Hymns, 12609, 608

Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 1:3-5; John 4:14b; Matt. 1:18, 20-21, 23; 3:16-17; 6:9-10, 13; 12:28; 28:19

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 1　DAY 1　»

　　Psa. 36:8-9 They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, and You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.

　　1 Tim. 1:4 …Give heed to…God’s economy, which is in faith.

　　[Psalm 36:8a] is a figurative speaking of Christ being the rich sacrifices through His death, and this is the fatness of God’s house. Verse 8 also tells us that the Lord causes us to drink of the river of His pleasures. The fatness refers to Christ, and the river refers to the Spirit. Then verse 9… refers to God the Father as the source, as the fountain, not the spring. The fountain is the real source, whereas the spring is the springing up, the bubbling up, of the fountain. The fountain of life refers to the Father as the very source of life. Verse 9 continues to say, “In Your light we see light.” Light also refers to the Father. The Father is not only the source of life but also the source of light. Life comes first and then light. This corresponds with John 1:4: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Even in such a short portion of the Word, in the poetry of the ancient psalmist, we can see the Divine Trinity. We can see Christ as the fatness, the Spirit as the river, and the Father as the source of life and light. This is marvelous! (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” p. 227)

　　The only way we could interpret Psalm 36:8-9… is by the governing vision—the Triune God is working Himself into His chosen and redeemed people to be their life and life supply, to saturate their entire being with the Divine Trinity, that is, with the Father as the fountain, the Son as the fatness, and the Spirit as the river. This is the vision that should govern and direct how you interpret any portion of the Bible….Without such a vision you may present a good message based on Psalm 36:8-9, yet it will be so shallow, touching nothing of the Divine Trinity. Even if you were to go to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and discover that the fatness refers to the fatty ashes of the sacrifices, without such a vision you would never think that this refers to Christ. You must have the governing principle. Then when you see the word sacrifices, you would be so clear that this refers to the second of the Divine Trinity, Christ. Then it would also be easy for you to understand the river of God’s pleasures. Without such a vision it is not so easy to understand what this river is. Romans 14:17 refers back to this river when it tells us that the kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The joy in the Holy Spirit is the river of pleasures, or we could say the river of pleasures is the Spirit of joy….When we pick up this key, we can open up every part of the Bible.

　　Every book of the Bible confirms our understanding of this Scripture passage because the entire Bible was written according to the principle of the Triune God wrought into His redeemed people as their enjoyment, their drink, and their fountain of life and light. The application of this principle in interpreting any portion of the New Testament is endless. Then our message, using any portion, will be greatly enriched. It will be full of the fatness, full of the flowing of the river of pleasures, and full of the fountain of life and of light. Our message and our ministry will be different. There will be an intrinsic principle within and governing whatever we speak, teach, and preach. This is my burden. Merely to read the lines of a Life-study to pick up some points and titles from a message will not work. We have not been constituted with such a principle, and this principle has not become a vision to us. We may have eyes to read the Bible and a mind to understand it, but we do not have the key to open it. We need the key. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 229-230)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” chs. 2-4, 7; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” chs. 3-4

«　WEEK 1　DAY 2　»

　　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.

　　1 Cor. 12:13 …In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body…and were all given to drink one Spirit.

　　The Triune God flows in the Divine Trinity in three stages…. [In John 4:14b] when the fountain springs up, that is the fountain emerging. Then a river flows. This flowing Triune God is “into eternal life” [v. 14]. 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….Thus, into eternal life means into the New Jerusalem. We must have something flowing into that divine New Jerusalem in order for us to arrive there. 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….God flows through speaking, through spreading, through dispensing. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” p. 455)

　　The New Jerusalem is the totality of God joined with man and man mingled with God. The number that represents the New Jerusalem is twelve, signifying that God in His eternal administration is mingled with His creature, man. The Triune God is signified by the number three, and man is signified by the number four. Three times four is twelve. In the New Jerusalem there are the twelve foundations, inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles (Rev. 21:14); the twelve gates, which are twelve pearls, inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes (v. 12); and the twelve fruits of the tree of life (22:2). This shows that the New Jerusalem is the mingling of God and man.

