The direction
of the Lord’s move today
is to build up
the organic Body of Christ
as the organism
of the processed and dispensing God
in His Divine Trinity
for His full expression:
This organic Body
is full of Christ Himself
and is built up with Himself
as the life-giving Spirit,
who is
the essence and reality
of the Body of Christ.
Such a Body
becomes the organism
of the processed and consummated Triune God,
who is dispensing Himself
in His Divine Trinity
to saturate the Body of Christ organically
so that it
might be His full expression
in the universe.
The Body of Christ
is a divine constitution
of the Triune God
with the believers
in Christ:
The Father, the Son, the Spirit, and man
are blended
and built together
to become
the Body of Christ.
The building up of the Body
is the constitution
of the Triune God
and the tripartite man
in the Spirit of God
and the spirit of man:
This constitution
is the union, mingling, and incorporation
of God and man.
Such a constitution
is a matter
of divinity
constituted into humanity
to be man’s dwelling place
and of humanity
built into divinity
to be God’s dwelling place.
The Body of Christ
is an organism,
both divine and human,
to express Christ.
God’s economy
is to produce a Body
for His Son;
this Body
fulfills God’s desire
for His expression
and the destruction of Satan:
The work of the Triune God in us
is to produce and build up
the Body of Christ.
The ministry of the new covenant
is for the producing
of the Body of Christ;
without the new covenant ministry,
there is
no possibility
to bring forth
the Body of Christ.
The Body
is the intrinsic significance
of the church;
without the Body,
the church
makes no sense
and has no meaning.
All the problems
in the church today
are due to ignorance
concerning the Body;
the biggest problem,
the unique problem,
is not knowing the Body,
not caring for the Body,
and not honoring the Body.
To know the Body
is the proper recovery
of the Lord;
the Lord
desires to recover
the Body of Christ
and the oneness of the Body.
The Lord
has an urgent need
on earth;
He desires
that the reality
of the Body of Christ
will be expressed
in the local churches:
What the Lord
wants today
is not only the churches
on the ground of locality
—one locality, one church—
but also the Body
in its fullness.
Unless there is
a substantial expression
of the Body,
the Lord Jesus
will not return.
The Body
is the governing law
of the life and work
of the children of God:
The church, the ministry, and the work
are all on the ground
of the Body:
The churches
are the Body
expressed locally,
the ministry
is the Body
in function,
and the work
is the Body
seeking increase.
The church
is the life of the Body
in miniature,
the ministry
is the functioning of the Body
in service,
and the work
is the reaching out of the Body
in growth.
The church, the ministry, and the work
derive their existence from,
find their place in,
and work for
the good of the Body:
The importance
of this principle
cannot be overemphasized,
for without it
everything is
man-made,
not God-created.
If this principle
of relatedness to the Body
and interrelatedness among its members
is not recognized,
there can be
no church, no ministry, and no work.
The Lord’s recovery
is based upon the truth
that Christ has
only one Body:
The one Body
is the one church of God,
manifested in many localities
as local churches.
The Lord’s recovery
is for the building up
of the Body of Christ;
the recovery
is for the Body,
not for any individual
or merely for any individual local church.
In our consideration
the Body
should be first,
and the local churches
should be second.
The Body of Christ
is the goal of God’s economy,
and the local churches
are the procedure
God takes
to reach the goal of His economy.
All the local churches
are the unique Body of Christ
in the universe:
Every local church
is part of
the unique, universal Body of Christ,
a local expression
of the Body.
Universally,
all the local churches
are one Body,
and locally,
every local church
is a local expression
of the universal Body.
The universal Christ
has part of Himself
in every local church;
every local church
is a part of Christ,
and all these parts
constitute the Body.
We need to be
universal Christians
with a universal view
of the universal Body of Christ:
The Body of Christ
is the mystical Body
of the universal, all-inclusive,
all-extensive Christ:
Christ, the Head,
ascended far above all the heavens,
and we
are the mystical Body, the fullness,
of this Christ.
The Body
is the fullness, the expression,
of the Christ
who fills all things:
Christ
is the Head
over all things
to the church,
the church
is the Body
of this universal Christ,
and the Body
of this universal Christ
is the fullness
of the One
who fills all
in all.
Christ Himself
is universally vast,
universally extensive,
and the Body
is the fullness
of this universally vast
and extensive Christ;
this means
that the Body also
is universal.
