Scripture Reading: Jer. 18:1-10; Isa. 64:8; Rom. 9:15-16, 19-23; Acts 9:15; 2 Cor. 4:6-7

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 & DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 5　DAY 1　»

　　Jer. 18:6 Am I not able to do with you, O house of Israel, as this potter does? declares Jehovah. Indeed, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so you are in My hand, O house of Israel.

　　Isa. 64:8 But now, Jehovah, You are our Father; we are the clay; and You, our Potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand.

　　Jehovah is the Potter, and we, His chosen people, are the pottery in His hand. As the Potter our God has the absolute right over us…to do whatever He likes. This thought is found not only in Jeremiah 18 through 20 but also in Romans 9. I believe that Paul was considering these chapters of Jeremiah as he was writing Romans 9 concerning God’s sovereignty in His selection. In verse 21 he asks, “Does not the potter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?” God, the Potter, certainly has such authority. His selection is according to His absolute right. He may choose one vessel and reject another. God is absolutely free to do whatever He desires to His people. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 121-122)

　　Jehovah told Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house (Jer. 18:1-2). Jeremiah saw that the potter was working and reworking the pottery at his wheel into another vessel, as it seemed good for him to make (vv. 3-4). This indicates that the potter has the full right to do whatever he desires with the clay.

　　Jehovah as the sovereign Potter is able to do with the house of Israel, as the clay in His hand, in changeable ways according to Israel’s condition (vv. 6-10)….This word to Israel was also a word to the prophet, a word that would clear up his concept. Jehovah seemed to be saying to Jeremiah, “Do not hinder Me from doing whatever I will to do with the house of Israel. Israel is clay in My hand, and I deal with them in changeable ways. Depending on their condition, I can punish them or exalt them.” (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 122-123)

　　God not only has glory, honor, and majesty; He also has sovereignty….Sovereignty indicates God’s unlimited authority and power. God’s position is also unlimited. We are not able to say how high is God’s position. Likewise, we cannot measure God’s glory and majesty. As the sovereign One, there is no limit to His authority, power, and position.

　　Although the words sovereign or sovereignty are not used in Romans 9:20 and 21, these verses certainly refer to God’s sovereignty: “But…, O man, who are you who answer back to God? Shall the thing molded say to him who molded it, Why did you make me thus? Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?” We all need to realize who we are. We are God’s creatures, and He is our Creator. As His creatures, we should not resist His purpose (v. 19) or answer back to Him, the Creator….Paul then goes on to indicate that as the Potter God has authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor. God is the Potter, and we are the clay. As the Potter, God is sovereign. He has authority over the clay. If He wills, He can make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor. This does not depend on our choice—it depends on God’s sovereignty.

　　These verses from Romans 9 indicate that God has sovereignly created us to be His vessels, His containers, according to His predestination….Being vessels unto honor [cf. 2 Tim. 2:20-21] is not the result of our choice; it originates with God’s sovereignty. It is of God’s sovereignty that He makes His glory known by creating vessels of mercy to contain Himself. This is a deep word. God’s sovereignty is the basis of His selection. His selection depends on His sovereignty. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 113-114)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Completing Ministry of Paul,” chs. 9-10, 12; CWWN, vol. 56, pp. 446-456

«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　Acts 9:15 …This man is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before both the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.

　　Eph. 3:19 …That you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.

　　Luke 1:53 The hungry He has filled with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

　　God created us to be His containers in order to contain Himself. We are only empty containers, and God intends to be our only content. To illustrate, bottles are necessary to contain beverages….If we look at the bottles made for beverages…, we will realize that these “peculiar” containers are quite specific articles; they were made for a particular use. We people are also “peculiar” containers, for we too were made for a specific purpose….If the bottles never contain a beverage, they…would become meaningless. Man was made purposely to contain God. If we do not contain God and know God as our content, we are a senseless contradiction. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 3, “The Economy of God,” pp. 183-184)

　　All spiritual progress begins when God initiates a good work in a person through the Holy Spirit by creating a longing within….The Holy Spirit makes us feel that our present condition is wrong and that our spiritual life is too shallow. The first work of the Holy Spirit is to give us a sense of dissatisfaction and to create in us a desire to be better….This is the beginning of spiritual progress. Putting it another way, all failure and decadence is the result of self-complacency….Our feelings of dissatisfaction with ourselves indicate that the Holy Spirit has begun His work in us and that it is the time for us to go forward….Decadence comes from self-complacency, whereas progress comes from hunger. This is a fact, and it is true throughout our Christian life. Invariably the Holy Spirit first creates a desire in us for more, and then God comes in to satisfy us and fill us. In order to perform His filling work, He must first carry out His emptying work. When we are empty, God will fill us.

