第四週 • 週四

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晨興餧養

徒五31　  這一位，神已將祂高舉在自己的右邊，作元首，作救主，將悔改和赦罪賜給以色列人。

約十七2  正如你曾賜給祂權柄，管理一切屬肉體的人，叫祂將永遠的生命賜給一切你所賜給祂的人。

耶穌的成為肉體，使祂成了一個人；祂在地上的為人生活，使祂有資格作人的救主；祂的釘十字架，使祂為人成就了完全的救贖；祂的復活，稱義了祂救贖的工作；祂的高舉，使祂就職為管治的元首，能以作救主〔徒五29~31〕。…〔行傳五章三十節的〕『元首』，〔在三章十五節作『創始者』，〕原文意創始者、起源、起始者、元首、元帥…。猶太首領所棄絕殺害的那人耶穌，神已將祂高舉，作至高的元首、君王、君王的元首，以管治世界（啟一5，十九16），並作救主，拯救神所揀選的人。『元首』與祂的權柄有關，『救主』與祂的救恩有關。祂用祂的權柄主宰管治全地，使環境適合神所揀選的人接受祂的救恩（徒十七26~27，約十七2）（使徒行傳生命讀經，一六四至一六五頁）。

信息選讀

今天管治這地的是誰？我們可以說，這地是由各國的君王和總統管治，但主耶穌這位至高的管治者，乃是在他們之上〔參啟一5〕。…新約說基督是君王的元首。彼得說祂是元首，是管治者的首長。

實在是如此，基督是君王的元首，祂把所有的君王都廢去了。只有祂是管治者。不僅如此，按照啟示錄十九章十六節，祂是萬王之王，萬主之主。基督既是管治者，又是君王。祂是管治者，管治全地。表面看來，是君王和總統在管治這地，好像主耶穌並不在寶座上。但這位似乎不在寶座上的，卻是所有登寶座者的管治者。今天全世界都在主的治理之下，祂實在是元首，是管治者的首長。

祂是元首，管治者，祂管治這地的目的，乃是為叫我們得着救恩。祂在管治，叫我們可以得救。…有許多〔移民到美國的人〕向主非常敞開。但他們若是留在〔自己的國家〕，就不可能這樣敞開。主耶穌運用祂的權柄，使許多外國人來到美國。他們一到達，就成了向主敞開的。這說明主管治這地是為着拯救人。

我們相信神已先揀選了我們，然後在適當的時候，這位地上君王的元首主耶穌，運用祂的權柄產生了某種環境，叫我們別無選擇，只有相信祂。…我們已經被基督捉住，且被捉在祂裏面。不僅如此，我們也被捉在召會生活裏。就某種意義說，這是我們的光景。我們已經在主的主宰裏被祂捉住了。

我們得救以前像隨意跑動的老鼠，但主耶穌運用祂的主宰權柄，設下捕捉籠來捉我們。我們跑得越快，祂越容易捉住我們。在這件事上，祂是主宰的。祂是君王的元首，安排環境，困迫我們相信祂。沒有這樣的環境，我們就不會相信祂。實際上，相信主並不在於我們，完全在於祂。祂已經被高舉作所有君王的元首，為要安排環境，使祂所揀選的人相信祂。

彼得在行傳五章三十一節說，神已將基督高舉在自己的右邊，作元首，作救主。主捉住我們之後，就成了我們的救主。不過，祂不是拯救我們不被捉住，而是把我們留在『捕捉籠』裏，為要拯救我們脫離神的定罪、火湖以及許多惡事。祂作元首是為着權柄，祂作救主是為着救恩（使徒行傳生命讀經，一六五至一六七頁）。

參讀：使徒行傳生命讀經，第十七至十八篇。

WEEK 4 — DAY 4

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Morning Nourishment

Acts 5:31 This One God has exalted to His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

John 17:2 Even as You have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.

Jesus’ incarnation made Him a man, His human living on earth qualified Him to be man’s Savior, His crucifixion accomplished full redemption for man, His resurrection vindicated His redemptive work, and His exaltation inaugurated Him to be the ruling Leader that He might be the Savior [Acts 5:29-31]. The Greek word rendered “Leader” [“Author” in 3:15] is archegos, meaning “author, origin, originator, chief leader, captain.”…God exalted the man Jesus, who had been rejected and killed by the Jewish leaders, as the highest Leader, the Prince, the Ruler of the kings to rule over the world (Rev. 1:5; 19:16), and the Savior to save God’s chosen people. Leader is related to His authority, and Savior to His salvation. He rules sovereignly over the earth with His authority that the environment might be fit for God’s chosen people to receive His salvation (Acts 17:26-27; John 17:2). (Life-study of Acts, p. 141)

Today’s Reading

Who rules the earth today? We may say that the earth is ruled by kings and presidents, but the Lord Jesus as the highest Ruler is above them [cf. Rev. 1:5]…The New Testament speaks of Christ as the Ruler of the kings, and Peter said that He is the Leader, the chief Ruler.

In a very real sense, Christ as the Ruler of the kings dethrones all the kings. Only He is the Ruler. Furthermore, according to Revelation 19:16, He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Christ is both the Ruler and the King. As the Ruler, He rules the entire earth. It may seem that kings and presidents rule the earth and that the Lord Jesus is not on the throne. Nevertheless, this One who seems not to be on the throne is the Ruler of all the enthroned ones. Today the entire world is under the Lord’s ruling. He is truly the Leader, the chief Ruler.

As the Leader, the Ruler, He is ruling the earth for the purpose of our salvation. He is ruling so that we may be saved…A great many…immigrants are very open to the Lord. But if they had remained in [their country], it is not likely that they would be this open. The Lord Jesus exercises His authority to cause so many foreigners to come to this country. Then once they arrive, they become open to Him. This is an illustration of the Lord’s ruling the earth for the sake of saving people.

We believe that God has chosen us, and then at the right time the Lord Jesus, the Ruler of the kings of the earth, exercised His authority to produce a certain environment so that we had no choice except to believe in Him… We have been “caught” by Christ and in Christ; furthermore, we have been caught in the church. In a sense, this is our situation. We have been caught by the Lord in His sovereignty.

Before we were saved, we were like mice running loose. But the Lord Jesus exercised His sovereign authority to set up a trap to catch us. The faster we ran, the easier it was for Him to catch us. In this matter He is sovereign; He is the Ruler of the kings, arranging the environment so that we were constrained to believe in Him. Without such an environment, we would not have believed in Him. Actually, believing in the Lord does not depend on us—it depends altogether on Him. He has been exalted to be the Leader over all the kings to arrange the environment so that His chosen people will believe in Him.

In Acts 5:31 Peter said that God has exalted Christ to His right hand as Leader and Savior. After the Lord catches us, He becomes our Savior. However, He does not save us from being caught; rather, He keeps us in a “trap” in order to save us from God’s condemnation, from the lake of fire, and from many evil things. His being the Leader is for authority, and His being the Savior is for salvation. (Life-study of Acts, pp. 141-143)

Further Reading: Life-study of Acts, msgs. 17—18