Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 2:19-22; 4:1—6:7
Ⅰ
Elisha is a type of Christ in doing miracles of grace in life—2 Kings 4:9; Luke 4:27:
A
In the fulfillment of the types and figures in the Old Testament, Christ is the real Elisha; as the real Elisha, the Lord Jesus is a sweet and pleasant prophet, a prophet of blessing—2 Kings 4:9; Luke 4:27; 7:11-17.
B
Elisha is a type in the Old Testament who represented God’s New Testament economy in grace:
１
Grace is God doing everything for us by giving Himself to us as our enjoyment—John 1:1, 14-17.
２
This grace issues in the divine life, which is rich and high, even unto making us co-kings with Christ—Rom. 5:17.
C
The significance of the miracle performed by Elisha in healing the water at Jericho and of the miracle performed by the Lord Jesus in changing water into wine is the same—the changing of death into life—2 Kings 2:4, 19-22; John 2:3-11.
D
Elisha’s calling things not being as being was the same thing in principle that the Lord Jesus did when He fed the multitudes—2 Kings 4:1-7, 8-17, 42-44; Matt. 14:14-21; 15:32-39.
E
Elisha’s resurrecting the dead from death, giving life to the dead, is the same as what the Lord Jesus did, both physically and spiritually—2 Kings 4:18-37; Luke 7:11-17; John 11:41-44; 5:25.
F
Elisha’s nullifying the poison of the wild gourds with flour is the same in principle as the Lord Jesus’ healing His disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees with Himself as the fine flour—2 Kings 4:41; Matt. 16:12.
G
Elisha’s causing an axe head that had fallen into the water to float by means of a wooden stick signifies Christ’s recovering through His cross in resurrection the lost power of sinners that had fallen into the death water—2 Kings 6:6; Eph. 2:1-6.
H
Elisha performed miracles of divine healing for others, but, in the will of God, he himself was not healed by a miracle; this was the experience of Paul and his fellow workers—2 Kings 13:14:
１
Paul left Trophimus at Miletus in sickness without exercising healing prayer for him and did not exercise his healing gift to cure Timothy of his stomach sickness—2 Tim. 4:20; 1 Tim. 5:23; Acts 19:11-12.
２
Paul and his co-workers were under the discipline of the inner life in that time of suffering rather than under the power of the outward gift:
ａ
The former is a matter of grace in life; the latter is a matter of gift in power—miraculous power.
ｂ
In the decline of the church and in one’s suffering for the church, the gift of power is not needed as much as the grace in life—2 Tim. 4:22.
I
Elisha was deceased in his body yet still ministered in the spirit to enliven one of the dead—2 Kings 13:21:
１
Even the dead Elisha could enliven people.
２
This is a picture of Christ in resurrection—John 11:25; Acts 2:24; Phil. 3:10:
ａ
Whoever touches Him is enlivened.
ｂ
Regeneration involves a spiritually dead person touching the dead and resurrected Christ and being enlivened—cf. John 5:25; Eph. 2:1-6a.
Ⅱ
Like Moses, Samuel, and Paul, Elisha, a man of God, behaved as God’s representative, as the acting God, on the earth—2 Kings 4:9:
A
Jehovah told Moses that He had made him God to Pharaoh—Exo. 7:1a:
１
In Moses God had one to represent Him and to execute His will; Moses never spoke to Pharaoh on his own but always spoke what the Lord had told him to say—3:16-18; 5:1.
２
Actually, Pharaoh was not listening to Moses, God’s ambassador, and dealing with him; he was listening to God and dealing with God.
B
Samuel was the representative of God to rule over His people on earth; as such, Samuel was the acting God—1 Sam. 1:11; 2:35; 7:3; 8:22:
１
Samuel could be the acting God because his being and God’s heart were one—2:35:
ａ
He was a man according to God’s heart; that is, he was a copy, a duplicate, of God’s heart.
ｂ
Samuel’s living and working were for the carrying out of whatever was in God’s heart.
２
Samuel was God’s oracle and God’s administration, and thus, he was the acting God.