　　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. When we drink of this water, it becomes a fountain in us… [that] emerges as a spring, and the spring flows out as a river for the New Jerusalem….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.”…We have to be the New Jerusalem; then we can be in the New Jerusalem.

　　The springing up is the spring flowing. The river is implied in the flowing. Into here means “issuing in,” or “to be, to become.” The New Jerusalem will be there through the Triune God’s flowing. In the beginning of the Bible, God was there. At the end of the Bible is the New Jerusalem. In the beginning, in eternity past, was the Word, who was God. In eternity future the Word becomes the New Jerusalem.

　　First Corinthians 12:13 says, “We were all baptized into one Body.” This does not mean that the Body is apart from us and that we have been put into the Body. It means that we have been baptized into the Body. The baptism of the Spirit put us all together to be the Body. Into means “to be.” We have been baptized to be the Body. Eventually, we will be the New Jerusalem, which is God mingled, blended, and incorporated with man. Now we can see that one half of a verse, John 4:14b, covers the entire Bible. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” pp. 456-458)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible,” chs. 1-3; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord,” ch. 2

«　WEEK 1　DAY 3　»

　　Luke 1:35…The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy thing which is born will be called the Son of God.

　　Matt. 1:20-21 …That which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.

　　Luke 1:35 is a verse concerning the divine conception of the Lord Jesus. In this divine conception the Divine Trinity is revealed. Luke 1:35 shows the Holy Spirit’s coming upon Mary; the Most High [God the Father] overshadowing Mary; and the birth of the holy thing [the Son of God]. Thus, the entire Divine Trinity was involved in the conception of the Man-Savior.

　　Matthew 1:20-23 also refers to the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. Verses 20 and 21 show us the divine conception of the Holy Spirit and the birth of Jesus [the Son]. Then verse 23 tells us that this One was called by men Emmanuel, which means “God [God the Father] with us.” These verses again reveal the working of the Divine Trinity in the Savior’s incarnation. God the Father’s being with us was the issue of the divine conception of the Holy Spirit and the birth of Jesus, the Son. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” p. 302)

Today’s Reading

　　Matthew 3:16 and 17 reveal the Divine Trinity in His divine move. These verses show Jesus standing in the baptizing water, the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Jesus [the Son], and the Father speaking out of the heavens, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.” The Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Christ can be considered as God’s anointing Him to be His Messiah to carry out His eternal purpose…. God anointed Him with the consummation of the Triune God as the anointing oil. In ancient times the kings and the priests needed to be anointed to take their offices. The anointing is the confirmation of the appointing. The appointed Christ was in the water under an open heaven and was anointed by the Triune God with the economical Spirit. By that time Jesus had already been born of the essential Spirit. Before the Spirit of God descended and came upon Him, the Lord Jesus was born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35), proving that He already had the Spirit of God within Him. That was for His birth. Now for His ministry the Spirit of God descended upon Him. This was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1; 42:1; and Psalm 45:7 to anoint the new King and introduce Him to His people. He was conceived with the essential Spirit for His birth in order for Him to be a God-man to exist on the earth. Thirty years later He was baptized by John. While He was standing in the waters of baptism, God came to anoint Him with the Holy Spirit as the economical Spirit to carry out God’s economy. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 329-330)

　　The Lord’s being baptized to fulfill God’s righteousness and to be put into death and resurrection brought Him three things: the open heavens, the descending Spirit of God, and the speaking of the Father. It is the same with us today. (Matt. 3:16, footnote 2) By the descending of the Spirit of God like a dove upon Him, the Lord Jesus ministered in gentleness and singleness, focusing solely on the will of God. (Matt. 3:16, footnote 4)

　　The Spirit’s descending was the anointing of Christ, whereas the Father’s speaking was a testimony to Him as the beloved Son. This is a picture of the Divine Trinity: the Son rose up from the water, the Spirit descended upon the Son, and the Father spoke concerning the Son. This proves that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit exist simultaneously. This is for the accomplishing of God’s economy. (Matt. 3:17, footnote 1)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 10; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” chs. 4-5

«　WEEK 1　DAY 4　»

　　Matt. 6:9-10 You then pray in this way: Our Father who is in the heavens, Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

　　13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

　　The praying ones must be children of God, born of God, so they have the authority, the right, to call God their Father. We cannot call a person our father if we are not born of him. We have a Father in the heavens who has begotten us. This brief but critical prayer covers a number of crucial items.

