Scripture Reading: Acts 7:2; Heb. 11:8-10; Gen. 12:1-3, 7-8; 13:3-4, 18; 14:1-24; Gal. 3:6-7, 14, 16, 29

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 8　DAY 1　»

　　Gal. 3:7 Know then that they who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham.

　　16 But to Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed… “And to your seed,” who is Christ.

　　29 And if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.

　　The divine economy and the divine dispensing are… shown in the promise of the seed of Abraham (Gen. 17:8; Gal. 3:16; Matt. 1:1-2a)… One day while Abraham was worshipping idols, the God of glory appeared to him and called him (Acts 7:2-3). God called Abraham out of the place called Shinar, the base of Babylon, and brought him into the good land of Canaan. Once Abraham arrived in the land of Canaan, God appeared to him and made a promise to him concerning a seed (Gen. 12:7).

　　The seed of Abraham is for the blessing to all the families of the earth (v. 3)… In Genesis 17:7 God told Abraham that He would make a covenant with Abraham and with his seed. This word concerning the seed is explained clearly by Paul in Galatians 3:16.

　　God’s promise… was His preaching of the gospel to Abraham and… the blessing of Abraham was the Spirit (vv. 8,14). God did not promise Abraham a piece of land. The promise to Abraham was that he would receive the processed God as the all-inclusive consummated Spirit. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” pp. 399-400)

　　The blessing of Abraham refers to the promised Spirit, who is the reality of Christ (Gal. 3:14; John 14:17-20). The one seed of Abraham became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The Spirit, as the consummation of the Triune God for the dispensing of Himself into the believers of Christ, is the seed of Abraham (v. 45b; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; Rom. 8:9). The last Adam [1 Cor. 15:45]… is the seed of Abraham. This seed became not only our Redeemer and Savior but also the life-giving Spirit… The top blessing, the consummate blessing, to us sinners is God Himself as the life-giving Spirit. On the one hand, the life-giving Spirit is a transfigured descendant of Abraham, and on the other hand, He is the very Triune God. This life-giving Spirit is the consummated Spirit who is the consummation of the processed Triune God. This is the real blessing.

　　The Savior we need today is the One who can enter into us. We need the life-giving Spirit who dwells in our spirit and who is one spirit with us (6:17). When we fall into the “water” [of our troubles], He falls in with us… Praise the Lord, we do have a buoyant One within us. The third stanza of Hymns, #505 expresses this thought: “There’s a Man in the glory / Whose Life is for me. /… He’s strong and in vigor, / How buoyant is He!” Where is Christ buoyant? He is buoyant in our spirit… Because of this buoyant One, I can boast that I have been kept from falling. The life-giving Spirit as the seed of Abraham and as the consummation of the processed Triune God is the top blessing. As such a One, He can be in us with both His divinity and His humanity. How wonderful this is! The totality of what He is, is called the Spirit. The good land given to Abraham was a type of this Spirit. The Spirit is the blessing God promised Abraham.

　　The seed of Abraham is for the believers in Christ, who are Abraham’s seed, to inherit the consummated Spirit, the consummation of the processed Triune God, as their divine inheritance—their spiritual blessing for eternity (Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:14a; Gal. 3:14). Christ is the seed of Abraham, and all His believers are also the seed of Abraham (v. 29). Now as believers, we are no longer merely descendants of Americans, Chinese, or Japanese. We are Abraham’s seed. We are all one family, and our surname is Abraham, because Abraham is our father (Rom. 4:12). (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” pp. 400-401)

　　Further Reading: Truth Lessons—Level One, vol. 1, lsn. 8; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” chs. 8-9

«　WEEK 8　DAY 2　»

　　Acts 7:2 And he said, Men, brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia…

　　John 14:21 … He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.

　　God appeared to Abraham again and again. Many of us have held the wrong concept about Abraham, the concept that he was a giant in faith… As I considered the history of Abraham, I realized that he was not the giant of faith. The only giant of faith is God Himself. God, as the giant of faith, transfused Himself into him. After Abraham had spent time in God’s presence, he could not help believing in Him, because he had been transfused with God. Thus, Abraham was attracted to God and reacted to Him in believing. His reaction was his believing… Who actually appeared to Abraham? The God of glory. Abraham’s faith did not come from his natural ability and it did not originate with himself. His believing in God was a reaction to the heavenly radium, a response to the divine infusion… Genuine faith is the working of God within us. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 93-94)

　　Faith is not our natural ability or virtue. Faith is our reaction toward God, which results from God’s transfusing Himself into us and infusing His divine elements into our being. When God’s elements permeate our being, we react to Him, and this reaction is faith… Once we have such a faith, we can never lose it… Although we may try not to believe, we can never succeed. This is what the Bible means by believing in God. Faith is our reaction to God produced by His transfusion, infusion, and saturation.

