第十一週■週二

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晨興餧養

約十二23 ～ 24『耶穌回答說，人子得榮耀的時候到了。我實實在在的告訴你們，一粒麥子不落在地裏死了，仍舊是一粒；若是死了，就結出許多子粒來。』

基督是三一神的第二者，從已過的永遠就有神聖的榮耀。

基督藉着成爲肉體所穿上的人性，成了遮藏祂神性之榮耀的外殼。…約翰一章十四節告訴我們，這位神成了肉體。這肉體，這人性，成了遮藏基督神性之榮耀的外殼。基督的神性本身就是神聖的榮耀。就如神是光，照樣，神性就是榮耀。當基督在肉體裏，在祂的人性裏，祂的肉體就是遮藏祂神性的外殼，因而遮藏了祂的榮耀。

因着神聖的榮耀遮藏在祂肉體的外殼裏，所以祂必須得榮耀。〔參約十二23，十七1，5。〕（李常受文集一九九四至一九九七年第五册，四○○至四○二頁。）

信息選讀

在路加十二章五十節主說，『我有當受的浸，還沒有成就，我是何等的困迫！』困迫，原文也可譯爲受拘禁。主在祂成爲肉體時所穿上的肉體裏受拘禁，祂需要肉身受死，需要受浸，使祂無限無量的神聖所是連同祂神聖的生命，得以從祂的肉體裏釋放出來。所以主耶穌渴望從祂肉體外殼的拘禁裏釋放出來。祂在約翰十二章二十四節說到這個釋放。…主耶穌作爲一粒麥子若沒有死，就仍是一樣；但祂落在地裏死了，那死就將祂從祂人性的體殼裏釋放出來。祂的成爲肉體，使祂神聖的榮耀遮藏在祂的肉體裏，但藉着祂的死，祂的榮耀就釋放出來，好在復活裏產生許多子粒，成爲祂的擴增，彰顯祂的榮耀。

基督神性的榮耀得以釋放出來，乃是把火丟在地上。〔路十二49。〕…這火乃指屬靈生命的衝力，出於主所釋放的神聖生命。…當基督在十字架上受死的浸時，祂神性的榮耀就釋放出來。從祂復活那時起，就有一把火在地上燒。這火從耶路撒冷燒起，經過猶太全地和撒瑪利亞，蔓延到地極。今天這火在全地…一直在焚燒。

基督在祂的人性生活裏禱告，求父榮耀祂，（約十七1，）父也答應了祂的禱告。〔參徒三13。〕

這樣的得榮耀乃是一種遷移，把基督從祂成肉體的時期遷入祂總括的時期；在這總括時期中，祂這位末後的亞當，在復活裏成了賜生命的靈。

我們若在稱讚、高舉的意義上榮耀某人，這種榮耀不會使他遷移。…然而，神榮耀基督，乃是把基督從一個時期遷入另一個時期。祂原在第一個時期，就是成爲肉體的時期，但祂被遷移離開那個時期，進入第二個時期，就是總括的時期。在這總括的時期中，祂這位末後的亞當，在復活裏成了賜生命的靈。

基督藉着在復活裏得着榮耀，成了神的長子，兼有神性和人性，也成了賜生命的靈，就是那是靈的基督，並且重生了祂的眾信徒，使他們都成爲神的兒女，就是神的種類。（李常受文集一九九四至一九九七年第五册，四○三至四○四、四一一至四一三、四一七頁。）

參讀：基督爲父用神聖的榮耀所榮耀的結果，第一至二章。

WEEK 11 — DAY 2

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Morning Nourishment

John 12:23-24 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Christ as the second of the Triune God possessed the divine glory from eternity past.

Christ’s humanity through His incarnation became a shell to conceal the glory of His divinity…John 1:14 tells us that the very God became flesh. This flesh, this humanity, became a shell to conceal the glory of Christ’s divinity. Christ’s divinity is itself the divine glory. Just as God is light, divinity is glory. When Christ was in the flesh, in His humanity, His flesh was a shell that concealed His divinity and thereby concealed His glory.

Because the divine glory was concealed within the shell of His flesh, it was necessary for Him to be glorified [cf. 12:23; 17:1, 5]. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory,” pp. 318-319)

Todays Reading

In Luke 12:50 the Lord said, “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am pressed until it is accomplished!” The Greek word translated “pressed” can also be rendered “constrained.” The Lord was constrained in His flesh, which He had put upon Himself in His incarnation. He needed to undergo physical death, to be baptized, that His unlimited and infinite divine being with His divine life might be released from His flesh. The Lord Jesus therefore desired to be released from the constraint of the shell of His flesh. He referred to this release in John 12:24…If the Lord Jesus as a grain of wheat had not died, He would have remained the same. But He fell into
the ground and died, and that death released Him from His human shell. His incarnation caused His divine glory to be concealed in His flesh, but through His death His glory was released for the producing in His resurrection of the many grains, which become His increase as the expression of His glory.

The release of the glory of Christ’s divinity was to cast fire on the earth (Luke 12:49)…This fire is the impulse of the spiritual life, an impulse that comes from the Lord’s released divine life…When Christ was baptized with the baptism of His death on the cross, the glory of His divinity was released. From the time of His resurrection a fire has been burning on earth. This fire started from Jerusalem, and then it spread through Judea and Samaria to the uttermost part of the earth. Today this fire is burning all over the earth.

In His human living…the Lord Jesus prayed that the Father would glorify Him, and the Father answered Him by resurrecting Him [cf. Acts 3:13].

Such a glorification is a transfer, transferring Christ from the stage of His incarnation into the stage of His inclusion, in which He, as the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection.

If we glorify a certain person in the sense of praising and exalting him, this kind of glorification does not transfer him…However, God’s glorification of Christ transferred Christ from one stage to another stage. He was in the first stage, the stage of incarnation, but He was transferred out of that stage into the second stage, the stage of inclusion. In the stage of inclusion He, as the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection.

Through His glorification in His resurrection Christ became the firstborn Son of God, possessing both divinity and humanity, and became the lifegiving Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, and regenerated all His believers to be God’s children, God’s species. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory,” pp. 320-321, 326-327, 332)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory,” chs. 1-2