2008秋季长老
总题:作“成肉体、总括与加强”三段落的工作
总题:作“成肉体、总括与加强”三段落的工作
Message Eight Doing a Work in the Section of Intensification (2) Being Intensified to Be Produced as the Overcomers to Turn the Age and Bring In the Kingdom of God
Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6; 11:15; Dan. 1:8; 2:34-35, 44; 6:10
I. Christ as the sevenfold intensified Spirit is operating to produce the overcomers in order to turn the age and bring in the kingdom of God— Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6; 11:15; Dan. 2:34-35, 44:
A. In Revelation 1:4-5 the Spirit becomes the second, the center, of the Divine Trinity, revealing the importance of the intensified function of the sevenfold Spirit of God—cf. 2 Chron. 16:9; Zech. 3:9; 4:10.
B. The seven Spirits are burning before the throne to carry out God's admin-istration, to execute God's economy in the universe, by directing the world situation—Rev. 4:5.
C. The sevenfold intensified Spirit is the seven lamps of fire to burn, enlighten, expose, judge, purify, and refine us to produce the golden lampstands for the fulfillment of God's New Testament economy—v. 5.
D. The sevenfold intensified Spirit is the eyes of Christ as the redeeming Lamb and the building stone to observe and search us and to infuse and transfuse us with Christ's essence, riches, and burden for God's building—Zech. 3:9; 4:7; Rev. 1:14; 5:6.
E. The golden lampstands, as the multiplied embodiment of the Triune God, are filled with God the Spirit as the seven shining Spirits—the full expression of the Triune God—1:12, 20; Eph. 5:18; Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 22-23.
F. The seven Spirits, who are the lamps of fire in this age executing God's New Testament economy, will become the river of water saturating the holy city of God, the New Jerusalem—Rev. 4:5; Dan. 7:9-10; Rev. 22:1-2.
G. By the operation of the sevenfold intensified Spirit within Christ's seeking believers, they are intensified to become the overcomers to build up the Body of Christ, which consummates the New Jerusalem.
II. Daniel shows us the characteristics of the overcomers, who are used by God to turn the age and bring in the kingdom of God by being absolutely one with God in their victory over Satan's devices—Dan. 1:8; 2:34-35, 44:
A. All those who are used by God to turn the age are today's Nazarites, those who offer themselves willingly to the Lord—Num. 6:1-8; Psa. 110:3.
B. Daniel and his companions were victorious over the demonic diet—Dan. 1:3-21:
1. When they refused to eat Nebuchadnezzar's unclean food and chose to eat vegetables, they were actually rejecting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and taking the tree of life—Gen. 2:9, 16-17; Rev. 2:7.
2. We are what we eat; if we eat godly food—that is, if we eat God-food, God as our food—we will be one with God—Jer. 15:16; John 6:57, 63.
C. Daniel and his companions were victorious over the devilish blinding that prevents people from seeing the divine history within human history—Dan. 2:
1. The goal of God's eternal economy seen with Daniel is to have the corporate Christ, Christ with His overcomers, as the crushing stone to be His dispen-sational instrument to end this age and become a great mountain to fill the whole earth, making the whole earth God's kingdom—vv. 31-45; Joel 3:11; Rev. 12:1-2, 5, 11; 19:7-21.
2. The corporate Christ as the stone and the mountain, the Bridegroom with His bride, the corporate man of God with the breath of God, will crush and slay Antichrist and his armies by the breath, the sword, of His mouth— Dan. 2:24-35, 44-45; 2 Thes. 2:8; Rev. 19:11-21; Gen. 11:4-9; cf. Isa. 33:22.
3. Christ as the living and precious stone, foundation stone, cornerstone, and topstone of God's building infuses us with Himself as the preciousness to transform us into living and precious stones for His building—1 Pet. 2:4-8; Isa. 28:16; Zech. 3:9; 4:7, 9-10.
D. Daniel and his companions were victorious over the seduction of idol worship— Dan. 3; cf. Matt. 4:9-10:
1. Whatever is not the true God in our regenerated spirit is an idol replacing God; whatever is not in the spirit or of the spirit is an idol—1 John 5:21.
2. An idol in our heart is anything within us that we love more than the Lord and that replaces the Lord in our life; all who have idols within them yet seek God in an outward way cannot find Him—Ezek. 14:3-5; cf. Jer. 29:13.
E. Daniel and his companions were victorious over the covering that hinders people from seeing the ruling of the heavens by the God of the heavens—Dan. 4:
1. As those who have been chosen by God to be His people for Christ's pre-eminence, we are under God's heavenly rule for the purpose of making Christ preeminent—vv. 18, 23-26, 30-32; Rom. 8:28-29; Col. 1:18b; 2 Cor. 10:13, 18; Jer. 9:23-24.
2. "He is able to abase those who walk in pride"—Dan. 4:37b.
F. Daniel and his companions were victorious over the ignorance concerning the result of the debauchery before God and the insult to His holiness—ch. 5:
1. "You [Belshazzar]…have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this; but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of the heavens; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and of gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see nor hear nor know. But the God in whose hand is your breath and to whom all your ways belong, you have not honored"— vv. 22-23, 20; cf. 1 Sam. 2:30; Judg. 9:9.
2. Belshazzar's situation should make a deep impression on us; we all need to see the importance of being serious with God and not disregarding any spiritual lesson—cf. 1 Cor. 10:5-11.
G. Daniel and his companions were victorious over the subtlety that prohibited the faithfulness of the overcomers in the worship of God—Dan. 6:
1. "Now when Daniel came to know that the writing had been signed, he went to his house (in his upper room he had windows open toward Jerusalem) and three times daily he knelt on his knees and prayed and gave thanks before his God, because he had always done so previously"—v. 10.
2. God will listen to our prayer when our prayer is toward Christ (typified by the Holy Land), toward the kingdom of God (typified by the holy city), and toward the house of God (typified by the holy temple) as the goal in God's economy—1 Kings 8:48-49.