　　God came to Abraham by appearing to him. If we study Genesis 11 through 24, including the record in Acts 7, we find that God appeared to Abraham several times… It is sure that Abraham was attracted by the appearing of the God of glory (v. 2). To be attracted simply means that God transfused Himself into Abraham without his realizing it or being conscious of it. This is similar to the radium treatment practiced in modern medicine. The patient is placed under the X-ray, unconscious of the beams that are penetrating him. God is the strongest radium. If we sit under Him for an hour, He will transfuse Himself into us. This transfusion will cause infusion, saturation, and permeation. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 90-91)

　　After Abraham arrived in Canaan, Genesis 12:7 says, “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.” This is the second time God appeared to Abraham and the third time He spoke to him.

　　It is easy for us to lose the vision of God’s calling. Even if we are consciously trying to be a proper Christian, it is still possible for us to lose our vision. We can lose our vision even while we are working diligently day after day. Do not think that only mundane things can blur our vision; even spiritual things can blur our vision. If we do not live continuously in God’s appearing, it will be easy for us to lose the vision of our calling. The calling that the church has received is the same as the calling that Abraham received. But many people have not seen the hope of this calling. Therefore, Paul prayed, “That you may know what is the hope of His calling” (Eph. 1:18). “Hope” indicates the content of this calling, the things included in God’s calling… How easy it is for us to forget what God wants to do! Many times, when we have too much to do and the work becomes a little more hectic, we lose sight of our spiritual calling. We need to come again and again to the Lord and beseech Him: “Appear to me again and again, and speak to me again and again!” We need to have a continuous seeing, an eternal seeing; we need to see God’s goal and what God is doing. (CWWN, vol. 35, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” pp. 29-30)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Galatians, msg. 20; Life-study of Romans, msgs. 7-8

«　WEEK 8　DAY 3　»

　　Gen. 12:7-8 And Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land. And there he built an altar to Jehovah who had appeared to him. And he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent…

　　Job 42:5 I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen You.

　　In Genesis 12:7 we see that the altar is based on God’s appearance… No one can offer himself to God unless he has first met God. Unless God has appeared to a man, he cannot offer his all to God. Consecration is not the result of man’s exhortation or persuasion but of God’s revelation. No one can voluntarily offer up all he has on the altar if God has not first appeared to him… However, when man meets God, consecration takes place spontaneously in his life. (CWWN, vol. 37, “The Life of the Altar and the Tent,” p. 89)

　　When we meet God, a radical change takes place in our life. We can no longer do what we did in the past. When we meet God Himself, we have the power to deny ourselves. The matter of denying one’s self ceases to be optional when we have met God. His appearance makes a person unable to go on by himself; it forces him to not live by himself anymore. God’s appearance brings with it inexhaustible power. Such an appearance will alter the whole course of a person’s life. For a Christian, the power to live for God is based on his vision of God.

　　The altar has its issue in the tent… From [Genesis 12:8] on, Abraham lived in God’s house—Bethel… He lived in a tent before, but God did not mention it. Not until he had built the altar does the Word of God bring the tent into view. A tent is something movable; it does not take root anywhere. Through the altar God deals with us; through the tent God deals with our possessions. At the altar Abraham offered up his all to God… Abraham still possessed cattle and sheep and many other things, but he had become a tent dweller. What was not consumed on the altar could only be kept in the tent. Here we see a principle. Everything we have should be placed on the altar. But there is still something left. These are the things that are for our own use. However, they are not ours; they are to be left in the tent. We have to remember that anything that has not passed the altar cannot even be in the tent. But not everything that has passed the altar is consumed… When we consecrate many things to God, He takes them and nothing is left behind. But God leaves some of the things offered on the altar for our own use. The things that have passed through the altar and are for our use can only be kept in the tent.

　　Some people ask, “If I give my all to God, do I have to sell all my possessions and dispose of all my money?”… We have a life to live before God, and we also have a life to live in the world. In our life before God everything must truly be on the altar, but for our life in the world we still have need of many material things. While we are living in the world, we need clothing, food, and a dwelling place. We ought to consecrate our all to God and live for Him alone; but if He says we may retain a certain thing, then we may retain it. Nevertheless, we must apply the principle of the tent to all the physical things that He permits us to retain, because they have been given back to us to meet our need in the world. If we do not need them, we should dispose of them. We may use them, but we must not be touched by them. We can have them or let them go; they can be given, and they can be taken away. This is the life of the tent.

