Scripture Reading: Deut. 21:22-23; 1 Pet. 2:24; Gal. 3:2, 5, 13-14

DAY 1 & DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 & DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 8　DAY 1　»

　　Deut. 21:22-23 And if in a man there is a sin, a cause worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree; his corpse shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you must bury him on that day. For he who is hanged is accursed of God…

　　Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers has raised Jesus, whom you slew by hanging Him on a tree.

　　Deuteronomy 21:22-23 is concerned with the hanging of a criminal on a tree. A criminal could be executed not only by being stoned but also by being hanged on a tree. Whereas Stephen was killed by being stoned (Acts 7:58-59), the Lord Jesus was killed by being crucified, that is, by being hanged on a tree. The one hanged on a tree in Deuteronomy 21:22-23 is therefore a type of the crucified Christ.

　　If in a man there was a sin, a cause worthy of death, and he was put to death and was hanged on a tree, his corpse was not to remain overnight on the tree but had to be buried on that day, for he who was hanged was accursed of God (vv. 22-23). This was exactly the situation when the Lord Jesus was crucified (John 19:31). He was buried on the day of His crucifixion.

　　The one who was cursed and hanged on the tree was a type of Christ, who was cursed and hanged on the cross to redeem us out of the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13). (Life-study of Deuteronomy, p. 126)

　　Deuteronomy 21:22-23 is an illustration of an important principle—that the Old Testament was written not mainly for the sake of the children of Israel but mainly for the sake of Christ. The primary purpose of the Old Testament is to portray Christ in various ways. This is the reason that Luke 24:27 says of the Lord Jesus, “Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He explained to them clearly in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Furthermore, in opening the minds of His disciples to understand the Scriptures, He said to them, “All the things written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms concerning Me must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). In Deuteronomy 21 we have a type of Christ as the One who was hanged on the tree, on the cross. Peter used the word tree when speaking of the Lord’s crucifixion: “Who Himself bore up our sins in His body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). (Life-study of Deuteronomy, pp. 126-127)

　　As the seed of Abraham, Christ in His humanity was crucified and became a curse on our behalf to redeem us out of the curse of the law. Galatians 3:1 mentions that Jesus Christ was crucified. Verse 13 goes on to say, “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone hanging on a tree.’” Christ as our Substitute on the cross not only bore the curse for us but also became a curse for us. The curse of the law issued from the sin of man (Gen. 3:17). When Christ took away our sin on the cross, He redeemed us out of the curse of the law.

　　Through his fall, Adam brought us all under the curse; as fallen descendants of Adam, we the sinners were under the curse. The origin of the curse is man’s sin. God brought in the curse after Adam’s sin, saying, “Cursed is the ground because of you” (v. 17). The sign of the curse is thorns (v. 18). For this reason, after Adam’s sin, the earth brought forth thorns.

　　However, the curse was not altogether official until the law was given. The law now declares that all the fallen descendants of Adam are under the curse. In other words, the curse is carried out through the law. This means that the law administers the curse. Therefore, the curse is related to the law of God; it is the demand of the righteous God upon sinners. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3286-3287)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Deuteronomy, msg. 18; Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, lsn. 32

«　WEEK 8　DAY 2　»

　　Rom. 5:17 For if, by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

　　6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

　　Whereas the law condemns us and makes the curse official, Christ through His crucifixion has redeemed us out of the curse of the law. On the cross He was even made a curse for us. Therefore, the curse that came in through Adam’s fall has been dealt with by Christ’s redemption.

　　When Christ bore our sins, He also took our curse. The crown of thorns indicates this (John 19:2, 5). Since thorns are a sign of the curse, Christ’s wearing a crown of thorns indicates that He took our curse on the cross. Because Christ was cursed in our place, the demand of the law was fulfilled, and He could redeem us from the curse of the law. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3287)

　　Not only did Christ redeem us out from the curse; He even became a curse on our behalf. This indicates that He was absolutely abandoned by God. God forsook Christ economically and also considered Him a curse. On the cross Christ accomplished the great work of bringing us out from the curse of the law, working to bear our sins and to remove the curse.

　　In His creation of man, God intended that man might enjoy God as his blessing. But through the fall of Adam, man lost God as his blessing and enjoyment. Not only so, since man did not know that he was totally fallen, incurable, and hopeless, he tried to please God by his own effort. This forced God to decree the law in order to expose man’s fallen condition. Knowing that man could not keep the law, God gave man the law, not for him to keep it but for man to realize that he is utterly fallen and hopeless.

