Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 12:24; 10:17; Lev. 2:4; Eph. 3:16-17a; 4:16; 1 Cor. 13:4-8a

　　HYMN: s151

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 4　DAY 1　»

　　Rom. 12:4-5 For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

　　The highest peak in God's economy [is] the reality of the Body of Christ. We know the term the Body of Christ. We may even have seen the revelation of the Body of Christ. Yet we have to admit that thus far, over the past seventy-two years, through such a long time, we can see very little of the reality of the Body of Christ within us and among us....This reality has nothing to do with any kind of organization or with anything that remains in the nature of organization. Also, the reality of the Body of Christ is not a system in any way, because no system is organic. The reality of the Body of Christ is absolutely and altogether organic. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," p. 124)

　　Corporately, the many sons of God [produced in resurrection] are the church; organically, they are the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the church, the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the bride, the counterpart, of Christ. In each aspect the church takes the Body of Christ as its organic factor. Without the Body of Christ, the church is lifeless and is a mere human organization. Without the Body of Christ and, therefore, without the life of Christ, there cannot be the house of God, which is constituted with the children born of God the Father, and there cannot be the kingdom of God, which is the realm of God's life. Without the life of Christ, there also cannot be the bride of Christ who, as His counterpart, must match Him to be a couple with Him. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, "The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible," p. 286)

　　We need to see the way Paul presents the Body of Christ in Ephesians 1. Paul says that God raised up Christ, seated Him in the heavens, subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church. Right away in the following phrase he says, "Which is His Body" (v. 23a). The church is the Body. This indicates that the Body is the church's intrinsic significance. The church without the Body means nothing. In Greek the word for church is ekklesia, the called-out ones coming together. But the significance of this gathering is the Body.

　　In the recovery today there are over twelve hundred churches around the globe, yet we all are one Body. If we consider ourselves as individual churches or as individual believers, we are through. We should consider ourselves as one Body. If the parts of our physical body would keep their own jurisdiction and be autonomous, our body would be finished. But thank the Lord that all the members of our physical body are submissive to one another so that our body can act and operate smoothly. We do not have any organization to keep anything, but the recovery is still here. The recovery is still existing and has been kept by the principle of the Body.

　　If there were no Body, the church would have no meaning. The church makes no sense without the Body. But Hallelujah, there is the Body! Without the Body the church makes no sense, but with the Body there is the intrinsic significance of the church.

　　What is the difference between the church and the Body? We need to see that the church of God is the frame and the Body of Christ is the organism. We can use an apple tree as an illustration. The tree is the frame, and the apples are the very organic essence of this tree.... The tree is for the apples....The church is the frame, like the apple tree, and the Body of Christ is the very organic essence of the church, just like the apples are the very organic essence of the apple tree. These two are one. The church is the frame for existing. The Body of Christ is the very organic contents for people's satisfaction. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, "The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ," pp. 548-549)

　　Further Reading: Fellowship concerning the Work of the Lord's Recovery, sec. 3

«　WEEK 4　DAY 2　»

　　Eph. 1:22-23 And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

　　Rev. 1:11 Saying, What you see write in a scroll and send it to the seven churches...

　　The organic Body is undivided, and it is also indivisible (1 Cor. 1:13a). It is not autonomous. This unique Body of Christ is expressed in many local churches (Rev. 1:11) in the divine oneness as it is with the Triune God (John 17:11, 21, 23) and in the divine nature, element, essence, expression, function, and testimony. There are many churches, yet they have one divine nature, one divine element, one divine essence, one divine expression, one divine function, and one divine testimony because they are one Body.

　　All the problems of the church today are due to the ignorance concerning the Body of Christ. Among us this ignorance should be absent, and the full knowledge should be present. We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation with the enlightening of the eyes of our heart to see and apprehend the Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, "The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ," pp. 551-552)

　　The reality of the Body of Christ is the aggregate, the totality, of such a living by a group of God-men. This kind of a living, which is the reality of the Body of Christ, will close this age, the age of the church, and will bring Christ back to take, possess, and rule over this earth with these God-men in the kingdom age. They were perfected, completed, and consummated in the church age. So in the next age, the kingdom age, they will reign with Christ for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4-6).