　　May we learn this lesson. We dare not use anything that has not been placed on the altar, we may not take anything back from the altar, and what God gives back must be kept according to the principle of the tent. (CWWN, vol. 37, “The Life of the Altar and the Tent,” pp. 90, 92-93)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 37, ch. 16, “The Life of the Altar and the Tent”; CWWN, vol. 35, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” chs. 1-3, 5

«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　Gen. 12:8 And he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent…; and there he built an altar to Jehovah and called upon the name of Jehovah.

　　Heb. 11:9-10 By faith he dwelt as a foreigner in the land of promise…; for he eagerly waited for the city which has the foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.

　　Abraham had his failures. In his history there was a forsaking of the altar and the tent; he went down to Egypt. But there was recovery. How did that recovery come about? Genesis 13:3-4 says, “He went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.” Recovery is a matter of returning to the altar and the tent. Have any of you failed? Have any of you slipped or betrayed your cause? Have any of you gone down into Egypt, so that now you have your own demands, your own hopes, your own interests, and your own aspirations? If you are seeking the way of recovery, you have to come back to the altar and the tent. (CWWN, vol. 37, “The Life of the Altar and the Tent,” p. 95)

　　Do not forget that Abraham’s history is yours. Do you not have a tent where you always have the Lord’s presence? The worldly people do not have such a tent. They only have a great city… They say, “Look at my corporation. Look at my education, my attainment. Look at how many things I have.” But we can say to the worldly people, “You have everything, but there is one thing that you don’t have—God’s presence…” When we have a tent with God’s presence, we have the deep sensation within that nothing here on earth is lasting. Everything is temporary. We are looking to eternity. The banks, the corporations, the attainments—all are temporal and mean nothing. We have nothing constant on this earth. I just like to have a tent with God’s presence… We may say to the worldly people, “…I don’t have as much as you have, but I have the one thing that you don’t have—God’s presence… I have His presence right now in my tent. My surroundings are a tent, a miniature of the New Jerusalem. This may not be worthwhile in your eyes, but in God’s eyes it means a great deal.”

　　Whenever we answer God’s calling and God reappears to us and we build an altar for God, telling Him that everything we are and have is for Him, we shall immediately erect a tent… By pitching a tent we declare that we belong to another country. We do not belong to this country; we are looking for a better one. We do not like this country, this earth, this world. We expect to come into another country. We are sojourning by faith as in a strange country (Heb. 11:9).

　　Abraham’s tent was a miniature of the New Jerusalem, which will be the ultimate tabernacle of God in the universe (Rev. 21:2-3). As he lived in that tent, he was living in a shadow of the New Jerusalem. While he was living there with God, he was waiting for a city, a city that eventually will be the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem, the eternal tabernacle, will replace that temporary tent in which Abraham lived. Abraham’s tent was a seed of God’s eternal dwelling place. This seed grew in the tabernacle erected by his descendants in the wilderness (Exo. 40), and its harvest will be the New Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God with man. God still needs to have such a seed in all of us. We all need to be those who live in a tent and who look forward to a better country, a country in which there will be the eternal tabernacle where God and we, we and God, will live together for eternity. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 561-563)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 41-44; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “The Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” ch. 13

«　WEEK 8　DAY 5　»

　　Gen. 14:14 And when Abram heard that his brother had been taken captive, he led out his trained men…

　　16 And he… brought back Lot his brother…

　　18 And Melchizedek…brought out bread and wine. Now he was priest of God the Most High.

　　Heb. 7:25 …He is able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him, since He lives always to intercede for them.

　　Abraham’s nephew, Lot, had separated himself from Abraham and dwelt in Sodom. Because of the fighting between the four kings and the five kings, Lot was taken captive. When Abraham heard this, he led forth his trained men who were born in his house, and fought against the four kings; he smote them and brought back all the goods. After his return, Melchizedek, king of Salem, met him with bread and wine and blessed him (Gen. 14:18). Melchizedek as the priest of the Most High God is a type of Christ as God’s High Priest (Heb. 7:1-3, 16-17). Christ today is the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He is always living to intercede for us and to nourish us with bread and wine. (Truth Lessons—Level One, vol. 1, p. 89)

　　One person who escaped told Abraham that Lot had been captured… That person was preserved by God’s sovereignty… It must have happened because of the intercession behind the scene. Abraham did not count the weak point of his brother and did not take pleasure in Lot’s suffering and calamity… When he received this information, he made a strong decision to fight for Lot (Gen. 14:14)… Abraham prayed. In verse 22 he told the king of Sodom that before he went out to war he lifted up his hand to God. How could Abraham have prayed and made such a decision? It must have been due to the fact that someone behind the scene was interceding for him. I believe that the intercessor knew of the fighting that was going on and of the capture of Lot.