Ephesians 4:10 says,
“He who descended,
He is also the One
who ascended
far above all the heavens
that He
might fill all things”:
All things
must surely include
the entire universe.
The result
of Christ’s descending and ascending
is that He
fills all things,
the whole universe.
A universal Christian
is one
who has the universal view
presented in Ephesians 1:22-23 and 4:10:
Although we
may have a view of the Body,
our view
may be very small
compared to a universal view
of the Body of Christ.
We
need to get out of
our small, narrow self
and be in an ecstasy,
seeing and touching
the universal Body of Christ
—the fullness, the expression,
of the universal, unlimited Christ.
We need to be overwhelmed
by the vision
of the immensity
of the universal Body of Christ:
Like John,
who was carried away in spirit
onto a high mountain
to see the New Jerusalem,
we
need to be carried away in spirit
to a “high mountain”
to have a universal view
of the universal Body of Christ.
In our spirit
we need to have
a view of the universal Body,
which is infinitely greater
than anything
that has ever entered
into our mind
concerning the Body of Christ.
The goal of God’s economy
is to build up
the universal Body of Christ,
and it is
such a universal Body
that will consummate in
the New Jerusalem.
Hits: 1
7 replies on “The Intrinsic Building Up of the Organic Body of Christ (1) Governed by a Vision of the Universal Body of Christ as the Goal of God’s Economy”
Prophecy note, 29 January 2017
The direction
of the Lord’s move today
is to build up
the organic Body of Christ
as the organism
of the processed and dispensing God
in His Divine Trinity
for His full expression:
This organic Body
is full of Christ Himself
and is built up with Himself
as the life-giving Spirit,
who is
the essence and reality
of the Body of Christ.
Such a Body
becomes the organism
of the processed and consummated Triune God,
who is dispensing Himself
in His Divine Trinity
to saturate the Body of Christ organically
so that it
might be His full expression
in the universe.
The Body of Christ
is a divine constitution
of the Triune God
with the believers
in Christ:
The Father, the Son, the Spirit, and man
are blended
and built together
to become
the Body of Christ.
The building up of the Body
is the constitution
of the Triune God
and the tripartite man
in the Spirit of God
and the spirit of man:
This constitution
is the union, mingling, and incorporation
of God and man.
Such a constitution
is a matter
of divinity
constituted into humanity
to be man’s dwelling place
and of humanity
built into divinity
to be God’s dwelling place.
The Body of Christ
is an organism,
both divine and human,
to express Christ.
God’s economy
is to produce a Body
for His Son;
this Body
fulfills God’s desire
for His expression
and the destruction of Satan:
The work of the Triune God in us
is to produce and build up
the Body of Christ.
The ministry of the new covenant
is for the producing
of the Body of Christ;
without the new covenant ministry,
there is
no possibility
to bring forth
the Body of Christ.
The Body
is the intrinsic significance
of the church;
without the Body,
the church
makes no sense
and has no meaning.
All the problems
in the church today
are due to ignorance
concerning the Body;
the biggest problem,
the unique problem,
is not knowing the Body,
not caring for the Body,
and not honoring the Body.
To know the Body
is the proper recovery
of the Lord;
the Lord
desires to recover
the Body of Christ
and the oneness of the Body.
The Lord
has an urgent need
on earth;
He desires
that the reality
of the Body of Christ
will be expressed
in the local churches:
What the Lord
wants today
is not only the churches
on the ground of locality
—one locality, one church—
but also the Body
in its fullness.
Unless there is
a substantial expression
of the Body,
the Lord Jesus
will not return.
The Body
is the governing law
of the life and work
of the children of God:
The church, the ministry, and the work
are all on the ground
of the Body:
The churches
are the Body
expressed locally,
the ministry
is the Body
in function,
and the work
is the Body
seeking increase.
The church
is the life of the Body
in miniature,
the ministry
is the functioning of the Body
in service,
and the work
is the reaching out of the Body
in growth.
The church, the ministry, and the work
derive their existence from,
find their place in,
and work for
the good of the Body:
The importance
of this principle
cannot be overemphasized,
for without it
everything is
man-made,
not God-created.
If this principle
of relatedness to the Body
and interrelatedness among its members
is not recognized,
there can be
no church, no ministry, and no work.
The Lord’s recovery
is based upon the truth
that Christ has
only one Body:
The one Body
is the one church of God,
manifested in many localities
as local churches.
