第三週•週二

w03d02-ch

晨興餧養

約一14『話成了肉體，支搭帳幕在我們中間，豐豐滿滿的有恩典，有實際。我們也見過祂的榮
耀，正是從父而來獨生子的榮耀。』

路十二50『我有當受的浸，還沒有成就，我是何等的困迫！』

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，使祂無限量的神聖所是，連同祂神聖的生命，得以從祂肉體裏釋放出來。祂神聖的生命藉祂肉身受死釋放出來，就在復活裏成了祂信徒屬靈生命的衝力。（聖經恢復本，路十二50 註2。）

信息選讀

在約翰十二章二十四節裏，主耶穌清楚的說祂是一粒麥子。…小麥是表徵基督的成爲肉體和釘十字架。…雖然在永遠裏基督是無限的神，空間和時間都限制不了祂，但是有一天祂成了肉體，成爲有限的。哦，無限的神被限制在一個拿撒勒的小木匠耶穌裏！雖然主是永遠的、無窮的、無限的神，祂卻像人一樣生活，甚至在時間的事上也受了限制。祂肉身的兄弟們曾鼓勵祂去猶太地，但主耶穌說，『我的時候還沒有到，你們的時候卻常是方便的。』（七6。）…主不僅在時間上，也在空間上受限制。三十年之久，那位無限的神居住在一個木匠的家裏，這事真是令人難以相信。這就是作我們生命的耶穌，我們可以憑祂而活。因此，小麥表徵受限制的耶穌。

我們都明白受限制是甚麼意思。舉例說，婚姻生活就是一種限制。…你今天可以自由像一隻鳥兒，但你結了婚就進到鳥籠裏。每一個妻子都是她丈夫的鳥籠，每一個丈夫也是他妻子的鳥籠。在我結婚以前，我在夜晚開着臥室的窗，因爲我喜愛新鮮的空氣。但是我的妻子卻要關上所有的窗，把臥室變成鳥籠。…我們基督徒不能離婚，也不能分居。我們不能從婚姻生活的鳥籠逃走。過了一段時間之後，一些小鳥在這鳥籠裏出生了。這又是進一步的限制！一年一年過去，孩子們逐一出生，我經歷了更多的限制。我向主呼求說，『哦，主耶穌！我該怎麼辦？』主似乎說，『就這樣接受限制罷！看看我，雖然我是無限的神，我卻成爲肉體，受了三十年的限制。我能應許你，過了三十年你就會得釋放。』

過了三十年，有一天我對主說，『主，你告訴我過了三十年會得釋放，但是現今我比從前更受限制了。我不但有兒子和女兒，也有媳婦、女婿和孫兒。我還有這麼多召會和長老的限制。主，現在我怎麼辦？』然後主說，『再看看我，雖然我三十年後得了釋放，但是你豈不知我仍然受你和別的信徒的限制麼？』最後，我看見了基督是小麥的異象。住在我裏面的基督乃是成爲肉體的那一位。從一面來說，祂今日仍然是成了肉體，因爲內住的基督甘願受限制，關在我們的籠中。當我看見受限制之基督的異象時，我開始敬拜祂說，『主阿，爲着我的妻子，爲着我所有的孩子，爲着所有的召會，並且爲着所有的長老，我感謝你！主，爲着我的鳥籠，我何等感謝你！』這樣一個禱告立刻使小麥開始長大。我能見證，在我基督徒的生活中我有麥田。爲着我的妻子，我的孩子，我的姻親，我的孫兒，眾召會和長老們，我何等感謝主。這一切產生出一種環境來使我的小麥能長大。…這小麥就是成爲肉體的耶穌，在我們的受限制中長大。（李常受文集一九七七年第一册，二九一至二九三頁。）

參讀：聖經的核仁，第六篇。

WEEK 3 — DAY 2

Morning Nourishment

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am pressed until it is accomplished!

The Lord was constrained in His flesh, which He 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. His divine life, after being released through His physical death, became the impulse of His believers’ spiritual life in resurrection. (Luke 12:50, footnote 2)

Today’s Reading

In John 12:24 the Lord Jesus indicated clearly that He was a grain of wheat…Wheat signifies Christ in His incarnation and crucifixion…Although in eternity Christ was the unlimited God, unlimited both in space and in time, one day He was incarnated and became limited. Oh, the unlimited God was limited in Jesus, a little carpenter from Nazareth! Although the Lord is the eternal, infinite, unlimited God, He lived as a man, limited even in the matter of time. When His brothers in the flesh encouraged Him to go into Judea, Jesus said, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready” (7:6)… The Lord Jesus was not only limited in time but also in space. It is difficult
to believe that the unlimited God lived in the house of a carpenter for thirty years. This is Jesus as our life, the One by whom we may live. Thus, wheat signifies the limited Jesus.

We all know what it means to be limited. Married life, for example, is a limitation and a restriction…Although you may be as free as a bird today, you will find yourself in a cage after you get married. Every wife is a cage to her husband, and every husband is a cage to his wife. Before I was married, I kept my bedroom window open at night because I enjoyed the fresh air. But my wife would close all the windows and turn the bedroom into a cage…For us Christians there is no divorce or separation. We cannot flee the cage of married life. After a period of time, some little birds are born into this cage. What a further restriction this is! As the years went by and children were
born, I experienced many more limitations. I cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord Jesus! What should I do?” The Lord seemed to say, “Simply be limited  and restricted. Look at Me. Although I am the unlimited God, I was incarnated and limited for thirty years. I can promise you that after thirty years you will be released.”

One day, thirty years later, I said to the Lord, “Lord, You told me that I would be released after thirty years, but now I am more limited than ever. I have not only sons and daughters but daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren. I also have the limitation of so many churches and elders. Lord, what shall I do now?” Then the Lord said, “Look at Me again. Although I was released after thirty years, don’t you know that I am still being limited by you and all the other believers?” Eventually, I saw the vision of Christ as the wheat. The very Christ who indwells me is the incarnated One. In a sense, He is still incarnated today, for the indwelling Christ is willing to be
limited, caged, in us. When I saw this vision of the limited Christ, I began to worship Him, saying, “O Lord, thank You for my wife, for all my children, for all the churches, and for all the elders. How I thank You, Lord, for my cage.” Such a prayer causes wheat to begin to grow immediately. I can testify that I have a wheat field in my Christian life. How I thank the Lord for my wife, my children, my in-laws, my grandchildren, the churches, and the elders. All of these produce the environment that enables me to grow wheat…This wheat is the incarnated Jesus growing in the midst of our limitations. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, “The Kernel of the Bible,” pp. 218-220)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, “The Kernel of the Bible,” ch. 6