C
In his ministry Paul, a man of God, was the acting God in comforting the believers, in conducting himself in the simplicity of God, in expressing the jealousy of God, and in being an ambassador of Christ to carry out the ministry of reconciliation—2 Cor. 1:3-4, 12; 11:2; 5:20:
１
All during the apostle Paul’s long and unfortunate imprisonment-voyage, the Lord kept him in His ascendancy and enabled him to live a life far beyond the realm of anxiety—Acts 27:13—28:9:
ａ
This life was fully dignified, with the highest standard of human virtues expressing the most excellent divine attributes, a life that resembled the one that the Lord Jesus Himself had lived on the earth years before.
ｂ
This was Jesus living again on earth in His divinely enriched humanity.
ｃ
This was the wonderful, excellent, and mysterious Godman, who lived in the Gospels, continuing to live in the Acts through one of His many members.
２
The New Testament believers can be the same as Paul in functioning as the acting God—1 Tim. 1:16.
Ⅲ
As God’s chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people who are one with God, who are constituted with God, who live God, who express God, who move with God, and who represent God, we may function as the acting God—Eph. 1:4-5:
A
As God’s chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people, we should be one with God—1 Cor. 6:17:
１
The basic principle of the Bible is that in His economy God is making Himself one with man and is making man one with Him—John 15:4.
２
God desires that the divine life and the human life be joined together to become one life that has one living—1 Cor. 6:17.
B
We need to be constituted with God—Eph. 3:17a; Col. 3:10-11:
１
God’s economy is to dispense Himself into our being so that our being may be constituted with His being to be one constitution with His being—Eph. 3:17a; 4:4-6.
２
In the divine life and by the working of the law of the divine life, God will be wrought into us, and we will be constituted with Him in His life and nature—Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11, 29.
C
As those who are one with God and constituted with God, we should live God—Phil. 1:21a:
１
According to His economy, God’s intention is to impart His element, His substance, and the ingredients of His nature into our being so that we may live Him—Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11.
２
Our daily life should actually be God Himself and thus be a life of constantly living God—1 Thes. 2:12; 1 Cor. 10:31.
D
We should express God—Gen. 1:26; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29; Col. 3:10:
１
God’s eternal purpose is to work Himself into us as our life so that we may express Him—Eph. 1:11; 3:11; 2 Tim. 1:9.
２
God’s aim in His economy is that we would be one with Him and live Him for His corporate expression—1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:21a; Eph. 1:22-23.
E
As those who express God, we should move with God—Josh. 1:1-9; 6:1-16:
１
God needed the children of Israel to cooperate with Him in His move in His economy as the great wheel—1:1-9; 6:1-16.
２
We need to be one with God in His heart’s desire and in His move on earth—Eph. 1:5, 9; Rev. 14:1-4.
F
As we move with God, we should represent God—Gen. 1:26-28:
１
In order to represent God with authority, we must express God in life; because Aaron had the resurrection life to express God, he had the authority to represent God—v. 26; 2:9; Num. 17:1-8.
２
The proper way to work for God is to represent God—Exo. 7:1-2.
G
If we are one with God, constituted with God, live God, express God, move with God, and represent God, we can function as the acting God:
１
God is able to make us the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function to carry out His economy—Col. 3:4; 2 Pet. 1:4; Eph. 3:9.
２
In his ministry Elisha the prophet, as a man of God, behaved himself as God’s representative, as the acting God; today we, the believers in Christ, can be the same, functioning in His economy as the acting God—2 Kings 4:9; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 3:17.
Morning Nourishment
2 Kings 2:21 And he went out to the source of the water and threw salt there; and he said, Thus says Jehovah, I have healed this water; there will not be any more death or barrenness from there.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.
In the fulfillment of the types and figures in the Old Testament, Christ is also the real Elisha (2 Kings 5:9; Luke 4:27). Elisha was more pleasant as a prophet than Elijah was... One of the most striking things Elisha did was to heal the death waters with salt (2 Kings 2:19-21). This healing indicates that Elisha was a sweet prophet of blessing to the people. As a prophet of condemnation, Elijah was a type of John the Baptist, who rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees, even calling them “offspring of vipers” (Matt. 3:7). Just as Elisha came after Elijah and was the continuation of Elijah, so Jesus came after John the Baptist as his continuation. As the real Elisha, the Lord Jesus is a sweet and pleasant prophet, a prophet of blessing. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 472)
Today’s Reading
Elisha was a type of Christ in doing miracles of grace in life. Elijah did some great miracles, such as closing up the heavens so that it might not rain and calling down fire from heaven to consume the burnt offering and the water that had been poured upon it. However, when Elisha came in to replace him, he did not perform wonders. Instead, Elisha did miracles of grace in life.Many Christians pay attention to miracles, but they neglect the matters of grace and life or speak of them in a very shallow way. Paul emphasized grace very much in the book of Romans. In Romans justification by grace is unto the reigning in life (3:24; 5:17-18).