The Lord’s recovery
is for the building up
of the Body of Christ;
the recovery
is for the Body,
not for any individual
or merely for any individual local church.
In our consideration
the Body
should be first,
and the local churches
should be second.
The Body of Christ
is the goal of God’s economy,
and the local churches
are the procedure
God takes
to reach the goal of His economy.
All the local churches
are the unique Body of Christ
in the universe:
Every local church
is part of
the unique, universal Body of Christ,
a local expression
of the Body.
Universally,
all the local churches
are one Body,
and locally,
every local church
is a local expression
of the universal Body.
The universal Christ
has part of Himself
in every local church;
every local church
is a part of Christ,
and all these parts
constitute the Body.
We need to be
universal Christians
with a universal view
of the universal Body of Christ:
The Body of Christ
is the mystical Body
of the universal, all-inclusive,
all-extensive Christ:
Christ, the Head,
ascended far above all the heavens,
and we
are the mystical Body, the fullness,
of this Christ.
The Body
is the fullness, the expression,
of the Christ
who fills all things:
Christ
is the Head
over all things
to the church,
the church
is the Body
of this universal Christ,
and the Body
of this universal Christ
is the fullness
of the One
who fills all
in all.
Christ Himself
is universally vast,
universally extensive,
and the Body
is the fullness
of this universally vast
and extensive Christ;
this means
that the Body also
is universal.
Ephesians 4:10 says,
“He who descended,
He is also the One
who ascended
far above all the heavens
that He
might fill all things”:
All things
must surely include
the entire universe.
The result
of Christ’s descending and ascending
is that He
fills all things,
the whole universe.
A universal Christian
is one
who has the universal view
presented in Ephesians 1:22-23 and 4:10:
Although we
may have a view of the Body,
our view
may be very small
compared to a universal view
of the Body of Christ.
We
need to get out of
our small, narrow self
and be in an ecstasy,
seeing and touching
the universal Body of Christ
—the fullness, the expression,
of the universal, unlimited Christ.
We need to be overwhelmed
by the vision
of the immensity
of the universal Body of Christ:
Like John,
who was carried away in spirit
onto a high mountain
to see the New Jerusalem,
we
need to be carried away in spirit
to a “high mountain”
to have a universal view
of the universal Body of Christ.
In our spirit
we need to have
a view of the universal Body,
which is infinitely greater
than anything
that has ever entered
into our mind
concerning the Body of Christ.
The goal of God’s economy
is to build up
the universal Body of Christ,
and it is
such a universal Body
that will consummate in
the New Jerusalem.
Day 6
Rev. 21:2
And I saw
the holy city, New Jerusalem,
coming down
out of heaven
from God,
prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband.
Rev. 21:10
And he
carried me away in spirit
onto a great and high mountain
and showed me
the holy city, Jerusalem,
coming down
out of heaven
from God.
Formerly,
you could be a Christian
in a locality
with your door closed
and not be bothered
with the brothers and sisters
in other places.
Today,
however,
for you
to be a Christian,
it is not sufficient
to be a national Christian,
or even an international Christian;
you need to be
a universal Christian.
If there
had been no Roman Empire,
the Lord
would not have been born
in Bethlehem
and yet have grown up
in Nazareth.
If the Lord
had not been born
during the age of the Roman Empire,
He would not have been crucified,
because the Jewish people
did not have
this kind of death sentence.
Not only so,
God also connected
all the regions
around the Mediterranean Sea together
through the Roman Empire
repairing the highway
from Rome to Palestine.
There was
also the aspect of language,
in that Greek
became the common written and spoken language.
It was
after all these things
were prepared
that Paul
came out
to preach the gospel.
When Paul
came out
to preach the gospel,
he was not in Judea.
Rather,
he traveled
around the Mediterranean Sea
with a broad view.
This was
why in his Epistles
he said
that in this new man,
“there cannot be
Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian,
slave, free man,
but Christ
is all and in all”
(Col. 3:11).
In those days,
there were these problems
among different groups of people.
But in the new man,
these differences
do not exist.
In the new man,
everything is Christ.
Today,
after two thousand years,
God
has brought this world
to a blended stage
so that there
are almost no distinctions
between East and West.
…Both the East and West
are blended together.
Today,
if you
want to be a Christian,
you cannot be
merely a Chinese Christian.
