Ⅰ
Under Eli the old Aaronic priesthood had become stale and waning (1 Sam. 2:12-30), and God desired to have a new beginning for the accomplishing of His economy:
A
We all need to reject anything of staleness, oldness, lukewarmness, and pride and keep ourselves empty, open, fresh, new, living, and young with the Lord; we need to be one with His desire for us to be one with Christ, filled with Christ, and occupied by Christ to live Christ for the organic building up of the Body of Christ—Rev. 3:15-22; Luke 18:17; Phil. 3:7-14; Gal. 1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 4:16.
B
In the days of Eli the word of God was rare; God's speaking was almost lost (1 Sam. 3:1); in the priesthood the first thing that a priest should do is to speak for God (Exo. 28:30); a priest must be a person who is intimate with God, who is one with God, who knows the heart of God, and who speaks forth the unique and healthy teaching of God's eternal economy (1 Tim. 1:3-4; 6:3).
C
Eli taught Samuel to say to the Lord, "Speak, O Jehovah; for Your servant is listening"; in order to speak for the Lord and be one with Him to carry out His eternal economy, we must first treasure and listen attentively to His speaking so that we may know His desire and preference—1 Sam. 3:9-10, 21; Isa. 50:4-5.
D
Eli disregarded the priesthood in his loose disciplining of his two evil sons (1 Sam. 2:28-29); this caused the tragedy of the ending of his history, the termination of his enjoyment of the good land, and the fading of the priesthood in the divine revelation, that is, in the speaking for God; today we need to learn of Eli to have a high regard for what God has given us in His recovery.
Morning Nourishment
Phil. 3:13-14 Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward.Gal. 4:19 My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.
The books of Samuel, as books of history, are on Christ for our enjoyment that God may carry out His economy. These books reveal the right, the particular, and even the full way for us to enjoy Christ that we may be a part of God’s economy. Concerning this we need to realize that God desires people who are according to Him, people who are His duplication. In the long period of history covered in 1 Samuel 1 to 2 Samuel 1, there are five major figures: Eli, Samuel, Jonathan, Saul, and David. We need to learn the lessons of these five persons in relation to God’s economy. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, p. 127)
Today’s Reading
Eli was a priest by birth according to God’s ordination. As a priest Eli had the right to enjoy the top portion of all the good land allotted to the twelve tribes of Israel (Num. 18).Eli disregarded the priesthood in his loose disciplining of his two evil sons (1 Sam. 2:28-29). This caused the tragedy of the ending of his history, the termination of his enjoyment of the good land, and the fading of the priesthood in the divine revelation, that is, in the speaking for God. Today we need to learn of Eli to have a high regard for what God has given us in His recovery.
Eli was a priest who brought in the waning of the stale priesthood. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, pp. 127-128, 3) God’s intention is to have many young men with every one fresh, new, and living. None of us should be old. To be old means to be set, settled, and occupied…. We always need to exercise to be young, to be new, to be renewed, to be fresh, and to be living all day long. It is only when you are young that there is a possibility for God to come in to call you, to choose you, and to use you to do something new. We need to give the Lord the way to go on in His progressive move through us. I hope that you will be a living, fresh, and new channel for the Lord to go on in His own way. This will require you to offer yourself to Him, to cooperate with Him.
I hope that we would take this fellowship and tell the Lord, “…I do not want there to be anything set, settled, or occupied with me. I want to be fully open to You for Your new move on this earth. Lord, I give myself to You. Come in and occupy, take, and possess me for Your up-to-date move on this earth.” If we would pray to the Lord in this way, we will be the persons who will turn, who will transfer, the age.
There is always something new to be worked out by God. The Holy Spirit is now working and moving in the hearts of the children of God for the carrying out of His move. He is ready, but He is waiting for some people to cooperate with Him. The situation in today’s religion cannot satisfy God. God wants to do something new. He wants to do something new in life, in knowing Christ, in experiencing Christ, in preaching Christ, in dispensing Christ, and in expressing Christ. The doctrines, the forms, the organization, the rituals, the regulations of organized religion, and the miraculous gifts cannot satisfy God nor can they fulfill His purpose. These are not what God’s heart’s desire is. God wants to do something new. He desires that Christ Himself would be known, realized, experienced, and expressed in a full and living way…. We need to tell the Lord that we are not here for religion, nor are we focused on teachings, doctrines, or gifts. But we are here one hundred percent for Christ Himself as the living One. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “A Young Man in God’s Plan,” pp. 140-141)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “A Young Man in God’s Plan,” chs. 1, 3