The Purpose of God’s Calling

Prophecy note, 26 April 2015
The Lord Jesus
has set His suffering life
before us
as an underwriting
for us
to copy
by tracing
that He
may be reproduced in us.
This is
spiritual xeroxing:
Christ Himself
is the original copy,
the Spirit is the light,
the divine life is the ink,
and we are the paper
for Christ
to be reproduced in us.
While we are bearing sorrows,
suffering unjustly,
we experience
the grace of God,
enjoying the motivation
of the divine life within us
and its expression in our life,
that in our behavior
we may become
a reproduction of Christ,
suffering as He suffered
and living as He lived.
This is
God’s calling us
to the suffering of Christ.

God has called the believers
not only unto the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
but also into the eternal glory of God.
For this,
the God of all grace
is ministering to us
the riches of the bountiful supply
of the divine life
in many aspects
and in many steps
of the divine operation
on and in us
in God’s economy.
The initial step
is to call us,
and the consummate step
is to glorify us.
Between these two steps
are His loving care
while He is disciplining us
and His perfecting, establishing,
strengthening, and grounding work
in us.
In all these divine acts,
the bountiful supply
of the divine life
is ministered to us
as grace
in varied experiences,
that we
may enter
into His eternal glory
and express
the God of all grace.
God has called us
also into His kingdom.
The kingdom of God
is an organism
constituted with God’s divine life
as the realm of life
for His ruling,
in which He reigns
by His divine life
and expresses Himself
in the divine life.
This kingdom
began
with the saints in the Old Testament
and is realized
in the church in this age,
and it will be completed
in the New Jerusalem
in the millennium
and ultimately consummated
in the New Jerusalem
in the new heaven and new earth.

Before we were called
we were outside the kingdom of God,
having nothing to do with God.
However,
God called us
to partake of His divine life and nature
that we may enter
into the kingdom of God.
Today
we, the called ones,
must live in the church
that we may grow and develop
in the life of God
unto full maturity.
Thus,
we shall be
richly and bountifully supplied
with the entrance
into the millennial kingdom
in the coming age
and into the new heaven and new earth
in eternity
within the kingdom of God,
in which we shall reign
as kings.

Day 5

1 Pet. 2:9b
so that you may tell out 
the virtues of Him 
who has called you 
out of darkness 
into His marvelous light.

1 Cor. 1:2
To the church of God 
which is in Corinth, 
to those 
who have been sanctified 
in Christ Jesus, 
the called saints, 
with all those 
who call upon 
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ 
in every place, 
who is 
theirs and ours.

God’s calling 
is according to His predestination. 
In eternity past 
He foreknew, 
chose, 
and predestinated us. 
Moreover, 
according to His predestination, 
in time 
He called us, 
justified us, 
and glorified us. 
This was foreordained 
in eternity by God, 
with whom is no variableness, 
according to 
His purpose and plan.

God’s calling 
is not only according to His predestination 
but also according to His purpose. 
His purpose 
is His plan 
according to His will 
to place us into Christ, 
making us one with Him 
to share His life and position 
that we may be His testimony. 
According to such a purpose, 
such a plan, 
God predestinated us 
in eternity past 
and called us 
in time.

God’s calling 
is also according to His grace. 
This grace 
was given to us 
in Christ 
by God 
before times eternal.
This grace 
has been manifested 
through the first coming 
of our Savior, Christ Jesus, 
who nullified death 
and brought life and incorruption to us.

God’s calling 
is in Christ.
He called us 
in Christ as the sphere. 
“In Christ” 
also indicates 
that the God of all grace 
has gone through all the processes of 
incarnation, human living, 
crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension 
to accomplish 
the complete and full redemption, 
that He may bring His believers 
into an organic union with Himself. 
Thus 
they may participate in 
the riches of the Triune God 
as their enjoyment. 
Christ, 
who is the embodiment of the Triune God, 
has become 
the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit
as the bountiful life supply to us. 
It is 
in this Christ, 
through His all-inclusive redemption 
and based upon all His achievements, 
that God can be 
the God of all grace 
to call us 
into His eternal glory, 
and to perfect, establish, 
strengthen, and ground us 
in the Triune God 
as the solid foundation, 
thus enabling us 
to attain to 
His glorious goal.

God’s calling 
is also through the gospel 
preached by the sent ones. 
The gospel 
is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, 
with His person, 
with all that He has 
accomplished, attained, and obtained, 
and with all 
that He is accomplishing 
in this age 
and will accomplish 
in the coming age 
and in eternity 
as the contents. 
Such a Christ 
must be preached 
as the gospel, the glad tidings, 
by God’s sent ones, 
that God’s called ones 
may hear and receive Him, 
thus fulfilling God’s plan 
in eternity.