Even the more,
especially today
in taking
the way of the recovery,
we
cannot be like that.
We
must broaden our view.
Today
the Lord
desires to have
His Body.
It does not matter
whether you
are willing or not;
He
simply likes to group
all of us together.
Therefore,
we all
have to see
that the former era
has already passed.
From now on,
the broader our view,
the better.
What God
is doing today
is to obtain
the Body of Christ,
not merely you as an individual,
nor merely the church in a locality,
nor merely the church in a country.
He wants to obtain
the church in the entire universe.
Since this is the case,
in our church life today
we need to be mingled
with all the brothers and sisters
on the earth.
It is my desire
that you
see the light,
broaden your view,
and realize
that we
are in God’s eternal economy,
that you
would allow God
to have the Body of Christ
on the earth.
…It is
not enough
for us
merely to have a local view,
nor is it enough
to have
an international view.
We
must have
a universal view.
We need to see
that Christ
is after a Body,
and God
will prepare
a Body for Christ.
In the book of Revelation
the apostle John
told us
that he
was carried away
in spirit
onto a high mountain
to see
the holy city, New Jerusalem.
The reason
that we
need to be on a mountain
(which signifies
resurrection and ascension)
is that the building of God
is something
in the resurrection and ascension of Christ,
and we
need to be
in an elevated position
in order to see
the vision of God’s building.
The goal
of God’s eternal economy
is to create, to constitute, and to produce
a Body
for Christ,
who will gain this Body,
which is a part of Himself,
to be His counterpart, His bride,
and consummately the New Jerusalem.
Day 5
Eph. 3:19
And to know
the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ,
that you
may be filled
unto all the fullness of God.
Eph. 4:10
He
who descended,
He
is also the One
who ascended
far above all the heavens
that He
might fill all things.
It is
in the transmission
from the Head
that the Body of Christ
is the fullness of the One
who fills all
in all,
because the Christ
who fills all
in all
is in the transmission.
The transmission
connects us
to the all-filling Christ.
In this way
the church
becomes the fullness
of the all-filling Christ.
By means of
such a transmission,
we are
the Body, the fullness
of the One
who fills all
in all.
The Body
comes from the transmission
of the all-inclusive Christ.
To enjoy this transmission
we need
a sober mind, a fervent emotion,
a submissive will, and a pure conscience.
Through the experience
of this transmission
we become
the Body.
What we need today
is more of
this all-inclusive transmission.
In Paul’s prayer
for revelation
in Ephesians 1:17-23,
we can see
why he considers the church
the mystery of Christ.
Paul entered
into the full and completed revelation
of this mystery of Christ,
which is
His mystical Body,
the fullness of the One
who fills all
in all.
May we all
be enlightened
to see
this mysterious aspect
of the church.
The church
as the Body of Christ
is the fullness of Him
who fills all
in all.
Ephesians 1:23 says
that the church
“is His Body,
the fullness of the One
who fills all
in all.”
Grammatically,
“the fullness”
is in apposition to
“His Body.”
This indicates
that the Body
is the fullness
and the fullness
is the Body.
The Body of Christ
is His fullness.
The fullness
issues from the enjoyment
of the riches of Christ.
Through the enjoyment
of Christ’s riches,
we become
His fullness
to express Him.
This fullness
is the fullness of the One
who fills all
in all.
Christ,
who is the infinite God
without limitation,
is so great
that He fills all things
in all things.
Such a great Christ
needs the Body
to be His fullness
for His complete expression.
Ephesians 4:10,
referring to Christ,
says,
“He
who descended,
He
is also the One
who ascended
far above all the heavens
that He
might fill all things.”
The thought here
is profound.
First,
Christ
was in the heavens.
In His incarnation
He came to earth
as a man
and lived on earth
for thirty-three and a half years.
Then He died
on the cross
and descended
into Hades,
ascended
in resurrection
from Hades
to earth,
and then ascended
to the third heaven.
By means of
such a descending and ascending
He fills all things.
Now
Christ
is everywhere,
on the earth
as well as in the heavens.
The Body
is the fullness,
the expression,
of such an all-filling Christ.
We have seen
that the church
is the expression of Christ.
In Ephesians 1
we are told
that the church
is the Body
and that this Body
is the fullness of the One
who fills all
in all.
The church
is the Body of Christ,
and this Body
is the fullness of the person
who fills all
in all.
