Scripture Reading: John 1:14, 16-17; Heb. 10:29; 1 Pet. 5:10; Eph. 1:5-6; 2:7-8; Rev. 22:21

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　»

　　Eph. 2:7 That He might display in the ages to come the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

　　1 Cor. 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me.

　　The grace of God is a matter of tremendous significance… If we would understand what the grace of God is as revealed in the New Testament, we need a clear view of the New Testament as a whole. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 102)

　　The New Testament is a history of God’s grace, and grace is the incarnated Triune God. In the first step the Triune God became a man in the flesh through His birth by a human virgin as grace coming to be among men for the accomplishment of redemption. In the second step the last Adam, as the embodiment of the Triune God, became the life-giving Spirit through His death and resurrection as grace entering into man for the impartation of the processed and consummated Triune God into the believers, to be the source, element, and essence of the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the glorious enlargement and expression of the processed and consummated Triune God in eternity. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 463-464)

　　When I was young, I was taught that grace means that we do nothing and that God does everything for us. According to this teaching, anything we do is work, not grace, but whatever God does for us is grace. However, according to the New Testament, grace is actually what God is to us for our enjoyment (John 1:16-17; 2 Cor. 12:9). Grace is actually God in Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment in our experience.

　　Grace is mainly not the work God does for us; grace is the Triune God Himself dispensed into our being and experienced as our enjoyment. In brief, grace is the Triune God experienced and enjoyed by us. The New Testament reveals that grace is nothing less than God in Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment.

　　John 1:17 says that grace came through Jesus Christ. This indicates that grace is somewhat like a person. The personification of grace is God Himself. Paul realized this when he said, “Not I, but the grace of God…with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). For Paul, grace was a living person. In Paul this person became the very grace by which he labored. Therefore, grace is God Himself; it is what God is to us for our enjoyment. When God is enjoyed by us, that is grace. Grace is the very God in His Son Jesus Christ to be our portion so that we may enjoy all He is.

　　We need to emphasize the fact that grace is God as our enjoyment. When God becomes our portion for us to enjoy, that is grace. Do not consider grace as something less than God. Grace is nothing less than the Triune God enjoyed by us in a practical way as our portion. Grace is God not in doctrine, but in our experience, for grace is God in Christ with all He is for our enjoyment. This includes life, strength, comfort, rest, light, righteousness, holiness, power, and the other divine attributes. When we enjoy God and participate in Him, that is grace. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 102-103)

　　In the accomplishment of His eternal economy, God commenced it in His incarnation by coming to be a man as the grace to the believers. God came in the way of incarnation to us as grace. Hence, grace is the Triune God in His incarnation to be dispensed to the believers by the Father as the source, by the Son as the element, and by the Spirit as the application (2 Cor. 13:14). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” p. 403)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 10

«　WEEK 1　DAY 2　»

　　2 Cor. 1:12 …In the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and…toward you.

　　13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

　　Heb. 10:29 By how much do you think he will be thought worthy of worse punishment who…has insulted the Spirit of grace?

　　It is important for us to find out the genuine and proper meaning of the grace of God in the New Testament. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 102)

　　The source of grace, the element of grace, and the application of grace are of the three persons of the Divine Trinity to be our everything.

　　[In the] dispensing of God, the grace is called the grace of God (1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 1:12; 8:1; 9:14), the grace of Christ (8:9; 12:9; 13:14), and the grace of which the Spirit is (Heb. 10:29). In the New Testament, phrases such as the grace of God, the love of God, or the light of God may be considered as appositional. In other words, the love of God means that the love is God. The light of God means that the light is God. The grace of God indicates that the grace is God and God is grace. Thus, grace is the Triune God by the Father as the source, by the Son as the element, and by the Spirit as the application. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” p. 403)

　　The Father is the source, the Son is the element, and the Spirit is the application. The source is the very origin of grace, the element is the grace itself, and the application is the element applied to us. These are terms that we have to study and remember. Then when we visit people, we can share this with them. The very Triune God is grace to us by the Father as the source, by the Son as the element, and by the Spirit as the application. Now this grace becomes ours. Eventually, it becomes us. This grace makes us God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 403-404)

　　The grace of God in His economy is His embodiment. God became flesh that He may enter into man and be mingled with man as one.

