Hymns, 1162,1163

Scripture Reading: John 15:1, 4-5; 1 John 2:6, 20, 24, 27; 3:22-24

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 & DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 2　DAY 1　»

　　John 15:4-5 Abide in Me and I in you….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.

　　7 If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.

　　14:20 In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

　　The Lord Jesus told us in John 15 that He is the vine and that we are the branches of the vine. As the branches of the vine, we should abide in Him. Then He will abide in us. To abide in Christ is to live in Christ, and to live in Christ is to live in the Divine Trinity. To have Christ abide in us is to have the Triune God living in us. This is to live with the Divine Trinity. Therefore, to abide in Christ is to live in the Divine Trinity, and to have Christ abiding in us is to live with the Divine Trinity. The book of John is a book on living in and with the Divine Trinity. The truth concerning living in and with the Divine Trinity is greatly expounded in the Epistles, especially in those written by Paul. In the Epistles we can see all the practicalities and details of living in and with the Divine Trinity. We need to be brought into the experiences of living in the Divine Trinity and with the Divine Trinity. When we abide in Him, we live in Him. When we have Him abide in us, we live with Him. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” p. 337)

　　Outside of the divine revelation of the Bible, there is no religion or philosophy that says that we can live in another person. But the Bible reveals that we can live in the Triune God. What a wonder and an honor it is to be those who can live in the Triune God! To live in the Triune God is miraculous. In the entire universe there is such a miracle that we can live in the Triune God.

　　To live in the Divine Trinity is to abide in Christ as the true vine (John 15:5). Christ likened Himself to a vine tree. The illustration of a vine tree gives us the proper understanding of what it means to be in Him. The branches are abiding in the vine tree. This means that the branches are living in the tree. To live in the Triune God is just like the branches abiding in a vine tree. It is wonderful that Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is a vine tree. Jesus is not a pine tree but a vine tree spreading and growing over the entire earth. His fruit is so available to us because He is the vine tree. This vine tree has many branches. All the branches are the completion of the tree. Without its branches a vine tree would not be a complete tree. This tree with all its branches is an organism to express its inner life and to fulfill its purpose. God with His divine life needs some expression, and He has a purpose. Because of this He needs an organism to express His life and to fulfill His purpose. Christ is this organism, the vine tree, and now we are abiding in Him.

　　The Greek word for abide means not only to remain or to stay but also to have our home, or to make our home. In John 14 the same word is used as a noun. The Lord told us that in His Father’s house there are many abodes (v. 2) and that He would come to make an abode with His lovers (v. 23). An abode is a dwelling place. Therefore, to abide is to dwell in a home. To live in Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God means that we take Christ as our dwelling place for our daily life. As long as the branches abide in the tree, they have their daily life in the tree because they are living there. Now we should understand the real denotation of living in the Triune God. To live in the Triune God is to have Him as our dwelling place, as our home, for our daily life. The vine tree with its branches is the very organism of the Triune God. Thus, to live in the Triune God is to abide in Christ as God’s organism. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 340-341)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” ch. 8

«　WEEK 2　DAY 2　»

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

　　8 In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so you will become My disciples.

　　26 But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of reality, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify concerning Me.

　　In John 15 we see that Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is the true vine….Christ the Son as the true vine with the believers as its branches is the organism of the Triune God in God’s economy, the divine dispensing, to grow with His riches and express the divine life. As the organism of the Triune God, this vine is corporate and universal.

　　John 15 reveals not only Christ the Son as the vine but also the Father as the husbandman, the Body of Christ as the branches of the vine, and God the Spirit as the Spirit of reality. As the vine, Christ the Son is the center…. Everything that God the Father is and has is for the center, is embodied in the center, and is expressed through the center. God the Father is expressed, manifested, and glorified through the vine. Therefore, God the Father is the source and God the Son is the center. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2929)

　　[In John 15:26] God the Spirit is called the Spirit of reality. This means that the Spirit is the reality. Whatever God the Father is in the Son and whatever He has centralized in Christ the Son will be realized by the Spirit. All that God the Father is in the Son is a reality in God the Spirit. Everything centralized in the Son is revealed, testified, witnessed, and realized by the Spirit of reality. Therefore, God the Father is the source, the founder; Christ the Son is the center, the embodiment, and the manifestation; and God the Spirit is the realization, the reality. This is exceedingly profound and deep.