The words “all in all”
in 1:23
refer to the universe.
Christ
fills the entire universe.
This is proved
by 4:10.
…For Christ
to fill all things
is for Him
to fill the universe.
Christ
is so universally vast
that He
fills all things.
This vast Christ
needs a Body
to be His fullness.
The fullness of Christ
is the overflow of Christ.
Christ
is so unsearchably rich
that He
has an overflow, a fullness, a surplus.
As His Body,
the church
is Christ’s fullness, His surplus.
This is
a matter of
great significance.
In God’s economy
outward things
have relatively little value.
God’s economy
is Christ with the church.
The church
comes into existence
as we
inwardly experience
the riches of Christ
and thus become
His fullness.
Day 4
Eph. 2:21-22
In whom
all the building,
being fitted together,
is growing into a holy temple
in the Lord;
in whom you also
are being built together
into a dwelling place
of God
in spirit.
I have been commissioned
by the Lord
to carry His truth
and bring His recovery
to the United States.
The recovery
is based upon the truth
that Christ has
only one Body.
…One of the tests
of a genuine local church
is that it
should have
universal fellowship
with all the other local churches.
The one Body
is the one church of God,
manifested in many localities
as many local churches.
We are here
for the Body.
Without the backing of the Body,
without the backing of the recovery,
we have no way
to practice the local churches.
If we practice
the local church life
and neglect
the view of the Body,
our local church
becomes a local sect.
The recovery
is for the Body,
not for any individual
or merely for any individual local church.
For the Lord’s move
in His recovery
both locally and universally,
we all
need to be
Body-conscious
in one accord
and Body-centered
in oneness.
…In our consideration
the Body
should be first
and the local churches
should be second.
…All the local churches
are and should be
one Body
universally, doctrinally, and practically.
We may think
that the local churches
are the goal of God’s economy.
However,
they are not the goal
but the procedure
God takes
to reach the goal of His economy.
…Many of those
who have been brought
into the recovery
love the local church
to the uttermost,
and they
stress the local church very much.
However,
we should not think
that when we
enter into the local church life,
we reach
the goal of God’s eternal economy.
…Since the time of Brother Nee
the local churches
have become
a very precious item
in our Christian life.
Some of the saints
may be disappointed
when they hear
that the local churches
are not God’s goal.
Nevertheless,
if we
are just in the local churches
and do not go on,
we are far off
from God’s goal.
According to Ephesians 1:22-23,
the goal of God’s economy
is the church,
which is Christ’s Body.
All the local churches
are the one unique Body of Christ
in the universe.
Every local church
is a part
of this universal Body,
a local expression
of this unique Body.
This one universal church,
the one Body,
comprises all the local churches.
There may be
thousands of local churches,
but together
they constitute
one universal church.
The universal church
is the unique Body of Christ,
and all the local churches
are simply the local expressions
of this one Body.
There is
only one Body,
but there are
many expressions.
Universally,
all the churches
are one Body,
and locally,
every local church
is a local expression
of that universal Body.
Therefore,
a local church
is not the Body
but only a part of the Body,
an expression of the Body.
In the New Testament
we see
many local churches,
and together
these local churches
are considered
one universal church,
for they constitute
the one Body of Christ.
Christ today
is not a local Christ
but a universal Christ,
and this universal Christ
has a part of Himself
in every locality.
The part in Taipei
is called the church in Taipei,
the part in London
is called the church in London,
and the part in New York
is called the church in New York.
Every local church
is a part of Christ.
All these parts
constitute the Body.
Day 3
Eph. 1:22-23
…The church,
which is
His Body,
the fullness of the One
who fills all in all.
1 Cor. 12:12
For even as the body
is one
and has many members,
yet all the members of the body,
being many,
are one body,
so also is
the Christ.
Today
the Lord
has an urgent need
on the earth.
He needs
the reality of the Body
to be expressed
in each locality.
Instead of
living by our natural man,
we live
by Christ
and in the spirit.
This is
the way
we grow.
Every day
we put off
our natural being
and live
in the spirit.
There is
no natural person here;
only Christ
is here.
We are all one
in Christ.
What the Lord wants today
is not only the churches
on the ground of locality
—one locality, one church—
but also the Body
as His fullness.
What the Lord wants today
is the Body, the fullness.
What the Lord wants today
is not your spirituality or your cultivation;
He wants the Body.
There is
only one Body.
