第十二週■週二

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晨興餧養

啓四3『那位坐着的，顯出來的樣子好像碧玉和紅寶石，又有虹圍着寶座，顯出來的樣子好像綠寶石。』

二一11『城中有神的榮耀；城的光輝如同極貴的寶石，好像碧玉，明如水晶。』

新耶路撒冷是蒙神揀選、救贖、重生、聖別、更新、變化、模成、並榮化而得成爲神的一班人組成的。（約三6，來二11，羅十二2，八29 ～ 30。）我們成爲神，意卽我們由經過過程並終極完成的三一神所構成，使我們在生命和性情上成爲神，作祂團體的彰顯，直到永遠。（啓二一11。）新耶路撒冷的建造乃是神將祂自己構成到人裏面，使人在生命、性情和構成上與神一樣，使神與人成爲一個團體的實體。新耶路撒冷是神自己與蒙祂救贖之人，藉着構成、聯結並相調而有的擴大。（約三29 上，30 上，十四20，十五4 上，林前六17。）因此，信徒成爲神乃是一個過程，這個過程要終極完成於新耶路撒冷。在神那一面，是三一神成爲肉體，來成爲人；在我們這一面，是我們成爲神，由經過過程並終極完成的三一神所構成，使我們在生命和性情上成爲神，作祂團體的彰顯，直到永遠。這是最高的真理，也是最高的福音。（啓三12。）（新約總論第十四册，二九五至二九六頁。）

信息選讀

聖城是個團體的人，這團體的人是一對配偶—經過過程的三一神與經過變化的三部分人成了婚配。這就是那靈和新婦成爲一。（啓二二17。）神性與人性成了婚配，調和成爲一體。…丈夫是妻子，妻子是丈夫，因爲二者互相內在。這是神永遠的經綸，要使祂自己與祂所重生、變化並榮化的選民合併，成爲一個宇宙、神聖、奧祕的合併，就是新耶路撒冷。（新約總論第十四册，二九八頁。）

根據新約的整個啓示，基督徒工作的獨一目標該是新耶路撒冷，就是神永遠經綸終極的目標。

聖經六十六卷書，一開頭說『起初神』。在聖經的開頭，只有神，再也沒有別的。那時候神只有一個講究，就是三而一的父、子、靈，所以神也自稱『我們』。〔創一26。〕…這指明神是父、子、靈三者，有三一的講究。…但是到了聖經末了，就達到新耶路撒冷。在這首尾之間，經過許多世代，包括列祖時代、以色列的律法時代、新約的恩典時代，而在恩典時代裏，又有許多事情發生，神在其間作了許多工作。但是不管經過多少時代，無論神作了多少工作，祂只有一個目標。在聖經開頭是單個的神，到末了是團體的大神—新耶路撒冷。

聖經如何開始於神，也如何結束於神。在開頭的時候，祂是簡單的神，是三而一的神；在終結的時候，出現一座城，那就是團體的神。新耶路撒冷乃是神的擴大和擴展，是神在永世裏的彰顯，也就是團體的神。那些有分於新耶路撒冷的人，都是神的兒女，都是神類，就是神的種類（species）。…神有無數的兒女。看看新耶路撒冷裏有多少位！那都是神，都屬於神類；所以新耶路撒冷就是團體的神。（李常受文集一九九四至一九九七年第五册，三二四至三二五頁。）

參讀：新約總論，第二百五十六篇。

WEEK 12 — DAY 2

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Morning Nourishment

Rev. 4:3 …He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance.

    21:11 Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.

The New Jerusalem is a composition of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, conformed, and glorified people who have been deified (John 3:6; Heb. 2:11; Rom. 12:2; 8:29- 30). For us to be deified means that we are being constituted with the processed and consummated Triune God so that we may be made God in life and in nature to be His corporate expression for eternity (Rev. 21:11). The New Jerusalem is built by God’s constituting Himself into man to make man the same as God in life, nature, and constitution so that God and man may become a corporate entity. The New Jerusalem is God Himself enlarged with His redeemed by the way of constituting, uniting, and mingling (John 3:29a, 30a; 14:20; 15:4a; 1 Cor. 6:17). Thus, the deification of the believers is a process that will consummate in the New Jerusalem. On God’s side, the Triune God has been incarnated to be a man; on our side, we are being deified, constituted with the processed and consummated Triune God so that we may be made God in life and in nature to be His corporate expression for eternity. This is the highest truth and the highest gospel (Rev. 3:12). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 4362)

Todays Reading

The holy city is a corporate person, and this corporate person is a couple— the processed Triune God married to the transformed, tripartite man. This is the pirit and the bride becoming one (Rev. 22:17). Divinity and humanity are married together, mingled together, to be one entity…The Husband is the wife, and the wife is the Husband because they coinhere. This is God’s eternal economy: to incorporate Himself with His regenerated, transformed, and glorified elect, to be one universal, divine, mystical incorporation, which is the New Jerusalem. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 4364)

According to the entire revelation of the New Testament, the unique goal of the Christian work should be the New Jerusalem, which is the ultimate goal of God’s eternal economy.

The Bible with its sixty-six books opens with “In the beginning God.” In the beginning of the Bible there was only God and nothing else. At that time God was only in His one aspect—the triune Father, Son, and Spirit. Therefore, God referred to Himself as “Us” and “Our” [Gen. 1:26]…This indicates that God is three—the Father, Son, and Spirit—and therefore has the aspect of being three…At the end of the Bible, however, we reach the New Jerusalem. Between the beginning and the end, there is a course of much history with many ages, including the age of the patriarchs, the age of the law of the children of Israel, and the age of the grace of the New Testament, in which many things take place and in which God does a great deal of work. However, regardless of how many ages there are and how much work God does, He has only one goal. In the beginning of the Bible there is one single God, and at the end there is a great, corporate God—the New Jerusalem.

Just as the Bible begins with God, so it ends with God. In the beginning He is a simple God, a God who is triune; at the end a city appears, and that is the corporate God. The New Jerusalem is God’s enlargement and expansion, God’s expression in eternity, which is the corporate God. Those who participate in the New Jerusalem are all God’s children, God’s kind, God’s species…God’s children are innumerable. Consider how many are in the New Jerusalem! They all are gods; they all belong to God’s species. Hence, the New Jerusalem is the corporate God. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” pp. 256-257)

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 256, 428