Ⅵ
We need to live by the sense of life—the feeling, the consciousness, of the divine life within us—Rom. 8:6; Eph. 4:18-19:
A
The source of the sense of life is the divine life, the law of life, the Holy Spirit, Christ abiding in us, and God operating in us—Rom. 8:2, 10-11; Phil. 2:13.
B
The divine life is the highest life, with the richest, strongest, and keenest feeling; this feeling is the sense of life—Eph. 4:18.
C
The sense of life guides us, governs us, controls us, and directs us, causing us to know whether we are living in the divine life or in the natural life and whether we are living in the flesh or in the spirit—Rom. 8:6.
Ⅶ
We need to be victorious over the attack of death upon the church and build up the Body of Christ in the resurrection life of Christ—Matt. 16:18; John 11:25; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16:
A
By the resurrection life of Christ in our spirit, we can be victorious over the attack of death upon the church—Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:24; 2 Tim. 1:10:
１
From Eden onward, God’s controversy with Satan has been on the issue of death and life—Rom. 8:6, 10-11; Heb. 2:15.
２
Matthew 16:18 shows us from what source the attack upon the church will come—“the gates of Hades,” that is, death; Satan’s special object is to spread death within the church, and his greatest fear with regard to the church is her resistance to his power of death—Rev. 2:8, 10-11.
B
We should be exercised in spirit to build up the Body of Christ in the resurrection life of Christ—Eph. 2:6, 21-22; 4:16; Rev. 1:18; 2:8; Phil. 3:10:
１
The nature of the church as the Body of Christ is resurrection, and the reality of resurrection is Christ as the life-giving Spirit—John 11:25; Acts 2:24; Eph. 1:19-23; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
２
When we live by the divine life within us, we are living a life in resurrection for the building up of the Body of Christ—Phil. 3:10-11; Eph. 4:15-16; Col. 2:19; 3:15.
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.John 11:25 …I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live.
Christ is the resurrection and the life. Since the church is the vessel of Christ on earth, it should express this life and resurrection. God intends for the church to manifest the life of Christ. Hence, the church must be full of life. In the church everything that issues from God is life, and everything that issues from Satan is death.
The main goal of the Lord coming to earth is for man to have life (John 10:10), that is, for man to receive God’s life…. God’s Christ is life, and God’s Christ is resurrection, and the church is the vessel of this life and resurrection….Through the church—the vessel of Christ—God dispenses His life and riches to men. (CWWN, vol. 44, pp. 881-882)
Today’s Reading
Satan is God’s rival. He attacks everything that God wants to do. Since God’s goal today is the church, Satan’s attacks are directed specifically against the church. Satan does not necessarily stumble Christians or the church with the enticement of sin or the world, because these things are too obvious. While we may be free from sin and not love the world, we can still be under Satan’s attacks…. Dealing with sin and the world alone is not enough to stop the attacks of Satan. The ultimate weapon Satan uses to attack the church is death. Death is not easily identifiable; it can creep secretly into the church. This does not mean that Satan will not use the world and sin to attack the church. It means that Satan can use refined and moral things, not just filthy and treacherous sins to attack Christians. Many refined and moral things are filled with death, and Satan can easily utilize these deadly things to attack the church.Matthew 16:18 says that the foundation of the Lord’s church is Christ the Rock, and the gates of Hades cannot prevail against this church. Hades is death. If the church has its roots in heaven, it will be impossible to cut it off from heaven, because…its roots are entrenched and death cannot prevail against it. The only reason that death cannot prevail over the church is that the church is built upon Christ the Rock…. Many Christians…know whether or not a sermon is well-delivered. But it is hard for them to distinguish between death and resurrection. But if the church is built on Christ the Rock, it will distinguish between death and life, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
Romans 8:10 corresponds with John 12:25. Romans 8:10 is on the body and the spirit, while John 12 is on the soul, both the preserving and the losing of the soul. In both cases the end result is related to death and resurrection. Everything that issues from the body or from the soul results in death, which is Hades, whereas everything that issues from the spirit results in life…. A Christian should not ask whether a thing is good or evil but should ask from where a thing originates. Does it originate from the natural life, the flesh, the soul, or does it originate from the spirit? Of all the things that a Christian possesses, only those that originate from the spirit are of life, and only they can give others life. Nothing else—no matter how good, profitable, or nice—gives life.
The church needs life, the resurrection life of Christ. No doctrine, idea, theology, or exposition can replace the life of Christ. Only the life of Christ and that which issues from it will prevail against the gates of Hades. Everything else is just disguised forms of death and cannot withstand the attacks of Satan. May the Lord be merciful to us, and may He keep us from touching death or bringing death into the church. May God fill the church with life, and may Satan find no opening to attack the church. (CWWN, vol. 44, pp. 882-885)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life,” chs. 1-10, 14, 16; CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, “Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life,” ch. 5