Brothers and sisters,
I can assure you
that, unless there is
a substantial expression of the Body,
the Lord Jesus
will never return.
The Lord said,
“I come quickly,”
but He has not yet returned.
Why?
Because the Body
is not here;
because the Body
has not yet been manifested
on the earth.
“The church,
which is His Body,”
[Eph. 1:22-23]
includes the churches, the ministry, and the work.
The churches
are the Body
expressed locally,
the ministry
is the Body
in function,
and the work
is the Body
seeking increase.
All three
are different manifestations
of the one Body,
so they
are all interdependent
and interrelated.
None can move,
or even exist,
by itself.
In fact,
their relationship
is so intimate and vital
that none
can be right itself
without being rightly adjusted
to the others.
The church
cannot go on
without receiving the help of the ministry
and without giving help to the work;
the work
cannot exist
without the sympathy of the ministry
and the backing of the church;
and the ministry
can only function
when there is
the church and the work.
This is most important.
In the previous chapters
we have sought
to show
their respective functions and spheres;
now the danger is
lest,
failing to understand
the spiritual nature
of the things of God,
we should not
only try to distinguish
between them,
but sever them
into separate units,
thus losing
the interrelatedness of the Body.
However clear
the distinction between them,
we must remember
that they
are all in the Church.
Consequently,
they must move and act
as one,
for no matter
what their specific functions and spheres,
they are
all in one Body.
So on the one hand,
we differentiate between them
in order to understand them,
and on the other hand,
we bear in mind
that they
are all related
as a body.
It is
not that a few gifted men,
recognizing their own ability,
take it upon themselves
to minister
with the gifts they possess;
nor that a few persons,
conscious of call,
form themselves
into a working association;
nor is it
that a number of like-minded believers
unite and call themselves a church.
All must be
on the ground of the Body.
The church
is the life of the Body
in miniature;
the ministry
is the functioning of the Body
in service;
the work
is the reaching out of the Body
in growth.
Neither church, ministry, nor work
can exist
as a thing
by itself.
Each
has to derive its existence from,
find its place in,
and work for
the good of the Body.
All three are
from the Body,
in the Body,
and for the Body.
If this principle
of relatedness to the Body
and interrelatedness among its members
is not recognized,
there can be
no church, no ministry, and no work.
The importance of this principle
cannot be over-emphasized,
for without it
everything is
man-made,
not God-created.
The basic principle
of the ministry
is the Body.
The basic principle
of the work
is the Body.
The basic principle
of the churches
is the Body.
The Body
is the governing law
of the life and work
of the children of God
today.
Day 2
Rom. 12:4-5
For just as in one body
we have many members,
and all the members
do not have the same function,
so we
who are many
are one Body in Christ,
and individually members
one of another.
We need to see
that God’s economy
as God’s plan, His administration,
is to create, to constitute, and to produce
a Body
for His Son.
This is
the major purpose of God’s economy.
Christ gained this Body,
which is
a part of Himself, His counterpart.
Adam living alone
typifies Christ being alone
before He had gained
His counterpart, His Body, the church.
God said
it was not good
for Adam
to be alone.
So God made him
fall into a deep sleep,
opened his side,
and took out a rib.
Genesis 2 says
that God built a woman
with that rib.
This indicates
that Eve came out of Adam.
After being built up,
Eve was brought back to Adam,
and God made these two
into one flesh.
Ephesians 5
tells us
that this is
a type of
the great mystery of
Christ and the church.
This type
will be fulfilled
in the New Jerusalem,
which is
the wife of the Lamb.
This is
the goal of God’s economy.
God’s economy
does have another aspect
on the negative side,
and that aspect
is the destruction of God’s enemy.
God has
a unique enemy
which He could destroy
by Himself,
but He would not do it.
He desires to do it
through His redeemed people.
Therefore,
the redeemed humanity
should cooperate with God
to destroy Satan.
The book of Revelation
shows that on the one hand,
the overcomers
will become the consummated New Jerusalem,
and on the other hand,
all the overcomers
will be used
to destroy Satan.
These are
the two aspects
concerning the Body of Christ
in the fulfilling
of God’s desire
for His expression
and the destruction of Satan.
The work of the Triune God in us
is to produce
the Body of Christ,
the reality of which
is the Spirit, the pneumatic Christ.
This Spirit
as the consummated Triune God,
the resurrection,
works in us.