　　Moreover, in this revelation there is not only the Triune God but also the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the church. In this revelation the church is likened to the branches of a vine…. If the branches are taken away from the vine, the vine will have no body. Without the branches, the vine has nothing remaining except the root and the stem. Hence, the branches are the body of the vine.

　　The Father is the source of the vine, the Son is the vine, and the Spirit is the life-juice of the vine. This great vine is the organism of the Triune God. All that the Father is, is in this organism, embodied in the vine, which is the second of the Trinity. Within the vine is the circulating life flow of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who carries the riches of the Father to sustain the vine and its branches. This vine into which we have been grafted is the organism of the Triune God.

　　All that God the Father is and has is centralized and embodied in Christ the Son, and all of this is realized in the Spirit of reality. Now all of this has been wrought into us and will be expressed and testified through us. John 15 has four very important items: God the Father as the source and founder, God the Son as the center and manifestation, God the Spirit as the reality and realization, and the branches as the Body, the corporate expression. The branches are vital, for they express what God is in Christ as the Spirit….The full expression depends upon the branches, the Body, for what God is in Christ the Son and as the Spirit will be expressed by the branches, the Body. All that God the Father is and has is in Christ the Son, all that the Son is and has is realized as the Spirit, and all that the Spirit has is in the Body, in the church, in us…. All that the Spirit has is expressed in us, that is, in the branches, the church. The Triune God in Christ is expressed, manifested, and glorified in the church. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2929-2930, 2938-2939)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 285-286

«　WEEK 2　DAY 3　»

　　John 3:15 That everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.

　　1 Cor. 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

　　As the many branches of the vine, the believers of Christ are members of the Christ of God to form the organism of the Triune God in the divine dispensing. In John 15:5 the Lord Jesus declared, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” Such a statement implies that Christ and His believers are one tree. Christ and the believers, the vine with the branches, form the organism of the Triune God in the divine dispensing. The vine in John 15, therefore, is a universal vine comprising Christ and His believers as the branches. In this vine, this organism, the Triune God lives, expresses Himself, and dispenses Himself to the uttermost. We are actually branches of the infinite God, organically one with Him. This means that we have been organically joined to the Triune God. Now we are part of God, even as the members of our bodies are parts of us. If we are in the light, we shall see that we are members of Christ, that we are part of Him. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2930)

　　By our natural life we are not branches of the vine. On the contrary, by our fallen nature we are branches of Adam and even branches of the devil. Just as a branch is the branching out of a tree, so when we were born, we were just the branching out of Adam. As branches of Adam, we were also branches of Satan. The wonderful thing is that when we believed in the Lord Jesus, He branched out into us. This branching out has made us branches of this wonderful Christ. Therefore, Christ’s branching out has made us branches of Christ as the vine. Now as branches we are filled with Christ as life, for to be a branch in the vine means that Christ has become our life. We should not say that we do not feel that we are filled with Christ. When the Lord says, “I am the vine; you are the branches” [John 15:5], we have to say a strong amen. Just keep saying, “Hallelujah, I am a branch!” We as branches of the vine will be filled with Christ.

　　No plant other than the vine can illustrate adequately the living relationship between the believers and Christ. A vine differs from a tree in that it has virtually no trunk. If you cut off the branches of a vine, there is practically nothing left, only the root….The vine is everything to the branches. Whatever is in the vine is also in the branches. This indicates that as the vine Christ is a great enjoyment for us, the branches. From the vine and through the vine, we receive everything we need to live as branches.

　　As branches of the vine, we need to abide in the vine, the Christ of God….Only when the branches abide in the vine can the vine be everything to them. This is the reason the Lord said concerning Himself as the vine and us as the branches, “Abide in Me and I in you” [v. 4]. Our life and enjoyment are to abide in the vine. Our destiny as branches is to remain in the vine.

　　Apart from the vine, we, the branches, can do nothing. A branch of a vine cannot live by itself, for it will wither and die apart from the vine. The relationship between the branches and the vine portrays the relationship between us and the Lord Jesus. We are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing apart from Him. What we are, what we have, and what we do must be in the Lord and by the Lord in us. Therefore, it is crucial for us to abide in the Lord and for the Lord to abide in us. We should not do anything in ourselves; we should do everything by abiding in the vine. Christ as the vine is an all-inclusive portion for our daily enjoyment. Because we are branches to the Lord and the Lord is the vine to us, we must abide in Him and let Him abide in us. Then in our experience Christ will be everything to us for our enjoyment. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2930-2932)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of John, msgs. 32-34.