　　To be sanctified means to be separated and distinct from all that is common…. If we pray for our Father’s name to be sanctified, we should not just utter this with our words. For His name to be sanctified, we should express Him in our living. We must live a sanctified life, a daily life separated from being common. To pray such a prayer requires us to be sanctified persons, those who are separated from being common. We should be distinct, separate, from all the people around us. In other words, we should be holy. As sanctified people, we should pray, “Our Father, Your name be sanctified.” (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” pp. 537-538)

　　Today the world is not God’s kingdom but His enemy’s kingdom. This is why the Bible says that Satan is the ruler of today’s world (John 12:31). In Satan’s kingdom, the world, there is no righteousness, no peace, and no joy. Romans 14:17 says that the reality of the kingdom life is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. In Satan’s kingdom today, there is no joy, because there is no peace. In the United Nations, peace is talked about all the time, but there is no peace, because there is no righteousness. Peace is the issue of righteousness. In his second Epistle, Peter says that the unique thing that dwells in the new heavens and new earth is righteousness (3:13). In the coming kingdom, the millennium, the primary thing will be righteousness. There is no righteousness in today’s world, because this is the kingdom of Satan, the evil ruler.

　　Today Satan’s will is being done on the earth through evil men….Thank the Lord that Satan’s will is not fully carried out. Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin were destroyed. Napoleon wanted his will to be done, but he did not succeed. We need to pray for the Father’s divine will to be done on earth as in heaven. This is to bring the heavenly ruling, the kingdom of the heavens, to the earth. Then the Father’s will surely will be done on the earth. These three things [in Matthew 6:9-10]—the name, the kingdom, and the will—are the attributes of the one Triune God. The name is of the Father, because the Father is the source; the kingdom is of the Son, and the will is of the Spirit. To pray in this way is to pray that the Triune God will be prevailing on the earth as He is prevailing in the heavens.

　　The prayer to the Father concludes in this way: “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (6:13). Here is the realization and praise of God’s kingdom, power, and glory. This also refers to the Triune God. The kingdom is of the Son, which is the realm in which God exercises His power. The power is of the Spirit, which carries out God’s intention so that the Father can express His glory. This indicates that the prayer that the Lord taught us to pray begins with the Triune God, in the sequence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and ends also with the Triune God, but in the sequence of the Son, the Spirit, and the Father. Thus, the prayer taught by the Lord in His supreme teaching begins with God the Father and ends also with God the Father. God the Father is both the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” pp. 538-540)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” ch. 11

«　WEEK 1　DAY 5　»

　　Matt. 12:28 But if I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

　　John 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works.

　　In Matthew 12:28 the Lord said, “If I [the Son], by the Spirit of God [the Triune God including the Father], cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God [the Triune God] has come upon you.” Matthew 12:28 seemingly is a simple word, but we need to look into this verse to see its deeper meaning and revelation. We need to ask, “…Couldn’t the Lord have said that He cast out demons by Himself in order that His own kingdom might come upon the people? What would have been wrong with this?” If the Son would have done this, He would have acted individualistically….The way He cast out demons showed…that He was humble…. He was doing something by the Spirit of God and for the kingdom of God. He never did anything by Himself or for Himself. Is this not beautiful? This shows us the excellency in the Divine Trinity. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 307-308)

　　This is surely a good pattern for our coordination. The Lord has produced a Body constituted with many members, so all the members should learn of Him. He was working by the Spirit of God for God the Father. He never did anything by Himself or for Himself. Is this not a pattern for us to be coordinated in His Body? We should behave ourselves just like our Head. He behaved Himself in a way of neither doing anything by Himself nor doing anything for Himself. Today in the church life the Body of Christ has not been built up adequately because of the shortage of the proper coordination. If we want to be coordinated with all the members in the Body, we have to learn of Christ our Head, taking Him as our pattern. We should not do anything by ourselves or for ourselves. I may do something according to the will of God, but what I do should not be by myself but by some others. Furthermore, what I do should not be for myself but for the interest, the right, of God on the earth. This is a beauty, and this beauty is a real excellency, a real divine attribute, and an excellent virtue that we need to copy.