When we have
the pneumatic Christ,
the consummated Triune God,
the resurrection,
we are
practically the Body of Christ.
Second Corinthians
is a book on
the ministry of the new covenant.
We must know, however,
that the ministry of the new covenant
is for the producing
of the Body of Christ.
First Corinthians
covers the Body of Christ.
…Second Corinthians
tells us
…that if we desire
to have the Body of Christ,
we must have
the new covenant ministry.
Without the new covenant ministry,
there is
no possibility
to bring forth
the Body of Christ.
I would like to say again
that the Body
is the intrinsic significance
of the church.
…Hallelujah,
there is
the Body!
Without the Body,
the church makes no sense,
but with the Body,
there is
the intrinsic significance
of the church.
All the problems of the church today
are due to
the ignorance
concerning the Body of Christ.
Among us
this ignorance
should be absent,
and the full knowledge
should be present.
We need
a spirit of wisdom and revelation
with the enlightening
of the eyes of our heart
to see and apprehend
the Body of Christ.
The problems
are all due to
the lack
of seeing the Body
and of caring for the Body.
We all
need to come back
to the truth,
and to practice the truth
is to take care of the Body.
To know the Body
is the proper recovery
of the Lord.
If we are for the recovery,
we need to realize
what the recovery is.
The Lord
desires to recover
the missed Body of Christ
and to recover
the neglected oneness
of the Body of Christ.
This is
the Lord’s recovery.
Day 1
Eph. 4:4
One Body
and one Spirit,
even as also you
were called
in one hope of your calling.
Eph. 4:16
Out from whom
all the Body,
being joined together
and being knit together
through every joint
of the rich supply
and through the operation
in the measure
of each one part,
causes the growth of the Body
unto the building up
of itself
in love.
The direction
of the Lord’s move today
is, first, to build up
His organic Body,
a Body
full of Himself
and built up with Himself
as the life-giving Spirit,
who is the essence, the element, and the reality
of the church
as the organic Body of Christ.
Such a Body
becomes the organism
of the processed Triune God,
who is dispensing Himself
in His Divine Trinity
to saturate the Body of Christ organically
that it
might be His full expression
in the universe.
Both God and Christ
are aspiring to see
the Body of Christ built up,
to see
the bride prepared,
and to see
the kingdom brought in,
that Christ
may have a Body,
that Christ
may have His bride,
and that God
may have a kingdom
on this earth
for His eternal economy.
Ephesians 4:4-6
speaks of
one Body, one Spirit,
one Lord, and one God and Father.
This is
a divine and human, organic constitution.
The believers
are the Body, the frame.
Within this frame
there is
the Triune God
as the very essence, element, and source
for His divine constitution
with humanity.
The Triune God
—the Spirit, the Lord, and God the Father—
has been constituted organically
with His chosen people
in their humanity.
This divine-human constitution
becomes the universal Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ
is the constitution
of the processed Triune God
with the transformed human beings.
It is constituted
by the union of
God and man.
The Triune God
has passed through the processes
of incarnation, human living,
crucifixion, resurrection,
and ascension.
The Body of Christ
is the constitution
of such a processed God
with His redeemed people.
The constitution of the Body of Christ
has not only the believers
whom God has redeemed, regenerated,
sanctified, renewed, and transformed,
as its outward framework,
but has also
the processed and consummated Triune God
as its inward element.
We commonly say
that the Body of Christ
is universal,
whereas the church
is local.
However,
the Body of Christ
is not a matter of
being universal or local,
but a matter of
the outward framework
and the inward element.
If there were
only the outward framework
without the inward element,
the Body
would be a dead corpse.
With the outward framework,
there must also be
the inward element;
then
it is
a living and organic Body.
Today
God has made those
whom He redeemed, regenerated, and transformed
to be the outward framework.
God Himself,
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit,
is the inward element.
…These four
—the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and man—
blended and built together
become the Body of Christ.
The building up
of the Body of Christ
is the constitution
of the Triune God
and the tripartite man
in the Spirit of God
and the spirit of man.
This constitution
is the union and mingling
of God and man.
It is divinity
constituted into humanity
to be man’s dwelling place,
and it is humanity
built into divinity
to be God’s dwelling place.
The Body of Christ
is an organism.
On the one hand,
it is divine.
On the other hand,
it is human
to express
the divine and human Christ,
who is
both the complete God
and the perfect man.