Grace is God doing everything for us by giving Himself to us as our enjoyment. This grace issues in the divine life, which is rich and high, even unto making us co-kings with Christ. However, among today’s Christians it is not likely that one will hear a message telling the believers that God’s grace issues in the divine life for us to reign as kings.
When the men of the city [of Jericho] told Elisha that the water was bad and that the land was barren, he went out to the source of the water and threw salt there, saying, “Thus says Jehovah, I have healed this water; there will not be any more death or barrenness from there” (2 Kings 2:21). Jericho signifies Satan, and with Satan everything is death, including the water. But the bad water of Jericho was healed according to the word of Elisha and became good water, water that gave life. The first miracle the Lord Jesus performed in the Gospel of John was the changing of water into wine (2:3-11). The significance of this miracle is the changing of death into life. Changing death into life is the governing principle of all the Lord’s miracles in the Gospel of John and of all the cases dealt with by Him in chapters 3 through 11 of John. The significance of the miracle performed by Elisha in 2 Kings 2 and of the miracle performed by the Lord Jesus in John 2 is the same—the changing of death into life.
Next, Elisha called the things not being as being (2 Kings 4:1-7, 8-17, 42-44; cf. Matt. 14:14-21; 15:32-39; Rom. 4:17b). In particular, Elisha called things not being as being when he produced many vessels of oil from one vessel. The Lord Jesus did the same thing in principle. In Matthew 14 and 15 He fed multitudes with a few loaves and fishes.
In this matter also Elisha was a type of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament age. More than any other prophet, Elisha did things that, in type, were the same as what the Lord Jesus did in reality. In principle, Elisha and the Lord Jesus did the same thing, performing miracles of grace in life. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 85-86)
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 44
Morning Nourishment
2 Kings 4:40-41 And they poured out the stew for the men to eat. And while they were eating some of the stew, they cried out and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot. And they were not able to eat it. And he said, Then bring some flour. And he threw it into the pot and said, Pour it out for the people that they may eat. And there was nothing harmful in the pot.Elisha also resurrected the dead from death (2 Kings 4:18-37; cf. Heb. 11:35; Luke 7:11-17; John 11:41-44; Rom. 4:17b). The Lord Jesus has resurrected millions of persons, including us (John 5:25). Calling things not being as being and giving life to the dead are not merely miracles. They are grace resulting in life unto the reigning in life as kings.
When the disciples of Elisha were short of food, they cooked a stew with poisonous gourds. Elisha nullified the poison of the wild gourds with flour (2 Kings 4:38-41). In principle, the Lord Jesus did the same thing for His disciples. He warned them, saying, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:6-12), and He healed the disciples with Himself as the fine flour. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, p. 87)
Today’s Reading
Many of the teachings in today’s Christianity are “poisonous gourds.” Some Christian books are good, but many are not pure. We have recommended certain writings by Andrew Murray... and others. We have especially recommended Andrew Murray’s masterpiece The Spirit of Christ, as well as God’s Plan of Redemption by Mary E. McDonough and Life on the Highest Plane by Ruth Paxson. Among us we also have the ministry of Brother Nee. Brother Nee’s ministry was rejected by the Western missionaries in his youth, but today his ministry is known by seeking Christians throughout the world. By the Lord’s mercy and grace, in the last seventy years nearly all the crucial, important revelations of the Bible have been covered in Watchman Nee’s ministry and my ministry. I would urge you to pay attention to these pure and healthy things and not waste your time collecting “poisonous gourds.”In 2 Kings 5 Elisha healed a case of leprosy (Luke 4:27). The Lord Jesus did the same thing in His ministry (Matt. 11:5; 8:1-4; Luke 17:11-19). In 2 Kings 6:1-7 Elisha floated with a wooden stick an axe head that had fallen into the waters. This signifies Christ recovering with His cross, in resurrection, the power of sinners that had fallen into the death water. As sinners, we lost our “axe head,” our power, but Christ has recovered this lost power in resurrection with the “wooden stick” of His cross.
