‹‹  WEEK 12 — DAY 4  ›› 

Morning Nourishment

John 11:25 "Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me,
even if he should die, shall live."

Gen. 9:12-13 "And God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between
Me and you and every living animal that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My
bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth."

     I have the full confidence that in the church life the Lord is changing death into life....This is the experience of the Lord Jesus in resurrection. He dwells in us, and every day He is changing our water into wine.

     Praise the Lord that in resurrection He is changing water into wine! He is not merely improving our behavior—He is transforming us. (The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, p. 53)

Today's Reading

     Let us now consider the other sign in John 2, the sign of building up the mystical Body of Christ....Our living as Christians is simply a matter of the changing of death into life for the building up of the mystical Body of Christ....This is the proper, genuine, and complete Christian life. There is no third item in our Christian life. Now we are in this building by our daily living, and our daily living is a matter of changing water into wine.

     We may summarize our Christian life by saying that [it] is the changing of death into life, water into wine, for the building up of the Body of Christ....Our living is the changing of death into life. What are we doing here? We are carrying out the work of building up the church, the Body of Christ. This is our living, and this is our goal....We have a living of the eternal life, the eternal zoe, for the purpose of building up the mystical Body of Christ.

     [In John 12:1-11 in the] house in Bethany we have a miniature of the church life. We have a picture of the church life and also of the church meeting. Yes, the scale in John 12 is small, but the picture is perfect, complete. What is the church life according to the portrait in John 12? The church life is a life where some are serving the Lord, some are expressing their love for the Lord, and some are doing nothing except testifying of resurrection life. According to this picture, everyone is feasting with the Lord. This is the church life.

     Because they had the Lord Jesus Himself with them, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary certainly would not have left Him to go to worship in the temple. They had been attracted by the Lord Jesus; He was a strong magnet drawing them to Himself. Who was this Jesus to whom they were attracted? He was the very God incarnate, that is, God in the flesh, God in humanity. This incarnated God was enjoying Himself with His disciples there in Bethany, and His disciples were enjoying Him with God and with one another. Together they were having a marvelous enjoyment. This is a picture of the church life. (The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, pp. 54-55, 288)

     After the flood, the eight persons became people of the covenant....In the church life, in Christ's resurrection, we are the covenant people....We are not living under any of our convictions, considerations, or lies; we are living under God's covenant. We are now living under the New Testament. Are you weak? Are you going to lose your temper, hit your wife, or love the world? You can say, “No, for the Bible tells me so.” We are secured, guaranteed, and protected by the promises in God's covenant....What is the significance of the rainbow that God set in the cloud as a token of the covenant (Gen. 9:12-17)? It signifies God's faithfulness. God's faithfulness is the rainbow....Our Christian life and church life are absolutely
a covenant life....We are the covenanted people, and we have a verse of promise to meet every situation. We must stand under the covenant and not believe in any failure, weakness, darkness, or negative thing....The church life is such a life, and the church people are a people under the covenant. We can actually be called the church of the covenant. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 436-438)

Further Reading: The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, chs. 5, 31