Scripture Reading: Rev. 3:7-8, 11-12, 21; 19:7; 21:2, 9-11

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　»

　　Eph. 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints…unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

　　Rev. 5:6 And I saw…a Lamb standing as having just been slain, having…seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

　　21:2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

　　I hope that all the co-workers will see the three stages, the three sections, of Christ: incarnation—the stage of Christ in the flesh; inclusion—the stage of Christ as the life-giving Spirit; and intensification—the stage of Christ as the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit. These three stages are the three sections of Christ’s history…. Therefore, we emphasize these three words—incarnation, inclusion, and intensification—and stress the facts that incarnation produces redeemed people, that inclusion produces the churches, and that intensification produces the overcomers to build up the Body, which consummates in the New Jerusalem as the unique goal of God’s economy. This is the revelation in the New Testament. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Incarnation, Inclusion, and Intensification,” p. 196)

　　The first stage—incarnation—is in the physical realm for the accomplishment of judicial redemption, which is a physical matter. The second stage—inclusion—is divine and mystical. In the third stage—intensification—there will be a maturing and a ripening in the divine and mystical realm, and the Body will be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem.

　　In His second stage, the stage of His being the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, Christ has produced the churches, but not much of the Body was produced and built up in an actual and practical way. In order for the Body to be produced in a full and complete way, there is the need of the third stage of Christ, the stage of intensification in which Christ becomes the sevenfold intensified Spirit.

　　I can say that the work which I did in mainland China was mainly to produce redeemed people. Only a small part of my work there was for the producing of churches. This indicates that my work in China was mainly a work in the first stage. However, when I came to Taiwan, I began to do a work in the stage of inclusion, and many churches were raised up. Now I am burdened to carry out a work in the stage of intensification. Therefore, I pray to the Lord, saying, “Lord, I am endeavoring to do my best to be an overcomer for the building up of Your Body to consummate the New Jerusalem.”

　　We should be doing a work of all three sections. I am concerned that many of the co-workers are still working only in the first section, the section of incarnation. If this is your situation, you need to improve and to advance. What you have learned and what you have done in the past are not adequate. Of course, you should not discard the things of the first stage, for those things are the foundation. Now you need to begin building on this foundation and eventually have the completion of the building. The foundation is the work in the stage of incarnation; the building up is the work in the stage of inclusion; and the completion of the building is the work in the stage of intensification. I would urge you to consider this matter of intensification and to pray desperately, saying, “Lord, …I do not want to remain in the work of incarnation nor even in the work of inclusion. I want to advance from inclusion to intensification. Lord, You have been intensified sevenfold, and I pray that I also will be intensified sevenfold to overcome the degradation of the church that the Body may be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem.” (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Incarnation, Inclusion, and Intensification,” pp. 195, 194, 196-197)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The High Peak of the Vision and the Reality of the Body of Christ,” chs. 2-4

«　WEEK 8　DAY 2　»

　　Rev. 3:8 I know your works; behold, I have put before you an opened door which no one can shut, because you have a little power and have kept My word and have not denied My name.

　　10 Because you have kept the word of My endurance, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial…

　　Matt. 18:20 For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.

　　In Greek, Philadelphia means “brotherly love.” As a sign, the church in Philadelphia prefigures the proper church life recovered by the brothers who were raised up by the Lord in England in the early part of the nineteenth century. Just as the reformed church, prefigured by the church in Sardis, was a reaction to the apostate Catholic Church, prefigured by the church in Thyatira, so the church of brotherly love is a reaction to the dead reformed church. This reaction will continue as an anti-testimony to both apostate Catholicism and degraded Protestantism until the Lord comes back.

　　One outstanding feature of the church in Philadelphia is that she kept the Lord’s word [Rev. 3:8]. According to history, no other Christians have kept the Lord’s word as strictly as those in the church in Philadelphia. The church in Philadelphia, the recovered church, does not care for tradition; she cares for the word of God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2525-2526)

　　We should not regard the church in Philadelphia as being strong, powerful, and prevailing. Whereas we may estimate the church in Philadelphia very highly, the Lord says that she had “a little power.” What pleases the Lord is not that we are strong but that we use our little power to do the best we can.

