OUR COMMITMENT FOR OVERSEA PROPAGATION
Message Four
Living Out a Corporate God-man Living
Scripture Reading:
Matt. 6:57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.
Phil. 1:20-21 According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
The Reality of the Body of Christ
—the Living Together of God and Man
Simply, the reality of the Body of Christ is the living of a God-man life by a group of God-redeemed people together with the God-man Christ. Before the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, in the universe there was God in heaven and man on the earth. But in the universe there was not one human being who was both God and man. Furthermore, this One who was to be God yet man did not become a man in the twinkling of an eye. Rather, according to man’s natural law, He was conceived in His mother’s womb for nine months, and then He was born to be a man. He lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years, beginning as a child. In the past I had a question concerning this matter: Why did the Lord have to live on the earth for such a long time? He lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years, and it seems that it was in the last three and a half years, when He came out to do the preaching and to lead the disciples, that He was really doing the work of God. Concerning the first thirty years of the Lord’s life on earth, the Gospels do not say much. However, we can find out that He lived in a poor carpenter’s home and He was called a carpenter (Matt. 13:55; Mark 6:3). I did not understand, however, what the significance was of the Lord’s living the life of a carpenter for thirty years on the earth. Now, because of the shining of the light, I have seen that He used those thirty-three and a half years to live out the model of a God-man living.
After His death and resurrection He produced many brothers who, with Him as the oldest Brother, become the one great man in the universe. What is this great, universal man? This is a God-man, one who is God yet man and man yet God. First, He lived on the earth to live out a model. How did He as the God-man live? He had the life of man, and He definitely was a man on the earth. He hungered, He thirsted, He slept, and He even wept and shed tears and was tired and weary. Not only was He like a man, but He was a man. However, as a man, He lived not by the human life but by the divine life within Him. He lived, yet He did not live alone. He lived not by His own life but by the divine life. He told us clearly that He spoke and did things not by Himself but by the One who sent Him (John 5:19; 8:28). In John 6:57 He said, “The living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father.” But for what purpose did the living Father send Him? In general, Christians would spontaneously reply that the Father sent Him to be our Savior and to accomplish redemption for us. Perhaps they would go on to say that He came to bring God’s life to us. There is nothing wrong in saying this, but it is altogether a superficial statement. What was the purpose of God in sending the Lord Jesus? God sent Him to be a man and to live a God-man life by the divine life. This kind of living issues in a universal great man that is exactly the same as He is—a man living a God-man life by the divine life.
The Reality of the Body of Christ
Being the Union and Mingling of God with Man
to Live Out a Corporate God-Man
The Body of Christ is not merely a term but a reality. The reality of the Body of Christ is the union and mingling of God with man to live out a corporate God-man. For this we need to pass through death and resurrection, dying daily and being resurrected daily. We also need to be in the Spirit and walk according to the Spirit daily. Again, let me speak something of my own experience. For many years I have felt that I am quite all right, but recently the Lord showed me differently. I have been telling the brothers and sisters that the people of God are God’s wife and that they should take God as their Husband, and I have presented this in a very clear and reasonable way. Yet, in reality, instead of taking God as the Husband, I have been taking myself as the husband in my living. It is according to moral standards that I do not do bad things or speak bad words to my wife. Yet, I do not take God as my Husband and speak by Him. I myself am the husband, and I speak by myself and speak concerning the work by myself. Recently, because of the great vision that I saw, I have been practicing one thing, that is, when I am going to speak to others, within me I ask, “Is it you who wants to speak, or is it your Husband?” In other words, “Is it you who wants to speak, or is it the Spirit who dwells in you? Is your speaking in the Spirit and according to the Spirit?” If we use this standard to weigh or measure ourselves, we will see that we are far below the standard. Although we have seen the vision concerning the Body of Christ and can speak clearly about it, what we have as the reality of the Body of Christ is very little.
Every Local Church Needing a Corporate Model
For such a revelation which is so high, deep, and profound, the Lord needs a model. He needs a corporate people to be raised up by His grace through this high peak of the divine revelation to live a life according to this revelation. Then they will be the model. Even for pray-reading, we did not set up a strong and proper model. Where is the model of living a crucified life that we may live Christ? Even among us, this is not too prevailing. Where is the model of living Christ and magnifying Christ by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ? Where is this life? We have these revelations released as messages printed in books, but where is the model?
My burden is that my fellowship could affect you to be burdened with me for the same thing. We have the local churches, but no model. For all the things the Lord has shown us, there is no model. With calling on the name of the Lord, there is no model. With praying unceasingly, there is no model. The Lord is rich unto all who call on Him, but there is no model of this. We are not that rich in the Lord’s recovery because we do not have the genuine, living practice of calling on the Lord. If we have this model, we will be enriched by the Lord through our calling on Him.
Paul in Ephesians 6 said that the Spirit today is the word. The Bible must become the word as the Spirit. This means your Bible must be one with the Spirit. Your Bible is the Spirit, and the Spirit is your Bible. How can we get this? There is no other way except by calling on the Lord, by touching the Lord daily and moment by moment. If we are all such persons living in the presence of the Lord by calling on Him, by praying to Him unceasingly day after day and hour after hour, we will be the reality of the fulfillment of the typology in 1 and 2 Kings.
This is my strong burden I would fellowship with the elders. Every local church needs this. Do not invent many formalities. You yourself should practice calling on the Lord. You yourself should practice pray-reading the word as the Spirit. You need to practice the unceasing prayer. You need to practice never quenching the Spirit, but rather, fanning the Spirit all the time into flame. You need to practice not despising any prophesying. You elders should take the lead to practice this. First, you be the model. Then your practice in such an intimate way with the Lord will influence the saints in your church. Especially as elders, you can exercise much influence over the members of the church. (Living a Life According to the High Peak of God’s Revelation, ch. 4)
