Scripture Reading: Jer. 2:13; 15:16; 17:7-8, 19-27; 23:5-6; 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12

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 8　DAY 1　»

　　Jer. 17:7-8 Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah and whose trust Jehovah is. And he will be like a tree transplanted beside water, which sends out its roots by a stream, and will not be afraid when heat comes; for its leaves remain flourishing, and it will not be anxious in the year of drought and will not cease to bear fruit.

　　Jeremiah 17:5-8 is a word about the curse of trusting in man and the blessing of trusting in Jehovah. [Verses 7 and 8 speak] concerning the blessing of trusting in Jehovah.

　　These verses can be understood in two different ways—according to the natural understanding and according to God’s economy. According to the natural understanding, these verses seem to indicate only that if we trust in God, we will be blessed, mainly in a material way. However, the revelation here includes much more than this. According to God’s economy, the one who trusts in God is like a tree planted by water, signifying God as the fountain of living waters (2:13a). The tree grows beside the river by absorbing all the riches of the water into it. This is a picture of God’s dispensing. In order to receive the divine dispensing, we as the trees must absorb God as the water. (Life-study of Jeremiah, p. 111)

　　The thought in Jeremiah 17:7-8 is the same as that in 1 Corinthians 3:6, where Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” The watering is for the tree’s absorbing, and the absorbing is the receiving of God’s dispensing. The tree grows with God as the Supplier and the supply. The supply is the riches of the supplying God dispensed into us as the plants so that we may grow into God’s measure. Eventually, the plants and God, God and the plants, are one, having the same element, essence, constitution, and appearance.

　　Jeremiah 17:7 and 8 are not concerned merely with such a shallow matter as trusting in God to receive material blessings. Actually these verses refer to God’s economy carried out by His dispensing. God is the living water to be dispensed into our being in order to become our very constituent. We all need to see the crucial significance of absorbing God as the living water that we may be constituted with His element and essence. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 111-112)

　　In 1 Corinthians 3:1 Paul tells the believers at Corinth, “And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshy, as to infants in Christ.” The fact that Paul refers to them as infants indicates that they had not grown in life after receiving the initial gifts of the divine life and the Holy Spirit.

　　If the saints in a particular locality are short of the growth of life, they cannot have the proper church life. Actually, the reality of the church does not exist among them. Yes, they are a local church in name, but they do not have the reality of the church. The church exists as a gathering of saved people, but it cannot be considered a reality in the growth of life and in the experience and enjoyment of Christ. Furthermore, where the growth of life is lacking, the believers’ Christian life will be a mess, the church life will be damaged, and the Body life will be destroyed. This was exactly the situation in Corinth. Although the Corinthian believers had received the initial gifts, they had not grown in life. Instead, they merely had the divine life and the Holy Spirit sown into them as seeds. Because they did not have the normal growth in life, they did not have the proper Christian life, church life, and Body life.

　　Paul does not speak of the church in a doctrinal way, but in the way of life, in the way of feeding, watering, and growing. Only if the Corinthians grew in life could the reality of the church exist among them through the experience of Christ and only then could the Body life be built up. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 219-220)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msgs. 12, 16; CWWL, 1959, vol. 3, “Lessons for New Believers,” lsns. 22-25

«　WEEK 8　DAY 2　»

　　Jer. 17:21-22 …Take heed to your souls and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring anything through the gates of Jerusalem. And do not bring out any burden from your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work; but sanctify the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

　　Exo. 31:17 …On the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

　　In Jeremiah 17:19-27 we have Jehovah’s warning concerning the keeping of His Sabbath….If the present inhabitants listened to Jehovah and sanctified the Sabbath day,…the city would be inhabited forever (vv. 24-25). However, if they did not listen to Jehovah and sanctify the Sabbath day, then He would kindle a fire in the gates of the city, and the fire would devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be extinguished (v. 27).

　　The Sabbath signifies that God has done everything, completed everything, and prepared everything and that man must stop all his work….To work on the Sabbath is an insult to God and to what He has accomplished. Instead of working in such a way, we should take in God as our enjoyment, drinking of Him as the fountain of living waters. To sanctify God’s Sabbath is to stop our work and to take what God has done for us.

　　The New Testament also is mainly of these two aspects: to receive God as the living water for our enjoyment (John 4:14; 7:38) and to stop our work. God has accomplished everything, and He is ready for us to enter into His eternal enjoyment in the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem we will not work; we will only drink, praise, enjoy, and rejoice. This is God’s economy. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 113-114)

　　The fact that [the] insertion [of Exodus 31:12-17] concerning the Sabbath follows the charge for the building work of the tabernacle indicates that the Lord was telling these builders, these workers, to learn how to rest with Him….If we only know how to work for the Lord but do not know how to rest with Him, we are acting contrary to the divine principle.