　　Today in the church age, the God-men who were perfected and matured are Zion, the overcomers, the vital groups within the churches. But in the new heaven and new earth there will be no more Zion, only Jerusalem, because all the unqualified saints will have been qualified to be Zion. In other words, the entire New Jerusalem will become Zion....Zion is the very spot where God is, that is, the Holy of Holies. In Revelation 21 there is a sign signifying that the New Jerusalem will be the Holy of Holies. Its dimensions are the dimensions of a cube...(v. 16). That is the Holy of Holies, because the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament in both the tabernacle and the temple was a cube, equal in length, breadth, and height (Exo. 26:2-8; 1 Kings 6:20).

　　By that time all the God-redeemed people will be transformed, not only to be the same as God in life and nature but also to be the same in God's appearance. Revelation 4 tells us that God looks like jasper (v. 3). Then Revelation 21 says that the entire New Jerusalem has the appearance of jasper (v. 11). Thus, God's redeemed people have become absolutely the very God in life, in nature, and in appearance but not in His Godhead.

　　We all have to endeavor to reach this high peak.... All of God's redeemed people will eventually become gods as the very God in life, in nature, and in appearance but not in the Godhead. The New Jerusalem is the God-men who have been transformed, glorified, and mingled with the processed and consummated Triune God. The holy city will be a mingling to be God's increase and expression for eternity.

　　There is no other way to reach this high peak except by praying. It is more than evident that Jerusalem is here as a big realm of Christians, but where is Zion, the overcomers? In the book of Revelation what the Lord wants and what the Lord will build up is Zion, the overcomers. The overcomers are the very Zion, where God is. This is the intrinsic reality of the spiritual revelation in the holy Word of God. We have to realize what the Lord's recovery is. The Lord's recovery is to build up Zion. Paul's writings unveil this to the uttermost, but not many saw this in the past. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," pp. 138-140)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," ch. 5; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The High Peak of the Vision and the Reality of the Body of Christ," ch. 3

«　WEEK 4　DAY 3　»

　　1 Cor. 12:24-25 But our comely members have no need. But God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked, that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same care for one another.

　　God has blended the Body together (1 Cor. 12:24). The word blended also means "adjusted," "harmonized," "tempered," and "mingled." God has blended the Body, adjusted the Body, harmonized the Body, tempered the Body, and mingled the Body. The Greek word for blended implies the losing of distinctions. One brother's distinction may be quickness, and another's may be slowness. But in the Body life...all such distinctions are gone. God has blended all the believers of all different races and colors.

　　In order to be harmonized, blended, adjusted, mingled, and tempered in the Body life, we have to go through the cross and be by the Spirit, dispensing Christ to others for the sake of the Body of Christ.... Whatever we do should be by the Spirit to dispense Christ. Also, what we do should not be for our interest and according to our taste but for the church. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, "The Divine and Mystical Realm," pp. 159-160)

　　When a co-worker does anything, he should fellowship with the other co-workers. An elder should fellowship with the other elders. Fellowship tempers us,...adjusts us, ...harmonizes us, and...mingles us. We should forget about whether we are slow or quick and just fellowship with others. We should not do anything without fellowshipping with the other saints who are coordinating with us. Fellowship requires us to stop when we are about to do something. In our coordination in the church life and in the Lord's work, we all have to learn not to do anything without fellowship.

　　Among us we should have the blending of all the individual members of the Body of Christ, the blending of all the churches in certain districts, the blending of all the co-workers, and the blending of all the elders....Then we will receive many benefits.... Learn to fellowship. Learn to be blended. From now on, the churches should come together frequently to be blended. We may not be used to it, but after we begin to practice blending a few times, we will acquire the taste for it.... Today it is very convenient for us to blend with one another because of this modern age with its modern conveniences.

　　When we blend together, we have the cross and the Spirit. Without the cross and the Spirit, all that we have is the flesh with division.... We may come together without much blending because everyone stays in themselves. They are afraid to offend others and make mistakes, so they keep quiet. This is the manner of man according to the flesh. When we come together, we should experience the terminating of the cross. Then we should learn how to follow the Spirit, how to dispense Christ, and how to say and do something for the benefit of the Body.

　　To be blended means that you are touched by others and that you are touching others. But you should touch others in a blending way. Go through the cross, do things by the Spirit, and do everything to dispense Christ for His Body's sake. We should not come to a blending meeting to be silent. We have to prepare ourselves to say something for the Lord. The Lord may use us, but we need to be tempered and crossed out, and we need to learn how to follow the Spirit to dispense Christ for His Body's sake.

