第二週■週三

w02d03-ch

晨興餧養

弗一5『按着祂意願所喜悅的，豫定了我們，藉着耶穌基督得兒子的名分，歸於祂自己。』

    10『爲着時期滿足時的經綸，要將萬有，…都在基督裏歸一於一個元首之下。』

22 ～ 23『將萬有服在祂的腳下，並使祂向着召會作萬有的頭；召會是祂的身體…。』

召會是神今天所用以完成祂定旨並解決祂難處的憑藉和器皿。基督教的教訓告訴人說，『我們是可
憐、有罪的人，將要滅亡，所以我們需要神的憐憫和恩典。神是有憐憫的，且對我們滿了恩典，所以祂差遣祂的兒子來拯救我們脫離地獄。現今我們是蒙愛者，當神把我們擺在一起，我們就是召會。』…然而，按照神話語的啓示，召會比這深得多，也高得多。

神造了許多人，祂的定旨和心意乃是要把這些人作成一個身體，成爲盛裝祂的器皿，使祂居住在他們裏面，將祂自己與他們調和，而藉着他們彰顯祂自己。這是神在積極一面的定旨。然而，因着有一天撒但進來了，神現今就有一個難處，祂有一個仇敵。然後，死隨着撒但而來；那裏有死，那裏就有黑暗。黑暗之後，跟着有混亂。…若沒有光，我們雖仍然能作事，但我們會在混亂裏作。然而那裏有光，我們就在光的管制之下作事（李常受文集一九六五年第一册，六九至七○頁）。

信息選讀

整個受造之物都服在虛空之下，並在敗壞的奴役之下。一切受造之物中的敗壞來自黑暗，黑暗來自死，死來自撒但。這清楚的啓示在聖經裏。藉此我們能看見，神有一個定旨要成就，祂有一個仇敵和許多難處，就是在祂受造之物裏的死、黑暗、混亂、敗壞、奴役和虛空。現今神必須爲祂的造物作一些事，因爲撒但敗壞了受造之物。

神正將祂自己作到我們裏面，並將祂自己與我們調和，使我們聖別，完全被祂、在祂裏面並因祂聖化。我們屬人性情的每一點都要與神聖的性情調和。在舊約的豫表裏，帳幕豎板的每一部分都被金包裹。在這豫表的應驗裏，神將祂自己與召會調和，使我們被帶進完滿的兒子名分裏。

按照新約的教訓，兒子的名分首先是指我們由神而生，得着神作我們的生命和性情；其次是我們因神並在神裏長大；第三是我們完全與神調和；我們這人的每一部分都被神浸潤、浸透、包裹，並完全與神調和。第四，我們有資格承受神所是、所有並所定意的一切。第五，我們至終完全被聖別、成聖並成爲神聖的。這是兒子的名分正確的意義。兒子的名分含示長子的名分，使我們有資格憑着與神調和而享受祂。藉着與祂調和，我們就絕對、徹底的被祂、因祂並在祂裏面聖別；我們裏外被作成聖別的、神聖的。神的定旨乃是要使召會聖別到這樣的地步。這是神對召會之定旨的第一項。

神定旨的第二面，乃是藉着召會展示祂萬般的智慧，藉此征服並擊敗祂的仇敵（弗三10 ～ 11）。仇敵越製造難處，神就越向他展示神的智慧。…神定旨的第三面，是祂要藉着召會將萬有在基督裏歸一於一個元首之下〔一10〕（李常受文集一九六五年第一册，七○至七一頁）。

參讀：李常受文集一九六五年第二册，各種信息及交通記錄，第二章。

WEEK 2 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

Eph. 1:5 Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

        10 Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ…

22-23 And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body…

The church is the means and the vessel God uses today to fulfill His purpose and solve all His problems. The preaching in Christianity tells people, “We are poor, sinful persons who will perish, so we need God’s mercy and grace. God is merciful and full of grace to us, so He sent His Son to save us from hell. Now we are the beloved ones, and when God puts us together, we are the church.”… According to the revelation of the Word, however, the church is much deeper and higher than this.

God’s purpose and intention in creating the many human beings is to make these men a Body as a vessel to contain Him that He may dwell in them and manifest Himself through them by mingling Himself with them. This is God’s purpose on the positive side. However, because one day Satan came in, God now has a problem, and He has an enemy. Then death followed Satan, and where death is, there is darkness. Following darkness there is confusion…If there were no light, we could still do things, but we would do them in confusion. Where there is light, however, we do things under the control of the light. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 51-52)

Todays Reading

The entire creation is subjected to vanity and is under the slavery of corruption. This corruption in the whole of creation came from darkness, darkness came from death, and death came from Satan. This is clearly revealed in the Scriptures. By this we can see that God has a purpose to fulfill, and He has an enemy and many problems—death, darkness, confusion, corruption, slavery, and vanity in His creation. Now God must do something for His creatures, because Satan has damaged them.

God is working Himself into us and mingling Himself with us so that we may be holy, absolutely sanctified by Him, in Him, and with Him. Every bit of our human nature will be mingled with the divine nature. In the Old Testament type, every part of the boards of the tabernacle was overlaid with gold. In the fulfillment of the type, God mingles Himself with the church so that we may be brought into full sonship.

According to the teaching of the New Testament, sonship first means that we are born of God to have God as our life and nature. Second, it means that we grow up with God and in God, and third, it means that we are absolutely mingled with God; every part of our being will be permeated, saturated, overlaid, and absolutely mingled with God. Fourth, we are qualified to inherit all that God is, all that God has, and all that God has purposed. Fifth, we eventually are absolutely sanctified, holy, and divine. This is the proper meaning of sonship. Son-ship implies a birthright, qualifying us to enjoy God by being mingled with Him. By being mingled with Him we are absolutely, thoroughly sanctified by Him, with Him, and in Him; within and without we are made holy and divine. God’s purpose is to have the church sanctified to such an extent. This is the first item of God’s purpose concerning the church.

The second aspect of God’s purpose is to subdue and defeat His enemy by displaying His multifarious wisdom through the church (Eph. 3:10-11). The more trouble the enemy causes, the more God will display His wisdom to him. The third aspect of God’s purpose is that He will head up all things in Christ through the church [1:10] . (CWWL, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 52-53)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, pp. 11-16