Scripture Reading: John 1:14, 16; 14:16-20, 6; 20:22; 4:10, 14; 6:35, 57; 12:23-24; 3:29-30

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 & DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 4　DAY 1　»

　　Luke 15:22-23 But the father said to his slaves, Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry.

　　God’s salvation has…the outward, objective aspect, signified by the best robe, and the inward, subjective aspect, signified by the fattened calf. Christ as our righteousness is our salvation outwardly; Christ as our life for our enjoyment is our salvation inwardly. The best robe enabled the prodigal son to meet his father’s requirements and satisfy his father, and the fattened calf satisfied the son’s hunger. Hence, the father and the son could be merry together. (Luke 15:23, footnote 1)

　　Luke 15 speaks about a son who left home to wander abroad and became a prodigal son. One day the prodigal son clothed in rags returned home….When he was still a long way off, his father saw him and ran to embrace and kiss him. Afterward, his father immediately ordered the slaves, saying, “Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him” (v. 22). That robe was known to all the household because it had been prepared earlier by the father to be put on his son upon his return…. Even though he came back to the father’s house, he still had to put on that robe so that he might look like a son before his father. This is the aspect of redemption. The father had certain qualifications, and to be his son there were certain requirements. When the son left home to wander abroad, he lost his status as a son and became a prodigal son. When the father put that robe upon him, he immediately became a son again. This refers to the judicial aspect of God’s salvation.

　　However, it is not sufficient merely to be clothed with the robe and become a son. At that time, on the one hand, the son was happy, but…[he had] an empty stomach….The father went on to say, “Bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry” (v. 23). At that time the son must have been dancing with joy. After eating the fattened calf, the son was satisfied and no longer hungry. Hence, the robe signifies the judicial aspect of God’s salvation, and the calf signifies the organic aspect of God’s salvation. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation,” p. 387)

　　Our being sanctified through the blood of Christ was a positional matter. We were sinners in Adam, but Christ’s redemption moved us and even removed us out of Adam into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30)….To be redeemed means to be removed. When a sister goes shopping to buy some fruit, she removes the fruit from the market into her kitchen. This is a positional matter.

　　When the father clothed his son with the best robe, that was something outward and positional. But when he fed his prodigal son with the fattened calf, that was something inward and dispositional…. [A person’s] dressing is a positional matter, and his eating is a dispositional matter. The clothing changes his position and qualifies him to go to work. Then he needs something in his stomach to supply him from within. The blood of Christ changed our position to sanctify us. That is the positional aspect of God’s sanctification. Then God regenerates us to make us a new creation, and this is the beginning of our dispositional sanctification by the Spirit. Our being made a new creation continues from regeneration throughout our entire Christian life by the Spirit’s dispositional sanctification.

　　Dispositional sanctification is a continuation of the ongoing work of the believers’ regeneration….Our birth is our regeneration, and our growing is our dispositional sanctification…. God has begotten us (John 1:12-13), and now we need to grow. We all are children of God, but we are in different ages and stages in our spiritual growth. The Spirit continues to renew us by sanctifying us for our growth in life. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Spirit with Our Spirit,” pp. 212-213)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” ch. 2; CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Spirit with Our Spirit,” chs. 9, 11

«　WEEK 4　DAY 2　»

　　Psa. 45:13-14 The king’s daughter is all glorious within the royal abode; her garment is a woven work in-wrought with gold. She will be led to the King in embroidered clothing…

　　Rev. 19:7-8 …The marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.

　　The righteousness we received for our salvation is objective and enables us to meet the requirement of the righteous God, whereas…the righteousnesses of the overcoming saints are subjective (Phil. 3:9) and enable them to meet the requirement of the overcoming Christ. In Psalm 45:13-14 the queen has two garments: one corresponds with the objective righteousness, which is for our salvation, and the other with the subjective righteousnesses, which are for our victory. (Rev. 19:8, footnote 2)

　　All spiritual experiences come first from believing what Christ has accomplished and then by obeying the Spirit’s leading. Christ’s accomplishments cause us to gain the position; the Spirit’s leading causes us to gain the experiences.

　　At the time of Christ’s second coming, there will be the Lamb of God on the objective side. There will also be the bride of the Lamb, “clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints” (Rev. 19:8). This is the subjective aspect. (CWWN, vol. 10, pp. 561-562)

　　The passover in the Old Testament shows us that God’s salvation has the redeeming aspect and the saving aspect. The redeeming aspect, signified by the blood of the lamb, is according to God’s judicial requirement; the saving aspect, signified by the flesh of the lamb, is according to God’s organic provision of life.