God’s calling 
is that He may bring man 
out of darkness 
into His marvelous light.
Darkness is 
a sign of sin and death; 
it is 
the expression and sphere 
of Satan in death. 
The fact that mankind is in darkness 
proves that mankind 
is under the authority of Satan 
and dead in offenses and sins. 
When God comes to call man, 
He opens man’s eyes 
and turns man 
from darkness 
to light 
and from the authority of Satan 
to Himself. 
Light is 
a sign of righteousness and life; 
it is 
the expression and sphere 
of God in life. 
To be turned to God 
means to be turned to 
the authority of God, 
which is 
God’s kingdom of light. 
God has called us 
that He may deliver us 
out of the death-realm of Satan’s darkness 
into the life-realm of God’s marvelous light.

God’s calling 
is that His chosen ones 
may be separated 
and made holy 
unto God, 
to be 
the holy ones, the called saints.
The saints 
are produced 
through the calling 
of the sanctifying God, 
who called them 
out of the world 
unto Himself. 
Hence, 
God’s calling 
is a separation and a sanctification. 
Therefore, 
not only Peter and Paul 
were saints, 
but all God’s called ones 
are saints, holy ones.

Day 3

Exo. 3:18
And they will listen to your voice. 
And you shall come, 
you and the elders of Israel, 
to the king of Egypt, 
and you shall say to him, 
Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, 
has met with us; 
and now let us go 
a three days’ journey 
into the wilderness 
that we may sacrifice 
to Jehovah our God.

Exo. 19:2
And when they had journeyed from Rephidim 
and had come to the wilderness of Sinai, 
they encamped in the wilderness; 
and there 
Israel encamped 
in front of the mountain.

In God’s call 
the chosen people 
were directed to 
three different stations. 
Exodus 3:18 says 
that the children of Israel 
were to take 
a “three days’ journey 
into the wilderness.” 
In verse 12 
the Lord said to Moses, 
“… When you 
have brought the people 
out of Egypt, 
you will serve God 
upon this mountain.” 
Finally, 
in verses 8 and 17 
the Lord promised Moses 
that He would bring 
the children of Israel 
out of Egypt 
into a “land 
flowing with milk and honey.” 
Therefore, 
the three stations 
spoken of in this chapter 
are the wilderness, 
the mountain, 
and the land.

Many Christian teachers 
have emphasized the importance 
of the experience 
of the children of Israel 
in the wilderness. 
However, 
they interpret the wilderness 
as a place of test and trial. 
Although elsewhere in the Bible 
the wilderness 
has this significance, 
this is 
not the meaning of the wilderness 
in Exodus 3:18.
According to 3:18, 
the children of Israel 
were to make a journey of three days 
into the wilderness 
so that they might sacrifice 
to the Lord their God. 
It was impossible 
for God’s people 
to sacrifice to Him 
in Egypt.

In 3:18 
the term wilderness 
is used 
in a positive sense, 
for here the wilderness 
is opposed to the world. 
It is 
the place of separation 
from the world. 
As soon as one is saved, 
he should be brought 
out of the world 
into the wilderness 
where there is 
no Egyptian element. 
When the children of Israel 
entered into the wilderness, 
they were set free 
from Egypt. 
In the same principle, 
if we would get out of the world, 
we must get into the wilderness. 
However, 
not many Christians 
have been brought 
into the wilderness. 
This means 
that some have been saved, 
but have not been delivered 
from the world 
and separated from it.

The divine revelation 
concerning God’s purpose 
was given to Moses 
on the mountain.
It was on the mountain 
that he received the revelation 
concerning the design 
of the tabernacle. 
Although most 
of the children of Israel 
did not actually ascend 
to the top of the mountain, 
they were nonetheless camped 
close to the mountain. 
Moses, Aaron, 
and more than seventy others 
went up to the mountain 
to meet with God.

When they were at the mountain, 
the Israelites 
received the revelation 
concerning what God is. 
Do not regard the law 
simply as some commandments. 
The law 
was a testimony, definition, 
description, and explanation 
of what God is. 
By the law 
we can know God Himself. 
God required His chosen people 
to live 
according to this revelation 
of Himself. 
Thus, on the mountain, 
Moses received a revelation 
both of what God is 
and of the kind of life 
the people of God 
should live. 
Because God is 
holy, righteous, and loving, 
His people 
should live a life 
characterized by 
holiness, righteousness, and love. 
Chapters twenty through twenty-four 
of Exodus 
reveal that God 
is detailed 
in His holiness, righteousness, 
and other divine attributes. 
His people 
must live a life 
that corresponds to 
the detailed attributes of God. 
Such a revelation 
can be seen 
only on the mountaintop.