　　Here we need to see that before decreeing the law, God promised Abraham a blessing: Out of him would come a seed who would be a blessing not only to his own house, his race, but also to all the nations, all the Gentiles. With Adam we have sin and the curse, but with Abraham we have God’s promise. The background of this promise was the curse upon mankind. Because mankind was under a curse, man’s direction was downward. But God came in, called Abraham, and promised that in his seed, all the nations—mankind under a curse—would be blessed.

　　Yet the children of Israel did not realize that God’s intention was not for them to try to keep the law but to bring them back to the promise given to their forefather, Abraham, through the law. Because the children of Israel did not see that the function of the law was to expose their fallen condition and to restore them to the promised blessing, they tried to keep the law, thereby coming under the curse of the law (Deut. 27:15-26).

　　Through His incarnation Christ came as the seed of Abraham, and through His crucifixion Christ died on the cross to be a curse on our behalf. In doing so, Christ removed the curse from all those who believe in Him. Through His work on the cross, Christ became a curse on our behalf and redeemed us out of the curse of the law so that the blessing God promised to Abraham would be bestowed on all those who believe in Christ.

　　If we try to keep the law, we will be in the flesh and automatically come under the curse, for those who are of the works of the law are under the curse [cf. Gal. 3:10]. Instead of trying to keep the law, we should thank the law for exposing us and then bid it farewell. We should leave the law and go to Christ and to the cross. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3287-3288)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 15, 17, 37, 71, 80, 125, 127, 327, 384; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “Crystallization-study of the Humanity of Christ,” ch. 1

«　WEEK 8　DAY 3　»

　　1 Pet. 2:24 Who Himself bore up our sins in His body on the tree, in order that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose bruise you were healed.

　　Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is interpreted, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

　　When God was judging Christ as our Substitute made sin for us and bearing our sins, God forsook Christ economically.…The sixth hour [in Matthew 27:45] is our twelve o’clock noon, and the ninth [in verse 46] is our three o’clock in the afternoon. The Lord Jesus was crucified at the third hour, at our nine o’clock in the morning (Mark 15:25), and He suffered on the cross for six hours. In the first three hours He was persecuted by men for doing God’s will; in the last three hours He was judged by God for the accomplishment of our redemption. During that time God counted Him as our suffering Substitute for sin (Isa. 53:10). Hence, darkness came over all the land because our sin and sins and all negative things were dealt with there, and God forsook Him because of our sin. God forsook Christ on the cross because He took the place of sinners (1 Pet. 3:18), bearing our sins (1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:6) and being made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 176-177)

　　According to the four Gospels, the Lord Jesus was on the cross for six hours. During the first three hours, men did many unrighteous things to Him. They persecuted and mocked Him. Thus, in the first three hours the Lord suffered man’s unrighteous treatment. But at the sixth hour, twelve noon, God came in, and there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour, until three o’clock in the afternoon. The coming of darkness was God’s doing, and in the midst of it the Lord cried out the words quoted in Matthew 27:46. When the Lord was suffering the persecution of man, God was with Him, and He enjoyed the presence of God. But at the end of the first three hours, God forsook Him, and darkness came. Unable to tolerate this, the Lord shouted loudly, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” As we have pointed out, God forsook Him because He was our Substitute bearing our sins. Isaiah 53 reveals that this was the time God put our sins on Him. In the three hours from twelve noon to three o’clock in the afternoon, the righteous God put all our sins upon this Substitute and judged Him righteously for our sins. God forsook Him because during these hours He was a sinner there on the cross; He was even made sin. On the one hand, the Lord bore our sins; on the other hand, He was made sin for us. Therefore, according to His righteousness, God judged Him and forsook Him economically.

　　The Lord was born of the begetting Spirit, who is God reaching man, as the divine essence, who never left Him essentially. Even when He was on the cross crying out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He still had the begetting Spirit (God in the essential sense) as the divine essence. Then who left Him? It was the anointing Spirit (God in the economical sense), through whom He presented Himself as the God-man to be the all-inclusive sacrifice to God (Heb. 9:14), who left Him economically. After God accepted Christ as the all-inclusive offering, the anointing Spirit left Him. But although the anointing Spirit left Him economically, the Lord still had the begetting Spirit essentially.

　　When the Lord Jesus, the God-man, died on the cross under God’s judgment, He had God within Him essentially as His divine being. Nevertheless, He was forsaken by the righteous and judging God economically. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 177-178)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1985, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 6: The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles,” ch. 5

«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　Gal. 3:13 Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because it is written, “Cursed is everyone hanging on a tree.”

