An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth
of the Lord’s Recovery before His Appearing
Message Nine
The Full Ministry of Christ in Three Stages
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory…)
1 Cor. 15:45 …”The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
Rev. 1:4 …Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.
Word of Appetizer
The unique teaching of God’s New Testament economy is the teaching concerning the full ministry of Christ in three stages—incarnation, inclusion, and intensification; what is the teaching?
“What the Lord’s recovery will be and how it will be depend upon how we handle this teaching” (Witness Lee); this teaching can be summarized in one simple sentence—”The Lord’s recovery is God becoming the flesh, the flesh becoming the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit becoming the sevenfold intensified Spirit to build up the church that becomes the Body of Christ and that consummates the New Jerusalem”.
Spiritual Burden
In order to work together with God as His co-workers, we need to know, experience, and enjoy Christ in His full ministry in His three divine and mystical stages.
We need to consider this matter of intensification and pray desperately to the Lord, saying, “I want to advance from inclusion to intensification. Lord, You have been intensified sevenfold, and I pray that I also will be intensified sevenfold to overcome the degradation of the church that the Body may be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem”.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The unique teaching of God’s New Testament economy is the teaching concerning the full ministry of Christ in three stages—incarnation, inclusion, and intensification.
In the first stage, the stage of His incarnation, from His human birth to His death, Christ accomplished the following main things: brought the infinite God into the finite man; united, mingled, and incorporated the Triune God with the tripartite man; expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues.
In the second stage, the stage of His inclusion, from His resurrection to the degradation of the church, Christ accomplished the following main things: He was begotten in resurrection to be God’s firstborn Son; the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit; regenerated the believers for His Body.
In the third stage, the stage of His intensification, from the degradation of the church to the consummation of the New Jerusalem, Christ intensifies His organic salvation, produces the overcomers, and consummates the New Jerusalem.
The Experience of Life
The divinity, the Spirit of holiness, in Christ became operative in His death, and in resurrection He “blossomed” to be the firstborn Son of God and the life-dispensing Spirit, imparting His divine life into us to make us His many brothers. In resurrection Christ in His humanity was designated the Son of God, and by means of such a resurrection we also are in the process of being designated sons of God.
All the believers of Christ have been baptized in one Spirit into the one Body of Christ and have been given to drink of this one Spirit for the constitution of the Body of Christ; in His resurrection Christ gave Himself as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit without measure through His speaking of the words of God.
Practice and Application
If we would be overcomers, we must recover, maintain, and develop our first love toward the Lord; we need to give Christ the first place, the preeminence, in all things and in all matters, regarding Him as everything in our life.
We are saved from degradation by the speaking of the sevenfold intensified pneumatic Christ and by the overcoming saints living in their spirit.
We need to consider this matter of intensification and pray desperately to the Lord, saying, “I want to advance from inclusion to intensification. Lord, You have been intensified sevenfold, and I pray that I also will be intensified sevenfold to overcome the degradation of the church that the Body may be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem”.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 The central revelation of God (John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rev. 1:4)
(Please illustrate what is the central revelation of God.）
T2 We need to gain Christ by experiencing and enjoying Him in His full ministry (Phil. 3:8)
(Please illustrate that to gain Christ is to experience, enjoy, and take possession of all His unsearchable riches by paying a price. )
Day 2
T1 Christ expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues (Luke 7:47-48)
(Please illustrate that these rich attributes were expressed by the Lord Jesus in His humanity to become the aromatic virtues in His humanity.）
T2 In His human virtues with His divine attributes (Luke 7:47-48)
(As a help in understanding the expression in His human virtues with His divine attributes, let us use some cases in the Gospel of Luke 7:36-50 as illustrations.)
Day 3
T1 By resurrection Christ was designated the Son of God with His humanity (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; Gal. 4:6)
(Please illustrate that we were born the sons of man, but we have been reborn the sons of God.）
T2 Do not try to improve yourself, rather, enjoy and experience the designating Spirit (Rom. 1:3-4; 8:13)
(Please illustrate that if we walk daily according to the Spirit, we shall be fully in the process of designation by resurrection.)
Day 4
T1 In Christ’s resurrection the Spirit of God was consummated to be the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b)
(Why do we use the word inclusion in speaking of this second stage of Christ?）
T2 The divine life dispensed into our tripartite being (Rom. 8:10, 6, 11)
(Please illustrate that from the center through the middle to the circumference, the life of the Triune God is being dispensed into our entire being.)
Day 5
T1 The seven Spirits are not seven individual Spirits, but the one Spirit who is intensified sevenfold (Rev. 1:4-5)
(Please illustrate the reason and purpose of Christ as the one life-giving Spirit, becoming the sevenfold intensified Spirit.）
T2 As the sevenfold intensified Spirit, Christ saves the believers from the things related to the degradation of the church (Rev. 2:4-5)
(Please illustrate what four things were lost in the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2.)
Day 6
T1 We are saved from degradation by the speaking of the sevenfold intensified pneumatic Christ (Rev. 5:6)
(Please illustrate that our overcoming is by Christ’s speaking becoming the Spirit’s speaking, and by our living in our spirit all the time.）
T2 Christ’s sevenfold intensified heavenly ministry (Rev. 19:7; 17:14; 20:1-3)
(Please illustrate that Christ’s sevenfold intensified heavenly ministry is for the formation of the bridal army for Christ to defeat and destroy His top enemies in humanity.)