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The age of mystery is the age of faith — Heb. 11:1, 6; Rev. 10:7; 1 Tim. 3:9:
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God’s mysteries are known by faith; for this reason the age of mystery is also the age of faith — Rev. 10:7.
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Faith is a substantiating ability by which we substantiate, give substance to, the things not seen or hoped for — Heb. 11:1:
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Faith assures us of the things not seen, convincing us of what we do not see; therefore, it is the evidence, the proof, of things not seen — v. 1.
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We do not regard, or look at, the things which are seen but the things which are not seen — 2 Cor. 4:18.
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The Christian life is a life of things unseen, and the Lord’s recovery is to recover His church from things seen to things unseen — Rom. 8:24-25; Heb. 11:27; 1 Pet. 1:8; Gal. 6:10.
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Faith is the unique way for God to carry out His New Testament economy with man — Heb. 11:6:
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God’s economy is in faith — a matter initiated and developed in the sphere and element of faith; without faith we cannot realize God’s economy — 1 Tim. 1:4.
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Faith is the unique requirement for people to contact God in His New Testament economy — Heb. 11:1, 6; 1 Tim. 1:4.
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God’s requirement for us related to everything in the New Testament economy is faith — Rom. 1:16-17; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:17; Mark 11:22; Luke 18:8.
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Genuine faith is Christ Himself infused into us to become our ability to believe in Him; after the Lord Jesus has been infused into us, He spontaneously becomes our faith — Rom. 3:26.
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Through faith in Christ Jesus, we are brought into an organic union with Christ; in this organic union we experience Christ and live Christ — Gal. 2:16, 20; John 14:17; Eph. 3:17.
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In the Body “God has apportioned to each a measure of faith”; therefore, we should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think “but to think so as to be sober-minded” — Rom. 12:3.
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Faith is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return and to receive the reward of the kingdom — Luke 18:8; 2 Tim. 4:7c-8a; Heb. 10:35, 39.
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 3:17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith...Heb. 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him, for he who comes forward to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
The things of the Spirit are apprehended by faith....We know that Christ is making His home in our hearts through faith [Eph. 3:17]. Likewise, through faith we realize that God has an economy, and without faith we cannot realize God’s economy [cf. 1 Tim. 1:4]. God’s requirement for us related to everything in the New Testament is faith. If we do not believe, we cannot apprehend anything spiritual. We know there is a God, Christ, and the Spirit through faith. By faith we know that Christ is in the heavens and also in our spirit. By faith we know that the Bible is the Word of God, and by faith we know that we have been saved, regenerated, and forgiven by God. By faith we are sanctified, transformed, renewed, and eventually glorified. By faith we also are overcomers. Everything spiritual is apprehended by faith. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990,” pp. 490-491)
Today’s Reading
Anything that is apprehended by faith is a mystery. For this reason the present age is the age of faith and the age of mystery. Furthermore, anything that is a mystery is of grace.... God is mysterious, and the Spirit of God is mysterious. Christ in us is mysterious, and our salvation, regeneration, justification, and sanctification are mysterious. The Body of Christ is also a mystery. It is by faith that we know that the church is not merely a gathering or a congregation but the Body of Christ, and it is by faith that we know that we are brothers.... We should not trust in our feelings concerning the divine Spirit and the human spirit. According to our feelings, there may be no divine Spirit and no human spirit. When we come to the matter of the two spirits, we must be in faith. Paul declares, “Having the same spirit of faith according to that which is written, ‘I believed, therefore I spoke,’ we also believe, therefore we also speak” (2 Cor. 4:13). Paul spoke not in the spirit of knowledge, feeling, or sensation, but in the spirit of faith.Today God’s mysteries are known by faith. The age of mystery began at the time of the Lord’s incarnation, but when He appears again, the age of mystery will be over….Those who do not believe in Jesus today will see Him at that time. However, today everything spiritual is a mystery….Therefore, we must exercise our God-given faith. Every Christian has something within him called faith. We cannot explain it, but we have it. The more we believe in God, Christ, and the Bible, the happier we are. The more we believe that Christ is in us and is making His home in us, the happier we are and the more living we are….The more we believe that the divine Spirit indwells, works, moves, and operates in our spirit, the happier we are….We must have a complete faith and full assurance that we have a spirit and that the Spirit of God indwells us.
Faith always has an object. The object of our faith is the Word of God. By faith we know that there is a God because the Bible tells us that there is a God. Likewise, by faith we know that God has an economy because 1 Timothy 1:4 says so....It is a fact that the Spirit is in our entire being. According to our experience and exercise, however, the Spirit sometimes seems to not even be in our spirit. We must be clear about what the Bible says. To depend solely upon our experience we do not need revelation, but to believe what the Bible says requires much revelation. This is why we all have to come to the Word often. The more we come to the Word and know what is in it, the more we spontaneously believe (cf. Rom. 10:17). (CWWL, 1990, vol. 2, “Messages to the Trainees in Fall 1990,” pp. 491, 493)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 Thessalonians, msg. 14; CWWL, 1990, vol. 3, “The Vision of the Divine Dispensing and Guidelines for the Practice of the New Way,” ch. 3