By all of the foregoing we can see that Elisha was a very accurate type of Christ. Elisha changed the age in type, and the Lord Jesus did the same thing in fulfillment. Today we are in the changed age, the age of the fulfillment of God’s New Testament economy. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 87-88)
In Luke 7:11-17 we see the Man-Savior showing pity to the weeping mother by raising up her dead son... This situation was very sad... First she had lost her husband, and now she had lost her only son. The Savior’s compassion was also unique in His loving sympathy. He volunteered, in His tender mercy, His power of resurrection to raise the widow’s son from death, without being asked to do so. This indicates His unique commission, coming to save lost sinners (19:10), and shows the high standard of His morality, as a Man-Savior, in saving sinners.
Luke 7:13-15 says, “When the Lord saw her, He was moved with compassion for her and said to her, Do not weep. And He came near and touched the bier, and those carrying it stood still. And He said, Young man, to you I say, Arise. And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And He gave him to his mother.” Here we see the Man-Savior’s compassion in speaking to the widow and in touching the bier... Then the Lord commanded the dead son of the widow to arise. (Life-study of Luke, pp. 137-138)
Further Reading: Life-study of Luke, msg. 16
Morning Nourishment
2 Kings 13:14 Now when Elisha was ill with his illness by which he eventually died, Joash the king of Israel went down to him and wept over him and said, My father! My father!...21... The people were burying a man... ; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life and stood up on his feet.
Elisha performed miracles of divine healing for others, but, in the will of God, he himself was not healed by a miracle (cf. 2 Tim. 4:20, footnote 2). (2 Kings 13:14, footnote 1)
Elisha was deceased in his body yet still ministered in the spirit to enliven one of the dead. Even the dead Elisha could enliven people. This is a picture of Christ in resurrection. Whoever touches Him is enlivened. Regeneration involves a spiritually dead person touching the dead and resurrected Christ and being enlivened (cf. John 5:25; Eph. 2:1-6a). (2 Kings 13:21, footnote 1)
Today’s Reading
After greeting Prisca and Aquila and the household of Onesiphorus (2 Tim. 4:19), Paul says, “Erastus remained in Corinth, and Trophimus I left at Miletus sick” [v. 20]... Why did the apostle leave such an intimate one in sickness without exercising healing prayer for him? Why did he not also execute his healing gift (Acts 19:11-12) to cure Timothy of his stomach illness rather than instruct him to take the natural way for healing (1 Tim. 5:23)? The answer to both questions is that both Paul and his co-workers were under the discipline of the inner life in this time of suffering rather than under the power of the outward gift. The former is of grace in life; the latter of gift in power—miraculous power. In the decline of the church and in suffering for the church, the gift of power is not as much needed as the grace in life.According to the New Testament, miraculous gifts may have a place when the church is first raised up. But for the church to withstand decline or persecution, miraculous gifts or powers are not very helpful. Only the eternal life on which we are to lay hold is prevailing. By this life we can withstand decline and persecution.
It may appear to some that in caring for Timothy’s ailment and Trophimus’s sickness in a human way Paul acted as if he were an unbeliever. There is no record that he prayed for healing, and he certainly did not exercise the gift of healing. Instead, he encouraged Timothy to take a little wine, and he left Trophimus at Miletus. Paul cared for his co-workers in a very human way. He did not do anything spectacular to make a display. In like manner, in the Lord’s recovery we should not seek to make a show. Our emphasis must be on the eternal life by which we can withstand tests, trials, persecution, attack, and opposition. The firm foundation stands. This standing depends not on miracles, but on the eternal life which is the grace within us.
After charging Timothy to be diligent to come before winter and after sending him the greetings of all the brothers with him, Paul concludes, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (2 Tim. 4:22). Here we see that Paul concludes with two of the main elements of his composition of 2 Timothy: a strong spirit and the grace of God. The book of 2 Timothy, which gives instructions concerning how to confront the degradation of the church, strongly stresses our spirit. In the beginning it emphasizes that a strong, loving, and sound spirit has been given to us by which we can fan the gift of God into flame and suffer evil with the gospel according to the power of God and the Lord’s life-imparting grace (1:6-10). In the conclusion this book blesses us with the emphasis on the Lord’s being with our spirit that we may enjoy Him as grace to stand against the down current of the church’s decline and carry out God’s economy through His indwelling Spirit (1:14) and equipping word (3:16-17). (Life-study of 2 Timothy, pp. 71-72)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 13
Morning Nourishment
Exo. 7:1 And Jehovah said to Moses, See, I have made you God to Pharaoh...1 Sam. 2:35 And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in My heart and in My mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he will go before My anointed continually.