　　As far as Abraham was concerned, it was a shame for him to see that his brother had been captured. It is the same in the church today. It is a shame for us to see that any brother or sister has been captured… You should not tolerate it but should say, “I cannot bear with this. I must rise up and do something about it!” This is what Abraham did. Abraham could say, “… I cannot bear seeing that my brother has been captured. This is a shame to me. I must take him back. I don’t care for the number of soldiers and I don’t care for the kings and armies. I don’t care that I have less than they do. My burden is to get my brother back. If I don’t do this, it is a shame to me.”

　　In fighting for his brother, Abraham risked his life. It was not a small thing for him to risk his life in order to rescue his captured brother. But he did it. The fight went smoothly, and Abraham pursued the enemy from the south all the way to Dan in the north. His victory must have been the result of the intercession behind the scene.

　　Do you not believe that before Melchizedek came to minister bread and wine, as the priest of God he was interceding for Lot and Abraham?… I believe that Abraham’s brief and bold decision to fight for the rescue of Lot was stirred up by the intercession of Melchizedek… As a priest, Melchizedek must have been taking care of God’s people. In answer to his intercession, one escaped from Sodom, told Abraham the news, and Abraham made the bold decision to fight for the rescue of Lot.

　　While we walk on this earth, many things happen to us. Apparently, these things just happen. Actually, behind the earthly scene, an intercession is going on. Our Melchizedek, our High Priest Christ, is still interceding for us in heaven (Heb. 7:25). His intercession overshadows us and cares for us. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 579-580, 582-584)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4, “The History of God in His Union with Man,” ch. 7

«　WEEK 8　DAY 6　»

　　John 21:15 …Do you love Me… ?… Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.

　　16 … Shepherd My sheep.

　　17 … Feed My sheep.

　　1 Pet. 5:2 Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly.

　　The elders need to realize that in their shepherding, they have to cover others’ sins, to not take account of others’ evils. Love covers all things, not only the good things but also the bad things. Whoever uncovers the defects, shortcomings, and sins of the members of the church is disqualified from the eldership. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” p. 124)

　　In his first Epistle, Peter speaks of Christ being the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul, our inner being and real person (2:25). Then in 5:1-2 he tells the elders that their obligation is to shepherd God’s flock according to God. According to God means that we must live God. We must have God on hand. We have God in our understanding, in our theology, and in our teaching, but we may not live God when we are shepherding people. When we are one with God, we become God. Then we have God and are God in our shepherding of others. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness … We must shepherd the young ones, the weak ones, and the backsliding ones according to these four attributes.

　　Without shepherding, there is no way for us to minister life to others… The real ministering of life is shepherding by visiting and contacting people. When we visit people, we must have the Lord’s presence. His presence is the charming factor, and that presence comes from the cross plus resurrection. We must be a person on the cross and in resurrection.

　　The first way of the members of the vital group to contact people is by cherishing them. Because we live by our natural life, our visitation is fruitless. To cherish people is to make them happy, to comfort them, to make them feel that you are pleasant to them, easy to be contacted in everything and in every way. Our contact with people must be so genuine. Genuineness can be produced only by the cross plus resurrection. Only a crossed-out, resurrected person can be genuine in everything.

　　In Ephesians 5 Paul speaks about Christ’s care for the church by these two things: cherishing and nourishing (v. 29). Cherishing without nourishing is in vain… After cherishing [a naughty] child, the mother nourishes him with food. This is the way that Christ as the Head takes care of His Body, the church. He nourishes us after cherishing us.

　　To cherish people is to make them happy and to make them feel pleasant and comfortable. We must have a pleasant countenance when we contact people. We should be happy and rejoicing. We should not contact anyone with a cheerless countenance. Then we should go on to nourish them… To nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry in three stages… We have to find a way to present the all-inclusive Christ to everyone… We have to “cook” the all-inclusive Christ… I have been cooking Christ in this country for over thirty-three years with about three thousand messages.

　　In order to nourish people with Christ, we first have to seek Christ, experience Christ, gain Christ, enjoy Christ, and participate in Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” pp. 114-115, 145-146, 152-153)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” chs. 6-8, 10-11; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 3, “The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation,” chs. 3-4