　　The grace in God’s economy in the believers’ experience is the processed Triune God. Without being processed, the Triune God could not become grace. God is one, yet He is three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Son is the embodiment and expression of the Father, and the Spirit is the reality and realization of the Son. In the Son the Father is expressed and seen, and as the Spirit the Son is revealed and realized. This Triune God dispenses Himself into us to be our portion as grace to us that we may enjoy Him as our everything in His Divine Trinity.

　　God, who was in the beginning, became flesh in time as grace for man to receive, possess, and enjoy (John 1:1, 14, 16-17). The first step, which is also the greatest step, of the process that the Triune God passed through was incarnation. God, who was in the beginning, became flesh in time; that was His tabernacling among men. His coming among men in this way was full of grace, and of His fullness we have all received. He came that we might receive grace, even grace upon grace. When He came, grace also came. The law was given to us, but grace came through Jesus Christ. The law could not come by itself; hence, it was given to us, but grace came with Jesus. Actually, grace is Jesus. When Jesus came, grace came. This is the Triune God with His divinity mingled into humanity becoming a God-man. Such a One is grace for us to receive, enjoy, and experience as our supply. This is the real salvation of the Lord. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Law and Grace of God in His Economy,” pp. 307, 321)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Law and Grace of God in His Economy,” chs. 2-3

«　WEEK 1　DAY 3　»

　　John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

　　2 Tim. 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

　　God became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace. This shows that grace is the incarnated God. If God remained in Himself, He could not become grace. If God was merely God and was not incarnated to become a man, He could not be grace. Hence, in the Old Testament the word grace is used very little, because at that time God had not become flesh and could not become grace. In the New Testament, however, God became flesh, and when He became flesh, He became grace.

　　He is the God-man; He is God yet man, and man yet God. God and man became one in Him. This Emmanuel, the incarnated God, is grace for man’s enjoyment (John 1:1, 14)… First, God as the Father was embodied in the Son, and then the Son was realized as the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit enters into us as grace for our enjoyment.

　　Grace is the embodiment of God, who became a God-man with divinity and humanity, passed through human living, died, resurrected, and entered into ascension. Now He has become the life-giving Spirit and is dwelling in us today. Therefore,… the Lord being with our spirit equals grace being with us [cf. 2 Tim. 4:22]. The Lord as grace is for us to receive and enjoy as our supply and experience. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Law and Grace of God in His Economy,” pp. 300, 307)

　　The incarnated God is triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The Father as the source is embodied and expressed in the Son (John 14:8-11). God the Father is hidden, and God the Son is manifested among men. The Lord Jesus did many things and spoke many words on earth. Eventually, He was betrayed, arrested, and crucified on the cross…He died and was buried; on the third day He resurrected from the dead. On the day after the Sabbath… some sisters went to Jesus’ tomb and were weeping there. Jesus appeared to them in resurrection, telling them, “Go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (John 20:17). In the evening of that day He again appeared to the disciples and breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). In His incarnation He as God was transformed to become a man. In His resurrection He as God in the flesh was transformed again to become the life-giving Spirit. The Father as the source is embodied and expressed in the Son; the Son is realized as the Spirit and abides in the believers (14:16-20). Now He is qualified to be our grace. Such a transformed One is grace.

　　The Spirit is in the believers as their life and life supply—first, to be the living water of life for them to drink (7:37-39); second, to be the bread of life for them to eat (6:63); and third, to be the breath of life for them to breathe in (20:22). The Spirit also becomes the divine grace enjoyed by them. Such a processed and consummated Triune God is the grace enjoyed by all the believers in God’s New Testament economy, even for eternity (Rev. 22:21).

　　The Gospel of John tells us that the Word, who was in the beginning, became flesh in time that divinity and humanity may be united and mingled together into a God-man. This God-man does not care about right or wrong or about good or evil. All He cares about is that you receive the grace that He brought.

　　Christ is my life and my person—He lives and I also live; He moves and I also move; it is not I but He who takes the initiative. I am His counterpart; I am a part of His Body. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Law and Grace of God in His Economy,” pp. 322-327)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of John, msg. 3; Life-study of Galatians, msg. 11

«　WEEK 1　DAY 4　»

　　Eph. 1:6 To the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He graced us in the Beloved.

　　Matt. 3:17 And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.