　　In Revelation 3:8 the Lord also says that the church in Philadelphia has not denied His name…. The word is the Lord’s expression, and the name is the Lord Himself. The apostate church has deviated from the Lord’s word and has become heretical. The reformed church, though recovered to the Lord’s word to some extent, has denied the Lord’s name by denominating herself with many other names. The recovered church has not only returned to the Lord’s word in a full way but has also abandoned all names other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ…. To deviate from the Lord’s word is apostasy, and to denominate the church with any name other than the Lord’s is spiritual fornication. The church as the chaste virgin betrothed to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2) should not have any name other than her Husband’s…. In the recovered church life we have no teachings of Balaam (Rev. 2:14), no teachings of the Nicolaitans (2:15), no teachings of Jezebel (2:20), and no mysterious doctrines of Satan (2:24); we have only the pure word of the Lord. Likewise, the recovered church has no denominations (names) but the unique name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The deviation from the Word to heresies and the exaltation of so many names other than that of Christ are the most striking signs of degraded Christianity. The return to the pure Word from all heresies and traditions and the exaltation of the Lord’s name by abandoning every other name are the most inspiring testimony in the recovered church.

　　As the One who has the key of David and who opens and no one shall shut (3:7), the Lord has given the recovered church “an opened door which no one can shut” [v. 8]. Since the recovery of the proper church life began, in the early part of the nineteenth century, until now, a door has always been wide open to the Lord’s recovery. The more that organized Christianity tries to shut the door, the wider it is open. In spite of much opposition, the door today is open worldwide. The key is in the hand of the Head of the church; it is not in the hand of the opposers. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2526-2527)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 238, 412; Life-study of Revelation, msg. 15; CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “The Divine Economy,” ch. 14

«　WEEK 8　DAY 3　»

　　Rev. 3:7 And to the messenger of the church in Philadelphia write: These things says the Holy One, the true One, the One who has the key of David, the One who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one opens.

　　Isa. 22:22 And I will set the key of the house of David upon his shoulder—when he opens, no one will shut; when he shuts, no one will open.

　　When God created man, He gave him dominion over all creatures [Gen. 1:26]. This indicates that in God’s intention man is to be the power representing God on earth. Due to the fall, however, man lost this power and has never fully recovered it…. We do not see this power until God’s chosen people, the children of Israel, entered into the good land and built the temple…. The temple is related to God’s image because, being God’s house, it is His expression. The temple was built in the city. The temple signifies God’s expression, and the city signifies God’s dominion. The image and dominion revealed in Genesis 1 are, at least to some extent, fulfilled in the temple and the city. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4199-4200)

　　The key held by David is the key of God’s entire dominion. God’s dominion includes the whole universe, particularly mankind. This dominion has a key, which is possessed by the person who fought the battle for the kingdom and who made preparations for the temple. The name of this person is David. David represents God in establishing God’s kingdom on earth. Hence, he has the key of God’s dominion in the universe. David, however, is just a type, not the reality. The real David is Christ, the greater David (Matt. 12:1-8). He is the One who built God’s temple, the church, and established God’s kingdom (16:18-19). Therefore, in the church today, which is both a house and a kingdom, we have God’s expression and representation. As the greater David, Christ has built up the house of God, the real temple, and He has set up the kingdom of God, the dominion in which He exercises full authority to represent God. Thus, He holds the key of David, that which represents God and opens the whole universe for God. It signifies that Christ is the center of God’s economy. He is the One who expresses and represents God, holding the key to open everything in God’s dominion.

　　Revelation 3:7 also says that Christ is the One who “opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one opens.” He opens and shuts because the universal key, the key of God’s economy, is in His hand. The Lord uses this key to deal with the church.

　　Isaiah 22:22-24 is a prophecy concerning Christ as the One who holds the key of David. The crucial subject in Isaiah 22 is the house of God…. If we consider the context of Isaiah 22 and read the context of the word regarding Christ as the One holding the key of David in Revelation 3, we will realize that Christ’s holding the key of David is for God’s house, God’s building.

　　The overcomers in Philadelphia will be pillars in the temple of God, and the temple of God will ultimately be enlarged into the New Jerusalem. According to Revelation 21:22, there is no temple in the New Jerusalem, for in eternity the temple will be enlarged into a city, which, having three equal dimensions (v. 16), will be the enlargement of the Holy of Holies. This is the ultimate consummation of God’s house. Christ’s holding the key of David, fighting the battle for God, building the temple, and establishing the kingdom of God are all for God’s building.

