D
God gave Gideon three hundred men and made them one body, signified by a “round loaf of barley bread” tumbling through the camp of the Midianites for their defeat and God’s victory—Judg. 7:9-25:
１
Gideon and his men moved and acted together in one accord as one man, signifying the oneness in the Spirit and the living in the Body; they were blended together in resurrection, signified by barley, the first-ripe grain (6:16; 2 Sam. 21:9; Lev. 23:10; 1 Cor. 15:20), to be one bread, signifying the church (10:17).
２
Paul’s thought of the church being one bread was taken from the Old Testament with the meal offering (Lev. 2:4-5); we are the many grains (John 12:24) so that we may be ground into fine flour mingled with oil for making the cake, the bread, of the church (1 Cor. 12:24-25).
３
All the co-workers and elders should shepherd one another and love one another to be a model of the Body life, a model of those who are learning to be tempered, blended, and crossed out in order to do everything by the Spirit to dispense Christ into one another for the practical Body life—Rom. 12:1-5; cf. 2 Chron. 1:10.
E
Gideon and his three hundred men fought the battle and labored, yet the whole congregation chased the enemy and reaped the harvest, signifying that when we overcome, the whole Body is revived until Jehovah as peace, Jehovah-shalom (Judg. 6:24), reigns on the earth—7:22-25; 8:1-4; Col. 1:24; Psa. 128:5; Isa. 32:17; 66:12.
F
As Gideon and his men were pursuing the kings of Midian, they were “weary yet pursuing” (Judg. 8:4b); because we have received God’s mercy to minister and live in the reality of God’s eternal economy, we do not lose heart (2 Cor. 4:1, 16-18); we may labor to the point of exhaustion, but our labor is according to God’s operation, which operates in us in power (Col. 1:28-29; 1 Cor. 15:58).
Morning Nourishment
Judg. 7:13-14 …There was this round loaf of barley bread tumbling through the camp of Midian….This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon….God has delivered Midian and all the camp into his hand.1 Cor. 10:17 Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.
12:24…But God has blended the body together…
According to Judges 7:9 through 15, Gideon heard the account of a dream in the camp of Midian. [In verses 13-14] one of the Midianites recounted a dream to his companion…. His companion responded by saying that this was nothing else than the sword of Gideon and that God had delivered Midian and all the camp into Gideon’s hand. When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped, returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for Jehovah has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand” (v. 15).
Gideon divided the three hundred men into three companies and put trumpets into their hands, as well as empty pitchers, with torches inside the pitchers (v. 16). They blew the trumpets and shattered the pitchers. Then, holding the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands, they cried out, “A sword for Jehovah and for Gideon!” (vv. 19-20). Then the whole camp of the Midianites ran off, and they shouted and fled. (Life-study of Judges, p. 29)
Today’s Reading
God gave Gideon three hundred men and made them one body. Individual victory is not proper. Gideon and those three hundred men moved together and acted in one accord. All of their flesh was cut off, so they could be one. This is the oneness in the Spirit and a living in the Body. (CWWN, vol. 11, p. 774)A barley loaf…is a loaf of the resurrected Christ who can never be limited….You say that you cannot meet the situation. This is right. You surely cannot. But there is One who can—the One who is the barley. A barley loaf is within you; a little bit of the resurrected Christ is in you—that is good enough. (CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” p. 236)
Paul’s thought of the church being one bread [1 Cor. 10:17] was not his own invention; rather, it was taken from the Old Testament. The meal offering in Leviticus 2:4 consisted of cakes made of fine flour mingled with oil. Every part of the flour was mixed, or mingled, with the oil. That is blending. Paul tells us that the church is a bread, a cake, made of fine flour…. John 12:24 says that Christ is the one grain of wheat who fell into the earth and died and grew up in resurrection to produce many grains, which are we, His believers. We are the many grains so that we may be ground into fine flour for making the cake, the bread, of the church. Here we can see the thought of blending in the Bible.
[First Corinthians 12:24] says clearly that God has blended all the believers together. But where is the blending in the recovery? We may think that the coordination in the church is the reality of the blending. However, I must tell you that even the coordination in the church is not the reality of the Body of Christ. To be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to be absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ. We do have some good coordination in the local churches. However, I would ask, “Is this kind of coordination carried out by the natural life or in resurrection?” To be in resurrection means that our natural life is crucified, and then the God-created part of our being is uplifted in resurrection to be one with Christ in resurrection. It is common today that in the local churches what we can see is mostly the “church” in its meetings, activities, works, and services. But we cannot see much of the reality of the Body of Christ in resurrection, that is, in the Spirit, in the pneumatic Christ, and in the consummated God. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The Practical Points concerning Blending,” pp. 112-113)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” chs. 5-6; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “The Practical Points concerning Blending,” chs. 2-4