Jer. 15:1 ...Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My soul would not turn toward this people...
In the conflicts between God and Pharaoh we also can learn the proper way to work for God. The proper way is not to labor or to endeavor, but to represent Him. Just as Moses was sent by God, so we also must be sent by Him.
Exodus 11:3 says, “The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.” Moses did not fight or even work hard. As God’s representative, he simply came to see Pharaoh again and again. Moses did not come on his own. Every time he came, he came as one sent by God. Furthermore, he did not speak to Pharaoh on his own. He always spoke what the Lord had told him to say, letting Pharaoh know what God required of him. Therefore, Pharaoh was actually not listening to Moses and dealing with him; he was listening to God and dealing with God. Moses was God’s ambassador, God’s sent one. The way to work for God is to be such a representative of God. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 245)
Today’s Reading
I would remind the co-workers that there is no need for us to endeavor so much. This does not mean that we should be idle or lazy. It means that we should spend more time to contact the Lord. In our prayer, we should not pray so much for our work. Instead, we should pray to touch the Lord, to know His heart, and to sense His feeling. We need to stay in His presence until He saturates our being. Then we shall represent Him, and He will send us forth. Remember, it is not of him who runs nor of him who wills, but of God, the One who shows mercy (Rom. 9:16). There is no need for us to run or to will. Our need is to represent God and to be His sent ones.An apostle is a sent one. He is sent by the person he represents. As God’s sent ones, we need to have the assurance that wherever we may be, we are there as God’s representatives. We are insignificant and very weak. Actually, we are nothing. But we represent God. As God’s representatives, we do not speak our own words or carry out our own work. We are the bush, and the Lord is the fire burning in the midst of the bush. The fire and the bush are one. When we are in this reality, it is difficult to distinguish the bush from the fire. This reminds us of Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 6:17: “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” The proper way to work for God is to have the assurance that we represent the One whom we love and serve. Wherever we go, we go not by ourselves, but with Him and in Him.
In Exodus we see both the stubborn Pharaoh and Moses, God’s representative. By Pharaoh God made Himself manifest as the sovereign God, but in Moses God had one to represent Him and to execute His will. Praise the Lord that none of us are Pharaoh but we all are Moses, those who are one with the Lord! In His sovereignty and mercy, wherever we go, we go with the Lord, we represent Him, and we execute His will. May we all worship the Lord for His sovereignty and thank Him for His mercy! (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 245-246)
At the end of his ministry, by the time that Saul was raised up to be the king in Israel (1 Sam. 9:3—10:27), Samuel had reached the highest position. We may say that in the whole universe, there was only one who was above him, and that one was God. We may even say that, as God’s representative, Samuel was the acting God. God intended to move, to act, yet He needed a representative. Samuel thus became a prophet, a priest, and a judge. He was God’s oracle and God’s administration. As such, he was the acting God on earth. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, p. 43)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 14; Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msg. 7
Morning Nourishment
2 Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.Acts 27:24 ...Do not fear, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.
Throughout the voyage and now on the island of Malta [cf. Acts 27—28] Paul certainly was walking in the Spirit. He surely lived a life that was the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ. Paul’s living was actually the expression of the life-giving Spirit. In every situation of his daily living, Paul was the expression of the very Christ he preached. He preached the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ as the life-giving Spirit, and on the island of Malta he lived such a Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit. This is indicated by Paul’s word, written later, in Philippians 1:20 and 21a: “According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ... “Paul cared only to live Christ and to magnify Him... Paul lived Christ and magnified Him as the life-giving Spirit. As we read Luke’s account of Paul’s living, we see that his living was the all-inclusive Spirit as the consummation of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and God-exalted Christ. (Life-study of Acts, p. 616)
Today’s Reading
On the sea in the storm, the Lord had already made the apostle not only the owner of his fellow voyagers (Acts 27:24), but also their life-guarantee and comforter (vv. 22-25). Now on the land in peace, the Lord made him further not only a magical attraction in the eyes of the superstitious people (28:3-6), but also a healer and joy to the native people (vv. 8-9).All during his long and unfortunate imprisonment-voyage, the Lord kept the apostle in His ascendancy and enabled him to live a life far beyond the realm of anxiety, but fully dignified with the highest standard of human virtues expressing the most excellent divine attributes, a life that resembled the one that He Himself had lived on earth years before. This was Jesus living again on the earth in His divinely enriched humanity! This was the wonderful, excellent, and mysterious God-man, who lived in the Gospels, continuing to live in Acts through one of His many members! This was a living witness of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and God-exalted Christ. Paul in his voyage lived and magnified Christ.
