«　WEEK 3　DAY 1　»

　　Dan. 7:9-10 ...And the Ancient of Days sat down. His clothing was like white snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool; His throne was flames of fire, its wheels, burning fire. A stream of fire issued forth and came out from before Him. Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousands of ten thousands stood before Him...

　　The book of Daniel... reveals that it is through their environment that Christ becomes the centrality and universality of God’s elect. Through the nations as the environment, in the coming days God will eventually make Christ the centrality and universality of Israel. The principle is the same with us today. In this present age of mystery, which is not revealed in Daniel, God is using the environment to make Christ the centrality and universality to us.

　　We are not simple. On the one hand, we, the believers in Christ, are God’s elect; on the other hand, we are parts of the old creation.... As God’s elect, we need Christ to be wrought into us as our centrality and universality. However, the old creation in us is sometimes a beast [as in Daniel 7] and at other times a Nebuchadnezzar or an Antichrist seeking to defeat, capture, possess, and utilize God’s elect. Since we are complicated in this way, we also need to be a Daniel and open our windows toward Jerusalem and pray that Christ will come in to cut off, to terminate, everything in us that is natural and part of the old creation. (Life-study of Daniel, p. 76)

　　Christ becomes our centrality and universality by His appearing in two aspects. First, He has come to terminate us as the old creation and then to germinate us as the new creation. Second, He will come to clear away all the beasts. Depending on our culture and nationality, we all have our own beasts. Those from one part of the world have one kind of beast, and those from another part have a different kind of beast. We need Christ to receive the kingdom from God and come to crush all the beasts and then to become a great mountain that comprises us and that fills the whole earth to be the kingdom of God. By terminating and germinating us and by crushing all the beasts in us, Christ is wrought into our being to become our centrality and universality.

　　The book of Daniel covers three crucial matters: God’s heavenly rule, the preeminence of Christ, and the portion of God’s people. In His economy God administrates the universe in order to fulfill His purpose. His purpose is to give Christ the preeminence in all things.... For Christ to be the preeminent One, God needs a people. Apart from God’s having a people, there is no way for Christ to be made preeminent.

　　As those who have been chosen by God to be His people for Christ’s preeminence, we are under God’s heavenly rule. Concerning this, the principle is the same both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Under God’s heavenly rule, everything is working together for our good (Rom. 8:28). This is especially true of the things in our personal universe. Our universe includes ourselves, our families, and the church. In our universe many things happen day by day for the purpose of making Christ preeminent. We need to realize this and be submissive to God’s heavenly rule.

　　The earth is under the rule of a heavenly administration [cf. Dan. 4:26]. The heavens rule for us, and Christ is for us. Furthermore, we are under God’s heavenly rule for Christ. The purpose of the heavenly ruling is to complete God’s elect so that Christ may be preeminent, that He may be the first—the centrality—and everything—the universality. (Life-study of Daniel, pp. 76-78)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Daniel, msg. 12; CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “The Recovery of Christ as Everything in the Church,” ch. 6