«　WEEK 2　DAY 4　»

　　1 John 4:13 In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.

　　2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.

　　Fruit-bearing depends on abiding. Our abiding depends on a clear vision that we are branches in the vine. If we are to abide in the vine, we must see the fact that we are branches in the vine. If we see that we are already in Christ, we shall be able to abide in Him. Therefore, we need to pray, “Lord Jesus, show me clearly that I am a branch in the vine.”

　　Once we see the fact that we are branches in the vine, we need to maintain the fellowship between us and Christ as the vine. Any insulation will separate us from the rich supply of the vine. A little disobedience, a sin, or even a sinful thought can be the insulation that separates us from the riches of the vine. First, we must see that we are branches. Then we need to maintain the fellowship between us and the Lord. Nothing should be between Him and us. From experience we know that even a small thing can separate us from the rich supply of the vine. Hence, we need to pray, “Lord Jesus, let there be nothing between You and me separating me from Your rich supply.” (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2932)

　　As long as we abide in Christ, He will abide in us. His abiding in us depends on our abiding in Him. Our abiding is the condition of His abiding, but His abiding in us is not a condition of our abiding in Him. With us, however, because we are so fluctuating, there is the need of a condition. If we do not abide in Christ, there is no way for Him to abide in us. Although He does not change, we have many changes. We may abide in Him today and stay away from Him tomorrow. Therefore, His abiding in us depends on our abiding in Him. Our abiding in Him is the condition of His abiding in us. Thus, the Lord said, “Abide in Me and I in you” [John 15:4]. If we do not abide in Him, we fail to meet the condition of His abiding in us. His abiding depends on our abiding. This mutual abiding will bring forth fruit. As far as we, the branches, are concerned, Christ, the tree, lives to be our support, our supply, and our everything…. Just as the tree needs the branches and cannot do anything apart from the branches, so today Christ as the very embodiment of the Triune God can do nothing without us. In the carrying out of God’s economy—that is, growing a vine tree—without us Christ is unable to act, work, or to have any kind of activity. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2932-2933)

　　We need to be those abiding in the Lord (1 John 2:6). To abide in the Triune God is to abide in the Lord. The Lord is the One who possesses all things, who rules over all things, who exercises His sovereignty over all things and over all people. We are living in the One who is the Lord of this universe. If we are not obedient to Him or do not subject ourselves to Him, that will annul our abiding in Him. To abide in the vine tree implies a daily life….The branches of the vine tree… are having their “daily life” in the vine tree. We need to have our daily life in the Lord. This means that we have to obey Him and that we have to walk in the same way that He walked. As a man, He walked under God’s authority. We also need to walk under His authority, submitting ourselves to Him.

　　We also need to be those abiding in the Son (v. 24b). In the New Testament the Son is the One who possesses the Father’s life with the Father’s nature to express the Father. The sons have the full right to enjoy all the privileges and rights ascribed to the sonship. When we are abiding in the Son, we enjoy our Father’s life, our Father’s nature, and the privilege, the right, to express Him and to enjoy all His possessions. To abide in the Lord concerns the lordship of Christ. To abide in the Son concerns the sonship of Christ. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” p. 341)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “A Living of Mutual Abiding with the Lord in Spirit,” ch. 3

«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　1 John 2:24 As for you, that which you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

　　3:24 And he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And in this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us.

　　[We also need to abide in the Father (v. 24c).] How good it is to have a Father! Our Father is all capable. Our Father is always living [and] never gets old. He takes care of us in every way and in everything….Thank the Lord that God is our Father and that we are not orphans but sons. We are not only abiding in Christ as the organism of the Triune God, in the Lord with His lordship, and in the Son with His sonship, but we are also abiding in the Father with all His care. When we are living in the Triune God, we are living as sons, not orphans. We have a Father. We live in the One who takes care of us. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 341-342)

　　Our abiding in the Son and in the Father are both mentioned in 1 John 2:24. When we have the Son, we have the Father, because the Son and the Father are one. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father (John 14:10). When we abide in the Son, we abide in the Father. Our experiences confirm this fact. While we are abiding in the Son, we have the sensation that the Father is with us. We have the Lord, and we have the Father. We have the Son with the Father. When we abide in the Son, we enjoy the fatherhood because the Father is there.