　　It is a divine principle that God does not ask us to work until we have had enjoyment….If we do not know how to have enjoyment with God and how to enjoy God Himself, we shall not know how to work with Him. We shall not know how to be one with God in His divine work.

　　We do emphasize the matter of working with God and not working for God by our own strength. Yes, we should work with God and even by God. But …it is not even sufficient merely to work with God. We need to be one with God in His work. This requires that we enjoy Him. If we do not know how to enjoy God and be filled with God, we shall not know how to work with Him, how to be one with Him in His work.

　　A very good illustration of this principle is found in the New Testament…on the day of Pentecost….The Lord had told them to wait until the Spirit came upon them to fill them. With what were the disciples filled when they were filled with the Spirit? No doubt, they were filled with the enjoyment of the Lord. Because they were filled with the Spirit, others thought that they were drunk with wine. Actually they were filled with the enjoyment of the heavenly wine. Only after they had been filled with this enjoyment did they begin to work with God. This is the way to work with God, the way to work in oneness with Him. When Peter stood up with the apostles to preach the gospel and thereby do a work for God, they all were one with God in His work.

　　Perhaps after enjoying rest with God on his first day, Adam worked to care for the garden for another six days. Then on what was his eighth day, another first day, he again rested with God. This is a cycle that would continue again and again with intervals of resting and working. With God it is a matter of working and resting; with man, a matter of resting and working. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1821-1822, 1824-1826)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 172

«　WEEK 8　DAY 3　»

　　Exo. 31:13 …You shall surely keep My Sabbaths; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you.

　　17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

　　After God gave the revelation concerning the tabernacle and the furniture, and after God selected the builders and gave Moses a charge regarding them, He went on [in Exodus 31:12-17] to speak again of the Sabbath. It seems as if God were saying, “Do not forget My Sabbath….Even in doing My divine work, the work of building the tabernacle, you must still bear a sign to indicate that you are My people and you need Me. Therefore you need to enjoy Me first. Then you will be able to work not only for Me, but also with Me and by being one with Me. I will be your strength to work and your energy to labor. But if you work in yourself and by yourself, that will be an insult to Me. You must do the work of building My dwelling place with Me, by Me, and in oneness with Me. I shall be very happy if you work in this way….You are My people, and you should bear a sign that you need Me to be your enjoyment, strength, and energy. You need Me to be your everything so that you may be able to work for Me. By working in this way you honor Me and glorify Me. This is to bear a sign indicating that you are My people.” (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1826-1827)

　　We all need to learn a basic lesson regarding the Sabbath….The Sabbath means that before we work for God, we need to enjoy God and be filled with Him. If we have enjoyed God and if we have been filled with God, then we are ready to work for Him. Such work will not be by ourselves; it will be by God….On the day of Pentecost…Peter stood up to preach the gospel…by the infilling God, by the infilling Spirit. Therefore, Peter had a sign that he was God’s co-worker, and his gospel preaching was an honor and glory to God.

　　The people of the world all work by themselves. They do not have a sign on them that indicates that they belong to God. They do not enjoy God, they do not rest with God, and they do not work with God. Our situation is altogether different because we have a sign. What is the sign we bear? The sign is that we rest with God, enjoy God, and are filled up with God first, and then we work with the very One who fills us. Furthermore, we not only work with God, but we work as those who are one with God.

　　I can testify that every time I stand up to minister the Word, my unique prayer is that I would be one with the Lord in my speaking. I pray repeatedly, “Lord, in my speaking I want to practice being one spirit with You so that my speaking will be Your speaking. Lord, it must be that You speak in my speaking. If You are not one with me, I will not speak anything. I would never speak in my empty self. That would be a blasphemy to You, an insult to You. Lord, I would speak not only with You, but also by being one with You….” If we would speak this way, what an honor and glory it would be to the Lord! This is the sign of the Sabbath. In my speaking I always seek to bear a sign that my Lord is my Sabbath. He is my rest, my refreshment, my energy, my strength, and my everything for ministering the Word.

　　In the church life we may do many things without first enjoying the Lord, and without serving with the Lord and by being one with the Lord. That kind of service results in the suffering of spiritual death. Any service to the church that is without the enjoyment of the Lord and that is without the oneness with Him brings in spiritual death. Whenever we serve in that way, we cut ourselves off from the fellowship in the Body. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1827-1828, 1830)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 17

«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　Jer. 31:31-32 Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah.