　　Such a blending is not social but the blending of the very Christ whom the individual members, the district churches, the co-workers, and the elders enjoy, experience, and partake of. The blending is for the building up of the universal Body of Christ (Eph. 1:23) to consummate the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2) as the final goal of God's economy according to His good pleasure (Eph. 3:8-10; 1:9-10). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, "The Divine and Mystical Realm," pp. 160-162)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, "The Divine and Mystical Realm," ch. 6; Fellowship concerning the Work of the Lord's Recovery, sec. 4

«　WEEK 4　DAY 4　»

　　Rom. 16:1 I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deaconess of the church which is in Cenchrea.

　　16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

　　20 Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

　　The last three chapters of Romans show the blending and fellowship of the Body life brought forth through the apostle's receiving according to God and Christ; such an explanation was not seen by the Bible expositors throughout the generations. Romans 16 gives us an excellent pattern of the apostle in bringing all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ. It is in such a life that we can truly reign in life. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, "The Experience of God's Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ's Life," p. 515)

　　We must follow in the footsteps of the apostle. He brought us into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ by recommendations and greetings in order that the God of peace may crush Satan under our feet and we may enjoy the rich grace of Christ (Rom. 16:1-16, 21-24, 20). In Romans 16 the apostle Paul greeted the saints one by one, mentioning at least twenty-seven names, including Phoebe, a deaconess of the church in Cenchrea, and Prisca and Aquila. Moreover, he greeted the saints generally. This shows that he had a considerable amount of knowledge, understanding, and care with regard to every one of them. Such recommendations and greetings show both the mutual concern among the saints and the mutual fellowship among the churches. It is by the churches' fellowship in the Body that the God of peace will crush Satan under our feet and we will be able to enjoy the rich grace of Christ. This grace is the manifestation of the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

　　Through the fellowship in the Body, the crushing of Satan, and the enjoyment of grace, we can carry out the mystery kept in silence in the times of the ages concerning the complete salvation of God in the fulfillment of the eternal economy of God for the Gentiles to have the obedience of faith unto glory to the only wise God through Jesus Christ (vv. 25-27).

　　We must have the reality of the fellowship and blending of the Body of Christ. Otherwise, regardless of how much we pursue and how simple and humble we are, sooner or later there will be problems, even divisions, among us. Hence, we must be governed by the vision of the Body and follow in the footsteps of the apostle by bringing all the saints in all the churches into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ. This is to reign in life, and by such reigning, we give glory to God. This glory is the New Jerusalem, the universal incorporation of the union and mingling of divinity with humanity, in which God will be completely glorified and His economy will be fully accomplished.

　　In its conclusion Romans, which gives a general discussion of the Christian life, gives glory to the wise God. This unveils that all the matters discussed in this book are planned, managed, and accomplished by God's wisdom in order that He, the immeasurably rich Triune God, may be glorified, that is, that His incomparable glory may be completely and fully expressed through us who have been perfected eternally by Him and who have become His Body and have been joined to Him as one. The focus of God's wisdom is the working of His Divine Trinity into the three parts—spirit, soul, and body—of our redeemed being in order that in His redemption, sanctification, and transformation we may have a full union in the divine life with Him and His desire for the mingling of divinity and humanity, the joining of humanity to divinity...to be His consummate expression in eternity. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, "The Experience of God's Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ's Life," pp. 516-517)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, "The Experience of God's Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ's Life," ch. 6

«　WEEK 4　DAY 5　»

　　Eph. 4:4 One Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling.

　　1 Cor. 10:17 Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.

　　The one church is expressed in the local churches because of physical reasons. We believers are scattered on this earth, so we cannot be in one location. We have to be in many locations, so in a sense, we have to be separated by localities. But we cannot forget that the churches are the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4 says that there is one Body (v. 4). Paul says that though we are many, we are still one bread and one Body (1 Cor. 10:17).

　　We may think that the local churches are the goal of God's economy. However, they are not the goal but the procedure God takes to reach the goal of His economy.... If we are just in the local churches and do not go on, we are far off from God's goal. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," pp. 116, 103)

　　According to Ephesians 1:22-23, the goal of God's economy is the church, which is Christ's Body. Some may say that since the church is the Body of Christ and since we are in the church, we should also be in the Body. They are right doctrinally but not practically. We may speak much about the Body of Christ, but if we are asked what the Body of Christ is, we may be able to answer only that the Body of Christ is the church. We are in the church; that is a fact.... We have the term the Body of Christ and we have the doctrine of the Body of Christ, but where is the practicality and reality of the Body of Christ?

　　The purpose of the blending is to usher us all into the reality of the Body of Christ....I treasure the local churches because of a purpose. The local churches are the procedure to bring me into the Body of Christ. The churches are the Body, but the churches may not have the reality of the Body of Christ. Thus, we need to be in the local churches so that we can be ushered, or brought, into the reality of the Body of Christ.

