«　WEEK 5　DAY 1　»

　　Rom. 5:17 …Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

　　21 …That…grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

　　Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

　　When I was young, nearly every day in my prayers I would say, “Lord, I am coming to the throne of grace. At Your throne of grace I find grace for my timely need. Lord, I need Your grace every minute. I not only need Your grace every year, every week, every day, and every hour, but every minute. Without Your grace, I simply cannot bear anything.” Today I still need the Lord’s grace every minute… So, I keep on telling the Lord, “Lord, I need Your grace every minute. I know that You are gracious and that You have grace ready for me. Lord, since grace needs my cooperation, I kneel before the throne of grace to find grace to meet my need.” Many times we simply cannot stand our situation and we cannot face what is happening to us. However, there is a place called the throne of grace. Come boldly to the throne of grace that you may find mercy and grace for your time of need. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 375)

　　Undoubtedly, the throne mentioned [in Hebrews 4:16] is the throne of God, which is in heaven (Rev. 4:2). The throne of God is the throne of authority toward all the universe (Dan. 7:9; Rev. 5:1). But toward us, the believers, it becomes the throne of grace, signified by the expiation cover (the mercy seat) within the Holy of Holies (Exo. 25:17, 21). This throne is the throne of both God and the Lamb (Rev. 22:1). How can we come to the throne of God and the Lamb, Christ, in heaven while we still live on earth? The secret is our spirit, referred to in Hebrews 4:12. The very Christ who is sitting on the throne in heaven (Rom. 8:34) is also now in us (Rom. 8:10), that is, in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), where the habitation of God is (Eph. 2:22). At Bethel, the house of God, the habitation of God, which is the gate of heaven, Christ is the ladder that joins earth to heaven and brings heaven to earth (Gen. 28:12-17; John 1:51). Since today our spirit is the place of God’s habitation, it is now the gate of heaven, where Christ is the ladder that joins us, the people on earth, to heaven, and brings heaven to us. Hence, whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter through the gate of heaven and touch the throne of grace in heaven through Christ as the heavenly ladder. (Heb. 4:16, footnote 1)

　　Romans 5:17 says that we can reign in life by grace.

　　To reign is to conquer, subdue, and rule over Satan, the world, sin, the flesh, ourselves, and all the environmental circumstances. It may be easy for people to rule over their dogs. Dogs can be very obedient. But what about our own children?…Children learn to say no before they say many other words …How can we be kings when we cannot rule our children in the divine life? We believers who are parents must exercise ourselves to learn how to be kings in ruling our children. We must have grace to rule our children. We also have to rule over the sin within us, to rule over Satan, and to rule over the world. We should not let the world’s fashion conquer us. Instead, we should conquer all things and reign in life by grace.

　　Romans 5:17 says that we reign by the grace in life, while verse 21 says that grace reigns unto eternal life. This means that grace reigns over us and over everything so that we can enjoy the eternal life. Unto means “for.” Grace reigns for the eternal life. This means that we may gain the eternal life for our enjoyment. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 406-407)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” chs. 19-20, 22-24; Life-study of Ezekiel, msg. 11