　　Christ, holding the key of David, opens and shuts, not that we might be holy or spiritual but that we might be built up. Both holiness and spirituality are to enable us to be pillars in the temple of God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4200-4201)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The Dispensing, Transformation, and Building of the Processed Divine Trinity in the Believers,” chs. 1, 4

«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　Rev. 3:11-12 I come quickly; hold fast what you have that no one take your crown. He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore…

　　21:22 And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

　　[In Revelation 3:12] the overcomer will be made a pillar built into the temple of God. Because he is built into God’s building, “he shall by no means go out anymore.” This promise will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom as a prize to the overcomer. To overcome in the church in Philadelphia is not to get anything or to overcome other things; it is to keep what we have received in the Lord’s recovery to the end. If you do this, the Lord will make you a pillar in God’s temple. This reminds us of Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28. After Jacob had that dream, he set up the stone which he had used for a pillow to be a pillar. That pillar was for God’s building…. The principle is exactly the same today. The Lord has set up a good number of stones to be pillars in His recovery…. Once a stone has been set as a pillar into the building, it can never be removed, for it has been built in…. If you have been built into the temple as a pillar, you could not leave even if you wanted to. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 193-194)

　　The Lord makes us pillars by transforming us, that is, by carrying away our natural element and by replacing it with His divine essence. Therefore, the meaning of make in Revelation 3:12 is to constitute us into something, to construct us in a creative way. In the church life today the Lord is making us, constituting us, into pillars in the temple of God. The Lord’s work in the church is to work Himself into us as the divine flow to carry away our natural being and replace it with His substance that we may be gradually processed by His transforming element. As the result of this transforming work, we become pillars in the temple of God.

　　Revelation 3:12 tells us that the overcomers will be pillars in the temple of God in the coming age. However, Revelation 21:22, speaking of the New Jerusalem in the coming age and in eternity, says, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” Here we see that in the New Jerusalem the Triune God Himself will be the temple. This means that for the overcomers to be pillars in the temple means that they will be pillars in the Triune God. This involves being mingled with the Triune God and constituted of Him. This is a mystery.

　　Even in today’s church life, the overcoming saints are pillars in the Triune God. Furthermore, these saints sometimes have the consciousness that the church is actually nothing other than the Triune God. This fact is indicated by the golden lampstands as a symbol of the church (Rev. 1:12, 20). Furthermore, the lampstand is the embodiment and expression of the Triune God. The gold of the lampstand signifies the nature of the Father; the form signifies Christ as the embodiment and image of God; and the seven lamps signify the Spirit as the expression. Therefore, the lampstand is the embodiment of the Triune God and also a symbol of the church. Hence, it is not too much to say that, in actuality, the church is the Triune God, because the lampstand is the church and also the embodiment of the Triune God. Now we can see that the pillars in the church today are pillars in the Triune God. In the coming age these overcoming believers will be pillars in the temple of God, which is God Himself. From this we see that being made a pillar involves the Triune God being mingled with and constituted into the faithful overcomers. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1215-1216)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 112; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “Crystallization-study of Song of Songs,” chs. 1-2, 7, 12

«　WEEK 8　DAY 5　»

　　Rev. 21:9-11 …Come here; I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.

　　God’s economy is that God would become a man to make man God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead for the producing of the New Jerusalem as the increase and expression of the Triune God for eternity. The New Jerusalem is built by God’s constituting Himself into man to make man the same as God in life, in nature, and in constitution so that God and man may become a corporate entity. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, p. 36)

　　If we look at today’s outward situation, we can see the lack of the building up of the Body of Christ, which consummates the New Jerusalem. This is why the Lord has charged me to release the high peaks of His divine revelation. First, we need to release the truth that God became a man so that man may become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. Then we need to release the truth concerning the New Jerusalem. Since the Lord has released these high peaks of His truths, we have to learn the new language to speak them. Paul and [his] co-workers…were different because of what they ministered. Today in the recovery all the co-workers must be different. They must learn to speak these high truths concerning God’s economy—that God became a man that man may become God, with the New Jerusalem as the ultimate consummation. This is a great miracle and a deep mystery. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Application of the Interpretation of the New Jerusalem to the Seeking Believers,” pp. 247-248)

