I.　God's intention with Israel was to have on earth a divinely constituted people to be His testimony—a people reconstituted with the word of God—Isa. 49:6; 60:1-3; Col. 3:16:

A.　After the return from captivity, the people of Israel were still unruly, for they had been born and raised in Babylon and had become Babylonian in their constitution:

1.　In order for them to be citizens of the nation of Israel, they needed to be reconstituted—Neh. 8:1-3, 5-6, 8, 13.

2.　They needed to be educated with the word which comes out of the mouth of God and which expresses God—Psa. 119:2, 9, 105, 130, 140; Col. 3:16.

B.　Because Ezra bore the totality of the divine constitution and culture, through him the people could be reconstituted with the word of God—Neh. 8:1-2:

1.　Ezra brought the people back to the Word of God that they might be re-educated and reconstituted with the truths in the divine Word—vv. 8, 13.

2.　There was the need of reconstitution to bring the people of God into a culture that was according to God and that expressed God—Col. 3:10-11:

a.　In the Lord's recovery we are a special group of people with our own culture, a divine and heavenly culture—Rev. 1:4-6; 5:9-10.

b.　We need to learn the new language with the new vocabulary of the new culture of the Lord's present recovery—1 Cor. 2:12-16; Neh. 13:23-24.

C.　The returned captives were reconstituted personally and corporately to become God's testimony; by this kind of divine constitution, they became God in life and in nature—a divine nation expressing the divine character—1 Pet. 2:9.

II.　God's eternal intention is to work Himself in Christ into us and to reconstitute us with Himself so that we may become His corporate expression—the Body of Christ, the new man, consummating in the New Jerusalem—Eph. 3:17a; 4:4, 16, 24; Rev. 21:2:

A.　The entire Bible was written according to the principle of the Triune God working Himself into His chosen and redeemed people—Psa. 36:8-9:

1.　This principle must govern and direct us in interpreting any portion of the Bible—Prov. 29:18a.

2.　We need to be constituted with this principle, and it must become a vision to us; as a result, there will be an intrinsic principle within us, governing whatever we speak, teach, and preach—Acts 26:19.

B.　God's central work is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen and redeemed people to make them His corporate expression—Eph. 3:16-17a, 19b, 21:

1.　We need God to build Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our entire being will be reconstituted with Christ—v. 17a.

2.　Only those who have been reconstituted with Christ are qualified to be built up as the church, God's dwelling place today—vv. 16-17a; 2:21-22.

C.　God's intention is to change our constitution by changing our diet and feeding us with Christ—Exo. 16:14-15; John 6:27, 35.

D.　For the fulfillment of God's economy, we need to deal with the natural constitution—the expression of the living out of the old man that is related to human ability, capability, wisdom, cleverness, schemes, and skills—1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 1:12; James 3:15; Phil. 3:3-7.

E.　God's intention with Job was to reduce him to nothing yet maintain his existence in order to impart Himself into him—Job 1:1, 8; 42:5-6.

F.　We need to become a constitution of grace, which is the Triune God processed, consummated, and dispensed into us for our enjoyment—2 Cor. 13:14.

G.　The ministry of the new covenant is a constitution of life and in life—4:1, 10.

H.　The meaning of the new creation is that the Triune God dispenses Himself into us, mingles Himself with us, and constitutes us with Himself to make us new—5:17; Gal. 6:15.

I.　In substitution Christ was made sin for us; now in His constitution we become the righteousness of God in Him—2 Cor. 5:21.

J.　Christ came as a Physician to heal, recover, enliven, and save us so that we might be reconstituted to be His new and heavenly citizens, with whom He can establish His heavenly kingdom on this corrupted earth—Matt. 9:12-13.

K.　The Body of Christ is a divine constitution of the Triune God with the believers in Christ; the essential, crystallized significance of the Body of Christ is that the Triune God is constituted together with His chosen and redeemed people to become a single, constituted entity—Eph. 4:4-6.

L.　The divine fellowship reconstitutes us, for this fellowship brings the divine constituent into our spiritual being, causing a change in our being—1 Cor. 1:9; 1 John 1:3.

M.　The new man is Christ in all the believers permeating us and replacing us until all natural distinctions have been removed and everyone is constituted with Christ—Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10-11.

N.　The distinction of social rank and status among the believers is nullified by an inward change of constitution; according to our new constitution, we are all the same—Gal. 3:27-28; Col. 3:10-11.

O.　The New Jerusalem is built by God's constituting Himself into man to make man the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead so that God and man may become a corporate entity and be a mutual dwelling place—Rev. 21:2-3, 10-11, 18-22:

1.　Our unique work is to make God's chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people beings in the New Jerusalem—3:12; S. S. 6:4.

2.　"The processed and consummated Triune God, according to the good pleasure of His desire and for the highest intention in His economy, is building Himself into His chosen people and His chosen people into Himself, that He may have a constitution in Christ as a mingling of divinity and humanity to be His organism and the Body of Christ, as His eternal expression and the mutual abode for the redeeming God and the redeemed man. The ultimate consummation of this miraculous structure of treasure will be the New Jerusalem for eternity"—Witness Lee.