The warm welcome of the brothers from Rome and the loving care of those in Puteoli (vv. 13-14) show the beautiful Body life in the early days among the churches and the apostles. This life was a part of the heavenly kingdom life on the Satan-darkened and man-inhabited earth. Apparently, the apostle, as a prisoner in bonds, had entered the area of the dark capital of the Satan-usurped empire. Actually, as the ambassador of Christ with His authority (Eph. 6:20; Matt. 28:18-19), he had come into another part of the participation in His church’s Body life in the kingdom of God on earth. While he was suffering the persecution of religion in the empire of Satan, he was enjoying the church life in the kingdom of God, which was a comfort and an encouragement to him. (Life-study of Acts, pp. 617-619)
Paul was not only absolute for the Lord, but he was also absolutely one with God. Because Paul was one with God, he answered the questions in such a way that the Corinthians would be helped to be one with Him in every circumstance, condition, and situation... In answering certain questions [related to marriage], Paul followed the principle of not initiating anything or changing anything. If we like to be one with God and are actually one with Him, we shall not initiate any change, especially change related to married life. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, p. 371)
Further Reading: Life-study of Acts, msg. 71; Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 43
Morning Nourishment
1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.Phil. 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
2 Cor. 1:21-22 But the One who firmly attaches us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God, He who has also sealed us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
In his ministry Elisha the prophet, as the man of God, behaved himself as God’s representative, as the acting God, on the earth. As believers in Christ, we can be the same. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 93-94)
God is seeking a people who live Christ and who are one with Him. Such a people eventually become the church... The church is a collective people who live Christ and who are one with God. To have such a people is the desire of God’s heart, and it is what He purposed to have in eternity... In 2 Corinthians Paul shows them that he himself and his co-workers were such persons. All the apostles were people who were one with God and were living Christ. Therefore, even in the insignificant matter of resolving to go to a certain place, Paul resolved not in himself, but in Christ and with Christ. He did not have any intention which was apart from God or separate from Him.
Because God anointed him by attaching him to Christ, he could be one with Christ and one with the faithful God... Now because we have been attached to the anointed One, we can be one with the God of resurrection and live a life of resurrection. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 20-21, 23)
Today’s Reading
In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul speaks of being members of Christ. What does it mean to be a member of Christ? It means that we are part of the anointed One. Anointing implies sealing. As we are under the anointing, the anointing becomes a sealing. In this way we become different from others. Furthermore, the seal causes us to bear the appearance of God... The seal is the image... When God anoints us, the anointing is the sealing. The anointing brings the divine essence into us, just as the rubber stamp applies the element of the ink to the paper. First God through the anointing adds the essence of Himself to us. Then this anointing seals us with the essence of God and makes us the image of God.God’s attaching us to Christ issues in three things: first, an anointing that imparts God’s element into us; second, a sealing that forms the divine element into an impression to express God’s image; and third, a pledging that gives us a foretaste as a sample and guarantee of the full taste of God... Because we have been anointed and sealed and have received the pledge, we can be one with the faithful God and live Christ. Now we are qualified and equipped to live the unchanging Christ. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 23-25)
In order to take the good land, [the children of Israel] had to enter into a full coordination with God in His move. If the children of Israel had looked at themselves, they would have said that there was no possibility. But their possibility was the unique God, who needed His elect people to cooperate with Him in His move to carry out His economy, in His desire to move in His economy as the great wheel.
This is the principle of incarnation. In particular, this is the principle of incarnation for the destruction of the satanic power in its usurpation of the earth. This means that in order for God to regain the earth from the usurping hand of the enemy, we need to be in full cooperation and coordination with Him in the principle of incarnation. We need to be one with God in His heart’s desire and in His move on earth. Today God wants to save people, but in order to do this, He needs us to be one with Him according to the principle of incarnation. (Life-study of Joshua, pp. 8-9)
Further Reading: Life-study of Joshua, msg. 2; Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 3