　　In the book of Isaiah two short prophecies clearly show the link between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Isaiah 7:14 says that a virgin would bring forth a son whose name would be called Immanuel. Isaiah 9:6 says that a son would be given to us and that his name would be called the mighty God and the eternal Father. These prophecies reveal that God would become a man as a little child. The mighty God, the eternal Father, became a man in order to make man God in life and in nature (but not in the Godhead). However, in order to be made God in this way, man first needed to be redeemed. Isaiah 53 is a strong chapter on the redemption of Christ. In His humanity the God who had become man was man’s Redeemer, slain for man’s sin. God redeemed man for the purpose of making the redeemed man God in life and in nature so that God can have a consummation of His economy in the Body of Christ as the enlargement of Christ. This Body of Christ will consummate in the New Jerusalem as God’s full expression and enlargement for eternity. In typology the history of the kings is linked to God’s becoming a man to redeem man back to Himself that He might make His redeemed people God in life and in nature so that He might have for eternity a universal, corporate expression of Himself. This, in brief, is God’s economy.

　　The goal of God’s economy is to work on His redeemed people in order to make them God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. This can be accomplished only through, by, with, and in the life-giving Spirit. It is crucial for us in the Lord’s recovery to see that our Christ today is in resurrection and that in resurrection He is the pneumatic Christ, the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God. We have Him as the all-inclusive, compound Spirit in our spirit. Now every day we must do everything in our spirit in order that this life-giving Spirit may transform us, conform us, and eventually glorify us that we might be made God in life and in nature. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 122-123)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, msgs. 1, 5, 7, 11; Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msgs. 4, 7-9, 18-22

«　WEEK 8　DAY 6　»

　　Rev. 3:12 He who overcomes,…I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My new name.

　　John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.

　　Christ writes His new name upon the overcomers…. He is the Christ who is exceedingly ancient yet who is new today, having a new name to write upon the overcomers. This indicates that the overcomers are one with this new Christ. This new name will be according to our experiences. In other words, what we experience of the Lord will become us. We experience God, and God becomes us. We experience the New Jerusalem, and that also becomes us. We experience the Lord in an intimate and personal way, and that becomes us. Therefore, the Lord will rightly designate us, writing upon us His new name. This will indicate that we have become a person who has experienced the Lord Himself as the One who makes Himself us. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 4204)

　　The name that is upon the overcomers indicates that this is what they are. To have the new name of the Lord Jesus means that they are Jesus, because they have His new name written upon them. Of course, their being Jesus is in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. That the Lord’s new name is written upon the overcomer indicates that the overcomer is possessed by the Lord, that the Lord Himself belongs to him, and that he is one with the Lord. The overcomer is the possession of Christ, and he is the expression of Christ, who has transformed him with His elements. The name of the Lord denotes the Lord Himself. That the name of the Lord is written upon the overcomer indicates that the person of the Lord has been wrought into the overcomer.

　　We have Christ, but Christ may not be new to us. Mostly our experience of Christ may be old. But if we make the decision to be an overcomer in this age, we will have the sense that Christ is exceedingly fresh and new. We will enjoy Him as God’s new compassions refreshing us every morning (Lam. 3:22-23).

　　The overcomers…bear the new name of the Lord. In a sense they are experiencing a new Lord, a new Jesus, a new Christ…. Today our Jesus should truly be a new Jesus; every day He should be new to us.

　　Most Christians have only the limited experience of Christ as their Redeemer. Not many have the experience of Christ as their life. Most of those who experience Christ as life experience this in a shallow way. Christ is not only our Redeemer and our life; He is also our King, Prophet, Priest, light, power, righteousness, holiness, transformation, and many other things. The more we experience Christ, the newer He will be to us, and the more His name will be written upon us. First, Christ as Redeemer is written upon us. Later, Christ as life, light, humility, patience, and love will also be written upon us. His name is inexhaustible. The writing of His name upon us depends upon our experience. The more we experience Him, the longer will be the writing of this name. No one can say what the new name of Christ is because it is simply the designation of our new experience of Christ. When we experience Christ in a certain way, that aspect of Christ will become our designation, the new name written upon us. In this way our experience of Christ will be lengthened, and we will say, “Not my will but His will.” We will not act on our own but according to His heart’s desire. Then the name of God, the name of the city of God, and the Lord’s new name will be written upon us. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4204-4206)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible,” chs. 1-3; Life-study of Job, msgs. 3, 5-6, 8-10, 12, 16, 22-23, 31, 38