　　This is a principle which the Lord has shown us: spiritual progress is a matter of being continually emptied out and continually filled up….Do not think that as long as we have been emptied once, we will not need any more emptying. The work of the cross in us is ever-increasing and ever-deepening.

　　God is waiting for us to empty ourselves. If there is an infinite emptiness in us, the Holy Spirit will grant us an infinite filling. Whether or not we will receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit depends on whether we have empty vessels. It depends on whether or not we have reserved room for the Holy Spirit and whether or not we have provided Him a place to work in us.

　　We need to pray and ask the Lord to dig more deeply in us and make more room in us so that the Holy Spirit can fill us. The filling of the Holy Spirit depends on our emptiness. I will repeat: our emptiness ought to be a continuous state. If we cannot empty ourselves, God cannot fill us. The Holy Spirit is waiting for empty rooms within us. The more empty rooms we give to Him, the more He will fill us. If there is empty room, it means that there is more filling by the Holy Spirit to come. Therefore, we need not seek for the filling; all we have to do is to empty ourselves. The Holy Spirit alone is responsible for the filling; our responsibility is to empty ourselves. If we can empty ourselves, we will have the filling. We may not be conscious of the filling, but the fact of the filling will certainly be with us.

　　God wants to fill the hungry with good things. If God has already created a seeking heart within us and if He is digging and emptying us, we ought to believe that He will certainly fill us. God will only send away empty those who think that they are rich. (CWWN, vol. 37, pp. 132-133, 138-140)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 3, “The Economy of God,” ch. 5; CWWN, vol. 37, ch. 22; CWWN, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” ch. 9

«　WEEK 5　DAY 3　»

　　Eph. 2:1 And you, though dead in your offenses and sins. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.

　　Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

　　Mercy is the most far reaching of God’s attributes. Mercy goes further than grace. God’s love does not reach as far as His grace, and His grace does not reach as far as His mercy. If I am in a good condition and my standing matches yours, and you give me a gift, that is grace….If I come to you as your dear friend, and you give me a gift, that is grace. However, if I am a poor, unclean beggar, unable to do anything for myself, and you give me a gift, that is mercy. This illustrates the fact that God’s mercy is more far reaching than His grace….According to our natural condition, we were far removed from God, totally unworthy of His grace. We were eligible only to receive His mercy. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 98)

　　It is God’s mercy that has reached us. None of us was in a condition that corresponded to His grace….God’s mercy has brought us into His grace. How we need to realize this and worship God for His mercy! Even now, after being saved and having shared in the riches of God’s life, we still, in some ways, are in a condition that needs God’s mercy to reach us. This is the reason Hebrews 4:16 says that first we need to receive mercy, and then we can find grace for timely help. Oh, how much we need God’s mercy! We should treasure His mercy as much as we appreciate His grace. It is always God’s mercy that qualifies us to participate in His grace.

　　In Romans 9:16 Paul says that “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Our concept is that the one who wills will gain what he wills to obtain and that the one who runs will gain what he runs after. If this were the case, then God’s selection would be according to our effort and labor. But it is not so. On the contrary, God’s selection is of God who shows mercy. We do not need to will or to run, for God has mercy on us. If we know God’s mercy, we shall not put our trust in our effort. Neither shall we be disappointed by our failures. The hope for our wretched condition is in God’s mercy.

　　Romans 11:32 says, “For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all.” Man’s disobedience affords God’s mercy an opportunity, and God’s mercy brings man salvation. How marvelous is God’s mercy!

　　God’s mercy and His grace are both the expression of His love. When we are in a pitiful condition, His mercy reaches us and brings us into a state where He is able to favor us with His grace. Luke 15:20-24 says that when the father saw the prodigal son returning, he had compassion on him. This is the deeper mercy, an expression of the father’s affectionate love. Then the father clothed his son with the best robe and fed him with the fatted calf. This is grace, which also manifests the father’s love. God’s mercy reaches further than His grace, bridging the gap between us and God’s grace.