　　Once a week we come to the Lord’s table, and on the table the bread and the cup are displayed. The cup, signifying the blood that the Lord shed for our sins, is for meeting the need of redemption; hence, it is related to the judicial aspect of God’s salvation. The bread, signifying the Lord as the bread of life, is related to the organic aspect of God’s salvation…. In the type of the passover in the Old Testament, the children of Israel sprinkled the blood of the lamb and ate the flesh of the lamb. However, in the fulfillment of the passover in the New Testament, we drink the Lord’s blood and eat the Lord’s flesh. To drink the blood is judicial for redemption; to eat the flesh is organic for the move after receiving redemption. When the Lord established His table before His death, He used the bread and the cup as symbols (Matt. 26:26-28). When we eat the bread and drink the cup, this signifies that we eat the Lord’s flesh and drink the Lord’s blood. The total result of these two items is that we receive God as our eternal life…(cf. John 6:54). Therefore, we eat and drink the Lord in order that we may have Him as our eternal life. Only by the drinking of the blood, which is judicial, and by the eating of the flesh, which is organic, can the goal of God’s salvation be accomplished. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation,” pp. 387-388)

　　God’s full salvation revealed in Romans consists of two sections:…the redemption accomplished for us by Christ’s death, and…the saving afforded us by Christ’s life…. Redemption, justification, and reconciliation, which are accomplished outside of us by the death of Christ, redeem us objectively; sanctification, transformation, and conformation, which are accomplished within us by the working of Christ’s life, save us subjectively. Objective redemption redeems us positionally from condemnation and eternal punishment; subjective salvation saves us dispositionally from our old man, our self, and our natural life. (Rom. 5:10, footnote 2)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation,” chs. 1-2

«　WEEK 4　DAY 3　»

　　John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.

　　6:48 I am the bread of life.

　　57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

　　The Gospel of John is entirely about subjective truths…. Eating food and drinking water are definitely not objective but absolutely subjective. When I take in food and drink in water, the food and the water become one with me. Whatever has been taken in will be digested in a few hours to become my living, organic components. In other words, what I eat becomes me….Therefore, the Gospel of John tells us about subjective experience, not objective doctrines. We have to receive the Lord by eating and drinking Him. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” pp. 109-110)

　　The Triune God flows in the Divine Trinity in three stages. John 4:14b says, “The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.” When the fountain springs up, that is the fountain emerging. Then a river flows. The Father is the fountain, the Son is the spring, and the Spirit is the river.

　　This flowing Triune God is “into eternal life.” The Greek preposition translated as “into” is rich in meaning. Here it speaks of the destination. The eternal life is the destination of the flowing Triune God. A fountain is in us springing up as a river into a destination. This destination is the eternal life. The New Jerusalem is the totality of the divine, eternal life. The eternal life eventually will be the New Jerusalem. Thus, into eternal life means into the New Jerusalem….The entire Bible is needed to interpret John 4:14. The Father is the fountain as the source, the Son is the spring, the Spirit is the flowing river, and this flowing issues in the eternal life, which is the New Jerusalem. The Gospel of John opens by saying, “In the beginning was the Word” (1:1). The Word is for speaking, and speaking is the start of God’s flowing. Speaking is flowing, spreading is flowing, and dispensing is also flowing. God flows through speaking, through spreading, through dispensing.

　　The Triune God becomes the living water, which the Lord Jesus presented to the Samaritan woman in John 4…. [The] fountain is the Father. When this fountain emerges, or springs up, that is the Son. When the spring flows into a river, that is the Spirit. This is into, or for, the New Jerusalem. The first four chapters of John present the Triune God as the flowing water. In chapters 6 and 7 there are two feasts. These two feasts are the issue of the flowing. We fallen men become hungry and thirsty. At the feast we have something to eat to satisfy our hunger and something to drink to quench our thirst. The food is Christ, and the water is also Christ.

