Ⅰ
The genuine Christian life is the life of an overcomer, and all the overcomers in the New Testament should be kings who have received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness to reign in life—Rom. 5:17:
A
As the God-ordained prophets and priests, we are also kings to allow God to rule in us and through us over all His enemies; the believers in the New Testament should be the fulfillment of the typology of the kings, priests, and prophets in God’s economy:
１
In the New Testament all the believers are saved to be kings and priests; when the priests speak for God, they become God’s spokesmen, God’s mouthpiece, and these are the prophets—1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 20:6; 22:3-5; 1 Cor. 14:12, 24-25, 31.
２
Prophesying (speaking Christ into people) makes us overcomers; prophesying is the function of the overcomers—v. 4b; 1 Pet. 4:10-11; Acts 5:20 and footnote 2.
B
If we have not reached the level of a king in our Christian life, we are still below the proper standard; we may say that we enjoy Christ, but to what degree, to what extent, do we enjoy Christ?
C
Our enjoyment of Christ may be only “one-inch high,” but Christ is unlimited; our enjoyment of Christ should come up to the kingship level; we need to receive grace upon grace to such an extent that grace reigns in us so that we can be good stewards of the varied grace of God—Phil. 3:13; John 1:16; Rom. 5:21; 1 Pet. 4:10; Eph. 3:2.
D
God’s complete salvation is for us to be saved in the life of Christ to reign in this life by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:10, 17, 21); the gift of righteousness is God’s judicial redemption applied to us in a practical way; grace is God Himself as our all-sufficient supply for our organic salvation.
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 1:6 And made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen.Rom. 5:17 For if, by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
In the type of Israel there is a great part concerning the kings. The kings are the representatives of Israel and the top ones... [The Israelites] had everything of their living from the source of the good land,... [and the kings] were enjoying the good land on the top level... These kings are types of the New Testament believers because all the New Testament believers were saved by God to be kings [and priests] (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 2 Tim. 2:12). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Living a Life according to the High Peak of God’s Revelation,” p. 181)
Today’s Reading
God entrusted to the priests not only the speaking part of His deputy authority but also the ruling part. Thus, the priests were the speakers and also the kings. God, however, does not want a king to replace Him. He just wants His authority to be exercised. So at the beginning of Israel’s history with the priests, there was no king, but they did have the Urim and the Thummim. The Urim and the Thummim were a deputy authority for both God’s speaking and God’s ruling (Exo. 28:30; Lev. 8:8).In the New Testament all the believers were saved to be... kings, priests, and prophets. We can be such kings... by being men regenerated with God and transformed with God as the element... We were God’s created people who became fallen. Now we are God’s redeemed people based upon His choosing of us, and we are also God’s regenerated and transformed people who have been transformed with God’s element to make us God-men. Now we are here in resurrection. To be in resurrection means to deny everything old to become something new and live by the element of newness, which is the divine life, God Himself. In resurrection we have become God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). This new creation is God’s re-created, regenerated, transformed people. This is also the church in localities and the Body of Christ universally.
In the age of typology, the overcomers were the prophets. The prophets took care of God’s oracle first. Based upon their oracle, they did exercise, to some extent, God’s authority. A number of kings listened to the prophets... Thus, all the genuine prophets were overcomers.
This is fulfilled in Revelation... [where] the Lord repeated the following word seven times: he who overcomes... (2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). These overcomers are the fulfillment of the typology of the prophets. Therefore, when the apostle Paul speaks of how the church should meet, he stresses and uplifts prophesying (1 Cor. 14:1, 3-6, 24, 31, 39). Prophesying makes you an overcomer. Speaking Christ into people is prophesying. Prophesying is the function of the overcomers.
All the overcomers of the New Testament are kings who have received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness to reign in life [Rom. 5:17]. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Living a Life according to the High Peak of God’s Revelation,” pp. 181-183, 175, 177)
God’s complete salvation is for us to reign in life by the abundance of grace (God Himself as our all-sufficient supply for our organic salvation) and of the gift of righteousness (God’s judicial redemption applied to us in a practical way). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “Crystallization-study of the Complete Salvation of God in Romans,” p. 445)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Experience of God’s Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ’s Life,” chs. 4-5