　　Often, because of our pitiful condition, we need to receive mercy before we can find grace. We come to the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16) like beggars, in somewhat the same condition as was the prodigal son when he came to his father. A beggar, like the prodigal, needs mercy. When we come to the throne of grace, we may have the sense that we are pitiful and say, “Father, I am not worthy of anything.” But the Father may say, “You are unworthy, but I am merciful. My mercy reaches you and qualifies you to receive my favor. My mercy brings Me to you that I may clothe you with the best robe.” God’s mercy is always available to us. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 98-99)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 21-22

«　WEEK 5　DAY 4　»

　　Rom. 9:15-16 For to Moses He says, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

　　Matt. 9:13 But go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

　　[In Ephesians 2:4] we see that God is rich in mercy because of His great love toward us. The object of love should be in a lovable condition, but the object of mercy is always in a pitiful situation. God’s mercy reaches us for His love. God loves us because we are the object of His selection. But we became pitiful by our fall, even dead in our offenses and sins. Therefore, we need God’s mercy to reach us. Because of His great love, God is rich in mercy to save us from our wretched position to a condition that is suitable for His love. This most far-reaching attribute of God should cause our heart to react to His love. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 100)

　　When Paul wrote Romans 9, his thought was fully occupied with God’s mercy [cf. v. 16]….It is altogether a matter of God’s mercy that we are believers and that we are in the church life. Because all is of God’s mercy, we have nothing to boast of in ourselves….As vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, we were chosen by God according to His sovereign mercy (Rom. 9:11-16). The expression sovereign mercy means that God’s mercy is absolutely according to His sovereignty. Being a vessel of mercy is not the result of our choice; it originates with God’s sovereignty. It is of God’s sovereignty that He created us vessels of mercy to contain Himself. His sovereignty is the basis of His selection.

　　If we would serve God in His New Testament economy, we need to know that it is wholly a matter of God’s sovereign mercy. Through many years of experience I have become strongly and deeply convinced that everything that happens to us is of God’s mercy. All is a matter of God’s mercy. The more we see this, the more we shall spontaneously bear our responsibility before the Lord. However, even the bearing of responsibility is of God’s mercy. Why is it that some believers are willing to bear their responsibility and that others are not? The answer lies in God’s mercy. In Romans 9:15 Paul quotes the Lord’s words, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy.” Because of God’s mercy we responded to the gospel when others did not respond, we received a word about Christ as life when others refused to receive it, and we took the way of the Lord’s recovery when others drew back from taking this way.

　　Regarding His recovery, God has mercy on whom He will have mercy. We are not in the Lord’s recovery because we are more intelligent than others or because we seek the Lord more than others do. Our being here is altogether due to the mercy of God. If you consider how the Lord brought you into the church life in the Lord’s recovery, you will worship Him for His mercy. Concerning the gospel, the ministry of life, and the church life, God has had mercy on us. How we must praise Him for His sovereign mercy, and worship Him for His mercy! (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1184-1185, 100)

　　Our going on with the Lord is a matter not of our willing or running, but of God’s mercy….We are changeable, constantly fluctuating. It seems that, as far as we are concerned, our spiritual condition is like weather that is unstable. Hence, we need to see that the selection of grace does not depend on us, but depends on God’s selection of us before the world began. What we are experiencing today is related to God’s selection in eternity past. If we see this, we shall turn our eyes away from ourselves and from our circumstances and gaze steadfastly upon Him. (Life-study of Romans, p. 614)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msgs. 22, 24, 58

«　WEEK 5　DAY 5　»

　　Rom. 9:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

　　23 In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.

　　Luke 1:78 Because of the merciful compassions of our God, in which the rising sun will visit us from on high.

　　If we look back upon our past, we shall worship the Lord. We shall realize that our steps have been not of ourselves, but of Him. Before we were born, He selected us and predestinated us and arranged everything related to us, including the time and place of our birth. Moreover, He appointed all our days and all the places where we are to be ….Everything that happens to us is a matter of divine mercy.

　　We should have no trust in ourselves, and we should not think we are here because of anything that we are or that we have done. Our being in the Lord’s recovery today is not of our willing nor of our running, but of God, the One who shows mercy. What a mercy that we are saved and that we are willing to take the Lord’s way!…It is a mercy that we are willing to be separated from today’s evil age. The world is both attractive and attracting. Nevertheless, I can testify that I simply have no appetite for the things of the world….[A divine] insulation…keeps me from the world system. This is another aspect of God’s mercy. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 610-611, 613)

　　We must know God’s mercy in the selection of grace….I look to the Lord that He will deeply impress us with the matter of His mercy in selecting us. Do not put your trust in what you are able to do or in what you plan to do. Rather, bow down before the Lord and worship Him for His mercy. The more you worship the Lord for His mercy, the more you will be uplifted. Instead of striving to bear responsibility, you will find that, in His mercy, the Lord is bearing you. We all need to know the Lord in this way. What a mercy that He has selected us, predestinated us, called us, and placed us in His recovery! For our future we trust not in ourselves, but in Him and in His marvelous mercy. Everything regarding us has been initiated by the Lord. All is of Him; nothing is of us. I can testify that the more we worship God for His mercy, the more we are deeply in His heart and the more we are one with Him.