It is 
a very great matter 
to hear God’s speaking 
and to see His vision, 
especially the vision 
concerning His dwelling place. 
It is 
of vital importance 
that we go 
to the genuine mountain of God, 
to God’s mountain on earth today.
In our experience 
we need to 
come out of Egypt, 
cross the Red Sea, 
and journey through the wilderness 
until we arrive at 
the mountain of God. 
At this mountain 
we are brought 
into God’s presence.
Many of us 
can testify 
that whenever we gather together 
into the Lord’s name, 
we enjoy His presence. 
We hear His speaking, 
and we see His vision 
at the mountain of God.

Day 1

2 Tim. 1:9
Who has saved us 
and called us 
with a holy calling, 
not according to 
our works 
but according to 
His own purpose and grace, 
which was given to us in Christ Jesus 
before the times of the ages.

Rom. 8:28
And we know 
that all things 
work together for good 
to those who love God, 
to those who are called 
according to His purpose.

At the time God called Moses, 
Egypt was 
the leading country on earth, 
and Pharaoh had 
absolute power. 
Here was a man 
now eighty years of age, 
one who had spent 
the last forty years of his life 
shepherding a flock 
in the wilderness. 
How could such a one 
deliver the Israelites 
from Pharaoh’s tyrannical power? 
To Moses, 
it might have seemed impossible. 
Nevertheless, 
this was 
the purpose of God’s calling 
on the negative side.

The purpose of God’s calling 
was not only to bring 
the children of Israel 
out of Egypt, the land of bondage, 
but to bring them into Canaan, 
a land “flowing with milk and honey”. 
Humanly speaking, 
the positive side of God’s calling 
was even more of an impossibility 
than the negative side. 
Such a thing 
could only be a dream. 
But this is 
precisely what God was calling Moses 
to do.

Pharaoh was 
a type of Satan, 
and Egypt was 
a type of the world. 
Just as Pharaoh was 
the ruler of Egypt, 
so Satan is 
the ruler of this world. 
God is still seeking 
to deliver His chosen people 
out of the usurping hand of Satan 
and out of the tyranny of the world. 
As God’s called ones, 
we need a clear view 
of what the world is. 
The world is 
not a source of enjoyment; 
it is 
a place of tyranny. 
In the world 
Satan is keeping God’s chosen people, 
those destined for 
the fulfillment of God’s purpose, 
under his usurping hand.

Every aspect of the world 
is a form of tyranny. 
In Exodus 
Pharaoh kept the children of Israel 
under tyranny 
by forcing them 
to do hard labor. 
The same principle 
operates today. 
As people work, 
they suffer 
under various forms of tyranny. 
Even making a long drive to work 
on a crowded freeway 
is one kind of tyranny. 
Likewise, 
the competition for promotion 
and the insecurity about losing a job 
are also kinds of tyranny. 
Nevertheless, 
anyone who does not labor for Pharaoh 
in the world 
will not receive 
the supply of the Nile.
Shopping is 
another form of the world’s tyranny. 
Many young women 
are held in tyranny 
in a subtle way 
through shopping 
for the latest fashions.

Recently some saints told me 
that they do not have the time 
to pray or read the Bible. 
I pointed out 
that they have plenty of time 
to make telephone calls 
or to read the newspaper. 
This indicates 
that even the telephone 
or the newspaper 
may be 
a means of tyranny.

For us 
to live for Christ, 
we need to exist. 
Without our human existence 
we cannot live Christ. 
But today 
those in the fallen world 
care for nothing 
but their existence; 
they do not care for 
the purpose of their existence. 
To exist 
is one thing, 
but to exist for the divine purpose 
is another thing. 
The purpose ordained by God 
for our existence 
is to live Christ, 
to live God out, 
and to have God’s testimony. 
But the people of this world 
have only their existence; 
they have 
no purpose. 
Eventually 
they make their existence itself 
the purpose of their existence. 
They know nothing 
but existence. 
Satan picks up 
the existence of human beings 
or of human living 
and uses this existence 
to usurp people 
so that today the whole world 
cares only for existence, 
not for God’s purpose in existence.

All things 
necessary for our human existence 
need to be under a divine limitation. 
Anything that exceeds our need 
becomes worldly, 
“Egyptian,” 
something of Pharaoh, 
and it frustrates us 
from the economy of God’s purpose.
Our living and our existence 
depend on the provision 
from the heavenly source, 
not on the supply 
from the world. 
For this 
we need 
the vision, 
and we need 
the exercise of our faith. 
Moses was 
a man of great faith 
to lead two million people 
out of Egypt 
into the wilderness, 
where there was 
no earthly supply 
for their human existence.