«　WEEK 1　DAY 2　»

　　Rom. 8:29 "Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers."

　　Eph. 2:15 "Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace."

　　The Body of Christ is not merely a term but a reality. The reality of the Body of Christ is the union and mingling of God with man to live out a corporate God-man. For this we need to pass through death and resurrection, dying daily and being resurrected daily. We also need to be in the Spirit and walk according to the Spirit daily. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The High Peak of the Vision and the Reality of the Body of Christ, “p. 93)

　　I have been telling the brothers and sisters that the people of God are God's wife and that they should take God as their Husband, and I have presented this in a very clear and reasonable way. Yet, in reality, instead of taking God as the Husband, I have been taking myself as the husband in my living. It is according to moral standards that I do not do bad things or speak bad words to my wife. Yet, I do not take God as my Husband and speak by Him. I myself am the husband, and I speak by myself and speak concerning the work by myself. Recently, because of the great vision that I saw, I have been practicing one thing; that is, when I am going to speak to others, within me I ask, “Is it you who wants to speak, or is it your Husband?” In other words, “Is it you who wants to speak, or is it the Spirit who dwells in you? Is your speaking in the Spirit and according to the Spirit?” If we use this standard to weigh or measure ourselves, we will see that we are far below the standard. Although we have seen the vision concerning the Body of Christ and can speak clearly about it, what we have as the reality of the Body of Christ is very little.

　　Simply, the reality of the Body of Christ is the living of a God-man life by a group of God-redeemed people together with the God-man Christ. Before the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, in the universe there was God in heaven and man on the earth. But in the universe there was not one human being who was both God and man.…He lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years, beginning as a child.… He used those thirty-three and a half years to live out the model of a God-man living.

　　After His death and resurrection He produced many brothers who, with Him as the oldest Brother, become the one great man in the universe. What is this great, universal man? This is a God-man, one who is God yet man and man yet God. First, He lived on the earth to live out a model. How did He as the God-man live? He had the life of man, and He definitely was a man on the earth. He hungered, He thirsted, He slept, and He even wept and was tired and weary. Not only was He like a man, but He was a man. However, as a man, He lived not by the human life but by the divine life within Him. He lived, yet He did not live alone. He lived not by His own life but by the divine life. He told us clearly that He spoke and did things not by Himself but by the One who sent Him (John 5:19; 8:28). In John 6:57 He said, “The living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father.” But for what purpose did the living Father send Him? In general, Christians would spontaneously reply that the Father sent Him to be our Savior and to accomplish redemption for us. Perhaps they would go on to say that He came to bring God's life to us. There is nothing wrong in saying this, but it is altogether a superficial statement. What was the purpose of God in sending the Lord Jesus? God sent Him to be a man and to live a God-man life by the divine life. This kind of living issues in a universal great man that is exactly the same as He is—a man living a God-man life by the divine life. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The High Peak of the Vision and the Reality of the Body of Christ, “pp. 93-94, 85-86)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The High Peak of the Vision and the Reality of the Body of Christ, “chs. 3-4