　　When we drink of this water, it becomes a fountain in us…. This fountain emerges as a spring, and the spring flows out as a river for the New Jerusalem. This is the key to open up the entire Gospel of John. This is the divine speaking, divine spreading, divine dispensing, of the Divine Trinity. The Father as the fountain, the Son as the spring, and the Spirit as the river flow into us. When He flows into us, He flows with us. He will flow us into the New Jerusalem to be the New Jerusalem. The preposition into also means “to become.” Into the New Jerusalem means “to become the New Jerusalem.” If we are not becoming the New Jerusalem, we can never be in the New Jerusalem. We have to be the New Jerusalem; then we can be in the New Jerusalem. This is the intrinsic significance of the Gospel of John and Revelation. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” pp. 455, 457)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” ch. 14

«　WEEK 4　DAY 4　»

　　John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

　　14 …The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (…we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

　　32 And John testified, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abode upon Him.

　　John 1 first speaks of Christ as the Word. Then it reveals that this Word speaks for God through His creation. Then He speaks further for God through His incarnation and in His being the Lamb. The fourth great event in the history of the universe, through which Christ as the Word speaks, is His becoming the Spirit [v. 32]….This is the Spirit descending as a dove upon the Lamb. Christ was the Lamb. Then He became the dove, the Spirit. Christ is revealed in John 1 in His becoming the Spirit for the transformation of God’s redeemed people into stones (vv. 32-42) for the building of God’s house (Bethel—v. 51) organically for the New Testament.

　　To become like God, we need transformation. The first step of transformation is to regenerate, to remake, us….We were made in the image of God and according to the likeness of God, [but] we still do not have anything real of God in us until we are regenerated. We need to be regenerated to begin our transformation into stones for God’s spiritual building, His house. The house of God, Bethel, first is the church, then the Body of Christ, and consummately the New Jerusalem. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” p. 337)

　　The Triune God became a God-man, bringing divinity into humanity and mingling divinity with humanity as a prototype for the mass reproduction of many God-men. He became the embodiment of the Triune God (John 1:14), bringing God to man and making God contactable, touchable, receivable, experienceable, enterable, and enjoyable. The very God who was in eternity became, through transformation, the very embodiment of the Triune God, which is typified by the tabernacle, a solid entity for people to contact, to touch, to receive, to experience, to enter into, and to enjoy.

　　He could not have lived a human life unless He had been transformed into a man. He lived a human life, yet He lived not by His human life but by His divine life to express the divine attributes in His human virtues. Such a living is the model of the human living of His mass reproduction of the many God-men (1 Pet. 2:21). He was not only the prototype for the mass reproduction of Himself; He was also a model, an example, for His mass reproduction of the many God-men to repeat His living, to be “xerox copies” of His human living. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” p. 378)

　　The Gospel of John speaks repeatedly about how we should have subjective experiences of the Lord. He became flesh for the purpose of working Himself into us. He became the living water so that we may drink Him, the bread of life so that we may eat Him, and the breath of life so that we may breathe Him. Nothing can be more subjective than the subjective experiences produced when water, bread, and breath get into us.

　　However, we have to see that…all the subjective experiences that are linked to the Spirit and are hinged on life are for the producing of the church. The issue of our receiving the Lord into us is that we become constituents of the church. To be sure, in the Gospel of John we are shown the subjective experiences. Though the term church is not used, we should not overlook the fact that this book speaks of how the constituents of the church are produced. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” p. 123)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” chs. 1, 2; Life-study of John, msg. 5

«　WEEK 4　DAY 5　»

　　John 15:1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.

　　5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

　　[In John 15:1] this true vine (the Son) with its branches (the believers in the Son) is the organism of the Triune God in God’s economy. This organism grows with His riches and expresses His divine life. (John 15:1, footnote 1)

　　The Father as the husbandman is the source, the author, the planner, the planter, the life, the substance, the soil, the water, the air, the sunshine, and everything to the vine. The Son as the vine is the center of God’s economy and the embodiment of all the riches of the Father. The Father, by cultivating the Son, works Himself with all His riches into the vine, and eventually the vine expresses the Father in a corporate way through its branches. This is the Father’s economy in the universe. (John 15:1, footnote 2)

　　The Lord said that He was a grain of wheat [John 12:24]…. This [one] grain died and grew up to become many grains. Christ was the one grain, and we are the many grains. We were not the many grains by our human birth. When the Lord’s life came into us and the Lord dispensed Himself into us, we were regenerated to become the many grains to be made into one bread. Even though we are many, “there is one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17). Originally, the many grains were grains individually, but now they have been ground to powder and blended together to become one bread. This one bread signifies the church…. This bread is one Body, and this one Body is the church. The church is not… a society… organized by people….The church is produced out of Christ. The church is an issue of His dispensing Himself into us through His death and resurrection to make us grains of wheat. When we as the grains of wheat are blended into one, we become the one bread, and this one bread signifies the one Body.