　　God’s choosing and predestination are related to the grace of God…What is revealed in Ephesians 1:6 is the issue of predestination unto sonship mentioned in the preceding verse. This means that the praise of the glory of God’s grace is the result, the issue, of the sonship (v. 5). God’s predestinating us unto sonship is for the praise of His expression in His grace, that is, for the praise of the glory of His grace. Eventually, every positive thing in the universe will praise God for sonship (Rom. 8:19), thus fulfilling what is spoken in this verse. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3338-3339)

　　Whatever God came to be to us and to do for us is God Himself as grace coming to us in His incarnation. This is clearly revealed in John 1, which tells us that God as the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality, and that grace and reality came through Jesus Christ (vv. 14, 16-17).

　　Grace is what God is to us for our enjoyment, whereas glory is God expressed (Exo. 40:34). The glory of His grace [Eph. 1:6] indicates that God’s grace, which is God Himself as our enjoyment, expresses Him. God is expressed in His grace, and His predestination is for the praise of this expression. As we receive grace and enjoy God, we have the sense of glory. Grace is God Himself as our enjoyment, glory is God manifested, and the glory of God’s grace is God expressed in our enjoyment of Him.

　　Ephesians 1:6 says that God has graced us in the Beloved. For God to grace us means that He has put us into the position of grace that we may be the object of God’s grace and favor, that is, that we may enjoy all that God is. Because we are in the position of grace and are the object of grace, God is pleased with us, His delight is in us, and we are enjoying Him and becoming His enjoyment. Hence, there is a mutual enjoyment: we enjoy Him, and He enjoys us. Here, in grace, He is our joy and satisfaction, and we are His joy and satisfaction.

　　The Beloved in verse 6 is Christ, God’s beloved Son, in whom He delights (Matt. 3:17; 17:5). Hence, in gracing us God makes us an object in whom He delights. This is altogether a pleasure to God. In Christ we have been blessed by God with every blessing. In the Beloved we were graced, made the object of God’s favor and pleasure. As such an object we enjoy God, and God enjoys us in His grace in His Beloved, who is His delight. In His Beloved we, too, become His delight.

　　The phrase in the Beloved conveys the full delight, satisfaction, and enjoyment God the Father has in us because we have been made the object of His grace and delight. In this sense we should all appreciate ourselves and even esteem ourselves highly because we have been positioned in grace and made the object of God’s delight. We should have such a view about ourselves, not according to our natural state, but according to the fact that we have been chosen, predestinated, regenerated, and graced. God delights in us, not in ourselves, but in His Beloved. Having become the object of God’s grace, we have been favored in Christ.

　　Moreover, God’s rich grace has accomplished redemption for us and has applied forgiveness to us (Eph. 1:7). God’s grace is not only rich (v. 7) but also abounding (v. 8). The riches of God’s grace have been caused to abound to us, on the one hand, in all wisdom for God’s plan in eternity and, on the other hand, in all prudence for God’s execution of His plan in time. God’s abounding grace…accomplishes the heading up of all things in Christ (v. 10), makes us an inheritance to God (v. 11), and qualifies us to inherit all that God is (v. 14). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3339-3340)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 333

«　WEEK 1　DAY 5　»

　　Eph. 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy,…made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

　　8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

　　John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.

　　The word for at the beginning of Ephesians 2:8 gives the occasion for God to display His grace (v. 7). Because we have been saved by His grace, God may display it. In Ephesians grace denotes God dispensed into us. Therefore, to be saved by grace means to be saved by having God dispensed into us. Most Christians regard grace as a thing, not as a person. To them, grace is merely a gift freely given to them. According to this concept of grace, we were sinners who did not deserve God’s salvation, but God saved us freely by giving us His unmerited favor. This, however, is a superficial understanding of what it means to be saved by grace.

　　John 1:17 says that grace came through Jesus Christ. This indicates that grace is somewhat like a person. Ephesians reveals that the saving grace is God Himself in Christ wrought into our being…To be saved by grace means to be saved by the dispensing of the Triune God into us. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 183)

　　Many Christians consider salvation as merely being rescued from a pitiful situation. According to this understanding, to be saved by grace is to have the Savior, who is rich in mercy, reach down to us in our low estate and rescue us… [However], according to Ephesians, salvation is the transmission of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ into us. When this person comes into us as grace, we are saved. Once we receive such a divine transmission, we are made alive, raised up, and seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Therefore, in Ephesians grace is the saving person of Christ Himself…This is a deeper understanding of salvation by grace.

