Crystallization-Study of 1 and 2 Samuel
Message Nine
The Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ
through the Process of Spiritual Metabolism according to the
Believers’ Inner Experience of the Indwelling Christ
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
(Day1 ¦ Day2 ¦ Day3 ¦ Day4 ¦ Day5 ¦ Day6)
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
2 Sam. 7:12-14 …I will raise up your seed after you, which will come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. It is he who will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he will be My son…
Eph. 3:16-17 That He would grant you…to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love.
Word of Appetizer
Second Samuel 7:12-14a is the unveiling of a prophecy through typology, what does it want to show us?
It shows us that we need God to build Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our entire being will be reconstituted with Christ. God’s eternal economy according to His heart’s desire is to build Himself into man and to build man into Him (Eph. 3:16-17a); this mutual abode is the reality of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem. We need God to build Himself in Christ into our humanity, working Himself in Christ into us as our life, our nature, and our person.
Spiritual Burden
God’s economy is to work Himself into us so that we may experience a metabolic process of spiritual digestion and assimilation that produces transformation as a gradual and intrinsic metabolic change in our natural life; this is for the building up of the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Second Samuel 7:12-14a is the unveiling of a prophecy through typology showing us that we need God to build Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our entire being will be reconstituted with Christ.
Ephesians 3:16-21 reveals that the Triune God has come into us to do a building work with Himself as the element and also with something from us as the material; this is illustrated by the parable of the sower in Matthew 13.
In Ephesians 3:16-21 Paul prayed concerning the believers’ inner experience of the indwelling Christ for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
The Experience of Life
When we enjoy Christ by eating, drinking, and breathing Him, a metabolic process, a spiritual digestion and metabolism, takes place within us, and Christ is constituted into our being; this inner metabolism is transformation, and transformation is the building.
When Christ makes His home in our heart, He controls our entire inward being and supplies and strengthens every inward part with Himself. The more Christ spreads within us, the more He settles down in us and makes His home in us, occupying every part of our inner being, possessing all these parts, and saturating them with Himself.
Practice and Application
If we are strengthened into our inner man and if we pay attention to our spirit and exercise our spirit, the nutrients will be supplied and Christ will make His home in our heart. If we are going to have the Lord as the seed of life grow within us to be our full enjoyment, we have to open to the Lord absolutely and cooperate with Him to deal thoroughly with our heart.
We have to learn one lesson, that is, that there is a high principle in the entire universe; this principle is that God wants to do something, but He will only be the “machine,” and He needs someone to be the operator. When we pray this prayer as the operator, the Father works through His Spirit as a channel to strengthen every part of our inner being into the inner man.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
T1 We cannot build something for God with ourselves or with our knowledge of the theology (2 Sam. 7:12-14)
(Please illustrate that Second Samuel 7 simply indicates that God does not need us to build anything for Him。)
T2 Even though David was a man whose heart was according to God, he did not have anything related to God organically (1 John 4:13)
(Please illustrate that we today are not outwardly as high as David was, but we can declare that we have God’s life, nature, and constitution.)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msgs. 24-26, 28-29
T1 In building a house, it is necessary to have the proper material (John 14:23; Eph. 3:17)
(Please illustrate that on the one hand, this material is Christ Himself as the element; on the other hand, this material includes something from us with our humanity.)
T2 The building takes place by the growth of the divine seed within us (Matt. 13:3, 8, 23)
(Please illustrate that Matthew 13 indicates that only the good soil affords the adequate nutrients for the growth of the divine seed.)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msgs. 30-31
T1 Transformation is a metabolic process (2 Cor. 3:18)
(Please illustrate that God’s building Himself in Christ into our being [is] through the metabolic process of transformation.)
T2 God’s building Himself into our being is altogether an organic matter. (John 6:51, 57; 7:37-39)
(Please illustrate that our spiritual food is the organic, pneumatic Christ, the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit.)
Further Reading: The Tree of Life, ch. 13; CWWL, 1987, vol. 3, “The Scriptural Way to Meet and to Serve for the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 15
T1 Paul prayed concerning the believers’ inner experience of the indwelling Christ (Eph. 3:16-17)
(Briefly describe the content of Ephesians 3:14-19, the apostle Paul’s prayer to the Father.)
T2 Christ would make His home in the hearts of the believers (Eph. 3:17)
(Please illustrate that Paul prayed to the Father, asking the Father to strengthen the believers through the Spirit that a certain goal might be reached.)
Further Reading: The Way to Build Up the Church (booklet)
T1 We are rooted in Christ so that He may make His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:17-18)
(Please illustrate that the phrase make His home basically means to settle down in a dwelling, to make a dwelling place.)
T2 Our heart has four rooms, and these rooms are the mind, the emotion, the will, and the conscience (Eph. 3:17-18)
(Please illustrate that Christ has the desire to occupy every room of our heart.)
Further Reading:Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 33; CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “God’s New Testament Economy,” ch. 39
T1 The more Christ spreads within us, the more He settles down in us and makes His home in us (Eph. 3:19-21)
(Please illustrate that we must give Him the opportunity to spread Himself throughout all the parts of our inner being.)
T2 Building up the church as the Body of Christ through the inner experience of the indwelling Christ (Eph. 3:5-6, 19-21)
(Please illustrate that what Paul’s spirit, attitude, prayer, and faith are in Ephesians 3:16-21.)
Further Reading: Messages Given during the Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry, 2nd ed., vol. 1, chs. 20, 24; Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 32, 34-35