　　In John 20, after His resurrection the Lord said to Mary, “Go to My brothers and say to them…”(v. 17). Before His death and resurrection, when the Lord was on earth,…He called [His disciples] friends [15:13-15], but He never called them brothers. Why? It was because at that time the Lord’s life had not yet entered into the disciples. It was through resurrection and in resurrection that His life entered into the disciples. Now since they had His life, they became the Lord’s brothers. According to Hebrews 2:12, these brothers are the church: “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You.” What is the church? The church is the composition of the Lord’s many brothers.

　　In John 15 the Lord said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (v. 5a). The branches are not branches if they do not have an absolutely subjective experience of the vine. The branches and the vine are one and cannot be divided. The life in the vine is the life in the branches, the nature of the vine is the nature of the branches, and the substance of the vine is the substance of the branches. There is no difference at all between the vine and the branches. Strictly speaking, all the branches are parts of the vine.

　　When a small sprout first comes out of the ground, there is no branch. After a certain period of growth, the branches appear one after another. By this we see what the church is. The church is composed of the branches growing out of Christ. The church is the aggregate of all the branches of Christ. Every one of us who believes in Him is a branch of Christ because it is He who comes into us to grow in us. Therefore, we are all members of His Body, and when all these members are put together, they are the Body. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” pp. 123-125)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” ch. 3

«　WEEK 4　DAY 6　»

　　John 3:28-30 …I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom;… He must increase, but I must decrease.

　　14:2 In My Father’s house are many abodes…

　　23 …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.

　　Although the Gospel of John does not have the term church, it mentions the grains, the brothers, and the branches. Do these not signify the church?… In addition,…John the Baptist said to his disciples, “I said, I am not the Christ…. He who has the bride is the bridegroom” [John 3:28-29]. The Bridegroom is Christ. Then who is the bride? The bride is the church. This is corporate, not individual. This is one bride in totality. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” p. 126)

　　The phrase My Father’s house is used twice in the Gospel of John. It is used the first time in 2:16, where it refers to the temple (v. 15), the Body of Christ. Based on this, My Father’s house in 14:2 must still refer to the temple, the Body of Christ. We must interpret the Scripture by the Scriptures. Therefore, the definition of My Father’s house in chapter 14 must be according to chapter 2. “My Father’s house” is the temple, the Body, and this is the church today.

　　We have to see that the Gospel of John refers to the church in five different ways. First, many grains are ground to powder to become one bread. Second, many brothers in totality become the church. Third, many branches joined to the vine become one entity. We are members of His Body, and though the members are many, they are one Body. This is similar to the branches; though they are many, they are still one vine. Fourth, there is one bride. Fifth, the one bride is the house of God, “My Father’s house.” All these different terms depict the church from different angles and aspects. However, the main point we should not forget is that the church is produced as a result of our subjective experience of Christ. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” pp. 129-130)

　　[In John 12] we have three kinds of functions: serving, testifying, and loving….These three items must be found in the church life. Whenever people come to us, they must realize that among us are the service for the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, and the love poured out upon the Lord….We must have the service, serving all the time. Even more, we must have the testimony, testifying that the Lord is the resurrection life to us. There is no need for us to labor in this aspect of the testimony. We simply need resurrection life. After we have been resurrected with Him, it is unnecessary for us to labor. We simply sit with Him, go along with Him, and enjoy the feast with Him….Moreover, we must also have the absolute love shown to the Lord. When people come into our midst, they should say, “Oh, these people love the Lord at any cost. They will pay any price in loving the Lord. In their hearts nothing is so costly, so valuable, so lovable, and so precious as the Lord Himself.” We must give people this kind of impression.

　　We all must be a triangular member of the church. We must have three corners…. In the church life there must be at least three items: the diligent service for the Lord, the living testimony of the resurrection life of the Lord, and the absolute love poured out upon the Lord. If we are truly practicing the church life, we must have the service, the testimony, and the love toward the Lord. We all must be Martha, Lazarus, and Mary. Such a church is the result and issue of the Lord being life to us…. Here we can enjoy the Lord with other saints, and the Lord Himself can dwell, rest, and feast in satisfaction. This is the real expression of the Body of the Lord, which is a vessel to contain the Lord and to express Him. (Life-study of John, pp. 306-307)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of John, msgs. 10, 25; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory,” chs. 4-6