and also learnt to speak the word in the ministry; God in Christ, Christ in the church; there is only one church in the universe, but expressed in every locality, and should only have one, one city one church—v. 4, 11.
3. Since 1984, Brother Lee continued this recovery by stressing the importance of all the saints prophesying in the church meetings, which issues in the actual building up of the Body of Christ; he also saw the New Testament priesthood of the gospel and brought us into four vital practices necessary for the building up of the Body—begetting, nourishing, perfecting, and building, that the organic function of the saints may be developed greatly, and the churches may be multiplied; through this Ephesians 4:11-16 may be fulfilled.
E. Concerning the Body of Christ—1:22-23; 1 Cor. 10:32:
1. In the years 1939 to 1942, Watchman Nee was consistently burdened concerning the revelation of the Body of Christ; he was burdened to help Christians see the Body, not in a doctrinal way but in a practical way; he continually stressed that seeing the Body makes it impossible to be individualistic; once one sees the Body, he behaves and acts in a corporate way—12:12, 14.
2. End of ‘80s till early of ‘90s, Brother Lee continuously released new light concerning the intrinsic aspect of the Body of Christ, which is the organic entity of the Triune God; he unveiled that the church as the bride of Christ is His expansion; the organic building of the church; the church is the issue of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity and the transmission of the excelling Christ, all which infused rich contents to the practice of the God-ordained way—John 15:5; Eph. 5:25-27; 1:22; 3:
III. “The one who brought the recovery to China among us was Brother Watchman Nee… I fully realized that the Lord has only one Body, one work, one Bible, one revelation, and one current, one flow, in one fellowship”; we must find this flow and enter into it—Gen. 2:10-14, Rev. 22:1:
A. There is only one way, one Body, and one recovery of the Lord. When Brother Nee was raised up, he pioneered the way, and it was difficult; we are his successors; by the Lord’s grace I can say that when Brother Nee was taking the lead, I was submissive and did not dissent—Eph. 4:3-6.
B. One day Brother Nee told me that he and the other co-workers were burdened that I move to Shanghai with my family to stay with them and work with them; as I took the matter to the Lord and prayed about it, the Lord showed me from the book of Acts that in His move on earth there is only one flow;… from the very day I told Brother Nee that I would move to Shanghai, work with them, and learn of the brothers, I abandoned everything and followed that unique ministry. I shall never regret that decision—Gen. 2:10-14; 22:1.
C. I never tried to speak anything different from his teaching. This does not mean that I did not have any other teachings, but my speaking always followed Brother Nee’s speaking in order to keep the unique fellowship in the Lord’s unique recovery. I felt that it was a glory to participate in the Lord’s recovery in such a subjective way with Brother Nee—Acts 2:24; 1 Tim. 1:3-4.
D. “One day, when Brother Nee and I walked down the staircase of the meeting hall, he spoke to me, ‘Witness, we have God’s blueprint concerning the building of the church in our hands’; in the year of 1940, I went back to Chefoo and started to rearrange the practical service of the church according to blueprint which I have seen from Brother Nee,…until the year of 1942, not more than two years, the revival was brought in.” (History and Revelation, ch. 6)
E. Commissioned by Brother Nee, “In 1949 when the political situation in mainland China was changing, Brother Nee insisted that Brother Lee must go abroad; …Brother Nee’s words became Brother Lee’s heavy burden that was hard for him to unload all through his life; eventually, not only has he, as Brother Nee’s expectation, left a wonderful inheritance for the Lord’s recovery, but even more, he has brought the Lord’s recovery unto the high peak of truth and propagation.” (The Successor of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age—Witness Lee, A Brief Account of Brother Lee’s Life)
IV. Brother Watchman Nee drew the essence of the divine revelation, and saw further on it, and laid a good foundation for today’s recovery; Brother Lee continued his ministry, and advanced in the divine revelation, which is to arrive at the high peak of the divine revelation—John 1:12-14; 1 John 3:1-2:
A. “God became man, that man may become God” is the essence of the entire Bible—John 1:1, 14; 12:24:
1. Brother Nee said, “God’s purpose is to gain a group of people who are like His Son; God does not stop by just giving us a portion of Christ’s life; He wants to have the life of Christ wrought into us; the Holy Spirit is working to constitute more of the life of Christ in you so that you may be transformed into His image”—Col. 3:4, 10; Rom. 8:29.
2. “Our revelation and vision have been greatly uplifted in the last three years because we have seen the high peaks of God’s revelation. These are mainly concerning God becoming a man so that man may become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. This is the center of the high peaks of the divine revelation among us.” (CWWL, 1994-1997, Vol. 3, The Triune God’s Revelation and His Move, 12)
B. The reality of the Body of Christ—12:4-5; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16; Col. 1:18; 2:19:
1. In 1939 Brother Nee began to unveil to us the Body of Christ; the Body of Christ is the consummation of the work of the cross; He is smashing everything of the old creation, and He is constituting us with everything that issues from Christ so that we can become the Body of Christ in practicality—Eph. 4:21-24; Gal. 2:20; 1 Cor. 12:27.
2. Brother Lee pointed out that the corporate living by the perfected God-men is the reality of the Body of Christ; the reality of the Body of Christ is realized through the blending of the saints and the churches; the Body of Christ is the goal of God’s economy whereas the local churches is merely the procedure to attain to this goal—John 14:6a; Eph. 4:20-24, Gal. 2:20, Phil. 1:8, 19-21a; 2:19-30.
C. The Body of Christ consummates in the New Jerusalem as the divine goal of the processed and the consummated Triune God—Rev. 21:2, 10; 3:12:
1. God showed us the Body of Christ, that the local church is the procedure and not a goal through Brother Nee; what God wants in the end is not the local church; although at the end of the Bible there are seven lampstands, they all become one city, the New Jerusalem—Heb. 11:16; Rev. 21:2.
2. Brother Lee…came to realize that the New Jerusalem is the totality of the divine revelation in the Scripture; the New Jerusalem is the universal incorporation of the union and mingling of the divinity with humanity—the consummated God with the regenerated believers—vv. 2-3, 22.
V. The highest peak of the divine revelation given to us by God, the present truth, is the revelation of the eternal economy of God; since we have seen such a high peak of the divine revelation, we need to put into practice what we have seen. Our practice will have a success, and that success will be a new revival—the highest revival and probably the last revival before the Lord’s coming back —1 Tim. 4:15; Matt. 7:24; 24:44; 19:7-8; 21:2:
A. “I advise you not to follow me but to follow this vision, which Brother Nee and all the servants of the Lord throughout the ages have left to us and which I have handed to you. This is indeed the vision that extends from the first scene of Adam to the last scene of the New Jerusalem”—Gal. 1:15-16; Acts 26:19; Rev. 1:1.
B. “We are absolutely not following a man; rather, we are following a vision. It is grossly wrong to say that we are following a certain person. We are following a vision that belongs to the present age. It is God’s consummate vision.” (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, 2)
C. After we have seen that there is one flow and we have discovered where the flow is, we must get into it, forgetting our past learnings, concepts, understandings, and viewpoints—Gen. 2:10-14, Rev. 22:1, Acts 15:37-39.
D. “I hope that the saints in all the churches throughout the earth…will see this revelation and then rise up to pray that God would give us a new revival—a revival which has never been recorded in history.” (Life-study of Chronicles, msg. 2)