　　We also need to be those who are abiding in God (1 John 3:24a). All these different titles—the Lord, the Son, the Father, and God—bear some significance. In order to understand what it means to abide in God, we need to read 1 John 3:22-24: “Whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, even as He gave a commandment to us. And he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And in this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us.” God is the One who gave the commandments. These commandments are that we have to believe in His Son and that we have to love one another. We need to have the faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we need to have the love to love all the brothers. This is what it means to abide in God. This is a living that includes the main things of our Christian life. Our Christian life is a life that believes in Christ and loves the brothers. As long as we believe in Christ and love all other Christians as our brothers, we are complete….We abide in God because we are keeping His commandments, which charge us to believe in His Son and to love all the brothers of His Son. This is to have faith and love.

　　In 1 John we see that we need to abide in the Lord, in the Son, in the Father, and in God. This presents a full portrait of living in the Triune God. To live in the Triune God is to have a daily life in Christ as the organism of the Triune God, in the Lord with His headship, with His lordship, in the Son with His sonship, in the Father with His fatherhood, and in God with His commandments of believing in His Son and of loving all His other sons. This is what it means to experience the Divine Trinity in our daily life. We abide in God by the Spirit of God (3:24b). Without the Spirit of God there is nothing between us and God. The linking, the connection, between us and God, the Father, the Son, the Lord, and Christ is the Spirit. This “linking Spirit” is in our spirit. If we are going to enjoy a life of abiding in God, we must exercise our spirit, turn to our spirit, touch our spirit, and use our spirit. Then we will touch the linking Spirit. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 342-343)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “Abiding in the Lord to Enjoy His Life,” chs. 1-3

«　WEEK 2　DAY 6　»

　　1 John 2:20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know.

　　27 And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.

　　We abide in the Triune God by the person of the linking Spirit and according to the teaching of the anointing of the Triune God (1 John 2:27). By studying the context of 1 John 2:27, we can see that the anointing is of the Triune God. The pronouns Him and His refer both to the Son and the Father who were previously mentioned (v. 24). They may also refer to the eternal life (v. 25). The anointing is the anointing of the Father, the Son, and the eternal life.

　　The anointing is the moving and working of the indwelling compound Spirit, the compound ointment….This ointment is divine ointment, divine paint. In this divine paint are the element of the Father, the element of the Son, and the element of the eternal life. This divine ointment, this divine paint, is typified in Exodus 30 by the anointing oil, the compound ointment (vv. 23-25). The move of this ointment is the anointing. We have such an anointing within us, and this anointing teaches us. We have to learn to abide in this wonderful One, who is Christ, the Lord, the Son, the Father, and God. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” p. 343)

　　There is a divine paint moving within us. By this moving of the ointment, this anointing, we are made clear concerning what we should be, what we should say, whom we should contact, where we should go, and what we should do. If we are abiding in Christ, the Lord, the Son, the Father, and God, we will live according to the teaching of the anointing in all the affairs of our daily life. Sometimes the inner anointing tells us not to laugh that much, so we have to be one with Him….The sonship, the fatherhood, and the eternal life are compounded into the compound ointment that moves in us, and that moving is the anointing. This anointing teaches us at all times so that we can know His will, His heart’s desire, His very nature, and His being. By His teaching, we know what kind of person the inner anointing wants us to be. To live according to the teaching of the anointing of the Triune God is to live in the Divine Trinity. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 343-344)

　　When we are in the Body and are diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit, we have the anointing of the Spirit. We have to come under the Head, and we have to live in the Body before we can receive the anointing. Many people do not receive any leading because they are not standing in the right place. They are not under the Head and have not submitted themselves to the authority of the Head. Neither are they in the Body. In order for us to receive the anointing, we must submit to the Head and live in the Body. The more we live in the fellowship of the Body, the more we enjoy the anointing of the Spirit. But there is a condition to this: We have to allow the cross to deal with our flesh and our natural life in a thorough way. Whether or not a believer can enjoy this fellowship depends on whether he has dealt with his natural life. Our natural flesh only deserves to die; it only deserves to be in ashes, to be on the cross. We cannot think by ourselves; we are not qualified to propose anything by ourselves. We must allow Christ to have the absolute sovereignty over everything. We must allow Him to be the Lord in an absolute way. If our natural life is dealt with by the cross and if we submit to the headship of Christ and live the Body life, we will have the Spirit’s anointing and enjoy the fellowship of the Body. (CWWN, vol. 44, pp. 819-820)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 22-23,25; CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” ch. 7