　　It was not a simple matter for God to be transmitted into us as grace. He had to be processed through incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. By being processed in this way, He is now able to transmit Himself into us. When the processed God is transmitted into us, He becomes the saving grace. This grace is not only the amazing grace; it is the abounding grace. Grace is the processed God transmitted into our being. God processed and transmitted into our being is the saving grace and the abounding grace. We have been saved by the transmission of this processed God.

　　This grace has surpassing riches [Eph. 2:7]. It has many aspects, virtues, and attributes, such as life, light, and power. Apart from life, light, and power, God cannot save us. For example, how can you rescue a person who has fallen into a pit if you do not have the strength to lift him out? Furthermore, if you do not have love for him, you will not bother to save him. In order to save us, God needed love and wisdom. These are some of the surpassing riches of God’s saving grace. In His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, God has saved us by His grace. In the ages to come—in the millennium and eternity future—God will display this grace publicly to the whole universe.

　　In verse 8 Paul says that by grace we have been saved through faith. Faith is the substantiating of invisible things. It is by faith that we substantiate all the things Christ has accomplished for us. Through such substantiating ability, we have been saved by grace. The free action of God’s grace saved us through our substantiating faith. On the day we were saved, faith was imparted to us, and we believed. Others may ask how we can believe in Jesus Christ when we have never seen Him. Although we have not seen Him, we cannot help believing in Him. This faith is not of ourselves; it is part of the grace transmitted into us. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 183-185)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 5, 21

«　WEEK 1　DAY 6　»

　　Eph. 1:5-6 Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He graced us in the Beloved.

　　2:7 That He might display in the ages to come the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

　　Now we need to consider what the glory of God’s grace is … If you carefully study the subject of glory in the Bible, you will find that glory is God expressed. Whenever God is manifested, that is glory. We may use electricity as an illustration. Electricity is hidden, but when it is expressed as light, that light is the glory of electricity. Likewise, when God is hidden, we cannot see His glory. But when He is expressed, His glory is made visible. Hence, glory is God expressed … No man has ever seen God, but we have seen the glory of the only begotten Son.

　　The glory of God’s grace is that His grace, which is Himself as our enjoyment, expresses Him. God is expressed in His grace, and His predestination is for the praise of this expression. As we receive grace and enjoy God, we have the sense of glory… Sometimes after an excellent meeting we are full of grace and say, “That was glorious!” This is God expressed in His grace. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 49)

　　When we realize that we have been chosen to be holy and predestinated to sonship; that we have the Spirit of the Son, the life of the Son, and the position of the Son; and that we shall be conformed to the image of the Son, have the completion of sonship, the redemption of our body, and inherit the full sonship, we shall say, “What a glory!” We need to consider six items prayerfully: the Spirit of the Son, the life of the Son, the position of the Son, the image of the Son, the completion of sonship, and the inheritance of sonship. If you do this, you will be in glory and praise God for the sonship.

　　What is the praise of the glory of God’s grace? Have you ever praised God for the sonship? We, the sons of God, do not praise God very much. Usually we simply thank Him. When we say, “Praise the Lord,” we often mean, “Thank the Lord.” To thank God means that we have received a certain benefit and thank God for it. But when we praise God, we praise Him primarily for what He is or what He does, no matter whether or not we have received any benefits from Him. In praising God you need to forget yourself and get outside of yourself. When you are truly praising God, it seems that you do not exist. You see only God, what He is, and what He does. Therefore, you praise Him and speak well concerning Him.

　　God’s predestinating us to sonship is for the praise of His expression in His grace. Probably the angels will be the first to praise God for this. As the angels are praising God for our sonship, the demons may be shocked and say, “Those sinners who were usurped by us have become the sons of God.” Not only will the angels praise God for our sonship, but also every positive thing in the universe will praise Him. This will take place at the time of the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19). The church is produced in the present age; the ages which are coming are the ages of the millennium and eternity future. To display the riches of God’s grace is to exhibit them to the whole universe publicly. The riches of God’s grace surpass every limit. These are the riches of God Himself for our enjoyment. They will be publicly displayed for eternity.

　　Ephesians 2:7 says that the surpassing riches of God’s grace are in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Kindness is a benevolent goodness which issues out of mercy and love. It is in such kindness that the grace of God is given to us. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 49-51, 182-183)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1972, vol. 3, “The Consummation of God’s Salvation,” ch. 3; CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Life and Building in the Gospel of John,” ch. 10