　　[If you] worship God for His selection,…He will bear you in the bearing of responsibility. The more we try in ourselves to be responsible, the more we shall suffer inwardly. Our inward taste will be that of bitterness. But if we worship the Lord for His mercy and experience Him bearing us in bearing the responsibility, our inward taste will be as sweet as honey. One reason I am happy day by day is that I have learned to trust in the Lord’s mercy and to worship Him for it. Years ago I used to ask the Lord to do so many things for me. But now I pray by thanking Him for His mercy. He said that He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and compassion on whom He will have compassion. If we enjoy the Lord’s mercy and worship Him for His selection, we shall be in the heavenlies. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 613-614)

　　As vessels, we are not instruments or weapons—we are containers. According to Romans 9, we contain mercy, honor, and glory. This mercy, honor, and glory are actually the Triune God. In the initial stage of our experience the Triune God is our mercy, in the progressing stage He is our honor, and in the completing stage He is our glory. At present we are enjoying our God as mercy and somewhat as honor. When the Lord Jesus comes back, we shall be fully brought into honor and also into glory. Then we shall be filled with the Triune God not only as our mercy but also as our honor and glory. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 1183)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” ch. 5; CWWL, 1980, vol. 1, “Perfecting Training,” ch. 22

«　WEEK 5　DAY 6　»

　　2 Cor. 3:16 But whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

　　18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

　　The believers are vessels unto honor with Christ as their treasure through regeneration. Romans 9:21 speaks of vessels of honor….[Second Corinthians 4:7 says], “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” This treasure is the Christ who dwells within us. We are containers of honor because Christ Himself is honor….Although we have this treasure in earthen vessels, this treasure has not yet been manifested. When the Lord Jesus comes back,…others will be able to see that we, as vessels unto honor, are containers of such a treasure. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1187-1188)

　　The key to 2 Corinthians 4:7 is the verse preceding it: “To illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (v. 6). In Greek, the word for face is the same word used for person in 2 Corinthians 2:10, which means the index around the eyes. This means that if we do not have the index of Jesus’ face, He can never be a treasure to us. We will never sense that we have a treasure within until we see the face of Jesus. When we are enjoying His presence, we sense that He is such a precious treasure within us.

　　This can never be just a kind of saying. We all can say that we are the earthen vessel, and Jesus is the treasure within. But we can say this without any sense of the reality within us. It is only when we are living in His presence, looking at the index of His being, that we will sense that He is such a treasure to us. In the whole universe there is nothing so precious as to behold the face of Jesus. This is something of personal experience and enjoyment. The more we live in His presence, the more sense we will have of the preciousness of Jesus. This is just the enjoyment of His indwelling. This very Jesus indwells us. This is a living reality, not merely a saying.

　　If we would all learn to forsake our old person, taking Him as our person by looking at the index of His face while enjoying His presence, we would have a sweet sense of the preciousness of the indwelling Jesus. This would make us so shining, a shining which is the reflecting of His glory. I can assure you that if you ever have this kind of experience, others will see how shining you are. It is not that you are merely happy, but you are shining. Something from within shines out, and that is the reflection of Jesus. This was Paul’s experience of the indwelling Christ. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” pp. 597-598)

　　As vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, we have been prepared by God unto glory through glorification—the last step of God’s full salvation. Romans 9:23 tells us that the vessels of mercy have been prepared unto glory, and Romans 8:30 indicates that glorification is the last step of God’s salvation. We are predestinated, called, justified, and, eventually, we shall be glorified. Glorification includes the redemption (transfiguration) of our body (Phil. 3:21) and full conformity to the Lord. In this final step of His salvation God will redeem our fallen and corrupted body (Rom. 8:23) by transfiguring it into the body of Christ’s glory. He will also conform us to the glorious image of Christ, His firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29), making us wholly and absolutely like Him in our regenerated spirit, transformed soul, and transfigured body. Thus, our body will be freed from the slavery of corruption of the old creation into the glory of God’s new creation (8:21). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1189-1190)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 10-11, 110; CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Indwelling Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” ch. 10