第十週•週三

w10d03-ch

晨興餧養

林前十五45『經上也是這樣記着：「首先的人亞當成了活的魂；」末後的亞當成了賜生命的靈。』

啓二一2『我又看見聖城新耶路撒冷由神那裏從天而降，豫備好了，就如新婦妝飾整齊，等候丈夫。』

聖經中有美妙的進展。…在創世記一章一節，神是孤單的。神自己當然是豐富、完全、完整的，但祂是一位沒有人可與祂相配的神。我們知道神覺得自己獨居不好，因爲祂說，那按着祂的形像所造的人獨居不好。（26，二18。）神一直作『單身漢』並不好，祂渴望得着一位與祂相配的，一個配偶。

有一天，神進到祂所創造的人裏面。神在稱爲馬利亞的童女腹中成孕，至終在肉體裏出生。（太一18。）當神成了肉體，祂就成爲『神加上…』。因此，祂的名不僅僅是神，更是以馬內利，意思就是『神與我們同在』。（23。）…耶穌是神與我們同在，是『神加上…』。…在四福音裏…我們看見，關於神的啓示已經往前了：從『單身』的神進展到成肉體的神。（李常受文集一九七三至一九七四年第一册，六四四至六四六頁。）

信息選讀

聖經中關於神之漸進啓示的第三階段，是救贖的神。…這位成肉體的神上了十字架。…藉着經過釘死，祂成了救贖的神。…祂勝過死亡，征服死亡，並且從死裏走出來。這就是基督的復活，這基督就是成肉體的神並救贖的神。

基督從死人中復活後的那日晚上，祂以一種奇妙的方式來到門徒中間。…祂來站在他們當中，向他們吹入一口氣，說，『你們受聖靈。』（約二十22。）就在這一刻，祂不再只是救贖的神；祂成了內住的神。祂在復活裏成了賜生命的靈。（林前十五45 下。）…那靈作爲內住的神，乃是聖經中關於神之啓示的第四階段。

關於神之啓示的第五階段，是在聖經的最後一卷書裏；在第五階段，神成了『已婚』的神，這意思是，祂和祂所有的贖民合併了。在創世記一章，神被啓示爲『單身』的神。在四福音裏，祂被啓示爲成肉體的神。在福音書末了，祂是救贖的神。在使徒行傳和書信裏，神成了內住的神—賜生命的靈。至終在啓示錄裏，祂成了合併的神。…二十一章二節描述一座城，這座城就是新婦。這聖城是一座活的城，由神所有的贖民組成。…這城有十二支派和十二使徒的名字，〔12 ～ 14，〕表徵舊約時代和新約時代所有蒙神救贖的聖徒，都包括在這座城內。

我們不需要等到啓示錄的末了，纔看見合併的神。我們在書信中可以看見，合併的神就是基督的身體。身體乃是合併的實體。〔參林前十二12 ～ 13。〕

在召會生活裏，我們享受在每一階段裏所啓示的神。我們的神曾是創造的神、成肉體的神、救贖的神、和內住的神，現今仍是。在終極且完成的一面，祂是合併的神，而我們在祂的合併裏，這合併就是今日的召會生活，作爲新耶路撒冷的豫嘗。我們在合併的神裏面，享受在每一階段裏這位包羅萬有的神。我們在召會生活裏，感覺到生命水河的湧流，也豫嘗了新耶路撒冷—神與人終極的合併。（李常受文集一九七三至一九七四年第一册，六四七至六五○、六五二、六五四至六五五頁。）

參讀：神聖奧祕的範圍，第一章。

WEEK 10 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

1 Cor. 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

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.

There is a wonderful progression in the Bible…In Genesis 1:1 God was alone. Of course, God by Himself was rich, perfect, and complete, but He was a God without someone to match Him. God realized that it was not good for Him to remain alone, for He said that it was not good for the man whom He had made in His image to be alone (v. 26; 2:18). It was not good for God to remain as a “bachelor.” He desired to obtain a match, a counterpart.

One day God came into the man whom He had created. God was conceived in the womb of a virgin named Mary and was eventually born in the flesh (Matt. 1:18). When God was incarnated, He became God-plus. For this reason His name was not only God but Emmanuel, meaning “God with us” (v. 23)…Jesus is God with us, God-plus…In the four Gospels…we see that the revelation of God has progressed from the “bachelor” God to the incarnated God. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Vision and Experience of the Corporate Christ,” pp. 477-478)

Today’s Reading

The third stage of the progressive revelation of God in the Bible is the redeeming God…The incarnated God went to the cross…By passing through crucifixion, He became the redeeming God…He conquered death, subdued death, and walked out of death. This was the resurrection of Christ, the incarnated God and the redeeming God.

The night after Christ resurrected from among the dead, He came to His disciples in a wonderful way…When He came and stood in their midst, He breathed into them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). At that point He was no longer only the redeeming God; He became the indwelling God. In His resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b)…The Spirit as the indwelling God is the fourth stage of the revelation of God in the Bible.

In the fifth stage of the revelation of God, which is found in the last book of the Bible, God becomes the “married” God, meaning that He is incorporated with all His redeemed people. In Genesis 1 God is revealed as the “bachelor” God. In the four Gospels He is revealed as the incarnated God. At the end of the Gospels He is the redeeming God. In the Acts and the Epistles God becomes the indwelling God, the life-giving Spirit. Eventually, in Revelation He becomes the incorporated God. Revelation 21:2 describes a city that is a bride. The holy city is a living city composed of all God’s redeemed people… The names of the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles being on the city [vv. 12-14] signifies that all God’s redeemed saints from both the Old Testament and New Testament times will be included in the city.

We do not need to wait until the end of Revelation to see the incorporated God. We can see the incorporated God as the Body of Christ in the Epistles. The Body is an incorporated entity [cf. 1 Cor. 12:12-13].

In the church life we enjoy God as He is revealed in every stage. Our God was and still is the God of creation, the incarnated God, the redeeming God, and the indwelling God. He is ultimately and consummately the incorporated God, and we are in His incorporation, which is the church life today as the foretaste of the New Jerusalem. Here in the incorporated God we enjoy the all-inclusive God in every stage. In the church life we sense the flow of the river of water of life, and we experience the foretaste of the New Jerusalem, the ultimate incorporation of God and man. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Vision and Experience of the Corporate Christ,” pp. 479-481, 483-484)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Divine and Mystical Realm,” ch. 1