　　The highest peak of the Lord's recovery that can really, practically, and actually carry out God's economy is for God to produce not many local churches in a physical way but an organic Body to be His organism. We all have a physical body, but our body actually is not the reality of our being. My body is me, but it is not the reality of my being. Likewise, the churches set up around the globe are a physical frame, but among the churches there may be no reality of the Body of Christ. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that this is our situation today.

　　The thought of blending is very strong in the Bible. In the Old Testament there is a type of the blending for the fulfillment of God's economy.... This type of the blending is strongly referred to by the apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 10:17 Paul says, "Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread." Paul's thought of the church being one bread was not his own invention; rather, it was taken from the Old Testament. The meal offering in Leviticus 2:4 consisted of cakes made of fine flour mingled with oil. Every part of the flour was mixed, or mingled, with the oil. That is blending. Paul tells us that the church is a bread, a cake, made of fine flour. This fine flour comes from wheat grains, and the wheat grains come from the one grain of wheat, which is Christ [John 12:24].... We are the many grains so that we may be ground into fine flour for making the cake, the bread, of the church. Here we can see the thought of blending in the Bible.

　　The truth of blending is in the holy Word, ... [but] hardly anyone speaks about blending because this is not only very high and deep but also very mysterious. It is not a physical matter. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," pp. 103-104, 111-112, 116)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," chs. 1-3; CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, "The Problems Causing the Turmoils in the Church Life," chs. 3-4

«　WEEK 4　DAY 6　»

　　Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me...

　　Phil. 3:10 To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

　　1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

　　The crucifixion mentioned in the New Testament transpired on the wooden cross on Mount Calvary. But you have to realize that before Christ was there in the physical crucifixion, He was being crucified every day for thirty-three and a half years. Was not Jesus a human being, a genuine man? Yes. But He did not live by that genuine man. Instead, He kept that genuine man on the cross. Then, in the sense of resurrection, He lived God's life. God's life with all its attributes was lived within this God-man Jesus and expressed as this God-man's virtues.

　　Such a life was there originally just in an individual man, Jesus Christ. But this life has now been repeated, reproduced, in many men who have been redeemed and regenerated and who now possess the divine life within them. All of them have been nourished, sanctified, transformed, and perfected not just to be matured Christians but to be God-men. The reality of the Body of Christ is the corporate living by the perfected God-men, who are genuine men but are not living by their life but by the life of the processed God, whose attributes have been expressed through their virtues. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," pp. 128-129)

　　To be perfected...is to be matured by continually exercising to reject the self and live by another life. This is according to what Paul says: "I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20a). Paul...was dying to his natural man and living by his new man with the divine life. So he said that by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, he lived and magnified Christ (Phil. 1:19-21a). The death of Christ is a mold, and Paul put himself into that death-mold to be conformed there [cf. Phil. 3:10]. On this man, Paul, all men could see the mark and the image of the cross (Gal. 6:14, 17 and footnote 1 on v. 17). His old life was conformed to the image of the death of Christ by the power of Christ's resurrection. The power of resurrection strengthened him to live the life of a God-man. The Lord expects that many of us would be such ones.

　　The reality of the Body of Christ is not just a corporate living but a mingling living. If we use the word mingled, this means that this living is consummated, completed. Instead, we use the word mingling because this living is not completed; it is still going on. It is the mingling living in the eternal union of the regenerated, transformed, glorified tripartite God-men with the Triune God in the resurrection of Christ. This Triune God is the very pneumatic Christ as the embodiment of the processed and consummated Triune God, who is the all-inclusive Spirit as the reality of the pneumatic Christ and as the consummation of the processed Triune God. Such a mingling living is in the resurrection of Christ, and the reality of this resurrection is the Spirit. This resurrection imparts the consummated God and releases the death-overcoming life into the believers.

　　Such a mingling living as the reality of the Body of Christ will consummate ultimately in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth as God's increase and expression for eternity.

　　[Those who live such a mingling living] have been delivered out of themselves and have been transformed and perfected. They would not despise or condemn anyone, nor would they be bothered by others. They would not have anything to do with dissension, rebellion, or division. Instead, they would be here in the recovery as the high peak, Mount Zion, in Jerusalem. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," pp. 129-131)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The Practical Points concerning Blending," ch. 4; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, "The High Peak of the Vision and the Reality of the Body of Christ," ch. 4