　　The Bible shows us that the desire of God’s heart is to come into man as life and to be one with man. God has always liked to contact man, and in this contact He has made several covenants with man….In the Bible God made eight covenants with man, but He counts only two covenants: the covenant made with Israel through Moses and the new covenant, the covenant of life, which is considered the second covenant (Heb. 8:7). All the other covenants—the covenants with the created man, with the fallen man, with Noah, with Abraham, with Israel in the land of Moab, and with David—are considered by God as side covenants….If we study all these covenants thoroughly, we will see that God cares for only one covenant, the new covenant of life. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 255-256)

　　The content of the new covenant is the Triune God, who has been processed and consummated to become everything to God’s chosen people. This new covenant was promised to Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (cf. Heb. 8:8-13), and it was absolutely, thoroughly, and completely fulfilled by the Lord Jesus when He established His table (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). In instituting the table, the Lord Jesus made a covenant with the New Testament believers.

　　The most important part of the book of Jeremiah is the portion on the new covenant. Since Jeremiah spoke regarding the new covenant, this book, in a sense, is more important than the writings of Moses, which do not say anything about the new covenant. Although Moses prophesied very much concerning Christ, the covenant God made with Israel through him had nothing to do with Jesus Christ.

　　Whereas Christ’s ministry is a ministry of justification, Moses’ ministry was a ministry of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:9a). Therefore, in God’s economy Moses’ ministry is not the central line. However, without the old covenant of the law made through Moses, Jeremiah could not have exposed Israel to the uttermost….Here we see that the function of the law, which is something on the negative side, is to expose our fallen condition and situation. This helps us turn to the source, to the fountain of living waters, which in the New Testament is Christ as the embodiment of God. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 256-257)

　　Christ enacted the new covenant (which became the new testament—the will) with His blood for the redemption of the transgressions of God’s people (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:15)….He died for us according to God’s righteous requirements, and the blood He shed through that death was used to form a covenant. Even He Himself said that the cup of the Lord’s table was a symbol of the new covenant in His blood (1 Cor. 11:25). He redeemed us back to God and qualified us to inherit everything of God. This is the new covenant. Actually, this new covenant is Christ Himself. In resurrection Christ became the bequests of the new testament and the Mediator, the Executor, to execute the new testament (Heb. 9:15-17). This implies that Christ is the covenant. When God gave us the Bible as a will, this meant that God gave us Christ. Christ is the centrality and universality as the reality of the new testament. When Christ is given, that means He is the covenant. We not only have the items of the new testament in our mind, but we also have the reality of this covenant, who is Christ, in our spirit….He is the covenant of God given to us, the reality of all that God is and of all that God has given us. (Life-study of Isaiah, pp. 338-339)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 39; Life-study of Isaiah, msg. 46

«　WEEK 8　DAY 5　»

　　Jer. 31:33-34 But this is the covenant…: I will put My law in their inward parts and write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people….All of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

　　In Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah laid the foundation of the new covenant, prophesying that God will put His law within us; that He will write His law into our mind that we may know God; that God will be our God and we will be His people; that we will not need anyone to teach us, because we will all have a teaching life within us; and that God will forgive our iniquity and remember our sins no longer. In the new covenant we enjoy the inner law of life. This law of life brings us God’s person and also the divine capacity of the divine life, which can accomplish everything for God to fulfill His economy. By the inner law of life we have the capacity to know God, to live God, and even to be constituted with God in His life and nature so that we may be His corporate expression. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 257-258)

　　We need all the twenty-seven books of the New Testament to define this one short portion of Jeremiah 31:31-34. If we understand this portion in light of the entire New Testament, we will see that in this new covenant we have the church, the kingdom of God, God’s household, the house of God as God’s dwelling place in our spirit, the new man, and the Body of Christ as the fullness of the processed and consummated Triune God. Eventually, this new covenant will bring in the millennium. Ultimately and consummately, it will bring in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth for eternity. (Life-study of Jeremiah, p. 258)

　　On earth, Christ cut the pathway of the cross, and in heaven He has opened a new and living way into the Holy of Holies (Heb. 10:19-20). Christ has purified the heavens and the things in the heavens with His blood….Not only do we need the purification by the blood of Christ, but the heavens and the things in the heavens also need it, as the tabernacle and all things pertaining to it were sprinkled and purified by the blood of the sacrifice. By ascending to the heavens, Christ has confirmed the new covenant and obtained eternal redemption (9:12). His ascension to the heavens confirmed the new covenant that He consummated on earth. There, in the heavens, He found eternal redemption for us.