　　29 And if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.

　　In Galatians 3:1-22 Christ is unveiled as the seed of Abraham. According to Genesis 22:17-18a the Lord promised Abraham, “I will surely bless you and will greatly multiply your seed….And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” In this prophecy we have the promise that Abraham’s seed would be a great blessing to all mankind, for all nations would be blessed through his seed. This prophecy was repeated to Isaac in Genesis 26:4 and again to Jacob in Genesis 28:14. These three verses are not three prophecies but one prophecy of Christ as the seed of Abraham. The fulfillment of this prophetic word is not only in Matthew 1:1, which says that Christ is the son of Abraham, but also in Galatians 3:16, which says, “To Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed. He does not say, And to the seeds, as concerning many, but as concerning one: And to your seed,’ who is Christ.” Christ was born as a descendant of Abraham, born of the chosen race. Therefore, He was the seed of Abraham. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3285)

　　As the seed of Abraham, Christ in His humanity blesses all the nations with the gospel of Christ (Gal. 3:8-12, 16). He has brought God to us and us to God for our enjoyment of God’s blessing. He brings blessings to the nations. Whether Jews or Gentiles, all will be blessed in Him (Gen. 22:18a)….Galatians 3:14 indicates that the blessing is the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. When we receive the Spirit, we receive the Triune God as eternal life to be our blessing. Through faith in Christ, we have received the Spirit. The Spirit is also called the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29). When the blessing that God gave to Abraham comes to us, it is grace; this grace is the seed of Abraham. Since Christ is now the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17), He is not only the seed who inherits the promises but also the blessing of the promises to be inherited by us.

　　According to Galatians 3:16, Christ is the seed of Abraham, the Heir who inherits the promises. Here Christ is the unique seed who inherits the promises. Hence, in order to inherit the promised blessing, we must be one with Christ. Outside of Him we cannot inherit the promises given by God to Abraham. In God’s eyes Abraham has only one seed, Christ. We must be in Him that we may participate in the promises given to Abraham. According to Galatians 3:14, the promise given to Abraham was that God Himself would come to be the seed of Abraham, and this seed would be a blessing to all the nations by becoming the all-inclusive Spirit for mankind to receive (1 Cor. 15:45b). God’s blessing of Abraham eventually issued in Christ as the unique seed in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed (Acts 3:25-26; Gal. 3:16). All the believers in Christ, as members of the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12), are included in this seed as the heirs of God’s promised blessing (Gal. 3:7, 29).

　　The blessing of the gospel promised to Abraham is the all-inclusive Spirit, the Spirit compounded with Christ’s divinity, His humanity, His human living, His all-inclusive death with its effectiveness, His powerful resurrection with its life power, and His ascension. This compound Spirit is the Spirit spoken of in John 7:39….The Holy Spirit was there, but the all-inclusive, compound Spirit was not yet, because by that time, when Jesus spoke those words, He had not yet been glorified; that is, He had not yet been crucified and resurrected (Luke 24:26). It was through His crucifixion and resurrection that Christ became a life-giving Spirit, the compound Spirit, who is the consummation of the processed Triune God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3285-3286, 3290-3291)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Galatians, msgs. 12-13, 15; Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 1, lsn. 2

«　WEEK 8　DAY 5　»

　　Gen. 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you…; and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

　　Col. 1:12 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.

　　2 Cor. 3:17 And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

　　Christ as the seed of Abraham was crucified and became a curse on our behalf to redeem us out of the curse of the law in order that we might receive the Spirit as the blessing of the gospel promised to Abraham, the promise that all the nations would be blessed in Him. Galatians 3:14 says, “In order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” This verse combines the promise of the Spirit with the blessing of Abraham. The blessing of Abraham is the blessing promised by God to Abraham (Gen. 12:3) for all the nations of the earth. This promise was fulfilled and this blessing has come to the nations in Christ through His redemption by the cross. The context of Galatians 3:14 indicates that the Spirit is the blessing which God promised to Abraham for all the nations and which has been received by the believers through faith in Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3289)

　　The Spirit is the compound Spirit, who is God Himself processed in His Trinity through incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and descension for us to receive as our life and our everything. This is the focus of the gospel of God. The physical aspect of the blessing that God promised to Abraham was the good land (Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 26:3-4), which was a type of the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 1:12). Since Christ is eventually realized as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), the blessing of the promised Spirit corresponds to the blessing of the promised land. Actually, the Spirit as the realization of Christ in our experience is the good land as the source of God’s bountiful supply for us to enjoy.