　　The Lord did not say that He cast out demons by Himself for His own kingdom. Instead, He said that He cast out demons by another One and for another One. His spirit was so humble, so selfless. He did nothing by Himself or for Himself. With Him there was no self, no element of selfishness. This is a beauty.

　　The move of the Divine Trinity as seen in… Matthew 12:28 is an excellent and beautiful example for us to follow…. He did not do things to Himself and for Himself, nor did He trust in Himself. The New Testament record shows us such excellencies, beauties, and virtues in the Divine Trinity. There are so many beautiful items in this dear One. He humbled Himself to become a lowly man, even a slave. While He was on the earth as a slave, He acted in a way of not trusting Himself and not doing anything by Himself, to Himself, or for Himself.

　　Suppose that in the church life there is a group of sisters and brothers who are serving and living in the reality of the Body of Christ. In their serving they are one and very harmonious. They are all humble. There is not one of them who is for himself, by himself, or to himself. In such a service in the Body, beauty and excellency are displayed. If there were thousands of saints on the earth living and serving in such a way, what beauty and excellency there would be!…To have harmony in the church life requires humility and selflessness….The Divine Trinity took the lead to exhibit this kind of beauty in the universe. Among the three, the Son took the lead to be so selfless, so humble, and so considerate of the others. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 308, 310, 312-313)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” ch. 5

«　WEEK 1　DAY 6　»

　　Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

　　Acts 19:5 And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

　　To baptize people into the name of the Triune God is to bring them into spiritual and mystical union with Him. (Matt. 28:19, footnote 4)

　　There is one name for the Divine Trinity. The name is the sum total of the Divine Being, equivalent to His person. To baptize someone into the name of the Triune God is to immerse him into all that the Triune God is. (Matt. 28:19, footnote 5)

　　In Matthew 28:19 the Lord charged His disciples to baptize people into the name of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. At this point in Matthew the Triune God had been completed and consummated. For the Divine Trinity to be completed, to be consummated, He needed to go through a process to pick up humanity….To be the consummated Triune God, the completed Triune God, He needed humanity as well as divinity.

　　He also needed to pass through a beautiful, all-inclusive death….We all have to be conformed to His dear death. The death of Christ is lovable and dear, and the Triune God needed it for His completion, for His consummation. The Divine Trinity is undoubtedly omnipotent, but if He were short of this beautiful death, He would not be able to solve our problems. In Him and with Him there is an all-inclusive death that can kill all the “germs” related to us. The Triune God is an all-inclusive dose within us with the killing element of the death of Christ. Within this all-inclusive dose there are many elements that can supply us in a positive way, and there is also the element of His death that can eliminate the negative things. The death of Christ on the cross took away all the “negative germs” in the universe.

　　Such a death has been brought into the Divine Trinity. After He had passed through the process of crucifixion, He entered into the realm of resurrection and became a life-giving Spirit. He then came back to His disciples in the atmosphere and reality of His resurrection to charge them to make the nations the kingdom people by baptizing them into the name, the person, the reality, of the Divine Trinity. Now that the Divine Trinity has been completed, consummated, people can be baptized into Him. The completed Triune God, the consummated Divine Trinity, is perfect, complete, and short of nothing. When we baptize people, we are placing them into the completed, consummated Triune God.

　　The Father, the Son, and the Spirit is the name of the Divine Trinity into whom we baptize people. The Lord revealed this divine title in the context of His desire to put the people who have received our preaching into the Triune God. The Triune God in His divine trinity is the very place where we should put those who have received Him.

　　We go to disciple the nations, baptizing them. The word disciple is a strong word….The disciples were to disciple the unbelieving nations by baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This means that discipling includes baptizing. We have to disciple people by baptizing them, putting them into a person, the Triune God. When they get into this person, they are discipled. We should not preach the gospel to people without baptizing them. That is not scriptural. We should baptize people immediately after they have believed in the Lord. To disciple them by baptizing them is to make them the very citizens of the kingdom of the heavens. If we do not put them into the Triune God, we cannot bring them into the kingdom of God. We must put them into God Himself. Then we place them into the kingdom of God. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 310-312)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Spirit with Our Spirit,” ch. 3