　　Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry (8:6). His ministry on the throne today is more excellent than that of the Old Testament priests in the tabernacle. This is His ministry in the Holy of Holies. As the surety and Mediator of the new covenant, Christ enforces the covenant (7:22; 8:6; 9:15). In Greek the word surety means both a guarantee and a person who is a bondsman or sponsor. As the Executor of the New Testament, Christ executes that testament (9:16-17). Christ is the surety of the covenant and the Executor of the testament. For the will there is a need of an executor, someone to execute it. In His ascension, Christ is the Executor of the testament He bequeathed to us.

　　Christ is the High Priest who intercedes for us and saves us to the uttermost (7:25-26). This is not according to the order of Aaron on earth but according to the order of Melchizedek in heaven. As the heavenly Minister, Christ ministers heaven, life, and power into us (8:2) that we may live the heavenly life on earth. This is not merely to save us from the negative things but to sustain us with the heavenly supply of the divine life. (Life-study of Hebrews, pp. 352-353)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Hebrews, msgs. 31, 33, 35-38, 41-42

«　WEEK 8　DAY 6　»

　　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.

　　7:25 …He is able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him, since He lives always to intercede for them.

　　10:22 Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies with a true heart in full assurance of faith…

　　The book of Hebrews firstly shows us the heavenly Christ who is within the veil, within the Holy of Holies (6:19-20),…as our High Priest (4:14; 7:26), as the heavenly Minister (8:2), and as the Mediator of the new covenant (8:6; 9:15; 12:24). As our High Priest, He is there interceding for us and ministering all the riches of God into us. As the heavenly Minister, He is carrying out His excellent ministry for us, and as the Mediator of the new covenant, He is executing all the contents of the new covenant for our enjoyment.

　　After showing us the heavenly Christ within the veil, the book of Hebrews encourages us to enter within the veil,…look away unto Him, and…consider Him (10:19-20, 22; 12:2-3; 3:1)…in order to receive the transfusion and infusion of Him. Of course, we can only do this by exercising our spirit….Our spirit is joined to the heavenly Holy of Holies. When we turn to our spirit and exercise it, we enter within the veil. Here we participate in the heavenly ministry of the heavenly Christ. Here we are saturated and permeated with all the divine riches that make us the corporate reproduction of the firstborn Son of God for His expression. Here we receive grace and are strengthened to go outside the camp and follow Him on the pathway of the cross. (Life-study of Hebrews, p. 633)

　　It is difficult for Christian readers to understand why the writer of Hebrews mentions the spirit in 4:12. As he is comparing Christ with Judaism, he suddenly says, “The word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit.”…This verse shows us the key to experiencing Christ—our spirit which is joined to the Holy of Holies….The Lord Jesus Christ is with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). Grace is with our spirit (Gal. 6:18)….We must go to our spirit. The Holy of Holies, God’s economy, and even the fulfillment of God’s economy are all related to our spirit. What we need today is to enter within the veil by getting into the spirit. (Life-study of Hebrews, p. 637)

　　We should walk, live, and have our being according to this spirit. Sometimes as I am about to speak to certain people, I am checked: “Will you say this from yourself or from Him who is with you in your spirit?…” We may say the right thing, but we may say it by the wrong person, that is, by our self. We must say the right thing by the right person, and we must also do the right thing by the right person. Quite often we speak of loving the saints. However, we must be careful by what person we love others—by our self or by Christ. We should not forget that as believers in Christ, we have two persons: we have our self, the old person, and we have the Lord Jesus, the new person. We surely need to do the right thing, the good thing, the excellent thing, but we must go further to check by what person we do things….We should not live in our own person; rather, we need to live according to the spirit and remain in our spirit.

　　At times we may laugh, but if we laugh too much, we get out of our spirit. Then,…we may silence ourself and go to our bedroom to pray, “Lord, forgive me; I have laughed too much. I want to come back to my spirit to be with You.” We need to remain in the spirit continuously. First, we need to call on Him, to exercise our spirit; then we need to live according to our spirit, and then remain in our spirit. In Revelation 1:10 the apostle John said that he was in spirit on the Lord’s Day; that is, he was remaining in his spirit. (Life-study of Isaiah, p. 354)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Hebrews, msgs. 57, 27; Life-study of Isaiah, msg. 47