　　Our blessing is God Himself, who is embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit to be dispensed into us for our enjoyment. In the universe only God Himself is a blessing; all else is vanity of vanities (Eccl. 1:2). Even the entire universe cannot compare with our Triune God. If we have God, we have the blessing. However, God becoming our blessing invol.ved a process. Just as food must be cooked to become our blessing, God had to be “cooked” in order to be our blessing. Before passing through a process, God was a “raw” God. By passing through a process, God became the “cooked” God to be our life and life supply. This God in His totality is the processed, consummated, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling Spirit. He as the wonderful Spirit is the blessing from God to us. The blessing of the gospel is the Spirit, the sum total and the aggregate of the processed Triune God.

　　Our spiritual blessing for eternity is to inherit the Spirit, the consummation of the processed Triune God, as our inheritance. In the new heaven and new earth in the New Jerusalem, we will enjoy the processed Triune God, who is the all-inclusive, consummated, life-giving Spirit (Rev. 22:1; John 7:37-39). Even today, the most enjoyable thing to us is the indwelling Spirit. In the full gospel of God, in Christ we have received not only the blessing of forgiveness, washing, and cleansing; even more, we have received the greatest blessing, the Triune God—the Father, Son, and Spirit—as the processed, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit dwelling in us in a most subjective way for our enjoyment. Oh, what a blessing that we can enjoy such an all-inclusive One as our daily portion! (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3289-3290)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “God’s New Testament Economy,” ch. 14; CWWL, 1972, vol. 3, “Enjoying Christ as the All-inclusive Spirit for the Practical, Genuine, and Real Church Life,” ch. 5

«　WEEK 8　DAY 6　»

　　Gal. 3:2 This only I wish to learn from you, Did you receive the Spirit out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith?

　　5 He therefore who bountifully supplies to you the Spirit and does works of power among you, does He do it out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith?

　　The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God having gone through many processes in Christ. This life-giving Spirit is the blessing of the gospel. The blessing of the gospel is the processed Triune God reaching us as the Spirit. In this compound, all-inclusive Spirit are all of Christ’s person and process, including His divinity, humanity, crucifixion for Him to accomplish redemption, resurrection for Him to give life to us, and ascension for Him to be the Lord of all (Rom. 8:11; 2 Cor. 3:18)….The Spirit is everything to us to live the Christian life….If we have the Spirit, we have God, man, redemption, and forgiveness of sins. The Spirit is our God, our Father, our Lord, our Redeemer, our Savior, and our Shepherd; the Spirit is our life, our life supply, our righteousness, our sanctification, our transformation, and our redemption. The all-inclusive Spirit is the processed and consummated Triune God given to us as the blessing. We should praise the Lord that we have received the Spirit as such a blessing and may enjoy Him all the time through eternity. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3293-3294)

　　Galatians reveals the way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit—the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God: by God’s revealing of Christ in us (1:16a; Eph. 1:17; Gen. 13:14-18; Eph. 3:8, 19); by our receiving of Christ out of the hearing of faith (Gal. 3:2); by being born according to the Spirit and by being given the Spirit of God’s Son into our hearts (4:29b, 6); by putting on Christ through the baptism that puts us into Christ (3:27); by being identified with Him in His death so that it may be no longer we who live but He who lives in us (2:20); by living and walking by the Spirit (5:16, 25); by having Christ formed in us through travail (4:19); by sowing unto the Spirit with the desire and aim of the Spirit in view, to accomplish what the Spirit desires (6:7-8); by boasting in the cross of Christ and living a new creation (vv. 14-15); and by enjoying the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ with our spirit (vv. 17-18).

　　Through Adam’s fall the human race was brought under the curse, but God promised Abraham that in his seed the nations…would be blessed. Christ has fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham….Christ as the seed of Abraham has redeemed us out of the curse of the law so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Him. Christ died a substitutionary death on the cross to deliver us from the curse brought in by Adam. Then in resurrection Christ, who was the unique seed of Abraham as the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit. The resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the transfigured descendant of Abraham, the seed of Abraham, dispensed into us to make us the sons of Abraham, the corporate seed of Abraham, those who can receive and inherit the consummated Spirit as the blessing of Abraham (3:7, 14; 4:28)….Before we believed into Christ and were saved, we were cursed under the law….As the seed of Abraham, Christ brought to us the processed and consummated Triune God as our blessing for our enjoyment. The all-inclusive Spirit, who the all-inclusive Christ as the seed of Abraham has become, is the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God in Christ for the divine dispensing according to the divine economy. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3294-3295)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “The Spirit in the Epistles,” ch. 5; CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “Christ as the Spirit in the Epistles,” ch. 4; CWWL, 1966, vol. 2, “The Divine Spirit with the Human Spirit in the Epistles,” ch. 6